Wednesday, October 26, 2011

A Good First Hand Account of Schizophrenia

I've just read The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn Saks. I listened to this on Audible. It is very good. It is among the better first person accounts that I have read. It drives home the idea that serious psychological problems don't put you in a position of making a decision to do the wrong thing, but instead in a position of not having the power to make any kind of decision. This is when the thinking problems have you in their grip, of course. There is the idea of the shattered personality rather than the split personality. There is a good comparison of several healers and their styles (one of them Kleinian - I've just read a Melanie Klein biography by chance). There is the struggle to keep from taking medication despite many instances of going backwards when stopping taking it. There are good videos of the author on YouTube, so you can hear the author there. I wish she had recorded the book for Audible herself.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Healers' Basic Procedures

I've been thinking that there are about six basic procedures that I carry out in my work.  These are gathering and sharing informationmeasuring learning skillsmaking DSM diagnosesperforming psychotherapyfollowing ethical standards, and consultative problem solving.  Three additional basic procedures carried out by people in the mental health field might be teaching, managing organizations, and carrying out basic research.  This makes nine, and I love round numbers.  Can anyone add a tenth basic procedure, or it's also OK to completely revamp the list.  I'd love to hear what others think about the list of basic procedures that Healers carry out.