Unpacking the Mystery of Poop

Reasonable solutions to my little one with encopresis, which to the lay person means he shits himself.
1. It's a medical condition.
2. He has been sexually compromised.
3. Inappropriate anger management tool.

Or

4. Regression.

After my last post I charged myself with gaining insight into my patient's pathology through dramatic intervention. What impresses me most about drama therapy is that it can do in one session what it can take weeks to accomplish in traditional talk therapy.
I decided that it was time for us to do some role play. And without even realizing it he started to play out his entire relationship with his mom right before my eyes.  And suddenly I began to see the poop as a way to keep himself infantalized. He began to talk like a baby and became very dependent. 

When we started to process the play, he acknowledged that he wishes it could be just him and his mom forever. No brother, no step dad, no grandma. He is seeking to monopolize all of her attention.  And pooping in one's  pants gets one lots of attention.Just from that acknowledgement alone, he has gone four consecutive days without soiling himself. Now the trick is going to be to build his ego strength and improve his social skills in 2 weeks!!!!

A little Carnival

<p>Preparing for Jordan has been an adventure in itself. So as not to feel completely overwhelmed, I took a little break this weekend and rendevouzed with my little brother at Atlanta's version of Carnival.  I danced, ate good, authentic carribean food and laughed until it hurt! Today I recovered by lounging at the pool and watching old movies while napping on the couch. </p>
<p>Things at work have been rather tense lately and as my census rises so does patient acuity. I have one patient who I have seen on three separate occasions and it has only been on his third visit that he has presented with encopresis. ENCOPRESIS! In my group room no less!  Did I conjure the shit or what? So now I am charged with uncovering the etimology of this new symptom and treating the child all before leaving for Jordan in three weeks. But of course the real challenge is how to do it all expressively... this would be a very interesting case presentation.  Stay tuned!

Jordanian Monarchy: Normal abnormalities

The Royal Family... They look like an average middle class family that you might see at Lenox Mall or in Whole Foods or maybe driving their Mercedes SUV on their way to church. Just to look at them one would never imagine the fascinating history of the Jordanian Monarchy. 

I had a phone conversation with my father about a week ago as I was leaving Buckhead and our first planning meeting for our trip to Jordan, and booking it to the southside to see Rachelle Ferrell in concert.  My father spoke very intelligently about his understanding of Jordanian History with special emphasis on the Israeli-Palestinian Issue. 

"Why do you know so much about Jordan?"
"Well, I read the paper and watch the news".
"But JORDAN? Daddy, are you secretly working for the CIA?"
He chuckles.
"No, I just pay attention. And you need to pay attention too.  You need to study this issue and become very familiar with it so you don't get out there and put your foot in your mouth."

It was not the fear of God that daddy put in me that day, but a fear of causing an INTERNATIONAL CRISIS.  So, what did I do? I went to the library and checked out a fantastic 723 page book: Lion of Jordan: The Life of King Hussein in War and Peace.  I am not quite midway through the book now (It is Sunday) and I have learned more than I ever wanted to know about the history of Jordan. 

Honestly, I started reading the book Friday morning and could not put it down.  It was full of espionage, intrigue, assassinations, dodging bullets, mental illness, visits to the King from the CIA  accompanied by suitcases full of millions  (daddy, did you know about these?) and war, war, war.  Arab nationalism, Zionism, land grabbing, border protection, imperialism and liberation, lots of interesting words I'd never seen before and more violence - always more violence. 

Imagine, King Hussein, the father of the current King Abdullah II,  a boy king of 17, taking responsibility for a country.  When I was 17 I could barely take responsibility for my room staying clean!

Susan Anderson invited me and Edna Bacon over to her house last Saturday so that we could talk about what to expect.  She invited a Syrian named Rimah over to talk to us about Arab culture.  I personally felt that she minimized quite a bit.  She talked about how welcoming they are to Americans because they separate their feelings about the American people from their feelings about the American government.  I asked her what their thoughts are on black Americans and she said that they identify with Black America's struggle for liberation from slavery and such...  that if anything they would see me as exotic.  Great.  Just what I always wanted.  To be seen as Exotic.  When I think of exotic I conjure memories of seeing Grace Jones on MTV in the 80's.  Not the most flattering of all images.   Rimah spent a good deal of time talking about how the American government has to paint this evil picture of the other in order to justify their engagement in the middle east.  She eventually acknowledged that the Middle East must do the same.  Naturally, I thought to myself that no image is actually real.  They are mere projections - inverted mirrors of each other.  Rimah almost gave a romantic, Lawrence of Arabia perspective on Arab culture and I wondered how much of it was her own nostalgia - missing her homeland.  She has been here for almost 20 years.  And right now with the fighting going on in Syria, she cannot return.  She has family there.  This is the closest I've come to meeting anyone directly affected by Arab Spring.  I heard a news report this morning that says the fighting in Syria has spread to Lebanon.  Jordan is in the heart of the middle east, bordered by Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Lebanon. I remain prayerful.

I asked my father what his thoughts were on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.  He said he believes that there should be two states.  One Israel, one Palestine.  And added that it is the official position of the US as well.  I believed that I had the same opinion, though honestly I had not given it much thought.  It was so far from my personal, everyday experience that it had not occurred to me to take an official position on the issue.  I have known Israeli's.  Women who were trained to fight.  Women who had to join the Army when they turned 18. I thought it was fascinating - terrifying.  But we never talked about the Palestinian issue.  It was just never a part of our discourse.  We talked about social issues in the US, our families, our friends, but mostly we talked about our feelings.  We had a lot of feelings.  But we never talked about war.

We recognized that we were asking Rimah to make generalizations about the Arab people - and made a few distinctions between Islamic Arabs and Christian Arabs - but we were curious about the Arab view of mental illness is.  She talked about how it is shaming for a family to have someone with any sort of disability.  It looks bad for the family in particular if you have a mental illness.  She never mentioned that the Royal Family had a mentally ill King!  King Hussein's son was diagnosed with schizophrenia.  When Talal's father was assassinated, he was in a mental institution.  They brought him back to Jordan, crowned him, and he remained King for something like 2 years - until he became more and more unstable and they shipped him off to Switzerland where he lived the rest of his days locked away. I couldn't believe it.  Rimah never mentioned this.  Maybe she never knew.  Maybe she did.  Maybe she was shielding the Royal family from that same shame.  If I ever had the good fortune to meet King Abdullah and Queen Raina, I dare I would ever mention it.  But it is interesting to note.

Jordan Update!

Jordan... wow... in just over a month I will be travelling to the Middle East.  Never in a million years did I imagine I would be travelling there.  Africa? Maybe? South America? Perhaps.  But the Middle East? Sand, heat, hijabs. And yet,  I am so excited I can't sleep!!!!!!  We have our first official planning meeting in two days.   I have been reading novels and doing historical research on Jordan.  One of the novels I read had to do with Honor Killings.  I had no
idea that in a country as progressive as Jordan purports to be, that the number of Honor Killings would be so high.  I am reading a book right now about Marrakesh and am finding that the situation there is similar to Jordan - particularly with regard to the treatment of women.  I have to check my judgement here, but it is difficult not to hold the men of these Muslim Nations in contempt for treating their women like chattel.  Once they get married many Muslim women cannot leave the house.   This Holy Land.  The land where Jesus walked, Aaron is buried, the ark of the covenant is stored.  Where Jesus was baptized and the Dead Sea gives life, there are also young women who are murdered if there is even the suspicion that she has had sex with or kissed or talked to a man without the approval of her male relatives.

To be fair, it is also a place of refuge for thousands of people seeking safety and shelter from other, neighboring war-torn countries.  Jordan refused to fight in the Gulf War and has kept peace with Israel since war for control of the West Bank with other Arab nations, in the 70's and 80's.  It is now... neutral.

And here I am, this black girl from Georgia, going over to the Middle East to do some art.  wow...