title: In search of the true self: a clinical journey through the vale of soul-making.
abstract: Once a person accepts any form of mainstream mental health care, she is faced with the paradox of disabling caring. Every time an emotionally distressed individual is professionally rescued, she forfeits a golden opportunity to discover and utilize her own healing potential. Yet within a mental health service that is heavily medicalized and investing more and more in time-limited therapies, can it ever be otherwise? Drawing on the developmental theory of Donald Winnicott, together with the poet John Keats' concept of 'Soul-making', this case study provides an account of therapy delivered from outside the parameters of a health-illness model of caring. It acknowledges human suffering as a natural and inevitable part of life and, whilst acknowledging the value of therapeutic companionship, proclaims the mentally distressed person as best placed to navigate her own recovery.
authors.affiliation: Pennine Care NHS Trust, Standard Care Community Mental Health Team, Rochdale, UK. peter.wilkin@nhs.net
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilkin
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000533:Altruism; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003142:Communication; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology*; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006803:Human Development; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination; D008425:Maternal Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D009034:Mother-Child Relations; D024802:Nurse's Role / Q000523:psychology; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011568:Psychiatric Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*; D012649:Self Concept; D012650:Self Disclosure; D014167:Transference, Psychology