Rockford Day 8 Treatment Summary

7/31/2024

Day 8 summary at Rockford at the Orchards:
- Woke early to the sound of what I thought was someone screaming for me. Early start allowed me to have a relaxing walk/ride with the girls. 
-9:20 arrival, again nothing eventful.

-9:30 Session started with less than 10 people in the room and one online.  As the day progressed the number of people dwindled to 4 by 2 p.m.

- A.M check in process/goal review:
  1. Current state-Calm
  2. Status of yesterday's goal.  Study the window of tolerance principles to better understand how I can broaden my personal window of tolerance.  After processing the principles I feel like each should be simple to execute but the one I like the most is positive containment imagery. Placing intrusive thoughts into a locked chest for secure keeping until I'm ready to process them. 
- Next order of business was the mental health self-care tip.  You are not here by chance, but because you have a purpose that adds something special to the world around you. 

- Primary objective for today was to watch the movie "Silver Linings".  Pretty simple day after an intense session the day before.  

-Story centers around an individual (Bradley Cooper) who attempted to rekindle his relationship with his wife after being discharged from a mental health institution. (bipolar disorder)  Very complex movie in which Cooper, fighting known mental health challenges, is surrounded by people who suffer from similar diseases that went undiagnosed.  The father, Robert DeNiro, suffers from OCD but clearly does not believe in mental health so doesn't accept his diagnosis or that of his son. The final character, played by Jennifer Lawrence, whose character suffers from borderline personality disorder distracted Cooper from trying to reestablish his relationship with his wife.  Ultimately, Lawrence's character won over Cooper and they lived happily ever after so to speak.  

-Good message from the story is that it makes transparent to the public that mental health illnesses do exist.  

-A criticism of the movie could be that it suggests all you need is love (without medication) to heal mental illness.
-I was asked to give some examples in the film where Cooper lacks self-control and to give some examples of how he may have been unfairly judged as a person with mental illness.

Examples of Cooper's character lacking self-control
  • He angrily tossed a book through a glass window because he didn't agree with the content.
  • He became explosive in the doctor's office because his wedding song was playing in the waiting room.  
  • Verbal explosion targeted at his parents at 4 a.m. because he was not able to find his weddling video 
Examples of how Cooper's character was unfairly judged.
  • Local cop stuck to him like glue.  He was given a restraining order but even so it appeared the cop was over the top with how closely he monitored his activity
  • When Cooper approaced a peer from previous employment was acted like her life was being threatened.  Did not take into account he completed treatment & was okay.  
Examples of how Cooper's character unfairly judged other people.
  • Lawrence' character admittedly was promiscous.  After opening up to Cooper's character about this he had no problem throwing it back in her face throughout ther movie.
  • Cooper's best friend "Ronnie" opened up to him about his challenged in his marriage.  Again, Cooper's character had no problem throwing this back into his friend's face as the movie progressed. 
Key takeaway from the movie
  1. Accept that mental illness does exist and be understanding and encouraging to those who have it.  Seems like this is less of a problem in 2024 that it was in 1974 but still exists.
  2. Stay on top of my medication and therapy sessions.  
Most impactful moment
It was the last day for one of the most influential patients in the room.  I was sad to see him go but happy he is moving in the right direction.  

Day 8 Goal
  1. Read past summaries to refresh my memory on coping mechanisms and recall how many I've used in the last 8 days.  

Concerns:
Continues to be diet.

Response
40 total hours of therapy and 10 doses of Abilify.  The change of time of taking meds from night to day allowed me to sleep restfully.  Temperament is even keel and attitude is good. 




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