Dr Maureen Roberts helps sufferers and carers who are seeking natural, soulful and re-empowering alternatives to hospitals and psychiatric drug 'treatment' for schizophrenia.
What we call ‘schizophrenia’ is usually an acute psychospiritual crisis, involving personality fragmentation, turning inward, a loss of a sense of self, and extreme empathy and sensitivity to surroundings. It’s a kind of ‘dreaming awake’, where the world of dreams, myth and vision takes the place of outer reality. From a soul-centred vantage point, it's also a bit like drowning. The whole unconscious opens up and swallows the sufferer, who must then learn to swim, often with the aid of a competent 'lifesaver' who's been there (i.e. explored and survived the hazardous labyrinths of the unconscious) and so knows the road.
A compassionate response to schizophrenia as 'soul in crisis' cannot be bottled into pills, or learned out of a textbook. It is an art requiring care and heart. What works, makes sense and re-empowers is what helps by sufferers' own accounts. A compassionate, empathic approach to therapy recognizes that growth can occur through psychosis, or 'spiritual emergency' as a natural process of 'dis-integration' which can lead to rebirth.
Maureen’s soul-centred approach is a non-authoritarian, heart-to-heart relationship which involves drawing on the healing potential within the patient's psyche, as it expresses itself in dreams, visions, artwork, voices, physical symptoms and altered states of consciousness. Since schizophrenia taps into the collective unconscious and its powerful and sometimes disturbing energies, effective therapy usually involves working with mythological and spiritual themes, symbols, experiences and imagery, with a view to reintegrating the wandered, or dissociated fragments of the personality.
Grounding is also vital in order to earth the process in daily routine, contact with Nature, exercise, attention to diet, self-care, ritual and/or tangible creative expression. What C. G. Jung called 'active imagination', a form of visualized inner dialogue, can also (for some patients) help 'rewire' the mind and regain a sense of focus, direction and personal identity.
While there is no known ‘cure’ for schizophrenia, as an acute crisis it can - with the right kind of support, environment and nutrition - be worked through wholistically with the help of a range of natural therapies, including depth psychotherapy, psychoshamanic healing, residential crisis care, homeopathy, drama and art therapy, acupuncture, polarity therapy, reflexology, remedial massage, diet and orthomolecular/nutritional medicine.
An initial consultation (half hour minimum) is needed to determine whether an ongoing therapeutic relationship is feasible. Typically, therapy involves exploring a sufferer's personal story in a quiet, safe setting, addressing their unique needs and concerns, and re-evaluation from a soul-centred perspective. Sufferers are treated with sensitivity, kindness and respect, and demeaning terms such as 'mentally ill', 'delusional', or 'disturbed' are never used. We work together to discover whatever 'journey toward reintegration' is helpful.
