A Little Light Reading

I'm discovering so much from other blogs at the moment, and loving every minute.  My favourite links for today have been:

1. Mixing Colours

Are you a Green or a Magic? from the always readable pen of PurplePersuasion.  Check out her link to Dr Jim Phelps (at diagnosis) who has taken the metaphor of spectrum disorders to its logical and marvellous conclusion.  I particularly appreciated this article, especially after my experiences with my other child - Julie's brother - who was diagnosed some years ago with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Although ASDs are not mentioned in this article, anyone who has spent time in the jungles of competing theories and overlapping diagnoses in this area of child health will recognize the ideas.

PurplePersuasion explains the concept of colour mixing much better than I can, but the basic idea is that most assessment and attempts at diagnosis are really just snapshots of the most complex system in the world: a human being.  The words the doctor writes down on their piece of paper ('depression' or 'psychosis' or whatever) are like trying to pin down the colour of the sea: and 'blue' is a pretty poor description.  The growing use of spectrums to describe mental disorder tries to recognize this by assigning what is, effectively, a colour-range: red-to-blue for bi-polar, for example.  (The colour of Autistic Spectrum Disorder must surely be from black to white - sorry, that's an in-joke for those of you not blessed with autism in the house!)

2. Singing Opera in the Shower

Why High Expressed Emotion is Important written by Stuart Sorenson is part of his new series on high expressed emotion.  He has written several excellent series on mental health, and the recent series on psychosis can be found in pdf form at Psychosis Symptoms or Strategies).  I  like Stuart's style which is straightforward and to-the-point.  He's also comfortable admitting his own biases and recognizing other points of view, which is a rare quality.

Stuart's current series is exploring the concept of High Expressed Emotion which has been fingered as a factor in why some people recover better from mental illness than others.  I am very curious about this area myself, for the purely selfish reason that reducing high expressed emotion in the family is one of the few practical things I might be able to do to help Julie recover.  Most of the time you have to stand on the sidelines, and quite honestly, as anyone will know who has ever stood and watched their demoralised local team let in goal after goal on a wet Saturday afternoon, while you yelled yourself blue from the side of the pitch, this can be a pretty miserable role.  You do want to get on the pitch, even if its only to take the oranges at half-time.

3. Hearing Voices: Not as Big a Problem as You Think

My final link is part of my reading-list on psychosis.  Recent Advances in Understanding Mental Illness and Psychotic Experiences, from The British Psychological Society is not actually all that recent (11-years old!) but it's a comprehensive account of what is known, written in a very approachable style.  There are useful bullet points at the start of every section summarizing it, so you can skim through if you need to.  As far as I know, most of the contents of this report are uncontroversial and very straightforward, so it's a mystery to me why none of the many mental health professionals I've met in the last 18 months didn't point me towards it.  Psychosis is not that rare, but information about it is very hard to come by, partly because no one wants to talk about it until they are forced to.  Julie's hospital, for example, has plenty of leaflets in the waiting room on drug abuse and depression, but none on psychosis.

The British Psychological Society report is a good summary of what psychosis is, who has it, what it means, and what works if it is a problem. It makes it clear, for example, that a lot of people live quite happily while hearing voices and never have to consult a doctor.  It makes it clear that of those people who find their voices distressing, many of them do find a way of coming to terms with the experience, sometimes with the help of medication, and sometimes not.  It discusses diagnoses, what they mean and whether they are useful.

Time to go and buy some oranges: Julie's coming home for the weekend tomorrow.