No Picnic In Sight

Upon being diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, I saw the reality behind the greatest myth of mental illness, the myth that The Victim Is Unaware of His or Her Own Condition. A childhood flooded with media depictions of the mentally ill had lead me to believe that the afflicted had somehow been robbed of their objectivity, thrown into a dark hall-of-mirrors beyond the realm of rational perspective.

Nonsense. My rational mind remained intact, albeit uncomfortably so. From the lighter corner of my mind, I watched darkness flow in. Obsessive images of violence and amorality. Urges, or rather, "pseudo-urges" to do things I didn't want to. Yin (the rational mind) duking it out with yang (the imbalanced, irrational mind) on a daily basis. The word "Hell" was used often when describing this state.

I'm certain that the suffering of many leads to punctured objectivity and the loss of rational self-awareness. Fortunately, I remained aware. No matter how awful I felt, I could at least articulate what was going on. The power of descriptive articulation should not be underestimated. It keeps the disorder in context as a disorder, preserving a firm boundary between the right mind and the ill mind. For me, imagining such a boundary was a vital survival tool. I focused on finding a day when Yin overran Yang, so to speak.

The afflicted mind has difficulty inspiring itself to seek assistance. What a complex entity the mind is; even in sickness, it has only itself to rely upon. Unlike somebody with a broken leg, a person with an anxiety disorder cannot lean on his or her other mind. Overcoming mental duress is like trying to kiss your own lips. Quite tricky, but possible with enough imagination.

Imagination and resourcefulness, that's what it comes down to. These strange ailments go just as they came. I knew that elements of my mind were strong; the challenge was getting these elements to positively influence the weaker ones. This required many analysts, many appointments, many schools of healing. Psychology, psychiatry, homeopathy, reflexology, reiki, energy healing-- these were all thrown in the pot to little avail. Finally and unexpectedly, acupuncture provided balance. I've improved significantly. I thank acupuncture and I thank my supportive family, but, most importantly, I thank counter-mythology: even when afflicted, the human mind sees itself. And in itself, it sees solutions.

About The Author

Eric Shapiro is the author of "Short of a Picnic," a collection of fictional stories about people living with mental disorders.

shortofapicnic@aol.com

MORE RESOURCES:

Some see crowd psychology, not logic, at play in nose dive - Denver Post

ECB#39;s Draghi Says Extent of Crisis Depends on `Psychology#39; - Bloomberg

Why Policymakers Need To Understand Psychology As Much As ... - New Republic

The psychology of financial incompetence avoids blaming greedy fools - Private Equity News

Psychology of fear#39; prevails as cotton prices plummet to new lows - LubbockOnline.com

Study: Multiracial people face prejudice - United Press International

Our psychology helps politicians bend the truth - New Scientist (subscription)

Election divisions feeding undercurrent of meanness - GoErie.com

Florida State University celebrates psychology building grand opening - Tallahassee.com

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-0fd=Rurl=http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20081011/FSU01/810110320/1008/FSUcid=1256311154ei=TfvySPDDKYLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNGXW65vfsw5kadDMWnv60p_KnBOfgFlorida State University celebrates bpsychology/b building grand opening/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fTallahassee.com,nbsp;FLnbsp;-/font nobrOct 10, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1Florida State University celebrated the grand opening Friday of its new, $56 million bpsychology/b building on West Call Street. The bpsychology/b department was b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-1fd=Rurl=http://www.wctv.tv/news/headlines/30803344.htmlcid=1256311154ei=TfvySPDDKYLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNFfAUkY6Xu085dSOv28qrqJZ8M35ANew bPsychology/b Building Opens at Florida State University/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWCTV/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-2fd=Rurl=http://www.wctv.tv/home/headlines/30826194.htmlcid=1256311154ei=TfvySPDDKYLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNGtKzgw96rkBVNn45na1eBVisCqDgNew FSU bPsychology/b Building/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWCTV/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/8-3fd=Rurl=http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20081010/BREAKINGNEWS/81010001cid=1256311154ei=TfvySPDDKYLUyQTQkdjEBwusg=AFQjCNFCzegiB6fnINkK5zbM_I1D2QNnlAFSU to hold grand opening for bpsychology/b building/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrTallahassee.com/nobr/font/fontbrfont class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1256311154hl=ennobrall 4 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Stop Being a Narcissist -- It#39;s Time to Quit Facebook - AlterNet

Psychology - Google News

RELATED ARTICLES

Precognition or Circadian Rhythm?
The bodies natural clock or circadian rhythm seems to have sensors through the brain and body. It is a perfect set of clocks, which regulate our bodies and sync to our minds.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) At a Glance
Most narcissists (75%) are men.NPD is one of a "family" of personality disorders (formerly known as "Cluster B").

HypoManiacs Often Misunderstood
Are you a Hypomaniac? If you are you have some definite advantages over others. Hypomaniacs are often superstars in their fields, but they are often misunderstood by those who work so hard to profile personalities and put individuals into neat little boxes.

The Cyber Narcissist
To the narcissist, the Internet is an alluring and irresistible combination of playground and hunting grounds, the gathering place of numerous potential Sources of Narcissistic Supply, a world where false identities are the norm and mind games the bon ton. And it is beyond the reach of the law, the pale of social norms, the strictures of civilized conduct.

Serial Killers
Countess Erszebet Bathory was a breathtakingly beautiful, unusually well-educated woman, married to a descendant of Vlad Dracula of Bram Stoker fame. In 1611, she was tried - though, being a noblewoman, not convicted - in Hungary for slaughtering 612 young girls.

Intro to Being an ADHD Parent
In my fifteen years of private practice working with children with ADHD, one of the common concerns that I observed by parents was the fear that they had done something, or failed to do something, that caused their child's ADHD. I guess it is normal to blame yourself when your child is having problems.

What is the Theory of Multiple Intelligences? Part 1: Biological Basis
Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences is based on the premise that each individual's intelligence is composed of multiple "intelligences," each of which has its own independent operating system within the brain. These intelligences include: verbal-linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist.

The Diagnosis Myth
Although I risk dissension by doing so, I must say something that I think many of us in the mental health community have acknowledged for quite some time: every single diagnosis of a mental disorder is fallible.Before I proceed, I should note the value of diagnoses.

Kids and Lifebooks: Tips for Social Workers
Every child who is adopted from foster care deserves a clear, detailed record of his or her life prior to adoption. While a foster child is waiting for a forever family, a lifebook can help her to make sense of the past and prepare to go forward.

Solution Focus Process: Solution Talk vs. Problem Talk Pt 2
It is crucial that interviewing with helpee progress toward solutions. In addition to Exceptions and Miracle questions, Coping and Scaling questions are also useful and effective methods of moving helpees from problem talk to solution talk.

No Picnic In Sight
Upon being diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, I saw the reality behind the greatest myth of mental illness, the myth that The Victim Is Unaware of His or Her Own Condition. A childhood flooded with media depictions of the mentally ill had lead me to believe that the afflicted had somehow been robbed of their objectivity, thrown into a dark hall-of-mirrors beyond the realm of rational perspective.

The Iron Mask - The Common Sources of Personality Disorders
Do all personality disorders have a common psychodynamic source?To what stage of personal development can we attribute this common source?Can the paths leading from that common source to each of these disorders be charted?Will positive answers to the above endow us with a new understanding of these pernicious conditions?Acute AngerAnger is a compounded phenomenon. It has dispositional properties, expressive and motivational components, situational and individual variations, cognitive and excitatory interdependent manifestations and psychophysiological (especially neuroendocrine) aspects.

You, I and We
Our life in society hovers around the concept of 'You-I- We'. The first stage is 'You-You' which is called 'dependent' stage.

Psychological Tips for Effective Studying
STUDY STRATEGIES* Revise regularly- Revision should be continuous if you are to gain a deep understanding of the subject. It should not be superficial and rushed.

Lesson Plans that Reach the Multiple Intelligences
American schools have traditionally favored those students who excel in the linguistic and analytical arenas because these skills are highly valued in our culture. Unfortunately, this traditional approach leaves certain students behind to stumble blindly through an educational system which ignores their unique abilities.

What is Narcissism?
A pattern of traits and behaviours which signify infatuation and obsession with one's self to the exclusion of all others and the egotistic and ruthless pursuit of one's gratification, dominance and ambition.Most narcissists (50-75%, according to the DSM IV-TR) are men.

Artificial Intelligence - What Have We Learned Through Natural Ignorance?
During the late '80s and early '90s, I had the opportunity to work with expert systems in real-time production environments. I found artificial intelligence, or AI, to be thoroughly intriguing.

Synchronized Swimming Advantage for Twins
The Olympic Contests for Synchronized Swimming are a testament to the natural human ability of telepathy. What we find in College and University Level synchronized swimmers thru observation and data of the top athletes is that those teams which have been long time friends seem to have a mind connection, which far surpasses generally accepted scientific knowledge.

Balancing Brain Lobes - Mutras
When does consciousness exist? Will the sentient robots being created with nanotechnology and the dumping of human memory such as was done to a computer chip by Stanford in 1999 have a soul of their own? I do not believe our soul is dumped in this process. But the issue of soul can be debated until the cows come home by observers of natural phenomena.

A Jungian Approach to Mental Illness
All of us suffer from some form of emotional distress at some stage. Some forms of distress can last longer than they should and may significantly impair our everyday functioning.