I am writing in response to previous questions asked to me by my son and he is my target audience. I am sending copies to those on my email list and the choice to read what I write is theirs. This is but the first in what I intend to be a series of my writings to my son.
The BRAIN does not think in the English language
The Tower of Babel and Pyramids of Egypt
Introduction - BRAIN STRAIN
In 2000 I participated in a national clinical study focused upon the subject area of schizophrenia as a 'parent' in Denver. I spent 8 hours with a doctor that specialized in this disorder asking me what seemed to be a series of never ending questions. This 8 hour experience could find similarity to sitting in a witness seat in a courtroom and being asked very direct and pointed questions about people, places and situations of my life back in time to my own childhood (not just questions about my children). There was a half an hour for lunch break and two 15 minute breaks and this interview would be described by me as VERY formal in contrast to relaxed.
It was after I had been given the closing 'thank you' statements involving this 8 hours of questioning the voice of the doctor seemed to change into the voice of a non-professional and I was asked if I minded that he wanted to ask me some questions that were not part of the clinical project.
The doctor stated that he had a great deal of experience interacting with parents involved with schizophrenia and he wanted to know how I handled personal stress because whatever I had been doing was something that enabled me not to be 'totally stressed out' in contrast to other parents having only 1 child with such diagnosis in contrast to my own involvement with this disorder with my own children let alone an ex-husband, the father of my 4 children.
I recall back in 2000, first responding and chuckling that he should have been stressed out listening to me talk about myself for 8 hours! Today I could say that was one of the best therapeutically experiences of my life having someone spend that amount of time asking me very in depth questions about MYSELF and those people, places and experiences of my life.
I could not hand the doctor a key to why I was not a totally stressed out human in 2000 like some secret meditation I used, or something that doctor could learn involving stress reduction. I could only just tell him:
"A tree needs STRESS to grow, it is STRAIN that carries the potentiality of injuring and potentially killing a tree. My children have never caused me STRAIN".
The doctor told me that I should write a book to help other parents deal with STRESS. Since 2000 I have occasionally contemplated upon this interaction with that doctor and writing on the subject area of STRESS, and today I concluded he should have asked me to write a book about dealing with STRAIN.
Brain Strain - American culture
In the 1950's I learned to read in school using the STANDARDIZED reading books called the "Dick, Jane and Spot" series. Likewise, I learned my ABC's and numbers as were those other children around me. This is a simple example of BRAIN STRAIN inflicted upon small children. I would compare this to making children carry a bucket full of water up a hill each day. I find it no surprise that our school SYSTEM is failing at this time in history. The key term in this paragraph is STANDARDIZED. Education in our American culture is overseen by an INSTITUTION providing the experts, specialists, and authorities upon the word EDUCATION.
A child's brain has the ability to memorize just as they could be instructed to pick up buckets of water and carry them uphill every day. STRAIN is the term I would use for childhood mental activities overseen by experts, specialists and authorities within our American culture.
STRAIN carries the potentiality to inflict injury and there is little wonder there are herds of adults in our society passing through our culture's institutionalized educational system actually dying from what the medical profession simply terms with their handy-dandy label STRESS RELATED DISORDERS.
