Comments on: One of Us http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/04/one-of-us/ <<exploring healthy therapy & counseling>> Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:10:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Jeanette http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/04/one-of-us/#comment-8305 Jeanette Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:47:46 +0000 http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/02/one-of-us/#comment-8305 Well I think that we all know that this is just not true. There are countless mental health patients who are surviving pretty well with the community approach. I do, however, think that some residential care facilities still have their place in the treatment of mentally ill patients. There are just some people who are so crippled by their various instabilities that they cannot function in everyday society. There needs to be safe places for them to go to receive the care and medical attention that they need. Well I think that we all know that this is just not true. There are countless mental health patients who are surviving pretty well with the community approach. I do, however, think that some residential care facilities still have their place in the treatment of mentally ill patients. There are just some people who are so crippled by their various instabilities that they cannot function in everyday society. There needs to be safe places for them to go to receive the care and medical attention that they need.

]]> By: Austin http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/04/one-of-us/#comment-8303 Austin Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:45:20 +0000 http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/02/one-of-us/#comment-8303 And how do you make people realize that it is OK to be involved with these sorts of things? I come from a generation that I think is still very hesitant to accept mental illness as a true debilitation- they just mostly think you should be able to snap out of it. And how do you make people realize that it is OK to be involved with these sorts of things? I come from a generation that I think is still very hesitant to accept mental illness as a true debilitation- they just mostly think you should be able to snap out of it.

]]> By: Lucielle http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/04/one-of-us/#comment-6647 Lucielle Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:37:43 +0000 http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/02/one-of-us/#comment-6647 At least in the south, churches are a good place to start. Having speakers during Wednesday night programs are often very effective. For other parts of the country where church is not a dominant part of life, schools may be the answer. Parent meetings at school may help. The problem is, if you don't have a captive audience, you won't be able to reach people. At least in the south, churches are a good place to start. Having speakers during Wednesday night programs are often very effective. For other parts of the country where church is not a dominant part of life, schools may be the answer. Parent meetings at school may help. The problem is, if you don’t have a captive audience, you won’t be able to reach people.

]]> By: Eitel http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/04/one-of-us/#comment-6645 Eitel Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:36:15 +0000 http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/02/one-of-us/#comment-6645 I think a great follow up question for this blog is: how do we encourage community to accept those who are on the fringe? What practical avenues do we have to get this accomplished? I think a great follow up question for this blog is: how do we encourage community to accept those who are on the fringe? What practical avenues do we have to get this accomplished?

]]> By: gary http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/04/one-of-us/#comment-6643 gary Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:35:19 +0000 http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/02/one-of-us/#comment-6643 Coming from a parent's view as well as a psychotherapist's view, I struggle with the concept of community fully embracing those who are mentally ill. When I have on my psychotherapy it, I see that it is almost always in the best interest of a person who is mentally ill to have community members who interact w/ and genuinely care about him or her. However, when I have on my parent hat, I do not want someone with mental illness anywhere near my children. Not b/c those w/ mental illness are "bad" people, but they are very often unpredictable people. I feel as a parent, it is my role to protect my children from harm, even if the harm is in the form of those who butter my bread. Coming from a parent’s view as well as a psychotherapist’s view, I struggle with the concept of community fully embracing those who are mentally ill. When I have on my psychotherapy it, I see that it is almost always in the best interest of a person who is mentally ill to have community members who interact w/ and genuinely care about him or her. However, when I have on my parent hat, I do not want someone with mental illness anywhere near my children. Not b/c those w/ mental illness are “bad” people, but they are very often unpredictable people. I feel as a parent, it is my role to protect my children from harm, even if the harm is in the form of those who butter my bread.

]]> By: Johnson http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/04/one-of-us/#comment-6641 Johnson Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:32:32 +0000 http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/02/one-of-us/#comment-6641 One of the problems with assuming that community care will work is the assumption that a patient will take prescribed medication. Is there anyone who has had a client who takes medication as prescribed 100% of the time? If someone is not taking medication as prescribed, it does not matter what the community's attitude towards that person is. One of the problems with assuming that community care will work is the assumption that a patient will take prescribed medication. Is there anyone who has had a client who takes medication as prescribed 100% of the time? If someone is not taking medication as prescribed, it does not matter what the community’s attitude towards that person is.

]]> By: Lisa Dale Miller, MFT http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/04/one-of-us/#comment-6509 Lisa Dale Miller, MFT Sun, 03 Feb 2008 16:48:43 +0000 http://www.goodtherapy.org/custom/blog/2008/02/02/one-of-us/#comment-6509 While I appreciate Greg Madison’s well-researched and thoughtful article, I do have the sense that it misses the true source of why community is an afterthought not just in mental health, but in most aspects of the cultural context of the western world. I would ask us to consider the source of communal alienation and narcissism is in fact a parallel-process that exists between the Western collective psyche’s obsession with individualism and its unrelenting requirement for conformity; neither of which engenders compassion or a communal sense of caring/sharing. Greg asks a great question: What as therapists can we do to heal the incredible lack of communal responsibility and connectedness that typifies most of our patients’ daily experience and our own reluctance to serve the community at large? James Hillman beautifully elucidated in his book, “One Hundred Years of Psychotherapy…” that the container of individual therapy has had limited effect upon the health and well-being of society at large. Hillman gives this example: a therapist listening to a patient complain about a 1.5 hour commute to work, viewing the patient’s suffering as their personal problem, rather than asking the patient to question their own participation in a dis-eased culture that creates the problem. In this case the insistence upon “individual freedom” the car, and a serious lack of creative capital investment in communal transportation, combines to increase the patient’s suffering. If this equation were switched it might greatly decrease the patient’s suffering. However, this will not change if the therapist does not assume the role of catalyst for the patient to question the personal and communal sanity of a 3 hour commute back and forth to work each day. So though the suffering of the seriously mentally ill is an example of communal disconnection in extremis, I would argue that the communal dis-ease of narcissistic alienation is rampant in the supposedly comfortable lifestyles of prosperous communities everywhere in the western world. While I appreciate Greg Madison’s well-researched and thoughtful article, I do have the sense that it misses the true source of why community is an afterthought not just in mental health, but in most aspects of the cultural context of the western world. I would ask us to consider the source of communal alienation and narcissism is in fact a parallel-process that exists between the Western collective psyche’s obsession with individualism and its unrelenting requirement for conformity; neither of which engenders compassion or a communal sense of caring/sharing.

Greg asks a great question: What as therapists can we do to heal the incredible lack of communal responsibility and connectedness that typifies most of our patients’ daily experience and our own reluctance to serve the community at large? James Hillman beautifully elucidated in his book, “One Hundred Years of Psychotherapy…” that the container of individual therapy has had limited effect upon the health and well-being of society at large.

Hillman gives this example: a therapist listening to a patient complain about a 1.5 hour commute to work, viewing the patient’s suffering as their personal problem, rather than asking the patient to question their own participation in a dis-eased culture that creates the problem. In this case the insistence upon “individual freedom” the car, and a serious lack of creative capital investment in communal transportation, combines to increase the patient’s suffering. If this equation were switched it might greatly decrease the patient’s suffering. However, this will not change if the therapist does not assume the role of catalyst for the patient to question the personal and communal sanity of a 3 hour commute back and forth to work each day.

So though the suffering of the seriously mentally ill is an example of communal disconnection in extremis, I would argue that the communal dis-ease of narcissistic alienation is rampant in the supposedly comfortable lifestyles of prosperous communities everywhere in the western world.

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