A. I started Recovery in a state hospital and therefore saw patients with all types of diagnoses and problems. The only ones I could not seem to reach were those impaired by LSD usage suffering brain damage. Severe memory disorders also would be unable to read and retain the method.
The obvious ones of sever neuroses and depression were especially amenable. Most patients with paranoid reaction, schizophrenic included, were also quite able to use the Recovery method. Delusions are directly addressed in Low's method and therapists can make rapid strides in treatment with patients so impaired.
I had few patients with a character disorder as they usually did not attend. This was an open group with most patients self-referred.
A. Few people are seriously troubled by the big events in life that occur only infrequently. However, almost everyone is irritated by a host of trivialities that occur daily from the way other people treat us or how we treat them. Recovery, Inc. leaches a systematic way to develop good mental health. I know of no one who does not need good mental health, but some have learned to achieve it more than others. Those who have had a mental health problem can learn ways to improve their own mental health by their own efforts. This is what Recovery, Inc. is for. It shows how each person can take leadership for his or her own good mental health.
A. You are going to learn how to both protect and improve your mental health. When you learn something it calls for a will to effort to understand, to read and to practice what you learn. It depends on how sick and tired you are of having your life messed up and going into and out of hospitals and clinics. Liking it is not the purpose. The purpose is to learn how to avoid the old unhappy patterns. When you learn how to do this, you will find you will like it so much you can't do without it.
A. First, you have to understand why they have not gone to a Recovery, Inc. meeting. Are they afraid? Are they unsure what they will find? Do they doubt they have a problem? Much can be done to prepare newcomers for what to expect, but this means the therapist must understand the Recovery method and the patient's problem.
Some patients unwilling to go for themselves can be induced to help other patients. I am a strong believer in the "helper principle" where the person helping others is helped in the process. This is intrinsic to Recovery, Inc. Many patients will help less functional patients go to meetings or engage in other social interactions. The "helpers" in taking this role become more amenable to their own participation and soon are involved. Some people can't start by working on their own problems, they can begin in a teaching role with others.
A. I strongly recommend that the therapist go with the patient to the first meeting Discussing the experience afterwards enables the therapist to answer questions and objections with knowledgeable information related to the patients individual circumstances. It also helps the therapist see the method.
"The patient is not asked to change his feelings or to discard them or to disavow them. He is merely asked to substitute the physician's thought for his own."
"The important thing about Recovery, Inc. is that each patient is taught to respect the authority of his medical advisor, particularly his physician or psychiatrist. He or she is taught to accept what the doctor says about his physical or emotional symptoms."
(Dr. Alexander Finlayson Consulting psychiatrist, Orillia Soldier's Memorial Hospital, Orillia, Ontario - Canada)
A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL, VOLUME 2/ NUMBER 2
This newsletter was prepared by Recovery's Communications Committee comprised of Recovery members who arc former patients. We welcome your questions or comments. If you know of anyone interested in being added to our mailing list. contact our International Headquarters; the address is listed below. Local contact can be made by looking up Recovery, Inc. in the white pages of the phone book.
International Headquarters:
802 North Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 610 · 312/337-5661 · FAX 312/337-5756
RECOVERY, INC. IS A COMMUNITY MENTAL HEALTH RESOURCE OFFERING A SELF-HELP METHOD OF WILL TRAINING