by Georgi Johnson Trauma can be like a repeating record, a time-loop, circulating through another kind of time. The same octave notes keep repeating, said one writer, until they get heard. Yet many trauma therapies come short in matching the compulsive sense of truth that can be the perfume of most traumatic experiences. ...
A corrupt world is built brick by brick by individual acts of shame and silence. Can we break the silence that protects misconduct even while it means being exposed ourselves? Psychiatry and the mental health system are failing, but they are also just sets of human relationships, relationships we are also part of. ...
Bridging the Patient-Professional Divide ~~ A 2007 UK study by the Royal College of Psychiatrists revealed that prejudicial treatment of mentally ill patients extends to physical medical care; they receive poorer quality of care and doctors spend less time with them possibly leading to higher rates of death and preventable disease. Though tragic, the more scandalous aspect of the phenomena is the fact that mental health professionals apply the same prejudices to those whom they attempt to treat. The worst thing someone in mental distress can experience is dehumanizing treatment from other human beings who are supposed to be caring for them. I suppose as long as we continue to label people as ill and abnormal due to mental distress this will continue. We create a class of people who aren’t quite like everyone else.
Many therapists have not emancipated themselves from their training and think they are there to fix you. They are potentially dangerous. Trust yourself. If your therapist doesn't encourage you to trust yourself, do not trust them.
I have certainly found meaningful support only from those who treat me as an equal. ... [click on title to read more]
Once we’re adults we cannot expect another adult to fix the infantile parts of ourselves that were never appropriately nurtured by our parents. Healing is about becoming conscious of those parts and then learning to reparent those parts for ourselves. No one else will ever know what all the little hurt children within us need. We’re the only ones who can hear those parts and tend to them. This is the biggest reason the mental illness system fails. It pretends to be a parent and further infantilizes adults. Until it understands how to support folks to trust themselves and thus empower themselves it will continue to cause further harm
It's already known and accepted within the medical profession that occupied people feel less pain and depression, so that's a good start. However, the large amount of anecdotal evidence suggests that knitting has much more to offer. It isn't simply about keeping people occupied with an activity they enjoy. It's not just 'old fashioned' occupational therapy either. There's a lot more to knitting than initially meets the eye! … [click on title to read the rest]
By Ron Unger As we struggle to invent a humane approach to the extreme states that get called “psychosis” or “madness” or “schizophrenia,” it may be helpful to investigate some of the better approaches developed in the past. While these approaches are not without their flaws, they are often surprisingly insightful. (It can also of... Continue Reading →
There is a study in the Lancet Psychiatry this month that looks at the high incidence of "stigmatization" towards those with psychiatric labels by MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONALS. I respond below the excerpt with a piece based on my personal experience of such bigotry in the ranks of those charged to care for folks with diagnosis. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
I have to say that dancing madly to whatever music calls me has been a far more effective trauma release practice than these more clinically oriented trauma release exercises. That said, we all respond to different methods of care. That is why I always talk about listening to our own internal guidance. We know. Our body knows. Better than anyone else. In the end the only compliance that matters is that which we give to our own deepest knowing. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
I'm continuing to read The Inner World of Trauma: Archetypal Defences of the Personal Spirit, by Donald Kalsched.
It's such a wonderful source of insight and validation about the inner world of those traumatized that I want to share more from the introduction. I shared another part of the intro to the book in this post as well. Read that too if you're interested.
There are many ways to heal from this fate and we see those who've had lives marred by trauma recovery in a myriad of ways, as it is wont for human beings to do. There are as many paths to wellness as there are human beings. Analysis, which is the stance of this book, is only one window and one way to go about healing. … [click on title for the rest of the post]
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