Comments by Audrey Dimola

Showing 14 of 14 comments.

  • Thanks so much for your comment, Geronimo! And thanks for drawing attention to the fact that they’re “not all bad guys.” Certainly– the psychiatrist I worked with was so lovely and accommodating– spent so much time with me and answers all my questions and follow-up emails– it just wasn’t the system in which my Soul Path could progress. I also feel those tragic echoes of “there’s nothing we can do” specifically in relation to many things my dad has tried on his own path– it’s a terribly frightening and powerless place to be– to feel like you are just an anomaly that no one knows how to help– when you depend on experts outside of you. Do agree that psychotherapy– in the way of probing the depths– can still be useful, yes– depending on how the techniques are evolved and employed, re: the toolbox theory. I mentioned to Kristin I’m currently working on an Ecotherapy training for this reason– the more ways we can expand how we can work with the soul and psyche, the better. Thanks again for weighing in.

    Report comment

  • Hi Fern! I love your name 🙂 Thank you so much for your comment– and sad (yet grateful for the kinship!) that we share affinity re: trauma impacts being overlooked. Have you ever done Somatic Experiencing work? It has been so deeply helpful for me… And I haven’t heard of Matt Ball’s model but will look into it– I’m always so fascinated to see others coming to the same conclusions I did, in different ways. Thank you for sharing!!

    Report comment

  • I hear you!! Thanks so much for your comment, Sam. I think for me– after running from diagnosis with the spectre of bipolar disorder all around me, and in my family, since I was a teenager– I needed to just give up the ghost and come face to face, yes, with the traditional pathway– exactly in order to see how much it was in direct opposition to my Soul. Having that experience was my Call to Adventure. In that “twisted chaotic perfect way”– indeed!!

    Report comment

  • Oh wow Kristen, I adore that Maslow reference!! It encapsulates so much– so much in my own past journey too, of continuing to use the same brute force techniques/damaging coping mechanisms and not adapting (I once wrote to myself something like– if you keep slamming through the walls in front of you without doing the internal work, you’ll keep breaking through to exactly the same place. The brute force/hammer and nail is not the thing…). I am actually currently working on a training in Ecotherapy for this exact reason. We need more tools in that precious toolbox to fully address the breadth of human (and more-than-human, for that matter!) life and experience. Thank you so much for your comment!!

    Report comment

  • Thank you so much for your comment, Rosalee! As I mentioned to Paula/Dr. Caplan above, I do agree with you both– that we need to move further and further away from the deeply damaging and pathologizing DSM language. However in this context– and also for myself as a concluding step in emerging from this storied past– I think it is useful to use the terms in this particular article because it helps people who are suffering inside the system to localize what I was feeling and what I was diagnosed with inside that system. In my own life I purposely am very careful about not adopting/identifying with the DSM language– I usually say, in the traditional mental health system/biomedical model, “I was given” a bipolar II diagnosis, etc. Thank you both for drawing attention to this continued way forward in the language we use!

    Report comment

  • Paula thank you so much for this comment! In my own life I am very careful about how I speak of the diagnoses– I say “I was given” X diagnosis instead of “I am” or “I have” X diagnosis. Or clearly state that in the traditional mental health system, I was diagnosed bipolar II, etc. I do agree with you– that we need to move further and further away from the deeply damaging and pathologizing DSM language. However in this context– and also for myself as a concluding step in emerging from this storied past– I think it is useful to use the terms in this particular article because it helps people who are suffering inside the system to localize what I was feeling and what I was diagnosed with inside that system. There are many people who still identify with and live through the diagnoses and we build an immediate affinity/understanding once I mention the words BPD, etc. All of that to say– I will also keep your words in mind going forward because I believe our sentiment re: revising this truly broken system is shared. Thank you for your acknowledgement!!

    Report comment

  • I deeply hear and acknowledge you– thank you so much for your comment. re: trauma in the body, have you ever explored Somatic Experiencing work, based on the work of Peter Levine in “Waking The Tiger”? I have been working with someone weekly since April and it has been life-changing. Thank you so truly for your words and for Seeing me– this is my Great Work in life and I so take it to heart. <3

    Report comment