Posted by Rob McNeilly admin on January 12, 2017 at 08:57am
A man in a residential psychiatric unit was in an art class, and the teacher said “You are an artist!”. This was news to him since he thought he was a psychiatric patient. He began to paint commercially and created wooden furniture. My friend Grethe Bruun from Denmark gave me one of his pieces as a gift. It is a most unusual piece; perhaps even psychotic; but he was able leave the psychiatric unit and live independently as an artist.
All it took was “You are an artist”.
Somebody please talk to me!: "You are a gifted, well-paid therapist".
Thank you!!!
This snipit provides an interesting example of how a life can change when a personal resource is identified, validated and believed.
This story reminds me somewhat of my days working in a medical setting. An orthopedic doctor was overheard in the hallway telling the nurse he was here to see his hip replacement. I was in the room with the patient who stated, "I wish they would see me as a whole person and not just a hip replacement. " Over the many decades I have practiced, I have taught interns and reminded myself that every patient is more than their diagnosis. Thanks for sharing the story.
Rosalind Monahan, Ph.D., LCSW
Thank you!!!
I guess one reason for his improvement was that the art teacher had managed to improve his self esteem.
Prithwiraj
I would say that it was much more than that, Prithwiraj. The teacher helped him to have a completely different identity. Completely different.
Thank you very much Rob, I can see now that I didn't see the whole picture. I am grateful to you for pointing it out.
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