Today, teachers in schools know how to recognize common problems such as dyslexia or dysgraphia (while in the past this was often not the case), and consequently, children can be provided with therapies that help them solve these problems and function normally in society.
Opatija – On Tuesday, Hotel Continental's café hosted another panel discussion as part of the ‘Coffeehouse Debates Abbey’ project. It is a project organised by the Association for the Development of Youth Culture ‘Cultural Front’ and Millennium Hotels, which aims to promote critical thinking and a culture of civilised public debate on topics of general interest. Modern movements in psychiatry and psychotherapy have been set as the central topic of this month's discussion, with over 70 visitors showing great interest, some of whom took their places in the front rows in front of the luxurious fireplace where discussions take place more than an hour before the very beginning.
They spoke with numerous visitors and explained their views to the invited panellists; dr.sc. Daniela Petrić, senior assistant at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Rijeka, also a doctor and psychotherapist at the University Hospital Center Rijeka and, Inka Miškulin, a well-known psychotherapist with many years of experience, psychologist and doctoral student of contemporary philosophy at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Rijeka. Since both panelists have a solid and rich academic background that provides them with an insight into the most up-to-date discussions in this area, as well as many years of experience working in practice (in hospitals and counseling centers), they have thus provided an extremely comprehensive overview of the topic, making sure that theses remain interesting and refreshing with examples from practice in Croatia and the world.
Daniela Petrić pointed out that nowadays it is becoming increasingly clear in the public that mental health is part of general health, and intensive work is being done to destigmatize people suffering from mental disorders or diseases. She emphasized that destigmatization brings many positive advances in access to people who have problems, as well as in prevention and early detection of problems. For example, today teachers in schools know how to recognize common problems such as dyslexia or dysgraphia (while in the past this was often not the case), and consequently, children can be provided with therapies that help them solve these problems and function normally in society. Petrić also emphasized that many mental illnesses are degenerative and lead to gradual destruction of the nervous system, so early detection of the disease and its treatment with drugs is of great importance so that the damage to the nervous system does not increase.
Inka Miškulin began her presentation with the example of Gillian Lynne, a famous British ballerina who was taken to the doctor in childhood because her constant dancing was suspected to be the result of some mental disorder or illness. Fortunately, the doctor convinced the concerned parents that their daughter only really likes to dance, which today would not be a plausible scenario, given the frequency with which children are attributed behavioral problems, such as ADHD. Miškulin highlighted some of the significant successes of psychotherapy in the treatment of schizophrenia, taking the western Lapland (province of Finland), which once had the highest rate of people with schizophrenia, while today (several decades later) it has one of the lowest rates in the world. This success was achieved, Miškulin stressed, not through the use of medicines (antipsychotics), but through an individualised psychotherapeutic approach known as ‘again dialog’, in which she is involved with the patient’s entire family.
Both panellists agreed that in approaching people suffering from mental illnesses and disorders it is important to put emphasis on therapeutic methods, but also that in doing so we should not completely abandon pharmacotherapy (the use of antipsychotics), but that both approaches should be combined in order to best help the patient.
The organizers closed the panel discussion with the announcement of the next debate, which will be held on March 12, with the topic of climate change (global warming or cooling). They also invited to the first meeting of the reading group dedicated to the book ‘Capital in the 21st Century’ by the renowned French economist Thomas Piketty, which will be organised by the ‘Cultural Front’ Association this Saturday at 4 p.m. at the premises of the Toshin Local Committee.
Ivan Cerovac / PodUčkun.net
