It’s A Skill! Putting A Positive Spin On Mental Health Issues
With mental illness the patient can be left feeling like there is something wrong with them. 
Actually there is a wealth of human potential that is revealed along with a diagnosis (from my alternative healing viewpoint).
I’ll begin with depression. In order to “do” depression you have to associate into the past. Consider for a moment that this is a “skill”. Everyone has the capability to do this, but some people associate into their past really well.
How would you use this skill? Well if you are prone to depression you would make a great writer because a similar skill set is utilised.
To do anxiety properly you have to imagine the future and worry about what could happen. The skill set you use with anxiety is the same skill set you use in planning. So alternative healing turns the idea of illness on it’s head.
If you have a tendency to drift away…… off in a dreamworld somewhere…..you have a great skill that would make you artistic and creative.
This is a key part of where mainstream (ok, and some alternatives) fall down. They offer hope through their treatments but forget recognition.
Blessings,
Tags: alternative healing, mental health, skill, viewpoint
If you have a tendency to drift away…… off in a dreamworld somewhere
Boy this is me!!!
…..you have a great skill that would make you artistic and creative.
Now I know where it comes from lol.
Vicki http://www.bridal-threads.com
This makes a lot of since Keri
Jose Escalante
http://www.joseescalante.com
This is a great way of looking at things. I love it, you’re coming at it from a whole different angle – a positive one!!!
Lisa McLellan
Child Care Expert,
Babysitting Services, Babysitting Tips, Babysitters, Nannies
Sound like someone I know… !!
http://www.salesjunkie.net
http://www.scottpayne.me
A great positive attitude.
Robert Martin
http://www.carbuyinghq.com
But there is something wrong with them…they’re mentally ill. By definition an illness implies that something is wrong.
Still, with a little reframing you can spin this to a strength.
Steve Chambers, B2B Sale Trainer
I was just at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It is my favorite museum in the world.
Vincent shot himself in a wheat field where he was painting at the age of 39 because he was a failure. Now he has the most valuable paintings in the world and his name is synonymous with artistic genius…
Could he have had the genius without the depression?
Seize the Day,
Rob
Emergency Preparedness For the 21st Century Family
Yeah, do you need one to facilitate the other?
Katie
Hmm, getting in touch with the real issue may mean it is not ultimtely a mental health issue, right?
I’m not sure there are too many people who can handle this. What do you think Keri?
Kate
Keri,
Good illustration about depression & anxiety.
A negative “6″ personality worries about the future and have anxieties;
A negative “3″ pesonality lives in the past thru’ reiterations.
Blame looks at the past; resposibility looks into the future.
John Ho
Numerology Expert Helps Understanding Personality for Better Influence & Persuasion
I like this new way of looking at a mental illness. It’s turning a weakness into a strong point. Rob brings up a good point. Do you know the relationship between mental illness and creativity? It seems often times the two go hand in hand.
MissMentor
I wonder if mental illness is sometimes mis-diagnosed. People are often just wired to think differently and it wouldn’t be fair or constructive to call it a mental illness. Things like depression are clearly illnesses, but others aren’t. It’s a good thing to think about anyways.
Bert (alter ego- Mister P)
MisterP.org/blog
These are all interesting points raised in the post and the comments.
Merianne Williamson in her book A Return To Love (I’m pretty sure, its been many years) speaks of a woman she knew when she was a child. The woman lived across the street as I remember her telling it. The woman was something of an outcast in the neighborhood because she was a free spirit, who enjoyed life maybe a little too much, and just would not conform to the social norm.
This woman was looked on as more than a little off balance.
That stuck in my mind because I knew a woman just like that and I associated the two. The woman I knew escaped the ordinary and its judgments by drinking, and I think that’s what happened to Marianne’s neighbor.
Too bad society doesn’t celebrate everyone’s uniqueness.
Martin O’Connor
http://smallbusinessdesigncenter.com
Keri, what a great perspective! As a society we’re not taught to look for the advantages in a mental illness. It’s both surprising and refreshing to learn of the information you’ve put in your post.
Health, Fitness for Working People — Darryl Pace
This is such a good reframe for all of us!
http://www.martin-wright.com
Isn’t cool, how a little reframe gets you in the right perspective.
Get Healthy, Katie
I think you’ve locked onto a good point. I recently saw a related quote by Friedrich A. Daugielas which read, “You can think of excuses not to do something,
Or think of reasons why to do something. Both thoughts take equal effort, so choose wisely.”
Hi Keri,
I concur with Marty. We each have unique gifts to offer if others but could see, perceive and receive them!
Happy Dating and Relationships,
April Braswell
Single Baby Boomer Dating Success Expert
Keri, I learn something new from you every day!
Kate
I have that book!
Keri Eagan
I’ve had the same thought. I went to art school for a couple of years and did wonder…. The whole place seemed to have an emotional ebb and flow.
Keri Eagan
Hi Kate,
I could have put a disclaimer about me not being a medical professional, and to follow the advice of …….etc. I realise for many in the medical establishment that this is an unforgivable sin. To usurp the power of the multi national drug cartel…companies is a threat indeed but this is not the intention.
I heard somewhere that a US psychiatrist thought that 80% of people should be on prozac. We need to question stuff like that.
Perhaps more importantly we need to acknowledge that people with mental health issues have value EVEN WITHOUT MEDICATION although they are free to seek that option. Either way I want them to know that the resource inside them is there no matter what they choose.
Keri Eagan
Ahh, I love Van Gogh. Was it the genius that killed him or the isolation from society that was the final straw? If they recognised his talent perhaps he would have lived longer even with the absinthe. Support is a healing thing.
Keri Eagan
I know. By definition. I also think the psychiatrists have gotten away with carving a market for themselves by impressing society with our wrongness every chance they get, reinforcing how the world needs them. I’m just a person who feels that they are over performing their role in this area.
Keri Eagan