A variety of psychological well being approaches like Soteria, Diabasis, Open Dialogue and numerous others function on what has turn out to be referred to as the Wellness precept. Whereas typically dismissed or derided by conservative vested pursuits, there’s substantial proof that this method provides a confirmed and credible various to the predominant biomedical mannequin.
Two necessary parts present in all of the Wellness approaches embrace a supportive atmosphere and a observe referred to as Lively Listening. Each can be present in one kind or one other in lots of historic religious practices however are invariably missing or not current in any respect within the biomedical method to psychological well being. An examination of how these strategies work, interwoven with my very own private journey, could also be useful in in search of a greater understanding of psychological well being and future prospects.
A Unhealthy Begin
One early signal of a troubled life to come back occurred at kindergarten once I was about 4 years outdated. The instructor was studying the story of Hansel and Gretel. Whereas most children would have been fortunately engaged within the story, I used to be terrified. I responded accordingly, a lot to the annoyance and possibly the misery of others.
Rising up with this form of “sensitivity” quickly bought me labelled as a bizarre and troubled child. As of late I might in all probability be identified and medicated however that didn’t occur again then within the early 1950’s.
Once I was about 22 years of age I began listening to “god” voices. What was at first a curiosity turned an issue. Quickly after mentioning these experiences to my native physician and the minister of the church I attended, I used to be licensed insane and involuntarily dedicated to a psychiatric hospital. In keeping with some who knew me on the time, I went to hospital a considerably troubled however useful particular person and emerged a number of months later severely disturbed and fairly dysfunctional.
In Australia, it was simple sufficient in these days to acquire a incapacity pension with subsistence-level authorities lodging and an ongoing provide of remedy. After wanting round at others in related conditions, I made a decision that was not the best way I needed to spend the remainder of my life. I walked away from the psychological well being system and tried to get on with my life as finest I might. I used to be additionally acutely embarrassed and ashamed about what had occurred to me so I attempted to cover my experiences from everybody, even to the purpose of self-denial. Regardless of my finest efforts, nonetheless, I used to be out and in of psychiatric hospitals for brief stays on many events over the subsequent fourteen years.
Then got here a big turnaround.
A Mad Priest
I joined a peer self-help organisation referred to as Develop. It had been began by a Catholic priest named Con Keogh who had himself been hospitalised and identified with schizophrenia. Earlier than being hospitalised he had studied and taught philosophy on the Vatican. With the assistance of his coaching he put collectively a psycho-spiritual 12-step program for psychological well being, loosely primarily based on Alcoholics Nameless (AA).
I discovered the religious features of Develop confronting at first however in time got here to grasp that spirituality might exist outdoors a non secular construction or context. At its essence I now see spirituality as being predominantly concerning the growth of acutely aware consciousness; a considerably contested and disputed topic for a lot of.
Develop described itself as a caring and sharing group which was an necessary a part of their system. Being accepted with out calls for or judgement helped maintain folks linked and coming again every week, lengthy sufficient for different parts in this system to begin having an impact.
Good assist seems to play an necessary half in psychological well being. Assist teams are sometimes thought of to be an inexpensive therapeutic various however the proof exhibits that well-run assist teams could be simply as efficient if no more so than particular person remedy. In fact they’re additionally considerably cheaper to run. Sadly, many therapists discover group work tough. That is notably so if these working or main the group lack the suitable abilities, notably energetic listening abilities, or have an agenda for group members to attain particular outcomes.
For a assist group to work, a number of members of the group should be capable of “maintain the area” for the group. That is basically the identical as active listening which raises the degree of acutely aware consciousness within the group. This in flip permits folks within the group to really feel listened to and valued.
It’s attainable to attract “power” from a very good assist group indefinitely. Whereas this may definitely assist, it’s important that group members use the group’s supportive power to develop self-awareness by turning into mindfully conscious of their very own psychological exercise, feelings and bodily emotions. This enables us to deal higher with life’s inevitable challenges with out having to rely a lot on others for assist.
Keogh’s program challenged most of the unquestioned concepts and beliefs of up to date society together with the best way we take care of ideas, feelings and emotions. This in flip has a big impact on the best way we reply to life’s occasions. Studying about and following a few of these new practices along with the assist and encouragement of the group began to show my life round.
Sadly Develop had additionally come to the eye of the psychiatric fraternity who have been lower than impressed with the concept teams of individuals with critical psychological well being issues might assist one another obtain outcomes that they couldn’t. Over time, with the help of authorities funding, Develop was taken over by so-called professionals. The organisation nonetheless exists at the moment however my understanding is that it has turn out to be institutionalised and moribund.
Develop additionally triggered an curiosity for me in philosophy. If Con Keogh’s data of this topic had led to the Develop program, perhaps extra might be gleaned by finding out it.
Philosophy
I got here throughout an commercial within the each day newspaper for a course in “Sensible Philosophy.”
It turned out to be a personal worldwide organisation established a few years in the past within the UK by a person named Leon MacLaren. The college taught a metaphysical system primarily based on Japanese and Western philosophy that included mindfulness and meditation practices along with the examine of classical music, artwork, literature and poetry.
There was often discuss how the varsity’s metaphysical “work” was not appropriate for anybody who had any type of psychological sickness so I saved my very own issues very personal. There had apparently been a few psychiatric hospital admissions and at the least one suicide throughout the organisation prior to now.
On a few events, among the practices triggered some fairly dangerous psychotic episodes however happily by this time I used to be turning into moderately expert at coping with them.
I discovered so much on the College of Philosophy however I imagine there have been some necessary parts lacking in regard to feelings and bodily senses (emotions).
After 5 years, my interior voice instructed me it was time to maneuver on. I had acquired some data of each Zen Buddhism and Sufism from the varsity so I began wanting round.
Sufism
Sufism is the esoteric teachings and practices of the Islamic faith. It may be tough to find out the place the faith ends and metaphysics begins so Sufis have typically had an uneasy relationship with spiritual traditionalists.
I joined the Melbourne Mevlevi Sufi order, higher referred to as the Whirling Dervishes. The Mevlevi are one of many best-known Sufi orders due to their whirling or dancing meditation referred to as Sema, which suggests listening. This order, primarily based in Turkey, was began by the son of the well-known mystic poet Jalalauddin Rumi, shortly after his loss of life in 1273.
An necessary Sufi observe is called Sohbet. The literal that means of this phrase is dialog.
I used to be intrigued to find how the observe of Lively Listening used within the Wellness mannequin was in some ways just like Sohbet. Basically it promotes a connection at an emotional degree past the boundaries of the rational thoughts. This talent, like energetic listening is developed via mindfulness. It’s wonderful that such a easy observe could be so highly effective however to be efficient it should be carried out with acutely aware consciousness, not mechanically. Whereas it sounds easy, it may take fairly a little bit of observe to grasp.
Once more I by no means talked about my psychological well being issues to anybody within the Sufi group however when the group chief died, the one that tried to take over wasn’t in a position to “maintain the area” and the group finally disintegrated. I began having tough psychotic experiences once more. I had additionally simply come to the top of a three-year “marriage from hell” and was quite fragile.
For the primary time in additional than 10 years I reached out for psychiatric assist. A senior psychiatrist on the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne prescribed a brand new atypical antipsychotic remedy for me to make use of on an “as wanted” foundation. I used it this manner up till early 2022, monitoring my very own prodromal signs and taking the remedy every time I felt a interval of instability build up after which truly fizzling out as quickly as attainable after the episode had handed.
In the meantime my psychological well being appeared to slowly decline. My major “observe” gave the impression to be making an attempt to keep away from locations and conditions that have been more likely to be triggering. I now recognise that this isn’t an excellent technique to take care of the issue. This method is more likely to permit issues to worsen over time.
Transpersonal Psychology
Across the time I left the Mevlevi I turned concerned in a relationship with a lady who was a transpersonal psychologist. I bought to attend month-to-month conferences of the Australian Psychological Society’s transpersonal curiosity group the place I met a variety of attention-grabbing folks concerned within the transpersonal psychology motion.
This girl had undergone coaching with Stanislav “Stan” Grof, a Czechoslovakian-American psychiatrist who was deeply concerned with psychedelics. When LSD was banned within the US within the 1960’s, Grof developed a respiratory method for inducing Altered States of Consciousness (ASC’s) that he referred to as Holotropic Breathwork. I attempted this system a few occasions and it did induce an ASC however for me it additionally induced a “dangerous journey” or psychosis quickly afterwards.
Grof coined the time period “Non secular Emergency” and promoted the concept spirituality and psychological well being could be intricately associated. In my opinion he left open a principally unanswered query as to the distinction between a religious emergency and extraordinary psychosis. The distinction, so far as I can see, is certainly one of orientation, that means an individual’s willingness to confront emotional ache and transfer into it or to attempt to keep away from it by transferring additional away into a fair lesser state of acutely aware consciousness. Antipsychotic remedy works in a lot the identical manner. It reduces acutely aware consciousness within the hope that it’s going to additionally cut back emotional ache.
Bother with Authorities
A number of years in the past I used to be hospitalised for a short while with a medical situation that required me to disclose my use of antipsychotic remedy. This led to a variety of confrontations with the state psychological well being authorities who have been sad about the best way I used to be self-managing my psychological well being and drugs although what I used to be doing had been prescribed by a senior psychiatrist from a serious public hospital. Practices had modified fairly considerably since that point and never for the higher. Finally I bought fed up with the very unwelcome and at occasions intrusive interference in my life and determined to arrange the Pink Panther Motion.
The Panthers have been initially an indignant response in the direction of the oligarchs of the Australian psychological well being system. That anger has considerably subsided into an acceptance of “what’s” together with a quiet willpower to do no matter I can to attempt to enhance the state of affairs.
Organising and managing the Panthers has uncovered me to the tough and tumble of the psychological well being world presenting greater than its fair proportion of challenges and surprises. I quickly discovered that my very own experiences have been pretty typical. Tens of 1000’s of Australians are being routinely subjected to abusive and generally horrific practices. Many have needed to endure far worse than me. One other massive shock was that many psychological well being professionals declare to be strongly against the present biomedical method however most are reluctant to take any form of public stand towards it.
New Frontiers
Many blame the immense international psychological well being disaster on pharmaceutical firms, the psychiatric occupation, social media, the federal government and so forth. Whereas every of these items undoubtedly play an element in the issue, I imagine there’s a a lot greater underlying subject that might be described as a culture-wide dulling of consciousness and empathy along with deep-seated existential worry. When coupled with greed and a lust for energy and management that drives the folks I name “conservative vested pursuits,” you will have an nearly good recipe for what has occurred.
Addressing this drawback requires a a lot better public understanding of consciousness and acutely aware consciousness than what exists for the time being. We will discover at the least a few of this information in historic religious teachings and practices.
The Wellness method, regardless of years of deliberate suppression, has survived and confirmed itself to be extremely efficient. Along with its intrinsic core observe of Lively Listening, it looks as if nearly as good a spot as any from which to attempt to construct a brand new and higher system.
