Internship and Yoga

I am in this strange place right now of being completely exhausted from today, but so awake and aware of the world.

View from a session room

I got up earlier than usual to go to the hospital today to get a lift to Dunbar for a 9:30am appointment. However, I got there and discovered the person called to cancel - a very unsurprising event in this field. So the next appointment we had was at half-ten, so I had a little longer in the office to prepare myself for the day.

The case was really interesting, because it turned out to be completely different than expected, when considering the referral letter the GP wrote. What was described as a lack of motivation, general disinterest in life and angry outbursts in the letter, presented as a possible emerging psychosis case...just a brief summary, the client, in young 20's, revealed persistent auditory hallucinations and muttering to one-self. What the GP identified as "angry" outbursts, the person clarified as "episodes" of extreme emotion (though unable to identify which emotions are felt at the time) that cannot be predicted or stopped. It includes yelling, and punching walls until it hurts so much the person becomes aware of what they are doing and is able to calm down. The episodes can be in reaction to any trigger, even just someone saying "hello" - which has happened. Memory sequencing was really hazy - has a really hard time remembering how things happened, such as how they ended up somewhere. Disturbed sleep and eating patterns, does nothing but sit at the computer the whole day (failed out of Uni), avoids crowds and groups of people as much as possible, family history of depression. Lack of self care - a romantic partner attended the assessment for support, and described how the client sometimes goes a week or more without showering, and described a "doing less for that age than is acceptable" in terms of hygiene. The person also gets stuck on certain questions, such as "how to self-pollenating plants produce diverse offspring." The client was very shy, and looked to the partner to answer many of the questions. However, there was dialogue suggesting that the person was disinterested in pursuing therapy at this point, until there was a reason - a diagnosis.

Through The Meadows - a view of Arthur's Seat

 I am obviously not yet qualified to make a diagnoses, but thankfully the therapist I sat in with really encourages me to share my initial thoughts and ideas before she reveals her own analysis. We were pretty much on the same page with this one...just something to be discussed further. SO this particular case will be referred to the psychiatrist who will look more closely at the incidents of auditory hallucinations, the "episodes," and try to dig more deeply into the home life, as during this initial session there was a great deal of avoidance going on from that subject. The fact that this person is the prime age for the onset of psychosis was also a concern for the therapist. So we will see, I suppose. Hopefully we get feedback from the Psychiatrist before I leave!

Then after work, one of the clinical psychologist trainees I work with drove me into Edinburgh where we attended a yoga class. It was a Mysore style class, which basically means you go in and do your own thing under the supervision of the instructor. I have never attended a Mysore class before, and it's been a while since I've done yoga, so I had a hard time remembering the proper Ashtanga sequences. It was an extremely diverse class in terms of level. There were some people doing really advanced inverted postures, including a man three times my age or more. There was that feeling of intense concentration in the room, and the methodical sound of breathing provided ambience to the setting. Everyone did what they could at whatever level they could manage. It was nice to just focus on the movement instead of life for a while. As someone very inspirational once told me, "we spend too much time in our heads, and not enough time in our bodies." I feel more reconnected now.

After the class, we hopped over to the pub around the corner. Of course it started pouring as we left the studio, so we took shelter there for a while! I had about an hour and a half before an appropriate bus came to get me at Princes Street, so it was nice to chat over coffee after the day. Eventually, it was time to head off, so I began my walk up through The Meadows, up Chambers Street passed Edinburgh University, the National Museum, and the Red Elephant Cafe, across the Royal Mile, and down the stairs across The Mount to meet Prince's Street. Along the way, I saw many changes to the city made in preparation for the Fringe Festival! Everything officially starts on Friday, but today and tomorrow there are preview shoes! Now I am home, sleepy but relaxed, and in disbelief it is already midnight and I have to be up in less than 8 hours.

hours!