dinsdag 25 oktober 2011

Restored lives

The New York Times has a series "Restored Lives" about people who have overcome psychiatric problems.

- In the first article ("Expert on Mental Illness Reveals Her Own Fight") the story of Linehan - designer of a therapy for borderline disorder - is told. In her early 20s she had a lot of borderline problems herself.

- The second article ("Learning to Cope With a Mind’s Taunting Voices") tells about Joe Holt, a computer consultant and entrepreneur who has a diagnosis of schizophrenia. His main problem was sometimes hearing people insult him. For a long time he took this for real - what caused many broken friendships and lost jobs. Now he is aware of the danger and tries to check whether what he hears is real.

- The third article ("A High-Profile Executive Job as Defense Against Mental Ills") tells about Keris Myrick, who has been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. She did considerable effort to find a job that fit her and she finds that a busy job helps against hearing voices. In her view her mind starts producing voices and illusions when it is bored.

- As a side-article there is "Memoir About Schizophrenia Spurs Others to Come Forward". It tells about "The Center Cannot Hold.", a book written by Elyn R. Saks, a professor of law at the University of Southern California about her struggle with schizophrenia.

- the fourth article is "Finding purpose after living with delusion". It tells about a man who saw that his hallucinations did have a real core. In his case his messianic visions could be implemented by doing some good. He has a website about his vision of psychosis: "A blueprint for schizophrenia".

Geen opmerkingen:

Een reactie posten