Medicine, Mind and Adolescence 2002, XVII, 1-2

CANDLES IN MY BEDROOM

Maurizio Bosio1


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Abstract


In medicine, “kairological” counselling looks at the person suffering from the conscious interaction of the biological and psychological-existential dimensions, accordingly with the epistemological bases of the “person centered medicine”. The counselling, tried on adolescents affected by chronic diseases, has proven itself both efficient and effective, and so demonstrates the possibility of application in psychiatric diseases classified in DMS IV.
Herewith is presented an example of counselling applied to Silvia, a nineteen year-old girl under psychiatric and pharmacological treatment due to an anxious-depressive neurosis causing panic attacks, compulsive eating disorders, suicidal behaviour and drug and occasional alcoholic abuse. In her childhood years, Silvia was sexually abused by her older brother’s best friend. She lived in a deep, virtual, reality; fascinated by the darkness, and often lying down in bed, surrounded by candles which helped lighten her sad and miserable life. After the analysis of the empathic phenomena and the reconstruction of her existential experiences, the kairological counselling intended to sustain Silvia’s efforts to abandon every kind of dependence, in order to face the reality and the mystery of life, armed the protagonist with a renewed courage.
The working hypothesis of the counselling was that the loss of existential meaning brings a frail and sensitive person like Silvia on the brink of the abyss, i.e. the annulment of her self, causing unsustainable psychological and spiritual suffering.
The analysis of the girl resources, and the confirmation of their presence, permitted the suffering to change into creative pathos, that supported a deep and stable change in her lifestyle. The recovery of her perception of her personal dignity and of her creative possibilities aided Silvia regain her health, i.e. a condition of well- being and being-well.
The rigorous application of kairological counselling, based over manifest epistemological principles, gives the theoretical bases for a comparison with the usual approaches to the diseases classified among the list of psychiatric disorders. Moreover, it stimulates the reflection over the efficacy of interventions based on the consciousness of the teleonomic structure of human nature, that during adolescence reveals itself as a search for a meaningful reply to the existential : truth, love and beauty.

Key Words: Adolescence, Kairological counselling, Person centered medicine, Psychiatric diseases, DMS IV.

1. Correspondence to: Maurizio Bosio M.D., Via Cividale del Friuli, 15, 20152 Milano. E-mail: maurizio.bosio@fastwebnet.it



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