The Clinical Gaze
Addressing Symptoms (Agitation, Frustration Tolerance)
In the throws of madness I have found some form of peace to hold on to as an anchor in discovering my innermost serenity. Only in the very end of my tormented nights was I unable to identify a technique […]
Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Re-Imagining Treatment
Background: I have been a consumer of mental health services for a litany of diagnoses including but not limited to NPD. With this said, this presentation is intended to explore existing definitions of NPD and offer additional insight into other […]
On the Road to Recovery: From Hospital Discharge to Graduate School in Social Work
In the summer of 2008, mid-July, I was ready for discharge from Binghamton State Psychiatric Center. Of course, readiness for discharge from a state hospital by no means signals the completion of the healing process, but it does set the […]
A Story of First Episode Psychosis: From Symptom Activation to Hospitalization
Symptom Activation Crossing into Broome County New York my vehicle was immediately pulled over by a state trooper. The trooper insisted that a car was weaving in and out of traffic in the vicinity I was driving. While he issued […]
Preventing, Predicting, & Dismantling Problems Ahead: The Early Warning System
The worst thing in the world is to have had the opportunity to fix or resolve a problem and to sit on one’s hands or let the chance pass us by without taking action. While some issues take us by […]
Food & Identity: Does A Mental health diagnosis change our relationship with food?
There is no question that food is apart of our identity. What we eat, how, when, where, and if we eat a particular food speaks to our culture, ethnicity, history, and relationship with food. People with a mental health diagnosis […]
The Modern Psychiatric In-Patient Technician: Skilled Worker or Guard?
One of my earliest memories as an adolescent in an in-patient unit was the tall, stocky men brazenly hanging around the treatment areas, lounge, and nurses station. These people were anomalous. They didn’t seem to have a purpose upon first […]
Commitment to Care and Caregiving
RECOVERY FOR PEOPLE WITH A MENTAL ILLNESS AND THOSE CARRYING A MENTAL HEALTH DIAGNOSIS CAN BE A LIFETIME ENDEAVOR. GIVEN THE POWER OF SUPPORT, AND MORE PROFOUND EVEN, TO BE AN ALLY WITH A SUFFERING INDIVIDUAL IN THEIR JOURNEY WITH […]
The Life & Times of a Person Carrying a Mental Health Diagnosis
There seems to be several types of mental health blogs on the market. Clinical blogs, peer blogs based on personal experiences, hybrid blogs which combine both aspects of recovery, and research re-blogged materials from across the web. I would hazard […]