title: An Auto-Ethnographic Study of "Open Dialogue": The Illumination of Snow.
abstract: This auto-ethnographic study describes the changes in the author's thinking and clinical work connected to her first-hand experience of Open Dialogue, which is an innovative, psychosocial approach to severe psychiatric crises developed in Tornio, Finland. In charting this trajectory, there is an emphasis on three interrelated themes: the micropolitics of U.S. managed mental health care; the practice of "dialogicality" in Open Dialogue; and the historical, cultural, and scientific shifts that are encouraging the adaptation of Open Dialogue in the United States. The work of Gregory Bateson provides a conceptual framework that makes sense of the author's experience and the larger trends. The study portrays and underscores how family and network practices are essential to responding to psychiatric crises and should not be abandoned in favor of a reductionist, biomedical model.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, The University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA.
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Olson
mesh_terms: D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D003142:Communication; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D008404:Massachusetts; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D011582:Psychological Theory; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Auto-ethnography; Biological Reductionism; Dialog; Dialogic Practice; Open Dialogue; autoetnografía; diálogo; diálogo abierto; práctica dialógica; reduccionismo biológico; 兑换实践; 公开对话; 对话; 生物简化论; 自传人种学