Food for thought (not anti-psych)

http://kevinturnquist.org/whysohard.php

Read this, if you will.

Does it ring a bell about any situation you've been on?

I know a lot of people do that on every field that deals with people, too. Even receptionists unplug their phones when the boss isn't around...

But I've definetely seen this in the mental health field way too often. Meetings, phone calls, pretend to be busy doing paper work, etc..

I will read it again, but its more tailored towards burnt out doctors. I get things aren't easy for them, and professionals exist that do care, but they are only do as good as the training given to them. The article makes good points none the less. Its a good read.


This part I however don't agree with. It does more harm then good. A lot more harm then good :


"Devaluation and idealization are two primitive defenses that frequently come into play when dealing with the mentally ill. In these mechanisms the mentally ill person will see us as much better or worse than we really are, depending upon which version best suits their needs.

Clients may attribute all sorts of negative qualities to us. We may be seen as representatives of evil conspiracies, Nazis, demons, stooges in the service of big pharmaceutical companies, or whatever. Anyone who's been in the business a while has his tales of the goofy conclusions that people have reached about them.

It's always hard to be seen is such distorted ways. And having people attach powerful negative emotions like rage, terror, or genuine loathing to us can be particularly painful. But at least we can usually dismiss distortions like those to clear symptoms of a mental disorder."


This blurb basically gas lights all patients. Any concerns they have, again aren't supposed to be real, but a distortion of reality which isn't always so. This flushes patient rights down the toilet, further giving psychiatrist the notion they can do no harm, because in the end its just the "illness" talking. It has nothing to do with "needs" as though patients are trying to take advantage of doctors. Some patients genuinely are expressing legitimate concerns, not all of them are "distorted". These aren't always mechanisms driven by the illness itself rather a normal desire to be heard. And some conclusions aren't to far off. When a doctor is over prescribing medication with no other form of treatment in conjunction, its not hard for anyone to reach the conclusion big pharma has a helping hand or psychs are incompetent. Whether that's the case or not, intended or not, its irrelevant. What is being that whenever patients are in an abusive environment or one that isn't conducive to their needs those ill or not will reach negative conclusions about those in charge.

Yes I agree there are those who will always see bad no matter if they had the best docs with gold plated psych wards. Even then its the psychs job to find out why and respectfully help them move forward. But, if people only knew the level of incompetency in psychiatry or could see the abuse perpetrated behind locked doors common to many institutions it would be easy to see why patients reach such conclusions. A normal person certainly would say something isn't right.

One simple example. Most people don't know that psychiatrists in training are even encouraged to be cold, distant, detached. Various explanations are given as to why supposedly to benefit either the patient of doctor. But truth is those in treatment pick up on that soon, reaching a negative conclusion correct or not. Truth also is, those who device treatment for the ill, especially those part of profit driven institutions, know creating a system deigned to warehouse patients rather than making a genuine effort to treat them means patients never recover. And how could they when psychiatrist are told to be cold distant from the start? Those who never recover means ever more profit.


I agree treating mentally ill patients is difficult, for some a huge challenge. Its takes a special kind of person. One who can handle stress while being kind, compassionate always willing to smile seeing the best potential in every person. However if doctors were actually given better tools to help the ill, the ill wouldn't be so difficult to treat. A common pattern I see among patients is hatred or doubt from those who treat them. That in itself is must be fixed. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

There is one person on here who, IMO, has the right idea. Ive read the blogs made by KINDNESSTHERAPY, which are so accurate in every way. Brilliantly accurate. They also teach something vital to the treatment of the mentally ill: respect, empathy and above all listening. Just thought this was worth mentioning since I brought up the coldness among most psychiatrist.

I didntmeant to post it at antipsych. mod put it here

I have to admit that I parsed through this lengthy piece...I'm a little tired right now! But it was definitely interesting and I will find the time to read through it thoroughly later.

I am in a helping profession and I find at times it is hard for me to face going to work. That being said, I usually love my job, especially working with my clients. I have more of a problem with administration who claim to use best practices and have our clientele's best interest at heart.

I see them as giving lip service to the very people we are supposed to be there for and treating them as pitiable children. It makes me angry and it's hard for me to keep my mouth shut. (Opening it in the past almost led to my dismissal.)

My view is that we will all go this route at some time in our lives. There are lessons for all of us to learn from people who have had to navigate life differently than the rest of us. From my perspective, they know tools and have learned strategies that we could all benefit from.

I'm supposed to be their teacher, helping them to navigate in the world as independently as possible. But as I have frequently said to my clients, they are teaching me as much if not more than what I am teaching them. We often have great fun learning together and coming up with scathingly brilliant ideas for jazzing up our lessons.

At the end of it all, I am looking for the common threads of what we all want and need in life when I look into the eyes of people. Some have very obvious struggles while others have almost invisible needs. And all of this is very fluid. I may trade places with someone who seems very different from me today on the morrow. Hopefully, there will be someone around who will see that I am still me and will value me the way I am.

This stuck out to me in the article Why Is It So Hard To Be Around Mentally Ill People?

"Intruding upon the personal space of others".

The only time I ever really want to get away is when I am talking to a "mentally ill" person and they insist on speaking to me standing at a distance of like 12-18 inches away and when I try to step back and make the distance the normal arms length of like 3-4 feet they move up on me again and stand to darn close when speaking to me right up in my face. You would think that after I back up two or 3 times the person would get the picture. For me that's the worst and I just make an exit fast and want that person away.

This last happened a few weeks ago and I guess I could call the offender 'manic'. Manic is fun but not 2 inches from my face !

Of course the article points out borderline personality disorder "they can set up situations where whichever option is chosen will be reacted to as if it were the wrong one."

I have a girl I hang around who has total borderline traits but since I know what it is, and she knows I know she "has" it we are not playing that game. Her BS is actually kind of fun.

The more I think about it the more I like 'mentally ill' people better than phony fake ass "normal" people.

"Normal People" - The most prevalent vermin in the USA, Recognized by some of the following characteristics, see :

1. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yuppie

2. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Suburbanite

"Normal" people should stay out of the mental health business.


That was a good topic TN.

Copy_Cat wrote:This stuck out to me in the article Why Is It So Hard To Be Around Mentally Ill People?

"Intruding upon the personal space of others".

The only time I ever really want to get away is when I am talking to a "mentally ill" person and they insist on speaking to me standing at a distance of like 12-18 inches away and when I try to step back and make the distance the normal arms length of like 3-4 feet they move up on me again and stand to darn close when speaking to me right up in my face. You would think that after I back up two or 3 times the person would get the picture. For me that's the worst and I just make an exit fast and want that person away.

This last happened a few weeks ago and I guess I could call the offender 'manic'. Manic is fun but not 2 inches from my face !

Of course the article points out borderline personality disorder "they can set up situations where whichever option is chosen will be reacted to as if it were the wrong one."

I have a girl I hang around who has total borderline traits but since I know what it is, and she knows I know she "has" it we are not playing that game. Her BS is actually kind of fun.

The more I think about it the more I like 'mentally ill' people better than phony fake ass "normal" people.

"Normal People" - The most prevalent vermin in the USA, Recognized by some of the following characteristics, see :

1. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=yuppie

2. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Suburbanite

"Normal" people should stay out of the mental health business.


That was a good topic TN.

Yeah, but it's not one best suited for anti-psych, since it isn't anti-psych. It is even offensive for the anti-psych crowd and fuels their indignancy.

I meant to post there on the mental illness forums such as borderline, bipolar and depression, where a real discussion could be help.

In here, we kinda already know how it works. lol

But it is refreshing to see such an important psychologist (kevin turnquist is vocal in the web for many years now) being so honest.

twistednerve wrote:In here, we kinda already know how it works. lol

I know , 'anti psych' is actually just a "free speech zone".


Here look it up http://www.google.com/search?q=free+speech+zone , then click on images