As one with lived experience, I have seen both sides.I have been subject to all you describe in your original comment — the labeling, gosip, character assination etc , so I can also tell you that every time my partner became involved in my treatment it was only a matter of time before the relationship ended.
I use the term inclusive as it is opposite to alienating. I would further define using this dichotomania. So the relationship would be supportive rather than critical, accepting rather than judgemental, focused on making better rather than curing. An unconditional loving relationship is very important but I am opposed to therapists forming these with their patients as it complicates the relationship. Personally as a man I prefer working with men while enjoying my relationships with women outside of therapy.
All my studies have revealed that an inclusive relationship in a safe environment are essential for recovery.
It has long been suspected that feelings of alienation are related to the development of psychosis but with no consensus on the source of this alienation. In fact, the identification of the source is not important as you are dealing with a feeling not a neurosis. The formation of an inclusive relationship by one person can relieve the feelings of alienation and start reversing the persons reaction to these.
I think it is obvious that finding from recovering patients what helped them to recover would not only be helpful in establishing best practises in treatment but also by extrapolation causes for their troubles. By looking for patterns in these subjective reports you can overcome bias.
See UK Mad blog for an example of this.
Tom if you are still in Escondido or there about give me a call. I’m the only Satz in Encinitas. It’s late and I’m celebrating the life of Phil Lesh before hitting the sack.
As a recovered patient and staff member I can attest that it is not only the patients but also the staff who lack insight. However only the recovered / recovering patients have insight into what helps them and the staff need to realize this and learn from them.
Anti-Psychotics were originally approved to facilitate treatment. As such they were very successful and resulted in many escaping the psychiatric system however the movement to use them as a treatment has been meet with an increase in the number of people reported as suffering from mental illness. Wither this increase is due to the change in approach or to the greed of the pharmaceutical companies wanting to sell more pills does not change the fact this is F**K Up.
I found, while working in a psychiatric hospital, the best way to handle delusions was to first listen to the patient, then express what my opinion of what they were saying, prefixed with the statement “that I could be totally wrong” and ending with the fact that we could both be wrong and there could be some other explanation. This approach has the advantage of unfixing his/her attention from his own concept of reality while not alienating the patient by telling him that he is wrong or that as I was staff and therefore, I knew better. Fixated attention is a common human problem.
I also discovered that giving the patient a more rational rationalization was no benefit to the patient as it was still a rationalization. Better a non-committal acknowledgement like “you could be right”. Even, after experiencing a psychotic episode, I realised that I didn’t know better than the patient what he/she is experiencing. It’s not only the patient but also the staff that lack insight. Humility over hubris.
I am a Spirit. I have a body. I have a mind which is a collection of: thoughts, ideas. memories, beliefs, decisions, mistakes etc most of which are trash. Having spent 40 years taking out the trash I can say it is an ongoing process but each day the load gets lighter and the sun gets brighter. There is hope and thanks for helping others.
From 1979 to 1982 I worked in a Psychiatric hospital in London England. Back then we had a revolving door treatment plan as the longer patients were in the hospital the worse they got. This was blamed on the institution, The fact that the nursing staff under the direction of the medical staff were running the institution was not seen as relevant. I am shocked that over 40 years latter these experts in mental health have failed to realise that inclusive relationships work better than alienating relationships especially after the Harding Longitudinal study was published in 1987. https://psychrights.org/research/digest/effective/APAMonV31No2.htm
Is mental illness a learned reaction to an insane world?
No. Normality is the learned reaction to an insane world and to the insanity buried in the psyche. Mental illness is a failure of the maturation process — in fact the process is thrown into reverse.
The Harding Longitudinal studies of the Vermont and Maine state backward hospital patients show up to 70% of no hope patients recover when they are removed from Psychiatric care, given a safe place to live and someone who believes in them. Psychiatry knows that their hospitals make many patients worse and respond with a revolving door philosophy. Until Psychiatry can uniformly achieve a 65 – 70% success rate with psychotic patients, research should be focused on what Psychiatry is doing wrong and why patients improved when removed from psychiatric care. Until then they have no right to do any other research.
All comes down to we know what we want to know and not know what we don’t want to know.
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As one with lived experience, I have seen both sides.I have been subject to all you describe in your original comment — the labeling, gosip, character assination etc , so I can also tell you that every time my partner became involved in my treatment it was only a matter of time before the relationship ended.
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I use the term inclusive as it is opposite to alienating. I would further define using this dichotomania. So the relationship would be supportive rather than critical, accepting rather than judgemental, focused on making better rather than curing. An unconditional loving relationship is very important but I am opposed to therapists forming these with their patients as it complicates the relationship. Personally as a man I prefer working with men while enjoying my relationships with women outside of therapy.
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So true.
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All my studies have revealed that an inclusive relationship in a safe environment are essential for recovery.
It has long been suspected that feelings of alienation are related to the development of psychosis but with no consensus on the source of this alienation. In fact, the identification of the source is not important as you are dealing with a feeling not a neurosis. The formation of an inclusive relationship by one person can relieve the feelings of alienation and start reversing the persons reaction to these.
Report comment
I think it is obvious that finding from recovering patients what helped them to recover would not only be helpful in establishing best practises in treatment but also by extrapolation causes for their troubles. By looking for patterns in these subjective reports you can overcome bias.
See UK Mad blog for an example of this.
https://www.madintheuk.com/2024/08/rethinking-schizophrenia/
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Tom if you are still in Escondido or there about give me a call. I’m the only Satz in Encinitas. It’s late and I’m celebrating the life of Phil Lesh before hitting the sack.
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As a recovered patient and staff member I can attest that it is not only the patients but also the staff who lack insight. However only the recovered / recovering patients have insight into what helps them and the staff need to realize this and learn from them.
https://psychrights.org/research/digest/effective/APAMonV31No2.htm
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Thank you. Can I call you Some-one?
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Anti-Psychotics were originally approved to facilitate treatment. As such they were very successful and resulted in many escaping the psychiatric system however the movement to use them as a treatment has been meet with an increase in the number of people reported as suffering from mental illness. Wither this increase is due to the change in approach or to the greed of the pharmaceutical companies wanting to sell more pills does not change the fact this is F**K Up.
Report comment
I found, while working in a psychiatric hospital, the best way to handle delusions was to first listen to the patient, then express what my opinion of what they were saying, prefixed with the statement “that I could be totally wrong” and ending with the fact that we could both be wrong and there could be some other explanation. This approach has the advantage of unfixing his/her attention from his own concept of reality while not alienating the patient by telling him that he is wrong or that as I was staff and therefore, I knew better. Fixated attention is a common human problem.
I also discovered that giving the patient a more rational rationalization was no benefit to the patient as it was still a rationalization. Better a non-committal acknowledgement like “you could be right”. Even, after experiencing a psychotic episode, I realised that I didn’t know better than the patient what he/she is experiencing. It’s not only the patient but also the staff that lack insight. Humility over hubris.
Report comment
I am a Spirit. I have a body. I have a mind which is a collection of: thoughts, ideas. memories, beliefs, decisions, mistakes etc most of which are trash. Having spent 40 years taking out the trash I can say it is an ongoing process but each day the load gets lighter and the sun gets brighter. There is hope and thanks for helping others.
Report comment
From 1979 to 1982 I worked in a Psychiatric hospital in London England. Back then we had a revolving door treatment plan as the longer patients were in the hospital the worse they got. This was blamed on the institution, The fact that the nursing staff under the direction of the medical staff were running the institution was not seen as relevant. I am shocked that over 40 years latter these experts in mental health have failed to realise that inclusive relationships work better than alienating relationships especially after the Harding Longitudinal study was published in 1987.
https://psychrights.org/research/digest/effective/APAMonV31No2.htm
Report comment
Is mental illness a learned reaction to an insane world?
No. Normality is the learned reaction to an insane world and to the insanity buried in the psyche. Mental illness is a failure of the maturation process — in fact the process is thrown into reverse.
Report comment
The Harding Longitudinal studies of the Vermont and Maine state backward hospital patients show up to 70% of no hope patients recover when they are removed from Psychiatric care, given a safe place to live and someone who believes in them. Psychiatry knows that their hospitals make many patients worse and respond with a revolving door philosophy. Until Psychiatry can uniformly achieve a 65 – 70% success rate with psychotic patients, research should be focused on what Psychiatry is doing wrong and why patients improved when removed from psychiatric care. Until then they have no right to do any other research.
Report comment