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The Positive Mind: Is it Enough?

August 11, 2011 Randye Kaye

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Armand DiMele, for his radio show on WBAI in NYC, which airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1 PM.

We talked about many things, using my book Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope as a launching pad for advice for families.

What Armand most wanted to cover was the need for early detection (when does "my child is a little bit off" become "this is a possible mental illness"?), the experience of other family members (siblings, spouses, children as well as parents of those with a mental illness), and the need for communication skills and self-care in dealing with our loved ones. He rightly saw our family story as a platform for introducing others in similar situations to the need for things like education (such as NAMI, and of course HealthyPlace.com), support, advocacy, respect and self-care.

When I entered the offices of the DiMele Center in NYC, where we taped the interview, I saw several items in the waiting room that illustrated the mindset of positive thought, from the Zen sandbox on the coffee table to the "Positive Attitude " books for sale in the corner. I wondered if this interview might turn out to have an anti-medication platform. I hoped not.

While part of me would love to corner Tom Cruise on a talk show somewhere and argue him out of his uneducated and ignorant statements about "drugging our children" on the Today Show years ago, I certainly didn't want to spend this hour-long interview defending Ben's medical treatment. Thankfully, I didn't have to. What I had been prepared to agree to, however was this: medication alone cannot do the job in mental illness recovery. It is the major cornerstone in the foundation, of course - but a "positive mind" helps immeasurably.

What is a Positive Mind?

What do I mean by "positive mind"? Well, lots of things:

  • The belief that recovery is helped by community
  • The faith that the recovering individual is capable of success, especially with support, structure, and opportunity.
  • The positive value of respect - for the individual and for their families.
  • The value of things like purpose, exercise, fun, nutrition - and especially a place to belong.
  • Love. Respect. Hope. A chance.

According to the website, "The program and all its archives are now being heard worldwide through streaming, podcasts and iTunes. Listeners write in from Europe, Asia, Africa and South America" - and Armand was an insightful, compassionate, knowledgeable interviewer. You can tune in to WBAI , 99.5 FM in NYC or at their website for live streaming, or access the archives of the show after the fact at thepositivemind.org.

APA Reference
Kaye, R. (2011, August 11). The Positive Mind: Is it Enough?, HealthyPlace. Retrieved on 2024, March 29 from https://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/mentalillnessinthefamily/2011/08/the-positive-mind-is-it-enough



Author: Randye Kaye

Dr Musli Ferati
August, 28 2011 at 8:44 am

The positive mind is very important concept in improvement and maintenance of mental health. For mentally ill person the cultivation of positive mind through execution of daily needs presents crucial factor in successful treatment of any psychiatric entities. To achieve this hopeful goal it is necessary to be with optimistic view on future by modulate attitudes and to practice pro-social behave in family and professional circumstances. Moreover, when it is well-known fact that positive mind reinforces our and to others physical and psychic well-being it is of value to learn the skills of satisfied communication as preliminary condition to be admit in every social milieu. Otherwise, we risk to be outdoor of social network, that means to punish oneself to savour the experience of social death. Surely, this consequence didn't contribute to recover from any mental disease.

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