Work and Sleep!

[foreverdawn]

Nothing much thrilling happening today--just a work day. Had a new pt with a very sad psychosis: she believed that she had done something terrible and wrong and that she deserved to be punished. Her family were all very supportive of her. They said other than her depression, she really was a healthy, loving person. But if you tried to explain this

Comments

[rainbow]

she may very well have had to do terrible and wrong things if she served in war torn afghanistan, things she isn't able yet to forgive herself for or feels she doesn't deserve compassion for. ptsd from war time experiences is very common.

why do you think she's hearing voices rather than hearing herself? (if you don 't mind me asking, that is!)

re the logic -- that's actually pretty normal; there've been multiple studies showing it: if logic contradicts thigns we're deeply committed to believing, logic has little to no chance of winning. if you add in the neurological issues that ptsd can cause, i'd guess (ianad) that logic stands even less of a chance.

i don't know if this is something you'd either be comfortable with or could ethically do, but i'm being urgently nudged to tell you that paul rademacher's book "a spiritual hitchhiker", skip atwater's book "captain of my ship, master of my soul" (which is free as an ebook), and any of the monroe institute hemi sync recordings might be helpful to her if she's interested; if she can get to the point where she understands that even the awful stuff happens purposefully and that we're much, much more than our bodies and our experiences in this one life, it may help her heal from the soul pain she's suffering from. (paul's the director of the monroe institute and skip's the president, iirc).

[foreverdawn]

She could be hearing herself--but it is a continuing stream of negativity that appears to be coming from her internally. For many of our schizophrenics, they feel that this is NOT part of them, but something outside condemning them. I did not have her as a pt tonight, but she did have a little more emotion on her face and her speech was less flat when I spoke with her. This also gives me the thought that the meds are starting to work. If it were just an internal voice, the anti-psychotics we use these days would not make a difference.

and her guilt is over a sexual encounter she had when she was in the military. It was consensual but it was with a person of another race, whom she later found out was bisexual: she believes she should be punished for this. (and that she has been punished because she believes she has aids even though she is negative for this or any other STIs) There is more going on there, but that is what she will say she needs to be punished for.