Blog Post #1 (chapters 1&2)
Wow. Van Der Kolk has quite the experience in different jobs within the field of mental health. I was baffled to hear his testimony of just how much the field has changed since he started. I was shocked to see how many people were so quick to throw a big label like schizophrenia on a person before looking into their past to see what might be causing their behavior. Van Der Kolk said, "I was often surprised by the dispassionate way patients' symptoms were discussed and by how much time was spent on trying to manage their suicidal thoughts and self-destructive behaviors, rather than on understanding the possible causes of their despair and helplessness" (pg. 24). This is a mentality that all mental health professionals can fall into if they aren't cautious. We can get so into a routine and forget the incredible impact that our decisions as professionals have on our clients. If we aren't careful, we can treat them just as a case rather than as an individual. Even Van Der Kolk in his psychiatric training asked one of his teachers, "What would you call this patient - schizophrenic or schizoaffective?" The response of the teacher had great impact on him as well as me. "I think I'd call him Michael McIntyre" (pg. 26). The clients that I will serve in the future are all created in the image of God. Each of them come with unique and different stories, and each of them desperately so need Jesus Christ.
I was also intrigued by the development of pharmacology. They learned so much about the brain and the body's response to stress based on the study with dogs. Further research allowed them to find that trauma and stress causes chemical imbalances in the brain. Once researchers found out what chemicals they were, they created drugs to balance those chemicals. This was revolutionary. They found that many of these drugs were greatly helping people with their day to day activities. As time went on, they found that this drug revolution may have done more harm than good. People were simply just taking drugs rather than going through therapy. They found that this enabled people to suppress their problems even further because they didn't have to address their behavior's underlying issue. Understanding this history and development will be crucial to my work as a professional. I know so many people who would much rather just take a pill everyday opposed to going through therapy. When advising clients in the future on pharmaceutical drugs, I need to be so clear on the fact that the drugs alone will not solve their problem. And there are ample amount of history to prove this to be true.
Great take away about how much good or harm can be done when using the prescription drugs. It makes me think about the combination of different tasks and treatment options we as social workers have to pull from and work with are clients. We can utilize the medication to assist along with other therapies to meet the patients needs and help them cope as they work through the trauma.
ReplyDeleteServing as a clinician requires a constant balance between psychotherapy and pharmacology. We are in a medicalized world and since medicines do allow for more adaptive behaviors, we cannot fully discount their effectiveness. I think you'll find that people have different attitudes towards medications making treatment different with each person. I can see that you're observing how he's evolved as a clinician and how the profession itself as evolved.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your assessment about how we can all get into a routine and forget that the people we are helping are humans too. I have one client who is diagnosed with schizoaffective and she is difficult to work with. She is constantly moving and chronically homeless. She states that she is taking her medications and going to therapy to address her trauma, but I don't think that is happening. It is sad to see her struggle and see that her trauma has negatively impacted her life. I question how to get her on the right track. I'm a big believer in medications. I have run into clients who don't believe in medication, and so I've had to be extra careful to ensure that I don't project my personal experiences onto the client, but provide information in a neutral way so that the client can make their own informed decision.
ReplyDeleteYou worded this blog post very well, Abby. What struck me the most was when you said, "If we aren't careful, we can treat them just as a case rather than as an individual". It's so important to slow down and listen to their stories and listen to the trauma instead of just sticking a label on a client. I also had many feelings towards the use of drugs, specifically with children on Medicaid. It appears, like you said, that some people think it is easier to take a pill then to participate in talk therapy.
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