Two psychiatrists were at a convention. As they conversed over a cup of coffee, one asked, “What was your most difficult case?” The other replied, “I had a patient who lived in a pure fantasy world. He believed that an uncle in South America was going to die and leave him a fortune. All day long he waited for a letter to arrive from an attorney. He never went out; he never did anything, he merely sat around and waited for this fantasy letter from this fantasy uncle. I worked with this man for eight years. It was an eight-year struggle. Every day for eight years I worked, but I finally cured him, and then that stupid letter arrived!” Read more!
Rule 1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time round.
Rule 2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full time informal school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons, you may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
Rule 3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error, experimentation. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that ultimately work.
Rule 4. A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson.
Rule 5. Learning lessons does not end. There is on part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned. Rule 6. There is no better place than here. When your there has become here, you will simply obtain another there that will again look better than here.
Rule 7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
Rule 8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
Rule 9. Your answers live inside you. The answers to life’s questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
Excerpts from the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health
Vision Statement: We envision a future when everyone with a mental illness will recover, a future when mental illnesses can be detected early, and a future when everyone with a mental illness, at any stage of life, has access to effective treatment and supports – essentials for living, working, learning and participating fully in the community.
Recovery refers to the process in which people are able to live, work, learn and participate fully in their communities. For some individuals, recovery is the ability to live a fulfilling and productive life despite a disability. For others, recovery implies the reduction or complete remission of symptoms. Science has shown that having hope plays an integral role in an individual’s recovery.
The Interim Report concluded that the current mental health system is not oriented to the single most important goal of the people it serves – the hope of recovery.
The recovery process is recognized as being highly individualized, varying significantly from one person to the next. However, all people experience recovery in some way at some point in their lives (Spaniol, Koehler, & Hutchinson, 1994). For this reason, we know that while an individual’s recovery process may take a unique path and have a unique outcome, that process is likely to be difficult and painful, to be complex rather than linear, and to require a significant amount of time. Historically, people with terminal illnesses were considered an embarrassment to doctors. A patient who could not be cured was evidence of the doctors' fallibility, and as a result the doctors regularly shunned the dying with the excuse that there was nothing more that could be done.
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross was a doctor in Switzerland who opposed this unkindness and spent much of time with dying people, both comforting and studying them. She wrote a book, (On Death and Dying) which included a cycle of emotional states often referred to as the Grief Cycle. A common problem she identified was that people can get stuck in one phase and not complete the grieving process.
There are striking similarities in the treatment of terminally ill and mentally ill patients. Spaniol and colleagues (1994) have identified phases in the mental health recovery process similar to those in the Grief Cycle with the same inherent dangers of individuals getting “stuck” at some point in the cycle of recovery.
From what are People Recovering? • Life histories of abuse, neglect, deprivation, impoverishment,abandonment, and isolation • Societal Stigma • Failures of the mental health system • Good intentions of mental health professionals • Alcohol and drug addiction, etc.
Are you stuck somewhere in the recovery process? Listen closely to the words in the song “When you believe” from the video in this post and believe in yourself . . . your miracle awaits. Read more!
Dr. Robert Holden of the Happiness Project says that we were all created “happy” and to experience real happiness we need only learn to “follow our joy”. “Don’t waste time, he says, looking for a job, but look for a purpose instead”. The difference is enormous and your happiness, as well as your recovery, depends on your understanding of this simple principle.
Additionally, successful individuals report that recovery is dependent upon taking an active role in the world, engaging in meaningful life activities, and building healthy relationships with others. Take a look at the following video clip and decide for yourself and “May the force be with you” . . . well actually, it always has been . . .
Life's pressures can drive a wedge into the relationships we treasure most. It's important to be intentional about building love into the relationships we value and care about. In order to keep the relationships you treasure at their BEST, remember these four steps. Bless those you care about by speaking life words into their character. Pay attention and point out the character qualities that bless others. Use them to speak back blessing. By focusing on building words you will find the "warmth" factor in your relationship will grow as well. When there are things that need addressing, ask God to guide you in speaking words that will not destroy.
Encourage those you care about in their daily circumstances. Listen well to the things they have to say. Communication dries up when we don't really pay attention to what the other person is saying. We each get lost in our own cares. Listen for the feelings behind the words and seek to bring hope. Let your support be known even when the solutions are not.
Share thoughts, ideas, time and experiences. When we become too busy to share ourselves with those we love, erosion and indifference can slip in. Be intentional about sharing life together. Take time to talk and share ideas or concerns. Time to spend together and dreaming together won't be there unless you make it. Let those you care about know this is important to you and prioritize it.
Touch those you care about in appropriate and loving ways. Touch is one of our most basic needs. Taking someone’s hand, giving them a hug, putting your hand on their arm or back can do much to convey care, warmth, and the encouragement they may need in their recovery. See the Healing Power of Touch video from video archive, you can find it in the sidebar. Read more!
There's another advantage of being poor - a doctor will cure you faster. Frank McKinney Hubbard
What is most interestintg in family practice is not what the problem is but what motivates people to seek help for it. Something in the family, a hidden factor, will make the mundane interesting. Sandy Burstein
Read more!
The pharmaceutical industry is redefining and relabeling as medicinal problems calling for drug intervention a wide range of human behaviors which, in the past, have been viewed as falling within the bounds of the normal trials and tribulations of human existence.
