Scotomata
This video clip is about an art exhibition which has every painting meaning an emotion. The exhibition was built around the Flight MH 17 flying above the Ukraine which went down unexpectedly. This is an ode to the passengers and their families. This is a very tragic event and it is the hope that family-members and friends of those who perished will be okay in the world.
This is a First Person Account of Psychosis. It is the intention that this account will help people with their own psychosis and understanding of it. This article is intended to be a helpful tool.
Victoria British Columbia Canada
0.01% of the General Population
This Communication Model is a model of care that is intended to help an individual who is experiencing mental distress. It is model that does not cost anything, does not offer advice and does not promise anything. It is a model of acceptance and non-judgment, and intended for the 0.01% of the general population with treatment resistant psychosis.
Method: When an individual with mental distress communicates his/her feelings in a confidential manner what often happens is that the acceptance of the individual leads to an empowerment. This empowerment leads an individual to want to take responsibility for his/her own destiny. The Communication Model works in a very contradictory and paradoxical way & at the same time in a very positive way.
The Communication Model is intended to pick-up where Sigmund Freud left off. For example, in the past Sigmund Freud believed that a person with schizophrenia could not be counseled. This concept lead to individuals with schizophrenia currently being medicated through the hospital + general practitioners and sometimes receiving psycho-social care in the community.
The current psychiatric system is built on Sigmund Freud’s concept and I want to add to that and focus more on the individuals emotions. I believe that it is through communicating with an individual with refractory schizophrenia that drives individual self-mental-change.
Throughout my volunteer work and internship work at the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society in Victoria, I noticed that individuals with serious mental illness, who were medicated often said two important statements: [1] that they wished that they could feel again – because the medications were making them feel numb and [2] that even though they were taking medications they were still experiencing distress inside of themselves. These two statements made me realize that there is a need to focus on the emotions underlining the symptoms. It was the wish of individuals with serious mental illness – out of their own testimonies – and it is these testimonies – that is one of the main reasons why the Communication Model was born. Furthermore, even though it is mentioned through the Medical Model that medications for schizophrenia are effective – the opposite side of the same coin is that it is a known fact that the medications do not work for a very select group of treatment resistant individuals despite proper compliance and the adherence of strict and regimented instructions and the following of medications schemas. It is called Treatment Resistant Psychosis / Refactory Schizophrenia and the Communication Model is intended to try to help these very select specific individuals. During my Interprofessional Mental Health and Addictions post degree program diploma at Camosun College in Victoria British Columbia Canada, I conducted a literature review into Schizophrenia and the Canadian Justice System – and with more than 400 peer academic research references indicated that many seriously mentally ill (SMI) individuals were DSM diagnosed and in jail. To me, that means that the Medical Model did not work well for them – seeing that the individuals were now behind bars.
Treatment Resistance Psychosis is something that is not the fault of an individual. Instead it is the opposite. Treatment Resistant Psychosis means that these marginalized individuals often get stigmatized by psychiatrists and medical doctors because the psychiatrists and medical doctors do not know how to deal with this very specific group of people. Because the medication and the Medical Model seems to be working for most people with schizophrenia (estimation of 0.99% of the general population), often what occurs, is that psychiatrists and medical doctors will turn a blind-eye to this group of people, (estimation of 0.01% of the general population) because the majority of individuals seem to be receiving treatment that works. The estimated 0.01% general population will have schizophrenia symptoms, for example paranoia, however they will be labeled behavioral versus symptom-related. This leads individuals to fall through the cracks and hence often become homeless or in the Canadian jail system.
Would it not be logical if the Medical Model started to focus on the 0.01% of the general population treatment resistant psychosis individuals (this percentage is an estimation) versus the 0.99 % treatment successful psychosis individuals – or is that not feasible nor effective according to the Medical Model? Is the brain so vast that it is impossible, with any exact precision to pin-pointing an exact area to be targeted? The psychiatrist often needs to adjust the medications of any individual with serious mental illness many times before being able to access if they work.
The Communication Model is a tool that is intended to help the individuals, the hypothesized 0.01 % of the general population, with treatment resistant psychosis, through a unique way of communication. This unique form of communication is the symbiosis between the practitioner (myself as chief operator of the Communication Model) and an individual (experiencing treatment resistant psychosis symptoms, which in the realm of the Communication Model are referred to as emotions versus medical symptoms).
The aim of the Communication Model is to relieve pain by drawing and talking and linking into each others psyche in a humanity approach. There is no financial gain, no promises with be made and no advice will be given. At the same time, it must be mentioned that a trained Mental Health and Addictions Practitioner should conduct the Communication Model. As the Communication Model is intended for Refractory Schizophrenia solely. There is a unique communication symbiosis that develops and this is a very specialized skill – gained though lived-experience – combined with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Arts Policy, Management and Education, specialization Art Education combined with a post degree diploma in Interprofessional Mental Health and Addictions. There is a hyper-focus on treatment resistant psychosis intermingled with Existentialism, Individualism and Personalism. The Communication Model is to be conducted with safety in mind.
©TCM
Written by Annuska van der Pol, BA, PDD-IMHA
Mental Health and Addictions Practitioner
Victoria, BC Canada
Note: the number 0.01% treatment resistant psychosis of the general population is a number referenced in peer-academic material
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This blog contains multiple pages. Just go to the top of this page and hit (click) on *HOME* and all the multiple pages will flow freely. It starts with Lady Justice with her scales and her sword.
[B]
If you want to read the work chronologically please scroll down to the start (with me in front of the painting) and concluding with Lady Justice, and scroll backwards through the work.
[C]
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Within the realm of psychosis, there is only a very select amount of individuals who suffer from what is known to psychiatrists as treatment resistant psychosis. It is only 0.01% of the general population. Treatment resistant psychosis is a state of mind where ambivalence seems to prevail. Ambivalence is something all human being experience in one form or another from time to time, however it is life destroying when ambivalence stretches into all aspects of ones personal life. For example, one may experience him/herself as well – however on the opposite side of that same coin is the fact that there are instances when an individual experiences him/herself as not well. The Communication Model is intended to help aid an individual when distress, the concrete form of ambivalence presents itself to the outside world. This could be in the form of verbally explicit language, elevated intonations and perhaps hand-gestures that indicate discomfort inside the body. When the practitioner sits down with an individual displaying signs of treatment resistant psychosis and starts both listening and drawing the feelings of the interaction, through the triangle method, then this grounds the situation, like pegging down a tent on a stormy autumn day. The communication and abstract drawing simmers down the escalated feelings of the individual in distress and it focuses on a reality-based marker, namely the abstract artwork. © TCM
Illustration is German Expressionism, an art-style approximately 1920-1930’s. Many of the illustrations show treatment resistant psychosis both the individual who is painted had his/her own personal psychosis as well as the artist who captures it within his/her artwork. A reciprocation.
References:
Buchanan, I. (1994). A User’s Guide to Caiptalism and Schizophrenia: Deviations from Deleuze and Guattari (Book). Theory, Culture & Society, 11(3), 166-168.
Pindar, I. (1993). Wandering thought. Tls, (4686), 22.
Trémeau, F., Antonius, D., Cacioppo, J. T., Ziwich, R., Jalbrzikowski, M., Saccente, E., & … Javitt, D. (2009). In support of Bleuler: Objective evidence for increased affective ambivalence in schizophrenia based upon evocative testing. Schizophrenia Research, 107(2/3), 223-231. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2008.09.020
ACHTUNG VALUED READERS – PLEASE READ ALL OF THE MULTIPLES ENTRIES BY HITTING ON HOME AT THE TOP
[A]
This blog contains multiple pages. Just go to the top of this page and hit (click) on *HOME* and all the multiple pages will flow freely. It starts with Lady Justice with her scales and her sword.
[B]
If you want to read the work chronologically please scroll down to the start (with me in front of the painting) and concluding with Lady Justice, and scroll backwards through the work.
[C]
Also if you hit (click) the ABOUT button (icon) at the top of the page you can learn more about me and see an updated picture taken in 2014.
[D] Furthermore, it is also possible to view additional entries by clicking on Next post or Previous post.
©TCM
Within the realm of serious mental illness, there is a symptom / emotion which is referred to as Treatment Resistant Psychosis. If you are a medical doctor it is considered a symptom however, if you are looking at it through the lens of the Communication Model, then it is an emotion.
Treatment Resistant Psychosis is a very special kind of emotion. It is an emotion that cannot be easily treated with psychiatric medications. Instead it is something a lot more profound than that. It is the treatment resistant psychosis which often leads individuals landing in jail or living on the streets and the Communication Model is intended to help express this one emotion through the means of verbal communication and through means of the abstract drawing which is born out of the dual communication, between practitioner and the individual who is experiencing the mental distress.
Often what occurs is that an individual with treatment resistant psychosis tries to function in society as best as one can. This often leads one to having a good full-time job, being a valued member in the community, having friends and good relations with family – and at the same time there is this incredible inner emotion which seems to tear at the seams of ones very own existence. This is treatment resistant psychosis. On the opposite side of the same coin, an individual could have such a hard time containing this emotion that it starts to rule ones life – this leads to a form of incoherent decision-making, confusion and inconsistent behavior. A behavior which is not in line with the norms and values of standard society etiquette.
It is an emotion which Emily Dickinson best explains with her words, “My life had stood – a loaded gun.”
Treatment resistant psychosis is a prevailing emotion and an underlining emotion.
Sometimes a medical doctor will try to treat this within a medical facility, however this specific type of emotion can often not be treated within the realm of scientific formulated medicine for the brain. It is probably one of the greatest mysteries in our world today – as to why treatment resistant psychosis cannot be subdued like other symptoms/emotions within the schizophrenia spectrum can – this makes it such a great obstacle to help these very specific individuals, with this very select and very specific trait / symptom/ emotion.
Currently there is no cure, nor is there any real preventative measures for this specific psychosis. In other words, there is zero treatment for this. The Communication Model Approach, by using the triangle method (practitioner, individual with mental distress and the link to the abstract drawing) is intended to aid these specific individuals with this one specific trait. The Communication Model is a very specific tool to help these very specific individuals.
References:
Chadwick, P., & Birchwood, M. (1995). The Omnipotence of Voices II: The
Beliefs About Voices Questionnaire (BAVQ). British Journal Of
Psychiatry, 166773.
Cleary, M. M., Hunt, G. E., Matheson, S. S., Siegfried, N. N., & Walter,
G. G. (2008). Psychosocial treatment programs for people with both
severe mental illness and substance misuse. Schizophrenia Bulletin,
34(2), 226-228. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbm165
Lysaker, P. H., & Roe, D. (2012). The processes of recovery from schizophrenia: The emergent role of integrative psychotherapy, recent developments, and new directions. Journal Of Psychotherapy Integration, 22(4), 287-297. doi:10.1037/a0029581
Silberner-Becker, N., & Amler, M. (2005). Leading Edge – The Search for a Developmental Promoting Selfobject Relationship: Towards a Theory and Technique. Selbstpsychologie: Europäische Zeitschrift Für Psychoanalytische Therapie Und Forschung / Self Psychology: European Journal For Psychoanalytic Therapy And Research, 6(20), 262-287.
Photograph, taken September 19th, 2013, “Pathos at Craigdarroch Castle”, Victoria BC time 645 pm.
ACHTUNG VALUED READERS – PLEASE READ ALL OF THE MULTIPLES ENTRIES BY HITTING ON HOME AT THE TOP
[A]
This blog contains multiple pages. Just go to the top of this page and hit (click) on *HOME* and all the multiple pages will flow freely. It starts with Lady Justice with her scales and her sword.
[B]
If you want to read the work chronologically please scroll down to the start (with me in front of the painting) and concluding with Lady Justice, and scroll backwards through the work.
[C]
Also if you hit (click) the ABOUT button (icon) at the top of the page you can learn more about me and see an updated picture taken in 2014.
[D] Furthermore, it is also possible to view additional entries by clicking on Next post or Previous post.
anuvdp 