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Chard
250 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 25 2017 : 01:44:52 AM
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Not sure where to post this... but I've been wondering about this and would love to hear what you all have to say about this...
So I'm a psychotherapist and tonight I happen to have seen new client (already seeing clients after just moving!) diagnosed with Schizoaffective Disorder, which is known as severe diagnosis which is combo of Schizophrenia and Mood Disorder symptoms. She was saying that when not medicated she would hear a man's voice telling her negative things about herself or her family. Then she said she once saw a beautiful angel.
I've come to realize that there is a such a fine line between sanity and insanity and to be honest I don't even know what sanity is... perhaps I'm not sane myself... and actually who really cares! I've had no history of mental illness aside from food addiction, yet I know if I were to tell certain people some paranormal experiences I've had they would think I need meds! I think I've just learned to know my audience though and who you can tell what to!! lol!
So I wanted to hear your thoughts on mental illness like Schizophrenia... do you see it merely as mental illness or a human being with psychic abilities more connected to the ethereal world? This is an interesting article on Shamanism and Mental Illlness:
http://www.jaysongaddis.com/the-sha...tal-illness/
It's interesting of course that meds suppress these types of experiences. Should we be suppressing these experiences or be doing energy work around this? I know this client would not be open to a non-traditional approach but it's still a good topic I'd love to hear your thoughts on...  C
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Yonatan
Israel
849 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2017 : 07:30:49 AM
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Hi Chard 
Thanks for opening up this topic. It is a very interesting topic!
I'm Yonatan, and I've been doing ayp for around 9 years. I have also been diagnosed with mental illness since around 15 years. My most recent psychiatrist diagnosed me with schizophrenia although I don't agree with this. I believe I have OCD and used to have social anxiety (and meditation and spirituality helped me a lot with it).
Anyway, I have never heard voices or seen "unreal" things, but have seen things in my third eye sight (mind's eye) and dabbled in channeling (which I think is the reason the psychiatrist thought I have schizo). And sometimes had amazing spiritual things happen including constant kundalini ecstatic flow and divine dreams.
I think it may be that people who experience otherworldly things and labeled schizophrenic are just more psychically open or sensitive and I will even go a longer way and say that there are astral beings who take advantage of that (darker beings) thus making it a harder life for the sensitive souls. And I do think that in cases like these, the label is less important than the way the person is treated. And sometimes medication is needed exactly because it makes the person less sensitive, and puts an energetic "wall" around them. The woman you are talking about is very interesting because she experiences both sides of the energy spectrum, the lighter and the darker, so who knows, she may have really seen an angel and she may really experience a dark being manipulating her.. really who knows. This world can be very rigid in its way of thinking and anything someone experiences outside the "norm" is many times considered weird, or is judged harshly in many ways. And it is not only with mental illness. Also with things like sexuality, I mean look how people used to treat transgenders and gays (which in the past were labeled mental illness as well). But as I see it the world is becoming more tolerant and accepting of these things because its vibration is rising and there is more understanding around these topics. A psychic told me that the beings that he converses with say that "there is so much that we don't know yet about mental illness. And in the future it will be looked at in a very different way" and I believe that's true
Anyway that's what I had on my mind. Sorry if it's long
Much love!! I can see that a person like you who is sensitive to this topic and experienced spiritual experiences can bring a definite kind of fresh air to the profession. Go go go!! And much good vibes and success and fortune :D
Yonatan |
Edited by - Yonatan on Aug 25 2017 07:45:09 AM |
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Yonatan
Israel
849 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2017 : 07:36:17 AM
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Oh yeah and I also wanted to add that I believe that anything that helps the situation is good. Sometimes both spiritual practices and medication are the right path! I believe that if the person experiences negative things that mess with their ability to live a good life, then this is a problem which is a good idea that it would be treated, no matter if they are labeled schizophrenics or overly psychic.. yes? I think the labels sometimes just do more harm than good, our rigid ways of thinking
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Chard
250 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2017 : 2:29:31 PM
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Awesome response Yonatan! I totally agree with everything you said...yes the rigidity that our society has when in reality there are so many fine lines. I also agree that action needs to be taken when it impedes functioning. Of everyday life.
Interestingly, you mentioned the rigidity around sexuality and society...This client raised issue of gender issues and sexuality mentioning she is considers herself pansexual/gender fluid. She mentioned how she does not see the walls of gender. I was thinking, "wow, she gets it!" So we were discussing how people all are made up of varying degrees or a balance of masculine and feminine polarities within themselves.
I think as we evolve as humans we start to overlook traditional gender/sexual orientation walls that society creates. I often think of myself as both genders and ageless as well as others I know to varying degrees... another interesting topic deserving its own thread!!
Thx Yonatan!! C |
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lalow33
USA
966 Posts |
Posted - Aug 25 2017 : 5:28:36 PM
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| Your client is likely sensitive. She may need a second party to think the negative thoughts which is okay( a voice outside of her). It's likely a protection mechanism. |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1730 Posts |
Posted - Aug 26 2017 : 5:01:09 PM
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Hi everyone
I don't think there is one straightforward answer to this.
On one hand...
There can be a problem there. We are all prisoners to the contents of our minds till enlightenment begins to dawn, but in genuine psychiatric patients this seems to go to an extreme. It's like enormous pressure has built up in a closed space and it pushes its way to the surface via hallucinations, extreme emotions or hyperactivity to the point of violence.
On the other hand...
There is a lot of misdiagnosis in psychiatry. I remember one experiment (sorry, I can't remember the name of the researcher - too long ago - I think he was american). He only faked a psychiatric condition once, up to the point where he got a diagnostic. From then on he acted normal. But once he was labelled, he found it impossible to get out of the system. None of the psychiatrists who saw him from then on realised there was in fact nothing wrong with him.
And I have to say I sympathise with the psychiatrists too. Sometimes they are in very tricky situations. Picture this: Somebody is brought in by very worried relatives after a suicide attempt. Imagine you let that patient go without a diagnostic and without medication. He attempts suicide again and this time he is successful. This of the sort of position in which a psychiatrist can find himself/herself. I remember a suicidal patient that was almost impossible to diagnose. I was a student, doing practice on a psychiatric ward and the doctor who was running our seminar pushed us (the group of students) really hard to come up with a diagnostic. There were just shades of symptoms - something that could have been a bit of a delusion, perhaps a depressive episode that occurred in the past (the patient was not depressed at the time). And we were going round in circles because there wasn't anything obvious to put your finger on. When we ran out of questions to ask, the doctor said to us: "Now everyone writes down on your notebooks the diagnostic you would give to this patient." And she came looking over our shoulders to see what we wrote. At that moment this thought came to me in a flash "She's doing it because she's uncertain herself. She is looking for something like a vote on the possible diagnostics that we were running through". I didn't write anything on my notepad. But you know what? I had the luxury of saying "I don't know". The doctor did not have that option. OK, maybe she'd consult with somebody more senior and split the responsibility. But she could not send that patient back home with a "I don't know why you attempted suicide" conclusion.
So it's a bit of a complicated topic to say the least. I suspect most people feel that the whole approach to mental illness in the West can do with an overhaul, but what a better system would look like is a tough question. It's never just the patients. It's about all the people around them who have to be kept safe, their distress managed etc.
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Edited by - BlueRaincoat on Aug 26 2017 5:31:40 PM |
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Blanche
USA
859 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2017 : 07:38:48 AM
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Hi BlueRaincoat,
The experiment you mention was conducted by David Rosenhan, a psychology professor at Stamford University. He and some of his graduate students were admitted to different hospitals, after reporting auditory hallucinations (hearing a voice). Once in the hospital, they said that their hallucinations were gone, and showed no other symptoms. They all were diagnosed with schizophrenia, forced to take antipsychotic medication, and released after spending in average 19 days in the hospital.
While this experiment questioned the validity of psychiatric diagnostics, mental illness is real, and millions of people struggle with it. Part of the problem might be the fact that we do not really understand our psyche – or who we really are. Even for the people without a mental illness, abusing the physiology by ingesting harmful substances (like soft drinks, processed foods, etc), and abusing the mind by ingesting hours of pointless TV and video programs have a detrimental effect on our psyche. What we do impacts how we function, and we have a choice – e.g. we can meditate or watch TV.
As you mentioned, our approach to mental illness needs an overhaul, and I hope that coming years bring a new paradigm for understanding and managing mental illness.
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lalow33
USA
966 Posts |
Posted - Aug 27 2017 : 8:15:16 PM
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| I worked in several group homes for about four years. There are some people that just aren't there. Some are dangerous. Some are there(here), but they can not function in our society. |
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colours
Sweden
108 Posts |
Posted - Aug 28 2017 : 5:57:05 PM
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This is a good question, and has no easy answer. (good post by BlueRaincoat also).
I have the diagnosis of schizophrenia, even if I am not having much symptoms anymore. I am not even sure if I would qualify as schizophrenic if they would "try me" for a diagnosis again... Anyways, medicine and psychiatry is here to support people with mental illnesses (with brain not functioning normally so to speak), and is not supposed to block or shut people down. I don't even think medicine works that way, shutting you down... My medicin for example, balances the level of dopamine in my brain... This does not sound as something that would shut me down spirituality, more create a brain that functions "normally", or "as it should".
I am no expert, but I think we need both spirituality and psychiatry and that both could work together in balance... :) |
Edited by - colours on Aug 28 2017 6:26:13 PM |
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BlueRaincoat
United Kingdom
1730 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2017 : 09:56:35 AM
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Thank you Blanche.
19 days is a pretty long time, but if the 'patients' said the voices were gone after they were started on neuroleptics, the doctors simply had the confirmation that the treatment worked, didn't they?! Not a surprising outcome of the experiment.
@colours
It's good to hear the treatment worked for you. You often hear about patients hating the drugs they are given, but in your case it sounds like a happy ending.
Best wishes to everyone, with or without experience of psychiatry. We all have our mental challenges 
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colours
Sweden
108 Posts |
Posted - Aug 30 2017 : 7:28:41 PM
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Blue: I would say that hating your medicine mostly comes from lack of knowledge and/or insight. Don't you agree?
/colours |
Edited by - colours on Aug 30 2017 7:30:03 PM |
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Chard
250 Posts |
Posted - Sep 05 2017 : 01:14:23 AM
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| Great points all!! Thank u for your responses!! Much love all! |
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Nirguna
Australia
57 Posts |
Posted - Sep 17 2017 : 01:39:27 AM
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Hi everyone.
It really depends on the context also. Your patient in rural Mongolia would be seen as gifted and quite possibly be assigned into the community vital role of a shamaness.
You do not want to tell anyone in "western" society that you hear voices or see things. It is pathology, suffering, and needs to be treated. In shamanic context, it is gift and it should be cultivated.
What would modern psychotherapy think of a modern day Buddha, Jesus or Muhammad???
We all know their diagnosis.
Schizophrenia. |
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Chard
250 Posts |
Posted - Sep 21 2017 : 9:53:47 PM
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| Great points Nirguna! Thx for sharing! |
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Mental Illness diagnoses and spiritual life
