Simple Approach To A Complex Problem

...By No Means A Solution, But A Healthier Approach

Colin Ross is one of my heroes. I had the great opportunity to listen to him speak on two occasions now. In his presence I recognized how much a force he truly is. One of his books I am currently reading is The Great Psychiatry Scam. This cute little section I will quote reminded me about something that is very important to me and after the quote I will tell you why:

"Chapter 1: True Memories of Early Amnesia

I was born in a class-five
hurricane, and I howled, at the
night, the rain and the driving
mediocrity. But it's all right now,
in fact it's a gas. Jumping Jack
Flash, it's a gas. Jumping Jack
Flash, it's a gas, gas, gas.

Which reminds me of Aunt Jemima, Mexican jumping beans, and flatus. Which reminds me of psychiatry.

Which in turn reminds me of a patient I interviewed as a psychiatrist in Winnipeg in the 1980's. He said that he had been persecuted by Greyhound Bus Line for 2,000,000 years and that the RCMP had decapitated him several days previously. When I asked how he could be talking to me when he had been decapitated, he shrugged, raised his hands as a disclaimer, and said 'I'm just telling you what happened.'.

If that philosophy is good enough for him, it's good enough for me..."

The reason I love this is because it so very true when dealing with what has been labeled 'Mental Health Issues'. I hate that label but I don't get to decide things like this.

If a person is hearing voices, I don't care that that person has some disease and that the voices aren't 'real'. For that person they are real. That's the starting point for working with them. You can't just tell them they are crazy and need to get better and maybe give them medication and lengthy expensive treatment that doesn't work. Why not start by accepting what they are telling you?

I went to this really terrible suicide prevention training through work, it was terribad. We did role playing, which is almost a complete waste of time, and my coworker and friend had a card that told him the following: you have been hearing voices and they are telling you to kill your sister and you love your sister very much as she is the only one in the world who is there for you and so you want to end your life to protect her, you don't want to talk about the reason because of your shame so you are hard to communicate with. I received a card that said: your patient wants to end their life because they are hearing voices. That's all the information you get to work with.

So, bright eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to save the universe, I started asking questions of my 'patient'. He replied he heard voices. So I asked how many voices, male or female, curious exploratory questions to find out what I'm dealing with. The 'specialist' in charge of the training interrupted and said: so, the voices aren't real, this is a suicide risk assessment, your job is to find out if they are a risk or not. Well, no shit lady, in order to find out I need to know the story. The person ended up talking to me anyway so I'm assuming a legitimate risk is involved on some level.

I continue. He says: they tell me to do things. I say: what kind of things? He says: stuff. I say: what do you mean by stuff? He says: well, you know, just stuff. So I decide it is time to corner him into narrowing down the story and giving me details. I say: good stuff or bad stuff? He says: both. I say: ok, can you give me some examples. He says: Well, it is just stuff. I say: do they tell you to go buy groceries, do they tell you to clean the house, to drive around, day-to-day stuff, what kind of stuff? The lady interrupts and tells me I'm mocking the patient. Actually, I'm working with a difficult human being who doesn't trust me. It is different. But I didn't say that to her, she would be unwilling to learn anyway.

She reminds me one more time that the voices aren't real. At this point I give up, I realize what I'm dealing with and let her give me advice, put on her big shit-eating grin like she's accomplished something, and walk off. Then I turn to my coworkers and say: was I mocking? All three in the group said: no, that was a good approach I thought. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. The voices were real for the character. Why is that so hard to accept?

Therein lies a major un-humaning involved in mental health services today. I don't hear the voices but they do. That needs to be accepted.

If the philosophy was good enough for him, what makes me so special it is not good enough for me?