Define 'Ab-Normal'.....

Define : ‘AB-NORMAL’

Right in the third year of my undergrad, this was the very first question that had been asked and discussed about, not only in our Abnormal Psychology classes and books, but also in the final exams.

I’m sure no matter how many years you spend in the profession of Psychology or Psychiatry ( if at all you are attuned to the ‘human’) this is one question whose answers keep changing with time, experience, yet one thing remain s constant – ‘What’s normal and ‘ab’ normal?’

For those who are unaware of how it feels to be in a clinical setup, I’ll just share some bits.. Pls note that experiences differ according to a private or a govt. setup.

In a governmental setup, you’ll see hoards of patients and their family members waiting for their turns to come. They’ll either be sleeping on the benches or holding the hands of the ‘ patient’ so that he doesn’t run away. They got to wait and wait and wait. So here perhaps comes the first lesson of being clinician – BE PATIENT.

Well surely you can read in between the lines, for
there can be times when we too experience the ‘patienthood’ of the ‘patient’ just as it was our own. And in such moments, things and the world perhaps seems a different place altogether ( I’m assuming since I haven’t experienced it yet).

While one may come across psychiatrists who treat their patients well enough, others might just take a peek just at the illness rather than the person.

And then the very important aspect- that of Rapport Formation. I  saw a clinician who just began with conducting an IQ test on a 18 year old boy after getting very basic information about the child’s developmental milestones and how he was after birth. So to say ‘NO RAPPORT FORMATION at all’. Result the boy wasn’t responding to all the questions asked by her in that test, further leading to his total IQ score. So , the question comes up-> Did that score really belong to him and denoted his ‘actual’ IQ?

I read somewhere back in an article in ‘ThE Speaking Tree’ written by an Ayurvedic practitioner that whenever one is angry, distressed or upset, one should neither cook food or consume food at that moment, because all it leads to is negative thoughts getting transformed into negative energy further being sent into our bodies.

I somehow find this connection apt even in the relationship which clinicians share with their patients. Why to take another case at all when you are mentally exhausted? Or if at all, one has to, why not take a short break?

I’m not here to pin point mistakes, I’m just a beginner who is trying her best to learn. And as I write this I myself become aware of the things I might need to get attuned with in future, if I consider becoming a clinician.

I would like to end with what R,D,Laing said :

“Psychopathology is something that occurs not in a person but in a relationship”

I’m still thinking about it, hope you get some food for thought as well…../