Recovery Month at SAA

I happened to come across the movie titled The Sixth Sense other day. This Bruce Willis starer is horror-thriller movie, with supposed to be having basis of mental illness case of one of the main characters(child). This movie, which came 15 years earlier, had become famous then. Bruce Willis plays a role of doctor trying to help the child who is suffering from schizophrenia, who also gets visual hallucinations. The line ‘I see dead people’ from this film, is said to be one of most famous lines of films ever. I, having been associated with the domain of mental health for almost 10 years now, mainly, involved in activities of Pune’s organization called Schizophrenia Awareness Association(SAA), I was watching this movie keenly. Much has has been written about this movie’s mental health angle. At the end of the film, I kept wishing the film touched upon using techniques of self-help and recovery. But alas, it is a movie, not a documentary of child dealing with mental illness!

Poster of the movie, courtesy Internet

I remembering all this, as one of the main proponents of self-help techniques and recovery techniques, Dr Abraham Low, whose birth anniversary is falls next week, on Feb 24. He was Polish by birth, but made USA his home, where he went on founding organization called Recovery Inc more than 80 years ago. SAA is going observe his birth anniversary as Recovery Month. Various programs are arranged on this occasion. One of the main activities of SAA, apart from spreading awareness, is facilitating and conducting self-help support groups(SHSG). The very basis for SHSG is Dr Low’s techniques. Some time back I had read Marathi translation of Dr Low’s biography titled My Dear Ones and I had written about it here. On the Feb 24 itself, there will be a session on recovery method. The recovery method is a system of cognitive behavioral techniques for controlling behavior and changing attitudes. People who practice the living skills detailed in the recovery method, learn to change their thoughts and behaviors. The changes in attitudes and beliefs follow.

Recovery International’s Logo, from their website

Dr Abraham Low, image courtesy Internet

One first things is there using spotting tools as listed below. The purpose of using a tool list is to enable newcomer Shubharthi(person with mental illness) to easily and rapidly participate in a recovery meeting.

• Treat mental health as a business and not as a game
• Humor is our best friend, temper is our worst enemy
• If you cannot change an event, you can change your attitude towards it
• Be self-led, not symptom-led
• Symptoms are distressing but not dangerous
• Temper is the intellectual blindness to the other side of the story
• Comfort is a want, not a need
• There is no right or wrong in the trivialities of every day life
• Calm begets calm, temper begets temper
• Don’t take our own dear selves too seriously
• Feelings should be expressed and temper suppressed
• Helplessness is not hopelessness
• Some people have a passion for self-distrust
• Temper maintains and intensifies symptoms
• Do things in part acts
• Endorse for the effort, not only for the performance
• Have the courage to make a mistake
• Feelings are not facts
• Do the things you fear and hate to do
• Fear is a belief-beliefs can be changed
• Every measure of self-control leads to a measure of self-respect and ultimately self-confidence
• Decide, plan, and act ,
• A firm decision steadies me
• Anticipation is often worse than realization
• Replace an insecure thought with a secure thought
• Bear the discomfort in order to gain comfort
• Hurt feelings are just beliefs not shared
• Lower your standards and your performance will rise
• Things happen by chance and not by choice
• People do things that annoy us, not to annoy us

This and other recovery techniques are used by counselors and SHSG facilitators world over. This is the time to remember his contribution, and spread awareness about his work in the society.

Anyways, the movie serves its purpose of horror/thriller, with a twist in the end, which I won’t reveal(no spoiler here!). The film also has been shot in Philadelphia, I could recognize some locations as I have traveled there few times. As I said at the beginning, much has been written about The Sixth Sense, specifically about treatment and portrayal of mental health in the films. I also had written about this topic in the past on the blog here. I appeal the readers to participate in spreading awareness about various aspects of mental health. I keep writing about various topics related to mental health here, and what we do at SAA. You can check them out here. Lastly, please participate in various programs SAA would be conducting during this recovery month. For more updates on this, stay tuned!