Read My Mind
()
About this ebook
On September 24, 1978, I jumped out my dormitory window at the prestigious Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in Medford, Massachusetts. I fractured my back and my right ankle and disappeared from that campus in a wailing ambulance.
After six months in a metal back brace, I moved to New York at the urging of my parents. One and a half years later I suffered a second psychotic break and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. My search for the therapist who could heal me began. For sixteen years, I couldn't read and struggled with a diagnosis that crippled me. After rejecting a series of ineffective professionals. I finally found Lou.
He is African-American, a Buddhist, a meditator and a weightlifter. Our work together revealed that Lou was an unconventional therapist. In an early session, he had us exchange the contents of our pockets. I was the recipient of a double handful of change, small bills and a chain of tiny Tibetan prayer flags. Lou was wise enough to let me come out ahead. He had many tricks for increasing rapport, including matching my breathing and position. Having discovered that I was predominantly visual, he took care to say "I see what you mean" as opposed to "I hear you." One day, Lou said that a time line runs through all of us. "What is in front of you?" he asked. I didn't hesitate. My dismal past stretched to the horizon and beyond. My time line was inverted. Where another persons' future glowed, I was fixedly staring at the terrible events that had befallen me since my 24th birthday.
Why had I attempted suicide? The answer seems to lie in the fact that I had experienced two failed love relationships back to back before I entered the Fletcher School. My career plans - which included doing economic research in West Africa - were getting way ahead of my personal life. Recently I have read Carol Gilligan's "In a Different Voice." She observes that many women of my era unconsciously silenced their voices and short-circuited their own development in order to maintain relationships with men. Another researcher, Jean Baker Miller, notes that for some women loss of relationship is tantamount to a total loss of self. I feel that this is what happened to me.
I review these relationships in "Read My MInd." The first was with a Princeton man - a Canadian hockey player with a big brain and a bigger ego. The second was a Dutchman who was ten years older than I was. I couldn't find parity with either of these men and that was the only thing that mattered to me. My desires were set squarely against what my culture had to offer at that time. I would become a sociological casualty.
I mean to train a powerful beam on what passes for serious mental illness in our culture. I believe I have untangled my personal riddle. The psychiatrists who treated me held out no hope that I would ever grow or evolve. I feel I have been lucky enough to outlive my diagnosis.
B. Ilene Adler
I attended Princeton University shortly after they first admitted women. Years later, I went on for graduate work at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. After completing my first year there, I suffered a breakdown which changed the course of my life. Read My Mind is the story of my recovery from bipolar disorder and the remarkable therapist who helped me heal. He is African-American, a Buddhist, a meditator and a weight-lifter and is trained in both Neuro-linguistic Programming and Ericksonian Hypnosis.I currently teach English at a Japanese cultural center and I am a published poet. "Read My Mind" is my first memoir.
Related to Read My Mind
Related ebooks
Claustrophobia, Get Professional Help, Joe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Caveman Rules of Survival: 3 Simple Rules Used By Our Brains to Keep Us Safe and Well Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aurator: Deadly Secrets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMagnificent You: Rediscover Who You Are, Why You're Here, And Why You Matter. A Lot. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Art of Inner Alchemy: Understanding the Purpose of This Life and Your Growth Within It Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeeing Without Looking Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTake Me Back: A Novel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDo One Thing Different: Ten Simple Ways to Change Your Life Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Magnificent You: Rediscover Who You Are, Why You're Here, and Why You Matter. A Lot.: The Council of Threes, #2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Power of Writing and Never Letting Go Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrom Minefield to Mind Field: Loving and Becoming Yourself Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsthrough infinity: forever and a day book 1: forever and a day Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aurator Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDodging Suicide: A Lifetime's Preoccupation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStepping Out of Time Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Multiverse Mirror Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Blind Spot Effect: How to Stop Missing What's Right in Front of You Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Loneliness: How to Feel Less Alone In an Isolating World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Fragments of Plausible Unimportance: Pointless Guides for the Hopeless Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSeven - I'm just a stupid man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Life: Exposed Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Truth: Reflections from shadows and The Light Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMind to Mind Conversation: Change Your Mind, Change Your Life Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpirit Revelations: Everyday Spiritual Guidance Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSpirit Animals and the Wheel of Life: Earth-Centered Practices for Daily Living Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCaught In The Act: Reflections on Being, Knowing and Doing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Vessel of ONE: Channeled Messages from Angels, E.T.'s and Saints Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStrange Sci-Fi Stories Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Olive Picker Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStanding on My Head: Life Lessons in Contradictions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Psychology For You
How to Keep House While Drowning: A Gentle Approach to Cleaning and Organizing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5No Bad Parts: Healing Trauma and Restoring Wholeness with the Internal Family Systems Model Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Anxious for Nothing: Finding Calm in a Chaotic World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Win Friends and Influence People: Updated For the Next Generation of Leaders Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5101 Fun Personality Quizzes: Who Are You . . . Really?! Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Art of Witty Banter: Be Clever, Quick, & Magnetic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Laziness Does Not Exist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Running on Empty: Overcome Your Childhood Emotional Neglect Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Bulletproof: Protect Yourself, Read People, Influence Situations, and Live Fearlessly Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Self-Care for People with ADHD: 100+ Ways to Recharge, De-Stress, and Prioritize You! Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression – and the Unexpected Solutions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Changes That Heal: Four Practical Steps to a Happier, Healthier You Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Art of Letting Go: Stop Overthinking, Stop Negative Spirals, and Find Emotional Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Source: The Secrets of the Universe, the Science of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Covert Passive Aggressive Narcissist: The Narcissism Series, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMaybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, HER Therapist, and Our Lives Revealed Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It's OK That You're Not OK: Meeting Grief and Loss in a Culture That Doesn't Understand Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Your Brain's Not Broken: Strategies for Navigating Your Emotions and Life with ADHD Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Reviews for Read My Mind
0 ratings0 reviews