Monday, November 29, 2010

Change of environment needed

In the car on the week-end, listening to the same radio show. This time the interview was with a management somebody, who was making the same point as the sports psychologist. He said that people are sent on management courses all the time, yet they usually come back to the same dysfunctional office environment that they left. Very quickly they slide back into the same way of thinking and acting.

Here we go again. The same is true with mental health. The patient is released from the hospital (not necessarily improved, just patched over, I may point out) back into the same environment. It could be the family, it could be social housing, it could be living alone. Often, the person regresses because the environment has not changed. It needs to in order to begin or sustain recovery.

I have yet to have a psychiatrist tell me this simple truth or suggest books to me that would help me see how this works because it goes against the disease model of mental illness. Honesty is needed here, even if it means suggesting things people have trouble accepting.

3 comments:

  1. Yes I agree the invoirnment is pretty foul but we do not have to be controlled by the invirornment we can surrender controll to our longing to experience and know joy and fulfillement in every moment of our lives. this longing comes directly from God and if trusted and followed out all the way leads to Heaven on earth for anyone who is willing to trust this in essence word of God and go all the way.
    I continue to be the living proof that my words can be trusted. No one is a hopeless case and it is never too late for anyone to try Gods love and see for themselves.See my facebook page for mindblowing truths about all of us and f*** the begrudgers You have life now and no one else can live it for you.

    There is a tide when taken at the full leads on to success(true words approx.) what Shakespeare said. this posting is real nourishment for your soul if you can acquire a taste for its defiant tone
    I am conytinueing to let go of my Serequel and its no problem and of course it wont ever be again because my love for life(G0d)is much stronger than my fears

    Noel Gaughan

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  2. We cannot effect meaningful change for anyone else absent changing self. This is a reasonable mantra.

    I am of the view that context is significant and that context defines how we think, what we believe and how we behave. Environment influences context and as the environment changes what we believe, how we think and how we behave change as well.

    In order to change context one requires a change in structure, and a systematic change to sustain behaviors. I suggest as routine is established that behaviors become predictable.

    My son who had gone two years without a psychotic break and who had completed 1st year university with honors and who was not on any medication broke again when his environment changed. He had been living with me, began living alone, with no real support system and he regressed. My approach has been to remove him from the context he was in and return him to one that succeeded. He needs to learn to live independently however he needs the benefits of strong support at the current time.

    So, here we go again. The distinction this time is he will not be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He will not be medicated and he will recover. This is the context that I am living in. From there he will discover new possibility and will grow. Recently I read an article that suggested that crisis provides an opportunity for growth and that intervening into the crisis and interrupting it with neuroleptics thwarts the growth opportunity. Makes a lot of sense!

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  3. Anonymous - That's exactly what happened to Chris when he was hospitalized two years ago. We were encouraging him to change his environment and he was not ready. I looked upon his hospitalization as an opportunity to learn. I regret that he was put back on drugs, but that's water under the bridge at this point. He's doing much better, is gradually getting off the drugs, and I won't make the same mistake again by rushing him. We are taking a long term view.

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