Music Monday!

Well hello there. Guess what... its Music Monday! I've been neglecting you, I'm sorry. I've had songs picked out for the past few weeks but when it came to Monday I just... didn't... post. What's wrong with me? I'll sum it up for you: I'm afraid that I'm losing my resilience when it comes to school anxiousness. I was way up there very early this quarter. Strangely, at the same time, I feel more confident in my abilities, organization, and abilities. Of course that can change on a whim but I'll take it intermittently. I've got three more papers to complete in four weeks and I am only looking forward to one of them.

Here is a bit of a school update. This quarter I have two new courses; Psycho-pharmacology and psychopathology and Brief Therapy models. Both of these courses have been very intriguing and helpful. In psycho-pharmacology we've been running through the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) 5. It is interesting to see what actually goes into a proper diagnosis and the requirements that symptoms have to meet before they are considered a disorder. It is also interesting to hear that the DSM was created to unify the language that Psychiatrists use when talking about mental illness. The most important thing I think that I've learned is that the DSM is a tool that, when used properly, is helpful in naming mental illness and how to be helpful to someone who is diagnosed. Unfortunately we sometimes think that the only tool we need in a tool belt is a hammer and when that happens everyone starts to look like a nail (somebody important said that, its a quote...).

Brief therapy models are also interesting. The most important thing that I've learned is that focusing on the problem someone is facing may not be all that helpful. We are constantly facing problems and constantly creating solutions to them. We are actively engaged in problem solving every day and often we need to be reminded of that. It is important to understand how we are already solving a problem and do more of that. Cool stuff really.

Here's a weird one today. This one is dedicated to Mon Capitan MP. Mostly because its performed in a fishing boat but also because of the volume of problems to solve in Alaska in only a 3 week period.  This is Cosmo Sheldrake with "The Fly"


Until next time, are you a happy fly? If you live or if you die?

EO

Music Monday

Hello Everyone. It is Monday and I am knee deep in research articles about medication non-adherence.

So far it is a fascinating topic and a big one in psychiatry. The gist is that roughly 60% of individuals prescribed medications for psychiatric disorders to not take their medications appropriately. Some individuals take too much, some too little. Some individuals are forgetful, others are defiant. Either way the side effects and risks of taking these medications alone are frightful. To me it seems that non-adherence is like a prescription for side effects without feeling any of the intended benefit. Non-adherence is a significant problem and it has many factors.

Also this quarter I get to read the Diagnostic and Statistics Manual of Mental Disorders as my text book. After 40 pages of reading about ADHD I was ready to self diagnose. Most disorders require someone to meet 5 out of 8 diagnostic criteria which seems somewhat easy to do... at least for me. I wonder if hypochondria is coming up soon?

Here's an oldie that is stuck in my head this week. I heard it while I was out and about somewhere and haven't stopped listening to it since.

This is Once in a lifetime by the Talking Heads


Until next time, keep it the same as it ever was.

EO

Music Monday/ This week in school...

The past two weeks have been full of fascinating conversation. Most notably has been a discussion of men's and women's strengths and weaknesses. This conversation stemming from the ideas of men and women from a "relational-cultural" perspective. Relational Cultural theory states that relationships are the primary source of development and remain so throughout life. Because of this Relational Cultural theory looks at both individual relationships and cultural influences as important to understanding the individual.

While I do not have time to go into great depth I wanted to post some important points that struck me in the past two weeks:

Men:
-Men suffer from disconnection from both other people and emotions. Early on sons are, consciously or subconsciously, encouraged to detach from their mothers (faster than girls) and displays of emotion begin to be discouraged. This socialization is the start of a pattern of detachment that remains for men throughout life.
-A consequence of this pattern of detachment is the difficulty men have with feeling or expressing emotion.
-A consequence of detachment from emotion is a tendency in men to confuse physical intimacy with emotional intimacy.

Women:
-Women are socialized to be objectified and sexualized by men. Because of this women are often viewed and judged through the eyes of men. This results in women having difficulty finding their own voice.
-Women are sexualized and yet when they are sexual it is seen negatively.
-Most research that has been done on humans in the past few centuries has been done on men and applied to women. As an example the idea of "fight or flight" is a reaction to stress that is displayed by men. Women's reaction to stress is to "tend and befriend" relationally. For example tests have shown that women are reported as more affectionate toward their children when they have had a bad day. In contrast men were reported as more distant upon experiencing a bad day.
-The "tend and befriend" response to stress also points to another reality for women, that they benefit greatly from relationships with other women. Unfortunately women are also the most critical of other women. It is suspected that this critical-ness is a sort of violence that women display in relationship as a response to objectification and voicelessness. From what I understand studies have shown that the more "patriarchal" (as apposed to egalitarian) a society is the more women display such violence.

An offshoot of this discussion in my head was the realization that women are objectified in our culture but I think that relationships are also objectified. Objectification is looking at something rather than looking through its subjective reality. We impose meaning on something rather than understanding the meaning of something in its context. Essentially we rob something of its personal story. We rob relationships of their story when we think that everything will end up "happily ever after."

One more thing I found extremely important in our discussions is the idea that men and women experience emotion differently and that instead of seeking understanding and sitting with emotion we are critical of the other gender. Women feel too much emotion while men "never" feel enough. Both genders experience emotion, both genders should be encouraged to experience emotion, and both genders should seek to empower each other to do so.

I think this music selection fits nicely with this theme. This is Sufjan Stevens in a collaborative concept concert about the planets with "Pluto"



Until next time, keep your moon fixed...

EDO

Music Monday

Remember the feeling of being completely overwhelmed with the amount of information you were receiving? I did not feel that this week. It was the week of residency for me which means I was in Vancouver and had classes from Wednesday to Sunday from 8am-5pm. That is a lot to pack in.

Here is a brief list of areas we talked about this week:

Freudian Theory of Ego and I (apparently there was a mistake translating what was supposed to be "I" into "Id").
Psyhoanalysis
The role of the counselor's "self" within therapy
Dealing with sexism, racism, ageism, etc.
Attachment Theory
The Primacy of Emotion in human lives
Vulnerability
Existential Psychology

One thing that really stuck with me is a description of anxiety. Anxiety is like an alarm bell going off inside of us but we do not know immediately what it is connected to, it is not as easy as a fire alarm. Often we are given the impression that anxiety or feeling anxious is a negative thing but the reality is that it has a purpose. It is telling us that something needs to change. It is this premise that has caused some people to say that anxiety requires creativity and courage. When we examine the cause of the alarm and we are creative in our response then the alarm usually goes away. If we try to ignore or numb the feeling the alarm will do its job by becoming louder.

This is the Mountain Goats with "Love love love"


Until next time do the things for love love love.

Music Monday

Another week has come again. This time around I am in Vancouver for coursework. I have friends who live very close to downtown. Today I am enjoying the sunshine and trying to get ahead in some homework.

This the major theme was identity markers. What identity markers do you use to describe yourself and which ones have changed most over time? In my short lifetime I have identified as Caucasian, male, heterosexual, Christian, son, grandson, brother, friend, uncle, husband, child, adolescent, adult, student, employee, student again, fisherman, single, married, athlete, musician, writer, traveler... etc. etc. What is fascinating is that even if I describe myself using one of these identifies it is not very descriptive. My identity then rests in the interpretation of the individual I am describing myself to and their experiences with individuals who use similar identifiers. That, to me, means that when I identify as something I represent that group and that I am assuming the responsibility of representing that group fairly.

Another thing that stuck out to me about identity is how complex it is. There are identifiers that have changed greatly for me such as athlete, traveler, or uncle but there are identifiers that don't change about me such as Caucasian or male. However, even though these identifiers do not change about me they themselves change. Being male today is not the same as being male fifty years ago and it will not be the same fifty years from now. Identity development is a dynamic rather than static system because we cannot remain static. We are constantly changing and adapting to new situations in life. Our very thoughts can bring about change for us! I think that this is a marvelous part of life and I think without it I would get very bored.

A few weeks back I posted a full DJ set and I finally found one of the songs I was looking for. This is Bonobo with the song 'Cirrus'





Until next time, identify yourself!

EO

Music Monday

Hi.

I have been late posting these for the past two months. That means it is time for a change. I will still attempt to post on Mondays but I have no time for anything other than studying and listening to music while studying. Therefor I will be changing Music Monday to more of a weekly summary format mostly focused on what I have been learning in my school program with a musical component. You may be able to guess my moods through the music I listen to if that is what you're interested in. Feel free to respond to any of the content. Let the discussions begin!

Here is the first weekly review:

This past week has been dominated by discussions of Freud's theories. We were challenged while reading not to "do battle with Freud" but to try to understand the context in which he was writing and find the value in this. The results were very positive. Freud's theories came at a time when renaissance thought of the "higher humanity" was mixing with the natural selection theories and the "instinctual humanity". His theories merged these two streams of thought into a practical and workable theory for the time. Moreover his intensive focus on sexual repression came from the Victorian age of morality where, put simply, sexuality was repressed.

Another idea of Freud's that is possibly most significant to counselors and therapists everywhere is the idea of transference and countertransference. This is idea is significant because it identifies that both client and therapist will bring their own opinions, beliefs, values, rules, emotions, etc into the therapeutic relationship. Transference happens when a client puts their emotions onto the counselor whether that is love or hate and countertransference occurs by the therapist as a result of this. This is useful for the therapist to be aware of as it can be a valuable clue as to what is happening for the other individual. I suggest that transference and counterstransference happens in every relationship and not just in therapy.

That being said this is Sparklehorse with their song "Apple Bed"


Until next time keep your horses sparkly

EO

School again

I attended a school orientation this weekend in Vancouver. I felt very encouraged. The program is focused on creating successful clinical counselors and has a very good reputation for this in the community. All faculty are required to be currently practicing counselors and many of the current faculty we were introduced to are prolific within the counseling community. I was impressed to see the variety of personalities, interests, and specialties the faculty and alumni possessed as well as the individuals in my program. The school shies away from the student/professor ideology of teach and prefers more the trainee/supervisor model with the end goal of being colleagues once we graduate. I thought this was a good way to look at it.

Another focus of the program that I thought was very good was the quality of peer to peer learning. We were encouraged to heavily invest in the other program participants during our time and after. This of course comes with a degree of difficulty as many students know the chaos that group projects bring but I think it is a good learning tool, especially in a field that is highly focused on human relationships. There are about 13 people in the group and there were funny connections between some people. I knew one ladies husband from my time at CBC and others knew this person or that person etc.

I my first day of classes will be on September 28. I am still not quite sure to expect but I am excited to get going.