Relaxation...

Taking a walk in the forest with a good companion, very cute... Nordic walking. A brother disappearing in the distance! He uses to ski very long races, as Vasaloppet and Marcia Longa. I was also walking with poles in fact. Many pine more lands here. Mixed with soft meadows with birches...

I have been writing on my other blog about our despotic, dictatorial politicians (especially our dictatorial government; the "alliance" - right oriented). People who have got our mandate, authorization - how do they use it??? Misusing it, for their own sake and benefits, silently and angrily...

Addition in the evening: On self-help therapy a reader to Miller writes:

“Today, I regard primal therapy in general as wrong and dangerous. The idea that we should make ourselves feel pain in a deliberate and systematic way reminds me of the pedagogic lie that one should deliberately create frustrations for children in order to 'prepare them to life.' Frustrations are inevitable, and similarly, pain stemming from childhood injuries is inevitable and reappears not only when we reenact our past, but also when we try to take good care of ourselves and to free ourselves from destructive relationships. There is absolutely no need to recreate this pain intentionally by failing to extricate ourselves from painful situation in the present./…/

The one thing that I do find helpful, just like you repeatedly point out, is talking my past over with enlightened witnesses.”

Yes, that about narrating with someone listening, if one has, and/or writing about those issues. But the latter method probably takes a lot more time, more than if you have an enlightened witness? But if you have no other choice...

Another reader reflected on different forms of abuse:

“I've experienced verbal abusiveness (including no response), physical abuse (corporal), and shunning (Awful). The most painful experiences for me were when I was simply ignored or shunned. It was as if my existence was instantly annihilated. The combination of corporal punishment and shunning or 'shutting-out' was a double-whammy, and I could feel the sadness creep through my very bones. Of all the punishments, the corporal may have done the least damage. You know what hits you, you feel present, you sense the pain, you know the reaction of the other party, you see the anger/rage, your outrage is instant and in reaction to something you can identify, there is "heat" and passion (emotion expressed), it is real. It hurts, and you know what/where/why (usually). You can even choose how to stand up to the blows, so there is an element of choice. It is in relationship to something and someone./…/

Much more difficult was the ongoing reflection by parents and siblings (they learn fast) of being wrong, useless, stupid, unneeded, ugly, inadequate, evil object. Yet this is still in relationship.

Completely devastating for me, as a child, was to be 'shut out' or shunned, sometimes for so long that it grows into a lifestyle (eventually I would do something to 'gain' corporal punishment, to regain a sense of self and relationship). As if I did not exist, was not there, was not. That is the pain that creeps blackly for me in soul diminishing horror. It defies logic and leaves one in the dark. It leads to such defensiveness, is so depleting, that life is diminished and toxic. I thought of suicide as a child, but realized I would not be missed, that I would simply be thought of as more defective. And all I wanted was to be accepted for being myself. To be real. I can understand violence that way. It is concrete.
It is madness, but there is method in it.”

Also read a (52-year old) daughter on her psychiatrist father, and another one on keeping in contact with ones parents.

Really enjoying Midsummer, or…

Tjorven on her way to the midsummer celebrations in the Stockholm archipelago enthusiastically to her mum and dad:

“I want to be neat like this - always!!!”

Her mother has her doubts, and says (rather mutters) she hopes Tjorven will stay that neat the whole Midsummer Eve!

And Pelle on HIS way to the celebrations to his dad Melker and big-sister Malin:

“Does one HAVE to have such repulsive clothes when it is midsummer?? One has to look up for everything that is fun!”

”How NEAT you are!!!”

Tjorven says to Pelle very admiringly when they meet.

”Oh yes,”

Pelle replies not sounding very happy (another one muttering here, yes, he too mutters, as Tjorven's mum above) with very mixed feelings, not enthusiastically at all.

On a rock-face Malin’s other two brothers suddenly see someone coming with the boat to Seacrow Island/Saltkråkan, Krister an admirer of their sister Malin. THEIR Midsummer Eve is spoiled, because now they have to protect Malin against this Krister! And they get a really tough work, a work which their two best friends, two girls Teddy and Freddy (yes, they are girls!!) help them the best they can with!! I can reveal they succeed in their deeds, and Malin isn’t too sad about it in the end to be honest!

But look what happens with Tjorven and Pelle – they really enjoy things!!! With those clothes one can at least bath ones feet, can’t one?? Competing how deep they dare to walk…

“Oh, I got wet!!!”

Tjorven said suddenly.

“I am not!!”

Pelle says (triumphantly?).
Tjorven can’t help… No, I won’t reveal more, you have to look!

“We couldn’t help it!!”

Tjorven said to Malin.

“COULDN'T HELP IT!!??”

Malin replied, trying to hide her smile behind sounding angry. This clip is from 1964!!

Here other people enjoying Midsummer??

Små grodorna (small frogs)…

The Crying Olles song...

And when the children have gone to bed…

About "Seacrow Island" by Astrid Lindgren.

If you go down to the quay in Stockholm on a summer's morning and see a little white boat called Seacrow I lying there, that is the right boat to take and all you have to do is to go on board. For at ten o'clock precisely she will ring her bell for departure and back out from the quay. She is now setting out on her usual trip, which ends at the island that lies the farthest out in the sea of all the islands in the Stockholm archipelago.

Seacrow I is a purposeful, energetic little steamer and she has made this journey three times a week in summer and once a week in winter for more than thirty years, although she is probably quite unconscious of the fact that she ploughs through waters different from any others on the face of the earth. She crosses wide expanses of open water, steams through narrow channels, past hundreds of green islands and thousands of grey, bare rocks. She does not go fast and the sun is low when at last she reaches the quay at Seacrow Island, the island which has given her its name. She has no need to go any farther, for there is only the open sea beyond with its bare rocks and its islands where nobody lives except eider ducks, seagulls, and other sea birds.

But there are people on Seacrow Island. Not many, at most twenty-that is, in the winter. But in the summer there are the summer visitors as well. Just such a family of summer visitors was aboard Seacrow I one day in June a few years ago. It consisted of a father and his four children, and their surname was Melkerson. They lived in Stockholm and none of them had been to Seacrow Island before. And so they were very excited, especially Melker, the father.

"Seacrow Island,"

he said.

'I like the name. That was why I took the house!'

Malin, his nineteen-year-old daughter, looked at him and shook her head. What a scatter-brained father she had! He was almost fifty but he was as impulsive as a child and more boyish and irresponsible than his own sons. Now he was standing there as excited as any child on Christmas Eve, expecting them all to be wildly enthusiastic about his idea of taking a summer cottage on Seacrow Island.

'It's like you, Daddy, "

said Malin,

"it's exactly like you to go and take a cottage on an island which you have never even seen, just because you like the name."

"That's what I should have thought everybody did,"

Melker defended himself. He thought for a moment and then said,

"Or perhaps one has to be an author and be more or less crazy to do a thing like that. Only a name - Seacrow Island! Perhaps other people would have gone and looked at the place before taking it."

"Lots would have done - but not you!”

"Well, never mind, I'm on my way there now,"

said Melker cheerfully.

“I'm going to look at it now!"

And he gazed round him with his gay, blue eyes. He saw all the things he loved most: those pale waters, those islands and skerries, those old grey rocks, the shore with its old houses and jetties and boat-houses-he felt as if he wanted to stretch out his hand and caress them. Instead, he grasped Johan and Niklas by the nape of the neck. "Do you realize how beautiful it all is? Do you realize how lucky you are to be going to live in the midst of all this for a whole summer?"

Johan and Niklas said that they did realize it and Pelle said he realized it too.

"Well, why don't you shout for joy then?"

said Melker.

"Would you mind my asking for a spot of jubilation?"

"How do you do it?”

Pelle asked. He was only seven years old and could not show joy to order.

"You yodel,"

said Melker, and laughed.

Pictures from today here and here.

Vulnerable and fragile, but also strong, competent, powerful…

Of some reason I came to think, once again, of how fragile we human beings are, fragile, vulnerable and strong, powerful, competent… I will continue this posting later today I think. Starting it with Sting’s “Fragile.”

Fragile

If blood will flow when flesh and steel are one
Drying in the colour of the evening sun
Tomorrow's rain will wash the stains away
But something in our minds will always stay
Perhaps this final act was meant
To clinch a lifetime's argument
That nothing comes from violence and nothing ever could
For all those born beneath an angry star
Lest we forget how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are

On and on the rain will fall
Like tears from a star like tears from a star
On and on the rain will say
How fragile we are how fragile we are
How fragile we are how fragile we are

Addition in the evening from earlier postings (slightly changed and edited):

From the earlier posting The vulnerable human being…:

In an article in a Norwegian newspaper it stood about Homo vulnerabilis – the vulnerable human being...

In this article it stood about what we today talk about as “the most vulnerable groups”, an expression that has been more and more common in the societal debate the last years (in Scandinavia at least) they mean. They write that the expression "the most vulnerable groups" can be a transcription for women and children, victims of abuse or nature-catastrophes, poor people that has been marginalized or the ones that are psychically or somatically sick.

And yes, of course these groups are vulnerable they write. But we are all vulnerable. Vulnerability belongs to our human beings basic conditions. In an ethical perspective the human vulnerability is a prerequisite, yes, even a resource…

However, much in our time can be read as assiduous attempts to deny and repress/suppress the innate human vulnerability… Yes, I think this is right. We don’t want to admit these sides in us!? We don’t want to get in contact with the power and helpless child we once were, the weak and incompetent child. The contempt for weakness. And this is quite natural, the feelings that are connected to these experiences of being a help- and powerless child, a child that was entirely handed out to her/his caregivers/parents and the clear, real insight that the child couldn’t change this situation, it was entirely impossible, how clever or sensitive or anything it even was – realizing the truth with all its implications, are so painful, so we want to avoid it at all costs.

But we have also got a growing insight about how much feelings and emotions mean for the development of ethical insight and responsibility they write… Feelings are also compassion and empathy in other people and other people’s needs and feelings (how many of us are good at that?). Without our feelings/emotions we wouldn’t be (aren’t) capable of grasping/apprehending the ethical challenges where they occur, neither in near nor more distant relations…

Or said in another manner: It is the fellow human beings vulnerability which makes the need for ethical behavior obvious or needed…

However, if I deny my own vulnerability this (being compassionate, emphatic) will be difficult…

We are back to a former blogpost, the addition in the end, about violence, not only the one between men and women (men being violent towards women), but about the violence between men too!?

And Bosch actually writes about this I think (denial of needs and thus our vulnerability, and the consequences of this denial, in our ability for nearness for example): about the different defences we use… One of these is to deny how vulnerable I as child actually was (a protection against realizing the real extent of what the caregivers actually showed with their behavior, i.e., how little they knew about a child’s needs, and that this also was a sign of lack of love!? A realization that had meant death for the child, but a truth an adult can survive, even if it feels as we can’t survive it), by adapting a defence she calls False Power anger or False power denial of needs. Or we resorted as children to the defence False hope: if we tried hard enough - then… Or blamed ourselves, what she calls the Primary defence.

It stands in the article about the mutual dependency human beings between… Probably very scary for many? Admitting ones needs and dependency on others (phew, I know psychoanalyst influenced therapists talks about this too!! In a similarly contradicting and confusing manner as our parents raised us: you shall dare to admit your dependency, but not be dependent at the same time, or in other circumstances be independent, or? And knowing the difference and being able to control even this. Phew again! And all this is a question of wanting or not wanting, and of intellect!?? How sensitive and compassionate and empathic is this from the therapist's side?)? Because realizing this would trigger early things, when the child’s natural and justified needs weren’t filled, and the feelings connected to this that had to be suppressed, probably before they even reached the consciousness? So this is very understandable, but no excuse for behaving badly…

Insight, fantasy and understanding form the “power of judging”… And it is here, in forming this “power of judging”, where our own vulnerability becomes a resource they write (in my interpretation). Oh, this can sound so very moralizing – and isn't this very intellectual!!

They also write about building rocket or missile-systems, both on an outer and on an inner level, i.e. literally and metaphorically. The dream about invulnerability continues to sow distrust and exclusion instead of trust and mutual obligations in all fellowships…

But the invulnerable human being, if he/she existed, would be inhuman they write, because vulnerability constitutes the human, constitutes that we are human beings.

But vulnerability is often presented as a lack, a weakness, as something we should help others get rid of, telling them (and ourselves too?? Blaming ourselves for being sch failures, so incapable, so weak, bad, lousy -the Primary defence?!):

“You shouldn't be so sensitive!”

And how many of us aren’t raised to think of others??? At the same time! First we are told not be so sensitive – or vulnerable, and then asked to think of others… We shall be both less sensitive and more!! Confusing!?? We shall make ourselves invisible in a way!? And then we are blamed for hiding our light under the bushel (sätta vårt ljus under skäppan)!!!

See Bosch on children learned to share at a too early age… (“Being sensitive to out children’s pain”, in the midst of the linked blogpost about “Biologism”).

I also came to think of Kirkengen who refers to the Hebrew Philosopher Avishai Margalit (Kirkengen also writes about bio-medicine!!!).

The last fall there was a TV-program with the Swedish professor in religion-psychology Owe Wikström in a talk with the Swedish author Torgny Lindgren on compassion. A couple of years ago Wikström’s heart stopped when he was at a gym with his wife (physician). Suddenly he was totally handed out to other people! At the hospital he started to reflect over what he calls “the era of self-centeredness”.

“The popular-psychology’s picture of the happy human being is extremely concentrated on the individual. This creates a very cynical society, where all shall boost [puffa för] their own selves and realize themselves. Those who don’t manage this are cast into the shadows”,

he says. Contempt for weakness again.

These reflections resulted in the book “Sonja’s goodness” (he refers to Dostoevsky’s Sonja throughout the book! I haven’t read any of Dostoevsky's books though), a book in which he seeks literature where compassion is described. Books mean a lot to Wikström!!

Wikström’s home site. About him at Wikipedia (only in Swedish).
About Avishai Margalit at Wikipedia. More about him with links to essays by him. And even more about him here.

It stands about Wikströms book (my amateur-translation, the text a bit shortened below):

"Nutiden överöser oss med slagord:

'Du kan bli framgångsrik', 'Du måste förverkliga dig själv!', Du har bara ett liv, unna dig storslagna upplevelser!', ' Tänk positivt!' [Halleluja!!].

Men alla vet vi, innerst inne, att tillvaron är oberäknelig. Hur mycket man än försöker så styr man inte sitt liv. Vi är, utan att vara särskilt medvetna om det, ständigt beroende av andras omsorger.

I Sonjas godhet frågar sig Owe Wikström vart medkänslan, omsorgen och samtalen om de goda handlingarna tagit vägen. Har osjälviskhet blivit omodernt? Vad sker i ett samhälle där individualism och upplevelsehets står i centrum? Är det omodernt att föra samtal om individens personliga ansvar för andra än sig själv? Förstärks självcentreringen av populärpsykologins tro-på-dig-själv-budskap och en upplevelseorienterad andlighet?

Utgående från en dramatisk personlig upplevelse diskuterar författaren hur det är att vara föremål för andras omsorg, utelämnad i den svages position. När tillvaron är som bräckligast minns han Sonja – den goda kvinnan i Dostojevskijs roman Brott och straff. Hon blir en sinnebild för det goda i människan. Samtidigt ger hon oss en föreställning om en typ av förebild som tidigare sågs som självklar. Att det är en litterär gestalt som på detta sätt väcker tankar om ömhetens betydelse leder över till en diskussion om böckers existentiella betydelse och deras roll som motkrafter. Frågor om ansvar och godhet diskuteras utifrån flera författarskap, främst Fjodor Dostojevskij men även Torgny Lindgren och J. M. Coetzee.

"- Det är en skimrande illusion att tro att 'ensam är stark'. När det kommer till kritan är man beroende av andra.

'I kondenserad form', skriver Owe Wikström i sin bok, 'visar varje sjukdom förödande tydligt hur svag människan innerst inne är. Den pekar på hur beroende hon är av and­ras omsorg, att få släppa kontrollen och förlita sig på att andra accepterar, förlåter och orkar ta över.'

Genom sjukdomen fick han alltså upp ögonen för 'det medmänskliga beroendet och en osjälvisk livsstil.' Han ville skriva om detta, och om det i förhållande till den egoism och självbespegling han tycker breder ut sig i samhället."

“The present time shower us with catchwords:

‘You can become successful,’ ‘You have to realize yourself!’, ‘You have only one life, allow yourself magnificent experiences!’ ‘Think positively!’ [I don't think he wants to moralize though, but he sees backs of this way of behaving, being Does it have to be either/or always? Either you care about yourself OR others? You can't care about both yourself AND others? At the same time?].

But innermost we all know that existence is incalculable. How much one even try one doesn’t steer ones life. We are, without being especially aware of it, constantly dependent on others care [but of course we each of us have responsibility for ourselves, but alone isn’t strong in the end]."

In his book ‘Sonjas’ goodness’ the Swedish religion psychologist Owe Wikström asks himself where empathy, care and the talk about the good actions have disappeared. Has unselfishness become outmoded, unmodern? What happens in society where the individualism and experience-excitement [or experience-bustle] stands in the centre? Is it outdated talking about the individual’s responsibility for other people more than her/himself (or for both her/himself AND others, my addition)? Is the self-centeredness strengthened by popular psychologies believe-in-yourself-message and an experience-oriented spirituality?

It is a shimmering illusion to believe that "alone is strong". In the end we are dependent on others. If not earlier so when we get sick, and old etc. Wikström means that in condensed form, as he says, each illness shows devastatingly sharp how weak man is at heart. It points at how dependent she is on others care, to let control go and trust that others accepts, forgives and have the strength to take over.

And that the one he/she is dependent upon doesn't misuse or exploit the dependency, sickness... How important trust is... Are all worth our trust?

Meeting a trustworthy… Genuinely trustworthy. And then dare to trust (not be so damaged so you can't then and when you need to rely on others!?).

Through the illness he suddenly got his eyes opened for "the fellow human dependency and an unselfish life-style." He wanted to write about this and about it in relation to the egoism and “self-mirroring” he thinks is spreading in society.

Yes, there are forms of this self-centeredness that are less "good"? Or how one shall express it?

See what Bosch wrote about sharing at a too early age…

See what Anna Luise Kirkengen writes about the vulnerable human being and the philosopher Avishai Margalit.

Made sick by silence/gjord sjuk av tystnad...:

Kirkengen writes in the chapter "Conclusions and implications" at pages 390 and forward in her book "Inscribed bodies...":

"...biomedicine is ignorant as to how life is inscribed into human lived bodies, and how lived bodies are inscribed in the social politics of silencing.

Violated humans are made sick by the silence and are sacrificed to the silence about overwhelmingly male sexual violence, which societies still resist becoming knowledgeable of and reflect upon. Both psychiatric and somatic medicine takes part in the silencing, 'the sickness', the sacrifice and thus, the violence. [this is hard words, but true I think! Even psychiatry contributes to silencing I think, all too often, even fairly often or even very often?]. In outlining the implications of these finding, I shall argue that not only sexual violation or any other violation of personal integrity, has potentially pathogenic impact, but also any structural humiliation of human integrity."

Kirkengen refers to the Hebrew University philosopher Avishai Margalit, and writes for instance, about what he says and means:

"He finds it more fruitful to construct a negative argument, based on the fact that human beings share the morally relevant characteristic of being 'something which can be humiliated'. This negative argumentation, he states, far surpasses in usefulness all of the positive ones /.../

According to Margalit, human beings no longer have Truth, God, Wisdom, Language, or the Law of Nature or History in common. Paradoxically, however, they do all share the ability to be humiliated.

A decent society is reflected, according to Margalit, in the way its institutions meet the most vulnerable of its members - or its non-members. Any measures which marginalize people stigmatize them. And a stigma is the public sign of deviation from the norm, be it the norm of honor, mores, gender, race, faith or function.

Regarding the concepts of honor, self-respect and self-esteem, Margalit writes: 'A humiliating society is one whose institutions cause people to compromise their integrity,' and, 'a decent society is one whose institutions do not violate the dignity of the people in its orbit.

My study provides evidence that structural humiliation of human dignity occurs within medicine [and in psychiatry and therapy too, because what clients have to come with too often becomes belittled and diminished, and analyzed and intellectualized and put a label or diagnose on, instead of being solved/dissolved. Kirkengen writes more about the power of narrative, and if these narratives are met with distrust, what this can lead to instead. I will write a separate blog post about that. And this occurs both in somatic medicine and psychiatry I think].

Whenever people deviate from the norm of biomedicine they become marginalized /.../ ...if their symptoms do not respond to presumably appropriate measures; if their health does not improve as fast as expected; and finally, whenever they return with the same presenting problem despite that, according to standard medical practice, it ought to have been solved.

These scenarios all lead to medical marginalization, regardless of their origin. It is known, however, that social stigma and shameful, silenced experiences cause health problems but, at the same time cannot be communicated frankly and explicitly /.../ In other words: socio-culturally originating suffering and bad health are not only misunderstood in medical contexts; they will also most probably be aggravated by being responded to with 'more of the same', so to speak /.../

Consequently there is a path from silenced humiliation in private to legitimized humiliation in public. There is a link between the private experience of being made to feel worthless [originating in childhood] - through domestic abuse [physical, sexual and emotional abuse and violation], subordination, exploitation, neglect or deprivation [in grown ups too, who reeanct what they endured during childhood; if their self-esteem was damaged they won't be able to protect themselves adequately and maybe also behaves self-destructively, if they don't act it out on others in destructive behaviors], and the public doom of being unworthy to receive help - through correct medical and legal objectification."

Also see what the ACE-study has found about adverse childhood experiences and their impact on health (so these experiences doesn't only or even always cause psychic problems, but can result in what we usually mean are somatic troubles, and in many cases they result in both, even among those we deem as "socially respected"; the ACE-study is performed on middle-class Americans, who can afford health insurances, thus aren't the ones in the absolute bottom of the society!!).

---

Den norska läkaren Anna-Luise Kirkengen skriver i kapitlet "Conclusions and implications" på sidorna 390 och framåt i sin bok "Inscribed bodies..." (min amatöröversättnng):

”… biomedicin ignorerar hur liv skrivs in i mänskliga levda kroppar och hur levda kroppar är inskrivna av den sociala policyns nedtystande.

Kränkta människor har blivit gjorda sjuka av tystnaden/tigandet och är offrade till tystnaden/tigandet om överväldigande manligt sexuellt våld, vilket samhället fortfarande motstår att bli medvetet om [dvs. kort och gott vill man inte veta om det] och reflekterande över. Både psykiatri och somatisk medicin deltar i detta (ned)tystande, ’sjukdomen’, offrandet och sålunda våldet. Genom att skissera innebörderna av dessa fynd, ska jag argumentera inte bara över vad sexuellt våld eller varför vilken annan kränkning av personlig integritet har potentiellt skadande effekter, utan också varför varje strukturellt förödmjukande av mänsklig integritet har det [Kirkengen skriver om reviktimisering av människor i somatisk medicin och psykiatri, dvs. klienter som blir kränkta igen och på samma sätt som de en gång blev, vilket lett till deras sjuklighet. Bara för att man inte vill veta om de grundläggande och underliggande orsakerna, inte frågar efter dem, inte ’vågar’ (??) fråga efter dem].”

Kirkengen refererar till den hebreiska filosofen Avisha Margalit:

”Han finner det mer fruktbart att konstruera ett negativt argument, baserat på fakta att mänskliga varelser delar den moraliskt relevanta karaktäristiken att vara ’någonting som kan bli förödmjukat’. Denna negativa argumentation menar han vida överträffar alla de positiva i användbarhet /…/

Enligt Margalit så har mänskliga varelser inte längre sanning, Gud, visdom, språk eller naturens och historiens lagar gemensamt. Paradoxalt dock, delar de alla förmågan att bli förödmjukade.

Ett anständigt samhälle reflekteras, enligt Margalit, i sättet dess institutioner möter de mest sårbara av dess medlemmar - eller dess ickemedlemmar... Alla åtgärder som marginaliserar människor stigmatiserar dem. Och ett stigma är det offentliga tecknet på avvikande från normen gällande heder, ?, kön, ras, tro eller funktion.

Avseende konceptet heder, självrespekt och självförtroende, skriver Margalit: ’Ett förödmjukande samhälle är ett samhälle vars institutioner får människor att kompromissa med sin integritet, ett anständigt samhälle är ett vars institutioner inte kränker värdigheten hos människor som befinner sig i dess omlopp.’

Min studie förser oss med bevis att strukturell förödmjukelse av mänsklig integritet uppträder i medicin [och i psykiatri och terapi också]. När än människor avviker från normen i biomedicinen blir de marginaliserade /…/

…om deras symtom inte svarar på de åtgärder som antas vara ändamålsenliga; om deras hälsa inte förbättras så fort som förväntats; och slutligen när de än återvänder och presenterar samma problem trots att de borde ha lösts enligt det som är medicinsk standard praxis.

Dessa scenarier leder alla till medicinsk marginalisering, oberoende av dess ursprung. Det är dock känt att socialt stigma och skamfyllda, tystade erfarenheter/upplevelser orsakar hälsoproblem men, på samma gång, inte kan kommuniceras frankt och uttryckligen /…/ Med andra ord: lidande som har sociokulturellt ursprung och dålig hälsa är inte bara missförstått i medicinska sammanhang; de kommer också högst sannolikt att bli förvärrade genom att man möter dessa med ’mer av samma’ så att säga /…/

Följaktligen finns det en väg från tysta förödmjukande i det privata till legitimerad förödmjukelse i det offentliga. Det finns en länk mellan den privata upplevelsen att ha fåtts att känna sig värdelös [vars yttersta ursprung finns tidigt troligen] – genom familjevåld [fysiskt, sexuellt, emotionellt], underordnande, utnyttjande, negligering eller deprivation och den offentliga domen att inte vara värd att erhålla hjälp – genom korrekt medicinsk och legal [fullt laglig?] objektivisering.”

Se också vad ACE-studien säger om skadliga barndomserfarenheter och dess inverkan på framtida hälsa. Dvs. dylika erfarenheter leder inte bara till psykisk sjukdom eller problem utan kan leda till somatisk ohälsa. Och i värsta fallen av övergrepp och misshandel till kriminalitet av den värsta sorten (Pincus).

Se också tidigare blogginlägg om tystnadens mur.

Censorship or to censor…

shall one pick seven meadow flowers and put under the pillow tonight? :-)

Thinking loudly this Midsummer’s Eve… Of some reason it struck me once again: what does (or can) censorship mean (on a forum concerning childhood-experiences for instance)?

Also came to think about trusting ones gut feeling. Doing this really reliably you have to have as little as possible unprocessed? At least if you are in a role as responsible and/or with power?? As teacher (in my case), as therapist, as another authority-figure where people are dependent, as moderator etc.? Then you need self-awareness, and need to work on it continually the best one can… Tricky if one has to do it on ones own…

It’s something different in other relations? When the relation is more equal? Then one should trust that gut feeling more? A feeling of uneasiness?

But back to circumstances where one discuss childhood issues: the healthiest leave? If they are rejected once and again, and can’t get through, if they can't get through with for instance their messages and support to people? And it can be those that become rejected too? If the moderator has unprocessed things, of a certain kind, maybe can’t deal with or stand competition? But of course such an explanation and accusation can be used too, against healthier in moderator-positions!!

The most damaged easily get stuck, and maybe more stuck in worse circumstances.

Critics (even honest, fair) of the power can get rejected. And if the rejections aren’t followed with any explanations, what can that cause? Of course there can probably come a border when there is no idea with more arguing, and it can probably be difficult drawing that…

I have also wondered about the thought it’s easy like that to seek oneself to healthier environments. The more hurt and harmed you have become the more difficult that can be. Isn’t it similar to what Miller has written about Helga for instance??? Some also avoid circumstances and relations that would be good?

And of shame (over how one has become treated) you keep quiet… And this only plays he perpetrator in hands. The perpetrator can be quite safe. Horrible.

Trust ones gut feeling, yes, maybe… This is tricky…

What is one censoring?

But all these things can become misused, to manipulate… Too... Yes, Stettbacher is right about protecting the watcher's of life in children, i.e., trying to avoid so the child has to suppress feelings, and thus their ability to see clearly and avoid being used or to use...

my grandma holding one of her grand-children, but how?? It doesn't look comfortable at all for the child!! And my grandma didn't mind being photographed at all - on the contrary! On this picture I think she is 66 years, and on the first in her seventies, or maybe almost eighty? She died in her ninety-first year. My grandpa was 5, 5 years younger he died when he was 85...

Mysterious midsummer...

“On their way home, girls and young women are supposed to pick seven different species of flowers and lay them under their pillows. At night, their future husbands appear to them in a dream.

Legend has it that the night before Midsummer’s Day is a magical time for love. It still is, in a way. During this night many a relationship is put to the test. Under the influence of alcohol, the truth will out, which can lead both to marriage and to divorce.”

Taken from here.

I midsommar tid
Du lindar av olvon en midsommarkrans
och hänger den om ditt hår.
Du skrattar åt mångubbens benvita glans,
som högt över tallen står.
I natt skall du dansa vid Svartrama tjärn
i långdans, i språngdans på glödande järn.
I natt är du bjuden av dimman till dans,
där Ull-Stina, Kull-Lina går.

Nu tager du månen från Blåbergets kam
att ge dig en glorias sken.
Och ynglet som avlas i gölarnas slam
blir fålar på flygande ben.
Nu far du till Mosslinda, Mosslunda mor,
där Ull-Stina, Kull-Lina, Gull-Fina bor.
I natt skall du somna vid Svartrama damm
där natten och mossan är len.

the video above is music I felt for linking in this posting.

Sarek is swedish musical group playing principally Folklore. Pictures from today here.

Midsommartid

En är klädd, det är sommarens skruv,
midsommarljusen, den vackraste brud.
Allt kan hända en natt som den här,
när älvorna dansar och mossan är skär.
Sakta sänker sig dimmorna ner,
och solen i fjärran syns inte mer.
Natten fylls utav klingande skratt,
och ljusen som speglas är kärdens svart.

Trollskog och väsen, säker sig natten.
Likt en älva dansar runt, sorlen och skratten.
Midsommarstången, trollska sången,
gör att jag vill va bara den som du vill ha.

Tid att älska, tid för att se,
det vackra en midsommarnatt har att ge.
Månen ska lysa på grönskande mark,
Och hjärtat ska ristas i tallens bark.

Trollskog och väsen, säker sig natten.
Likt en älva dansar runt, sorlen och skratten.
Midsommarstången, trollska sången,
gör att jag vill va bara den som du vill ha.

Det är slut, ska vi somna på mossen så len?
Där vilar vi mot varandra med stummande ben.

Trollskog och väsen, säker sig natten.
Likt en älva dansar runt, sorlen och skratten.
Midsommarstången, trollska sången,
gör att jag vill va bara den som du vill ha.
Trollskog och väsen, säker sig natten.
Likt en älva dansar runt, sorlen och skratten.
Midsommarstången, trollska sången,
gör att jag vill va bara den som du vill ha.

Na na na na na na na na na na na, nananan nananan.

A growing family...

christened at my maternal grandparents' home in Överkalix.

me, mom and my little brother in Överkalix.

my little brother christened in Rättvik, where dad was born.

the third sibling, a sister, in our home (Umeå).

the fourth sibling, a brother, christened in Umeå, where we lived. I am standing there looking down on my hands. We, the oldest three children, are wearing the child-variant of Rättviksdräkten. Mom had sewed them. I am almost 5, 5 years, L. 4 years, E. 2 years And P Å newborn. When I had just turned 7 a sister was born, and 5, 5 years later the last child, a sister. And that was the whole!! And here am I as grown up.

Pains in the stomach can be symptoms of other diseases...

Ture Ålander and his opponent.

Thought further after having written the former posting...

A couple of days ago I got a tip on an article in a Norwegian paper with the title ”Magesmerter kan vaere symptom på andre sykdommer” or “Pains in the stomach can be symptoms of other diseases.” This tip has been lying there… But now I had to read more properly. See about these findings in Swedish here.

In this article it stands that problems from the stomach and intestines often can be connected with other diseases and with psychological problems. They can also be connected with earlier encroachments, abuse (övergrepp). The Swedish General practitioner Ture Ålander says that for to be able to help those patients the physician needs to see the whole human being, not just focus on the stomach problems.

The Norwegian physician and researcher Malin Eberhard-Gran has done a similar study which supports Ålander’s ideas. Her study doesn’t have only stomach-problems as starting-point, but symptoms of diseases in general.

They had asked women between 18 and 40 years in two townships in Norway about disease-symptoms. They found that many who had several physical symptoms often had been exposed to violence. They also saw that the more violence they were exposed to the sicker.

And these women suffered not only from symptoms like headaches and pains in the stomach, but also from diagnosis like diabetes, asthma and different forms of allergies.

From her praxis as General Practitioner Eberhard-Gran had found that when there were many different disease-symptoms there are often other things lying beyond.

She says:

“If you get a patient with headache, sleeping problems, pains in the stomach and maybe even diabetes, there are reasons to a closer investigation on how this patient has it, for example if the patient has been exposed to violence.”

And she means that it is important to have the whole person in focus, not just each disease-symptom for itself.

One of three Swedes is plagued by different types of problems from the stomach as pains, being stuck-upped (uppblåsthet), having constipation (förstoppning) and diarrhoea (diarré).

Those plagues are difficult explaining medically and many different and thorough examinations (undersökningar) show that everything is normal.

Ålander is hoping that his founds shall contribute to a better and more effective treatment of this group of patients.

Now while I was writing I suddenly recalled what Alice Miller actually wrote about the fifty-year old American actress Isabelle, who had been suffering from a chronic inflammation in her intestines after a psychic shock!!! And about her experiences of seeking help. Not so good experiences. Isabelle had been exposed to sexual abuse as a child by her father (who was physician. Yes, even in the “best” families…). Memories she had suppressed, until her return to Ireland, the country where she was born? She had very high (but not really conscious) expectations on a meeting with a former male friend, and support from him, a support she didn't get though. See the chapter “Medication versus memory” in her book “The Truth Will Set You Free” pages 26-41.

Back to the original text. Ålander says that:

”The results talks for that we shall not only focus on the symptoms of the stomach in patients with returning/persistent stomach and intestine troubles, but see the whole human being. It can be to establish a trust-relation and combine psychological treatment with medication.”

And he adds that a lot of research remains before one for sure knows what methods and medicines [if any: my addition] which are best in the treatment.

“Those with plagues from the stomach often had other plagues at the same time. For example 80 % said they were tired. Among the healthy in their stomachs the number was 20 % [complaining of tiredness]. Even when it came to headache (huvudvärk), pains in the back (ryggont), down-heartedness (nedstämdhet), restlessness and agony the ones with problems from the stomach were over-represented.”

Another interesting finding was that 46 % of the women with constant/persistent troubles from the stomach had been exposed to one or another form of physical, psychological or sexual abuse. For the ones with healthy stomachs 16 % had been exposed to abuse. For the men the connections aren’t as plain as for women.

Ålander is careful about drawing any conclusions from these results [why??], but means that they can become an important piece in the puzzle when one investigate patients with returning/peesistent problems from the stomach.

See the dissertation by Ture Ålander at the Karolinska Institute recently: “Functional gastrointestinal disorders: Co-morbidity and non-somatic aspects.”

In the conclusion it stands:

"FGID (persistent functional gastro-intestinal disorders) is related to an increased demand on primary health care due to an increased overall co-morbidity. Women with longstanding FGID often have a history of physical, emotional or sexual abuse which is associated with a poor HRQoL (Health Related Quality-of-Life Measure) and increased health care seeking. Negative parental upbringing represents an aggravating factor in FGID. The treatment of FGID should involve assessment of psychological distress."

Also read about Anna-Luise Kirkengen's founds here and here, and Linn Getz's. And about the ACE-study here and here.

PS. Watch how super-cute they were, these four babies laughing!!!