If You Want to Move the Mouse Around, Move the Cheese
There is growing evidence that mental and physical weapons are having a tremendous impact on today's society. The mass shootings in the U.S. and the recent suicide of a celebrity are due in part to mental challenges that go untreated for any length of time.
There is a concern as to how much mental unrest is behind each of these tragic events - challenges that could have been treatable at early stages if detectable. In some of these cases there were indicators of a mental problem and that in a few cases help was extended. But what kind of help was being offered? Certainly nothing that was long range and if there was a shred of hope it was too late. Early detection is a key element to solution.
Good mental fitness is rarely taught in schools and the home. One almost has to become an adult before seeking help and just maybe that assistance comes too late.
If you want to move the mouse you have to move the cheese. The mouse is the devilish disorder, which can wear many masks of dark, hidden thoughts and impulses. Good mental health and the removal of that turbulent mouse must be attractive to become effective. Those with mental challenges, your writer included, have to be offered an incentive of self-help support or something that is beyond prescription drugs and that is an attractive lure (the cheese) - something that will be appealing and long lasting and that offers flexibility and humor. It probably can't be a "one size fits all" solution, but it can come close to a good fit and it can be a starting point to build, frequently along with professional help.
Everyday stress has a way of increasing in intensity much like a volcano until there is an eruption of emotions. There are thousands of trivialities that occur on a daily basis that are temper provoking and if gone undetected can lead to considerable harm. Soon one comes to believe that he/she are doomed to a life of gloom and failure; often leading to anxiety and depression with the deadly undercurrent of anger. There is soon a sense of no way out with isolation becoming more intense and eventually many fall under life's radar screen.
There is a way to defeat this ceaseless, insecure babble of the brain. There is a positive way out. Within the last five years I was privileged to facilitate a course called The Power to Change under the umbrella of Recovery International, a cognitive behavioral training system, in the men's jail of Los Angeles Twin Towers. During a 24 month period our unit only had one or two incidents of confrontation. In an earlier 18-month period of time we had no incidents of fighting at all. It is common to have such confrontations in jail pods every week and sometimes daily where a group of men might be housed in a close setting of 30-bed units.
What made Power to Change so effective? Well, participation was voluntary but an incarcerated setting nonetheless. However, there were other components to the program that contributed to its high success rate. It promotes a change in attitudes and beliefs that takes one out of the realm of anger, hopelessness and helplessness. Certainly the realistic approach through cognitive behavioral training (changing thoughts and commanding muscles) can be greatly beneficial. They even develop a sense of humor toward the anger and fear that they have allowed to rule their lives...
A strong factor is a facilitator who understands the motivators of anger and are able to speak to it in a street-wise, street-savvy approach; the language of the street. Nothing teaches better than experience. These facilitators have been down the same road and understand the frustration, irritation and disappointment that can thrust anger into a full-blown outburst that can land them either in jail or the hospital, along with anger's counterparts -- depression and anxiety.
We now have a good look into the world of mental health and an extended reach into a small window of opportunity that is well worth the taking. Move the cheese - address the problem with other tactics so that the mouse, who feels entitled to anger because it is so stimulating, will be drawn away from disaster into a circle of peace of mind and body.
Can help be found in the community? Yes, indeed. One can Google mental health groups such as http://www.recoveryinternational.org, rsv@pljunlimited.com. Remember no one is ever lost, only found. - Bob Dey
IF YOU WANT TO MOVE THE MOUSE (THE MENTAL CHALLENGE) YOU GOT TO MOVE THE CHEESE -- MAKE THE CURE ATTRACTIVE, APPEALING AND A SENSE OF HUMOR. ANYONE WITH MENTAL HEALTH PROBLEMS NEEDS TO BE UNDERSTOOD IN A CARING WAY. THIS CARING PROCESS NEEDS TO BE STARTED AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Bob_E_Dey
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