Monday, March 8, 2010

Where are the mothers?

Are there any mothers out there who are willing to share their pre-natal experiences with a child who later received a diagnosis of schizophrenia?

When I started blogging about my son's schizophrenia, I thought there might be other blogging mothers out there who were doing the same, but this doesn't appear to be the case. There are many mothers who blog about their child's autism, but where are the mothers who blog about schizophrenia? I am willing to widen my survey to include mothers of bipolar children (really, what's the difference?). Mothers of bipolar children also are in short supply in the blogosphere.

Mothers need to be here and to be heard in order to do the job that mainstream psychiatry is unwilling to do. That job is to dig back into our emotional memory bank, into the pre-natal environment, to begin to piece together our child/ourselves story.

I thought that my ten month silent pregnancy was hugely significant in Chris's later diagnosis, but the doctors were not at all interested. Not at all. So, I had to do the work myself, to piece together Chris's unique life in utero and why I believe that the life before birth is very important, not in a pathological sense, but in finding a reason for someone retreating from life into a fantasy world.

We all know that there was something unique about the experience, and I suggest that if we think about it, we can pinpoint some unusual things about the experience from conception through birth. The reason I am interested in hypnotherapy, for example, is exactly because it can delve into the hidden world of the womb and even past lives. Try suggesting adjunct treatment in hypnotherapy to your mainstream psychiatrist and see where that gets you. They don't want to go there. Most aren't trained to go there. You appreciate perhaps more than they do the importance of the pre-verbal life.

So, where are you or your friends who have a story to tell about what was unsual/strange/remarkable about the pre-natal experience?

2 comments:

  1. Postulate debates and theories regarding the origin of the condition are of little use. While this theory is as valid, or invalid, as any other we should really be compelled to ask so what? If you could prove (which you can't), by any stretch of the imagination, that the condition had its source prenatal or pregenerational what could you possibly do to affect change in regards to elminating the cause?

    I have come to understand, after wasting time and effort fixed on the cause (postulating that the origin was autoimmune, or related to glutathione synthesis, tryptophan levels, and a few others) that the etiology is not nearly as important as whether we can have a positive influence on recovery and the amelioration of not only symptoms but underlying psychosocial catalysts.

    With no proven cause, and no diagnostic tests, the absolute beauty is one can define the cause as anything that provides a powerful interpretation and meaning to the individual; one that aids in the recovery process. Our human propensity to assign meaning and purpose to everything results in our becoming lost in these circular rationalizations that lead no where.

    We are, for all intents and purposes, the authors of our own stories and the story we live our lives through either places us firmly as victims in this cruel old world or it allows us freedom, choice, and the distinction that we are masters of our own destinies.

    Anyone who recovers from this condition moves from victim to master.

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  2. This is not about pathology, as I said in my post, nor am I trying to eliminate cause, so I think you misunderstood. I am interested in the therapies that deal or hark back to the pre-natal (pre-verbal) environment because this is where I believe the focus of many of the therapies should be and are not. Talk therapy is talk, and often doesn't get to the complex emotional underpinnings of the person, which begin in the womb. The fetus is intuitive. If more people are aware of the pre-natal environment they might seek out more therapies that deliver a resounding emotional resonance than what currently passes for help, then more people would move on from victim to master.Who knows the pre-natal environment better than the mother? Also, I can't prove that our problems are intergenerational, but I sure saw improvement in Chris when we sought out intergenerational therapies that deal with dead ancestors. I don't believe we are solely the authors of our own stories but we can exercise control in how things turn out. Intergenerational acceptance and forgiveness is promoted as a healing strategy in religion and with certain people like Bert Hellinger and Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt. As Klinghardt says, you "wait for the magic to happen" and it does.

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