A short post today, I've been busy recently so I'll have two posts go up at once to account for my daily posts beings interfered with.
It's so strange to think that we've lived in community for such an obscene amount of years. Even centuries before, there was a person who saw someone injured and cared them back to health. Perhaps they were related, but otherwise; they cared for a stranger.
Truthfully, the idea that someone chooses to help another is overlooked. There's much to say from someone's personality when they choose to help. We never see the backstory of them like our media we consume, and yet, somehow, this person chose to be a healer to someone.
Many people see medicine as something that fixes the person physically and that alone. While correct in one aspect, it disregards the humanity behind the doctors, nurses, and patients. Romanticizing working in medicine is wrong to do, and yet we will do it anyways, because even though sometimes that ideal wont be met... Someone found it. Things like this come from experience, yes? This all applies to relationships too, unsurprisingly. In hopes for something amazing, we keep thinking, and thinking for more. It's innocent, it's selfish- but what are we if never striving for better?
Better is the ideal, not the obsession. It's achievable.
I wonder if selflessness can be better too. Maybe we need to redefine our definitions across the world, so everyone has the same understanding of others instead of glancing upon assumptions.
We don't know much about medicine in the middle ages, but we are aware of the usage of herbs. Henceforth, we coined the term 'herbalist'. Now, medicine at this point would've certainly been an act of a heretic, and if you were a woman... Well, then you'd be the town witch. Unfortunately, history isn't kind to those who are poor or not of high status.
In 1322, we know of the case of Jacqueline Felice de Almania. She was physician held to high esteem among her patients and an exemplar of female potential. Fortunately, she was of high noble status, with a reputation of successful outcomes for her patients.
She was "one of many healers charged with illegally practicing medicine, [and she] raise[d] serious questions about the motives of male physicians in discrediting these women as incompetent and dangerous. The second development was the campaign--promoted by the church and supported by both clerical and civil authorities--to brand women healers as witches. Perhaps the church perceived these women, with their special, often esoteric, healing skills, as a threat to its supremacy in the lives of its parishioners. The result was the brutal persecution of unknown numbers of mostly peasant women." [5]
This woman was banned from practicing medicine and was found guilty, although 8 patients advocated for her medical skill, with the court not even noting on such competence.
"Despite the testimonies that she was able to cure people the male physicians had given up on, the court reasoned that it was obvious that a man could understand the subject of medicine better than a woman because of his gender. This decision is considered to have banned women from academic study in medicine in France and obtaining licenses until the 19th-century."
 Green, Monica (2006). "Getting to the Source: The Case of Jacoba Felicie and the Impact". Medieval Feminist Forum. 42: 49–62. doi:10.17077/1536-8742.1057.
Minkowski, William (February 1992). "Women Healers of the Middle Ages: Selected Aspects of Their History". American Journal of Public Health. 82 (2): 288–295. doi:10.2105/ajph.82.2.288. PMC 1694293. PMID 1739168.
Garcia-Ballester, Luis (1994). Practical medicine from Salerno to the Black Death (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. ISBN 0521431018.
Minkowski, William (Fall 2017). "Women Healers of the Middle Ages: Selected Aspects of Their History". American Journal of Public Health. 82 (2): 288 295. doi:10.2105/ajph.82.2.288. PMC 1694293. PMID 1739168.
Minkowski WL. Women healers of the middle ages: selected aspects of their history. Am J Public Health. 1992 Feb;82(2):288-95. doi: 10.2105/ajph.82.2.288. PMID: 1739168; PMCID: PMC1694293.
Did you know that many of us experience burn out? Not in the typical way where we are fatigued, but also in terms of empathy. In fact, it's more common for there to be an emotional burnout before a physical one! Now, losing compassion is heavily interlinked to empathy and this phenomenon is often perceived by the younger generation: why cant my mother understand? Why does my teacher treat us so strictly? Am I doing something wrong?
Empathy Fatigue.
Imagine your parents, growing up in a world where they adhere to social norms; I'm sure everyone has had their experiences where they question society. Inevitably, a lot of us remain unhappy and stuck, and when combined with their own ups and downs in life they surely get tired. Through experiencing more of the world, it becomes more dull; bleak. Now, that's one perspective, and a rather black and white one (black in this case) when in fact most people do not entirely lose joy in life. Many, however, do have depression or other psychiatric illnesses. People can be less attuned to empathy, with lower emotional intelligence or even ignorance. I'm sure you're aware of some personality disorders.
"At worst, empathy fatigue is a person's inability to care. It's the negative consequence of repeated exposure to stressful or traumatic events. It can manifest both emotionally or physically"
Now, we can take Person A: a person who highly empathizes and sympathizes with people. They get burnt out, perhaps because of forcing themselves into situations where they receive the emotional blunt of others. For example, the "therapy" friend.
Then, we can take Person B: a person who never fully registered how to empathize, or chose not to. Yes, even they can get burnt out, because most people usually try to conform to this idea of a good person.
Of course, personality disorders and other disabilities can enable this lack of empathy to become either specific or lie on a different spectrum of empathy.
This topic is very important for people who work in the medical industry! Wont go too in depth this time but might look into the struggles (in particular nurses) people experience in that career. That topic in itself is worthy of a researched essay. I doubt a lot here is new information, but it's always good to address these things.
CBT is well renowned for its talking, and easily accessible techniques. However, it is also unfortunately known as being ineffective for treating more complex psychiatric disorders. Henceforth, Somatic Therapy became another form of care for those afflicted with their series of unfortunate events. Somatic therapy includes talk therapy, but also concentrates on other methods of working through emotions and events (so is effective for PTSD), for example via the movement of your eyes you can limit flashbacks that could potentially cause a relapse and otherwise considerable emotional distress. It "incorporates body-oriented modalities such as dance, breathwork, and meditation to support mental healing".Â
Unlike standard mental health therapy, such as CBT which focuses predominantly on the mind," somatic therapy incorporates body-oriented modalities such as dance, breathwork, and meditation to support mental healing. In addition, somatic experiencing therapy sessions include talk therapy and mind-body exercises.
Beyond the standard somatic therapy, numerous subgroups use its framework in specific ways. These include:
Sensorimotor psychotherapy 1:Â
A comprehensive therapy that uses the body as both a source of information and intervention targets.
The Hakomi Method 2:
Psychotherapy that integrates scientific, psychological, and spiritual sources, focusing on four core concepts: gentleness, nonviolence, compassion, and mindfulness.
Bioenergetic analysis 3:
Body-psychotherapy that combines bodily, analytic, and relational work based on understanding energy.
Biodynamic psychotherapy 4:
A combination of allopathic (medical) and holistic therapy modalities that include physical massage by the practitioner
Brainspotting:
In addition to mind and bodywork, this therapy incorporates eye positioning to retrain emotional reactions.
Those on the ASP tend to benefit from Somatic as I believe many hold forms of trauma similar to PTSD and can allow for those with alexithymia to bring awareness to the ways their body responds to their environment and experiences.Â
So, we can take this in a multitude of ways. A strange question, yes, but perhaps one that you might enjoy thinking about.
Running physically? You get your basic list: "I want to lose weight, I want to try something new, I want to be healthier, my doctor told me to, I want to be more attractive". However, I want to briefly touch (this post wont be quite as long as my other ones) on the fight or flight instinct - what happens when you run away from things mentally.
Let's start off simple: you're procrastinating. Want to know what your brain is doing there? You, a potential procrastinator, might have a larger amygdala. Your brain is essentially swept up and over into your fight and flight, and guess what. You end up procrastinating because of your emotions perceiving god knows what as a threat. Somehow embarrassing, right? Sent into a chemical panic all over your homework, it's almost belittling.
Now, let's take that procrastination and level it up a bit. Your procrastination is now complete aversion to a situation. Now let's also upgrade the stakes of your situation. A toxic family life. Your brain is overwhelmed, you're getting the chemical alert to run. Small children cannot run from their parents, and will aim to keep attachment over individuality; the small child learns to fawn and freeze. That child is stuck in that attachment and fear combination, your brain essentially maintained in that limbo which can lead to dissociation and poor coping skills - all because you wanted to run, but your survival was placed biologically upon your attachment to your parents. Makes a bit of sense why people tend to develop personality disorders with unstable home lives, right?
So, you could say it is anxiety that fuels your desire to run. The anxiety of how you're seen by others, the anxiety of whether your wellbeing is guaranteed, the anxiety of how things could take a turn for the worse if you try to run away - or if you don't try to run away. These sort of things only build in pressure, after all. It's interesting how similar the baseline reasons are in the physical activity of running. Let me just quickly show you these two dopamine examples:
Over time, regular exercise remodels the reward system, leading to higher circulating levels of dopamine and more available dopamine receptors.
When you're doing something that you like, your body releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in the pleasure and reward centers in the brain. The same applies to procrastinating — when you put off something you don't want to do, the brain rewards you by releasing dopamine.
Interesting, right? I haven't found anything quite yet on how the brain releases dopamine as a child regarding the whole preservation of familial attachment, but I highly bet that it's something related to all of this too, after all, it is part of the chemical bond oxytocin. I'd bet that the instinct to impress your parents is largely focused on dopamine! So when the anxiety as a child builds, dopamine levels drop, adrenaline rushes in: then, you run...If you can.
Honestly? Everything here sounds like a survival method to reproduce. The human body is strange- it casts aside everything just to survive. Darkly amazing, truly.
I respect those consistently working in medicine so much, please do whatever you choose to do in order to help both yourself and others. That includes being able to take care of yourself both physically and mentally in your environments. I just hope we're still able to provide for any patients in care.
The four pillars of medicine! AKA, the medical ethics.
We have..
Beneficence (doing good)
Non-maleficence (to do no harm)
Autonomy (giving the patient the freedom to choose freely, where they are able)
Justice (ensuring fairness)
I believe that all of those who enter the medical field hold a deep compassion for people, or at least start off with one. The motivation it takes to study and continue in the medical field is a complex one; some might say it's the altruism that motivates them, but such a phrase is often said without heart (but only for those without true experience). Personally, I want people to feel less lonely. I want people to understand things about themselves, not to be scared of their body but to admire how ruthlessly it works to keep you alive - even if it accidentally kills something else of you in the process. I say this because I think that everyone goes through a phase (ever-lasting or short-lived) where your body confuses you, and then even your brain gets caught up in all that mess. I want to give someone a chance to be listened to regarding their problems, allow them the respect they deserve. Hopefully, one day, I'll be working in the medical field and I'll be able to contribute to that system of people, alongside those who need my care. Then, I want to "fix" the brain for what is wrong.
Incase you were wondering, I want to be a neurologist.
In fact, I think the way I'm thinking there shows a decent amount of compassion!
Nursing is far more than shadowing a top-notch doctor, it's caring for the patients in the way that you might care for a close friend. It's amazing how many healthy relationship attributes can apply to being a nurse.
Sometimes, a nurse might hold your hand when you're feeling lonely. They have to maintain their composure, their positive attitude even when they're down, and medicine is by ungodly measures one of the most stressful things; I'm sure of that. It's only when they're in private or with other co-workers outside of working attitudes where they can show themselves out to be this kind, patient and adoring human being. I've even met a nurse who told me to "get out while I can" because I am so sincerely focused on an education with medicine. I took her words to heart, but I haven't let them steer me off my goal. After all, even then, all she chose to provide me with was advice: and in a bittersweet way, it provided further value to her and many other more nurses in the industry.
It's the smallest gestures that make the biggest difference - especially for those who are not used to such treatment be it in their isolation or in their upbringing. Patience, understanding, that acute sense of empathy.
I should only hope that our nurses receive the same treatment.
Just found out this little guy was "nominated for the PDSA Order of Merit Award" during our huge pandemic.
"Yang has been the official mascot at Hexham General Hospital for four years, with his presence soothing everyone from sick children to nervous parents to overworked staff."
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