It’s Time To Focus On Triumphs
Posted on 14/02/2012 | 0 Comments
Recent reports from the BBC highlight the complexities of helping people with psychotic illnesses – specifically schizophrenia, live symptom free and positive lives.
The first story “NHS ‘failed’ over cannibal killer” presents an all too common media response to the extremely rare and thus somehow newsworthy bizarre homicide involving a person suffering from a mental disorder and the problems encountered in better understanding and assisting such individuals from people working within the mental health system. While better training and more careful assessment procedures are in and of themselves important, it is hard to see what such news stories accomplish – except to perpetuate the stigma against people living with a mental illness and those who treat them.
The other story “Embracing the dark voices within” describes the approach (one that is unencumbered by evidence) of a person described as psychologist Rufus May. What I can glean from this story is that the so called treatment involves getting in touch with your psychosis (voices) in the absence of medication. Oh dear – here we go again. This is nothing new and we have seen the chaos and destruction of lives and families that such idiotic ideologies have created in the past. Those of us old enough to remember the psychoanalytic schools of living through the psychosis or the negative impacts of community circles or the strange world views expressed by the popular “philosopher” R.D. Laing in his books: Bird of Paradise and Politics of Experience or the sad “treatment” described in the novel “I Never Promised You A Rose Garden” shudder when we see history repeating itself.
Schizophrenia is a highly complex and disabling brain disorder often striking in the teen years. We have good evidence on how to provide treatment – evidence based on solid science and many years of improvements and the integration of biological, psychological, social, vocational and civic engagement strategies to promote recovery. Regressing into the darkness of the uninformed past is not news – just as the rare and bizarre homicide is not news. Neither serves the better understanding of mental illness and its optimal treatment.
I would really like to see some stories about how young people have coped with and overcome their disability. I would really like to see some stories about how families have struggled with the adversities wrought by the illness – and have come out on top. I would really like to see some stories about the human relationship between care providers and those living with the illness – the relationships that have gone on for years and have provided the basis for recovery and success. Now, who can we find to write those stories for the BBC?
-Stan
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This is a great set of comments and rings very true.
I totally agree that scientists (just like everyone else) have their biases and foibles. After all, scientists are human beings too! But science is different than scientists.
The scientific method is the most objective frame that we have by which to evaluate and predict. Science is not about finding truth. It is only about being less wrong most of the time. The scientific method (experimental design and mathematics) gives us the ability to test what we believe. The scientific method is not used to prove something is correct, on the contrary, the scientific method is designed to prove that something is not correct! It is designed to test what is called the “null hypothesis”. It takes ideas that come out of left field (or wherever else they come from) and puts those ideas to an independent test.
t does not drive our beliefs. It does however challenge our beliefs. In that way it is self-correcting. Of course scientific inquiry and understanding lives within a wider social context. That is one of the great features of science.
But gravity is gravity, social context notwithstanding. And thus it is nasty, brutish and long. As Brecht said, (something like this) - the purpose of science is to save us from everlasting error.
By Christina Carew on May 11th
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