My work with the chronically mentally ill

• The GESTALT APPROACH in WORKING WITH PEOPLE EXPERIENCING PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS by Brian O'Neill, 1/24/97
  
  

My practice consists of nursing home-based psychological services. I provide services in 13 or 14 nursing homes, doing rounds weekly or bi-monthly. In Minnesota (and perhaps other parts of the world), nursing homes provide a major "safety net" for individuals with serious and persistent mental illnesses, especially schizophrenia, shcizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder. Sadly, these people are often mixed in with the elderly, the rehab patients and residents with dementia... making it difficult for the facility to effectively address the unique needs of each of these special populations. (This is one of the areas I concentrate on through organizational work) I have found that this approach of enhancing awareness is very helpful for clients with psychotic disorders. Simple sensory awareness exercises seems to help improve concentration and discrimination between real and hallucinatory experience. Many of my schizophrenic residents present strong muscular tensions; heightening this awareness also seems helpful. So many of my clients seem very alienated from their own physiological process that this often becomes a primary focus.

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