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This is a story about Bella, a beautiful tale of caring, trust and
emotional healing. It begins when Dr. Zal, a first-year resident in
Psychiatry, meets a 20-year-old in the throws of a severe psychotic
episode. It chronicles thirty-seven years of psychiatric treatment.
Focusing on family relationships, he tells how both Bella and he
resolved issues with a significant parent. Although his life was
quite different, he was able to draw parallels that allowed him to
empathize with some of her life events. Bella was a role model of
strength, endurance and caring for her children and husband. She
survived childhood abuse, molestation and a dysfunctional family
background. In the end, mental illness did not ravish her life.
Rather it was a physical disease. The book also shows how Dr. Zal
changed from an inexperienced, anxious, psychiatric resident and
become a wiser, more empathetic therapist. It illustrates how he
learned to balance personal angst, the biologic basis of
psychiatric illness and the uniqueness of the individual patient
into a therapeutic tool. This balancing act, illustrated through
Bella's story, is the dance with medusa that has occupied the core
of his life in psychiatry. Dr. Zal is able to weave a 40-year
history of psychiatry through this story, including sweeping
changes in treatment, mental health laws and the role of the
psychiatrist. Using Haverford State Hospital, he tells the story of
the transition to community mental health. Bella's story is about
hope, overcoming the stigma of mental illness and the role that
determination can play in life success. Her accomplishments
reinforce Dr. Zal's firm belief that although psychiatric
medications can facilitate improvement in mental disorders, it is
people working with people, on a sustained long-term basis, that is
equally or even more important, in maintaining recovery and
producing emotional growth.
This is a story about Bella, a beautiful tale of caring, trust and
emotional healing. It begins when Dr. Zal, a first-year resident in
Psychiatry, meets a 20-year-old in the throws of a severe psychotic
episode. It chronicles thirty-seven years of psychiatric treatment.
Focusing on family relationships, he tells how both Bella and he
resolved issues with a significant parent. Although his life was
quite different, he was able to draw parallels that allowed him to
empathize with some of her life events. Bella was a role model of
strength, endurance and caring for her children and husband. She
survived childhood abuse, molestation and a dysfunctional family
background. In the end, mental illness did not ravish her life.
Rather it was a physical disease. The book also shows how Dr. Zal
changed from an inexperienced, anxious, psychiatric resident and
become a wiser, more empathetic therapist. It illustrates how he
learned to balance personal angst, the biologic basis of
psychiatric illness and the uniqueness of the individual patient
into a therapeutic tool. This balancing act, illustrated through
Bella's story, is the dance with medusa that has occupied the core
of his life in psychiatry. Dr. Zal is able to weave a 40-year
history of psychiatry through this story, including sweeping
changes in treatment, mental health laws and the role of the
psychiatrist. Using Haverford State Hospital, he tells the story of
the transition to community mental health. Bella's story is about
hope, overcoming the stigma of mental illness and the role that
determination can play in life success. Her accomplishments
reinforce Dr. Zal's firm belief that although psychiatric
medications can facilitate improvement in mental disorders, it is
people working with people, on a sustained long-term basis, that is
equally or even more important, in maintaining recovery and
producing emotional growth.
As the baby boomer generation becomes senior citizens and starts to
flood into the last stage of life, a new definition and new
expectations of retirement and aging are evolving. This is not your
father's way of being an older adult. People today tend not to
retire in a traditional way. They envision getting older as a
challenge to stay active and engaged, a chance to reinvent
themselves, and an opportunity to reach for new goals. However, for
some, this stage of life can be difficult, bringing with it a whole
range of new challenges and obstacles. Along the way, many may deal
with mental health problems such as stress and anxiety, grief and
depression, drug and alcohol abuse, changes in marital and other
relationships, as well as elder abuse. Are you ready? How will you
fill your new free time? How will you cope with the psychological
changes? Let this book, on coping with the emotional, mental,
physical, and spiritual issues of retirement and aging from a
psychiatrist's perspective, light the way. This book will help
readers deal with common issues across a broad spectrum. It offers
treatment options, suggests coping skills, and even deals with
spiritual and emotional challenges at the end of life. It will help
you invest in relationships, redefine your marriage, and broaden
your horizons. It will allow you to take charge of your life in
retirement and not just let it happen to you.
Originally published: Cambridge, Massachusetts: Perseus Publishing,
1990."
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