Open
Dialogue:
An
Alternative, Finnish Approach
to
Healing Psychosis
A 74 minute video by Daniel Mackler,
followed by a discussion led by Will Hall (of Madness Radio) at the Unitarian
Church of Vancouver.
Shown last March 19 2012 at Unitarian
Church of Vancouver.
See event announcement at:
West Coast Mental Health Network
A 74 minute video by Daniel Mackler, followed by discussion led by Will
Hall (of Madness Radio).
Copies available for $33 from
From all I heard this well-established program
has been astoundingly successful over a period of 20 years. The core of the program is, as you may have
guessed, open dialogue involving the patient, at least 2 professionals, and at
least one member of a "social circle" (usually relatives). This is government funded, and generally
provides a visit to the patient's home or local clinic within 24 hours, with
daily follow-up visits for a couple of weeks, less frequent later. Despite the high staff to patient ratio, they
estimate 30% savings because the vast majority of patients do not require
hospitalization or long-term chronic support.
In fact most patients go back to work.
Neuroleptics or other drugs are infrequently prescribed, and only in
small doses for a short time. The staff
form a team, and are very comfortable with each other and the interviewer.
For privacy reasons no patients are seen in
the video. The only description of
sessions addressed the philosophy of the program - free-ranging discussions where
for example professionals might try out ideas to each other in presence of all
participants. Will Hall supplemented the
lack of examples in response to audience questions based on attending workshops
in Massachusetts. He gave two examples
that revolved around a multi-day dialogue breaking the taboo on difficult
subjects that were "not to be spoken about". Possibly the avoidance of specific issues is
on purpose, to avoid (as the Open Dialogue method does) placing us outsiders in
the position of judging from the outside what "the problem" is and
being tempted to short-circuit the core of the program.
For 3 academic references from the
book "Anatomy of an Epidemic" see:
To purchase, see:
(also link to blog "Beyond Meds").
Go to www.vpn.pl click on "My VPL", then on
"Using The Library", then on "Suggest A Purchase".
