M2 Discussion Responses - All Kinds of Minds

Post at least two substantive responses to classmates (min 100 words) Course video: https://www(dot)ted(dot)com/playlists/9/all_kinds_of_minds 1. Ashley Miano posted: The ted talk I chose for this discussion was The Voices in My Head. The ted talk was this lady names Eleanor Logden telling the audience about her journey with hearing voices and then later being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Eleanor spoke on how she was miss treated and at one point she felt hopeless. Eleanor discloses that with all her trial and error with hospitalizations, doctor visits, and medication she was able to find a doctor that helped her deal with her voices. When listening to the ted talk, I was able to apply the medical sociology concepts. A concept that can be applied to Eleanor Logden ted talk is medicalization. In the ted talk it was disclosed that a couple of doctors did not know how to treat Eleanor because it wasn't a diagnosis that people were diagnosed with, or the doctors did not have any experience. In the reading it touches on how there is no benefit in diagnosing someone unless there is a discovery of a medication. This is similar with Eleanor`s story because at the time there probably wasn't the sustained medication for schizophrenia with hearing voices or none at all. Another concept I can apply to the ted talk is the "sick role". The "sick role" is described as the views of others an example of this is if you call something stupid you are going to view it as stupid. This can be applied because with Eleanor hearing voices and becoming diagnosed with schizophrenia, she can be viewed as crazy. Eleanor makes a comment at the end of the ted talk, ask yourself this when interacting with someone it's not what's wrong with them view it as what has happened to them. That comment can be applied with changing your perspective on how you view situations. Longden, E. (n.d.). The voices in my head [Video]. TED Talks. https://www(dot)ted(dot)com/talks/eleanor_longden_the_voices_in_my_head?referrer=playlist-all_kinds_of_minds&autoplay=true 2. Ally Hammond posted: I decided to focus on the TED talk by Eleanor Longden called “The voices in my head.” In this presentation Longden talks about her struggle with hearing voices and being diagnosed with schizophrenia. Longden began to hear voices during her time at university and talks about how in the beginning she did not think much of it as the voice was not sinister in nature and seemed to just be narrating her life. However, she explains that when she mentioned hearing the voice to her friend that her friend seemed startled. This is when Longden realized “normal people don’t hear voices” and that there must be something wrong with her since she did. Longden then decided to go see a professional about the voices she was hearing, who also had a very strong reaction to her saying that she heard voices. Eventually she began to fear the voices in her head due to the reactions of the people around her, which caused them to worsen. Eventually she was hospitalized and received a schizophrenia diagnosis. This labeling of her symptoms led her to experience a sense of “hopelessness, humiliation, and despair” as this diagnosis came with such a negative stigma. This labeling also led her to see the voices as a symptom of this disorder and caused her to take an active stance against them in her mind, which then caused the voices to worsen again, even taking a hostile turn. The negative stigma around schizophrenia also led to those around her treating her differently. She experienced discrimination, verbal abuse, physical and sexual assault due to the stigma around her mental health diagnosis. All these factors led her to isolate herself and to have a very negative view of herself and the voices. Longden also experienced the affects of medicalization. When she was having issues with hearing voices and even going so far as to harm herself the doctors placed her on medication to try to help. However, she said they didn’t really work and that the key to her dealing with hearing the voices was to try to understand what their underlying message was. She found that the voices were linked to strong emotions such as fear or anger and that they formed in response to traumatic events. One of the key points that stood out to me about this presentation is the end where she speaks about the steps she is taking to help others who hear voices. She is actively trying to create spaces where there is no negative stigma around hearing voices and where people can openly talk about their experience without judgement. She understands what it is like to deal with experiencing the voices without a space like that and wants to give others hope that she did not have. Reference: Longden, E. (2013, February). The voices in my head. Eleanor Longden: The voices in my head | TED Talk. https://www(dot)ted(dot)com/talks/eleanor_longden_the_voices_in_my_head?referrer=playlist-all_kinds_of_minds&autoplay=true