Voicelessness and Emotional Survival > Voicelessness and Emotional Survival Message Board
Back again...
Dr. Richard Grossman:
--- Quote from: Hopalong on March 27, 2015, 08:52:55 PM ---Ahhh. I didn't realize your aim was a book that would CHANGE things.
No wonder you feel such a burden to get it right.
I think you'll do better if you EJECT the idea that you are writing this book to change things.
Instead write it to share experience and tell a human story**!
I love the idea of therapist-as-patient-narrator.
Unique. That's not been done, far as I know.
I'd say just go for it in whatever inside-YOU voice you are ready to hear.
That voice will do the narrating. (You just type.)
And then you'll find out (rather than pre-decide) what kind of a book it is.
**Literature changes things. The voice that comes from the story.
BTW, I just read an extraordinary book about voiceless people.
I can't imagine a more-apt title to recommend to you right now.
Here it is:
http://www.amazon.com/Untouchable-Scott-OConnor/dp/1935562509/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427503904&sr=1-10&keywords=untouchable
luck,
Hops
--- End quote ---
Hi Hops,
Thanks for your comment! I have no pretense about changing anything in a major way. In the 20th century, Freud "changed" clinical psychology/psychiatry--Freud's beliefs were certainly what I studied both as an undergraduate and graduate student. And now, his influence is almost nil. Sadly, I was cursed and ostracized in graduate school and training/working in MGH/Harvard Medical School psychiatry when I wondered out loud about Freud's beliefs/theories. Those who could control their temper asked: "Why do you have to be so critical?" And I would think to myself: "But this is academia--not religion. Isn't that what one's supposed to do, ask questions?" Of course, what directly followed was my interest in voicelessness, e.g., not being allowed to question the in-vogue theorist's ideas.
So, I'm not interested in change on that scale. But what if a book I wrote could change the treatment of even one person by a therapist--from something inadequate or even destructive to something life changing? Of course it would have to be read by a therapist who had a similar brain to mine and who had not quite put things together yet. That is my main book writing goal--and if it happened to make a difference in two people's lives, that would be amazing!
And yes, it would be much better told and far more convincing from the patient's perspective rather than having me or some other therapist "authoritate" on the topic. So, we'll have to see what form it takes. I may use some of your's, lighter's, and others' strategies to try to come up with something that might work.
And if it's a good read and touches other people--well, even better!
Thanks again for your suggestions--I'll take a look at the O'Connor book...
Richard
Dr. Richard Grossman:
--- Quote from: lighter on March 28, 2015, 04:19:39 PM ---Doc G:
I'd like to see a book that follows many patient's journeys...... early experiences leading up to the decision to seek T, and how that works out...... the T's POV and history as well. Perhaps some experiences of people in the main character's orbits that provides expanded understanding of how pd's effect entire groups, and organizations, the good and the bad. I'm particularly interested in following the responses of the third party entity, and how that plays out in the lives of the main characters.
If the information gives society the vocabulary to help identify, and name, their most confusing experiences, that would really be amazing.
Ignorance isn't bliss, and pd's flourish in the dark.
A book/play/screenplay that sheds light, along with providing entertaining characters we care about, might be just what the doctor ordered, IME.
hhaw
--- End quote ---
Hi lighter,
Thanks for your comment. A book/play/screenplay that follows multiple people's, and also third parties' experience of therapy change would be very interesting! Unfortunately, I'm not sure I have the talent or the patience (I have the patients----but those precious stories I would never tell...) to do it. 10 minute plays may be my limit! But I'll definitely give your ideas some thought...
Richard
Gaining Strength:
--- Quote ---Which brings me to another point and another reason why it’s so hard for me to write a book on the subject. From the therapist side, I’m not sure it’s a job for which graduate students/residents can be trained. In a sense, one either has the ability to make this kind of relationship or one doesn’t. And very, very few people have the ability. It took almost a decade (my 20’s) to throw out most if not all of the training I did have. And in the course of interacting with 100’s of therapists in the Harvard Medical School system/ Mass. General Hospital, looking back, there was not one who could have helped me in part because the training they did have got in the way of who they were. So, if such abilities are largely born in/genetic, what is the point of writing a book no one can learn from? I’m overstating things here, perhaps, but often I have this thought/feeling.
--- End quote ---
I have read this thread only to the point which I quoted above. Ironically, you have the gift of giving voice to the voiceless. And it is even more valuable because it stands outside the form currently proffered in academics and (therefore) practise in most of the US today. But the form that could generate change is the novel rather than a directive or an autobiography.
Of course I have more to say to flesh this concept out but I am completely out of time. But I will finish this thought -not because my point of view should dictate to you but only because I see how valuable your voice can be to the countless voiceless, both lay and professional. And I suspect there are many professionals feeling so bound by the strictures who would find themselves free at last to be true to themselves and their patients/clients. The novel form gives freedom to bring many voices and a variety of perspectives untethered by the structure of realism.
Hopalong:
--- Quote ---...what if a book I wrote could change the treatment of even one person by a therapist--from something inadequate or even destructive to something life changing?
--- End quote ---
Oh that would light a star that had nearly guttered out.
What an absolutely beautiful reason to tell this story.
Hops
Gaining Strength:
I've opened a can of worms for myself. But I'm going to go ahead regardless
In the 90s I had the great privilege to take courses under the great american philosopher Richard a Rorty. He called himself an American Pragmatist and was a great celebratory of the novel as a tool to reveal truth of a time. Rorty saw that the novel was free of constraints which burden non-fiction. Without such restraint the novel can use sentimentality to move people and make change.
Here is an excerpt that points to his views in part:
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