If there’s not a word for this in English, there should be. It’s definition would read:
“n: A short period of time during which a number of small, unusual, random events occur; all inexplicably linked together by a common theme.“
When this happens, the only conclusion you can usually draw is that someone, somewhere REALLY wants you to pay attention to this thing, whatever it is, right now.
This week the common theme was Borderline Personality Disorder.
I’ve blogged about it before. There was a long piece about it in the local newspaper magazine this weekend. Pretty standard fare about the disorder, some nice personal histories.
The thing that got me, though, was the last few paragraphs: Treatment.
Apparently the standard fare of medication is, more often than not, ineffectual. Promising results though, have apparently been found with Dialectic Behavioural Therapy, and to a lesser extend Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
Short-cutting the discussion linking BPD to trauma and/or some type of hereditary predisposition to “emotional rawness” here, I’ll jump right to the “well, duh!” moment.
Medication? Usually innefective.
Meditation, mindfulness, learning to reframe experiences as positive? Much more effective.
Kind of what we do with our Martial Art Therapy program. And pretty much common sense to me.
But more to the point, why on earth isn’t this emotional regulation, mindfulness and much, much more “reslilience” taught as a core subject in our schools?
Today we’re going to meet Johnny (a pseudonym). Johnny has recently been diagnosed with Acute Viral Rhinopharyngitis.
This is an unfortunate situation for poor Johnny, to be sure. While not life-threatening, Johnny’s condition certainly makes it challenging for him to go about his regular daily routine.
There is good news for Johnny, though. Recent medical advances mean that with the right medication (and a little time) his condition will improve. Once his current bout of AVR has been treated he can once again be safely considered “in remission”.
Unfortunately for Johnny, the statistics say that his odds of relapse are very high.
While Johnny is in remission, though, he’s a completely different person. You’d never be able to tell that he was ever as miserable or as dysfunctional as he when he’s suffering the effects of his condition.
You probably wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are plenty of people who suffer from acute viral rhinopharyngitis – better known as the common cold.
How many of people do you know, though, who like refer to themselves as “viral pharyngitics”, “AVPs” or “cold sufferers”?
You are not your diagnosis. You are far, far more than any diagnosis of mood disorder or schizophrenia. You’re not defined by your condition (unless you choose to be).
