Nobody can say you cannot do something
"Art changed my life, before all was medication
and screaming; now I have hope"
Everyone can be happy, even those suffering from a mental illness; art
is one of the ways in which these people can be part of this society.
A mental illness is a medical condition that disrupts
a person´s thinking, feeling, mood, ability to relate to others and daily
functioning. Just as diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, mental illnesses
are medical conditions that often result in a diminished capacity for coping
with the ordinary demands of life.
To begin with, serious mental illnesses
include major depression, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, obsessive compulsive
disorder (OCD), panic disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and
borderline personality disorder. Secondly, mental illnesses can affect persons
of any age, race, religion or income. Mental illnesses are not the result of
personal weakness, lack of character or poor upbringing. Mental illnesses are
treatable. Most people diagnosed with a serious mental illness can experience
relief from their symptoms by actively participating in an individual treatment
plan. It is very difficult for those people who do not have someone to support
them, because those treatments need constancy and perseverance. And sometimes
most of the patients do not follow what they have to because they do not
receive the necessary attention from their families, and therefore they finally
abandon their therapies. A person that lives with someone that suffers from one
of the previous mental illnesses, has to be very conscious of what they have to
do with that person, how to react at certain times, how to act when the patient
is in crisis. It is not a painless work, sometimes you do not know what to do
with him, and it causes affliction. For that reason it is essential that the
family which has a member with one of these disorders is able to understand
firstly that they have a person with a problem, and secondly and very important,
that they can provide a good treatment with the necessary emotional support.
According to the distinctive places where patients can go to spend their
time learning different skills and can be seen by different psychologists and psychiatrists,
we can mention the hospital called Borda, a very famous place where many people
are attended there. However, this building does not have the necessary tools to
work , as it has been left aside by the authorities, but what most people do
not understand or know is the fact that in spite of all the deficiencies this
hospital has, it is the only place that contains the best doctors around the
world. It has workshops where patients can develop their own abilities, and the
most important thing is that this place is a public one; unfortunately many social
works do not cover the patients´ treatments. Sadly, the government of Downtown
wants to overthrow that building, what he does not know is that loads of people
live there and spend their life going there. So if it disappears, many of them
will not know where to go. Lots of people do not believe
that someone with mental disorders is able to create a piece of art; however
the patients of Borda have been able to develop their talent thanks the different
workshops the hospital has. There, they have a radio in which they can tell
others what they feel and think and also they can give their opinions about
different topics. This radio is called ¨La Colifata¨.
Patients that can play any instrument participate in the radio programme
and show the audience what they can do. Doctors also take part in this project.
We have already mentioned the term workshops that mean places where patients go
and do different activities proposed by therapists and psychologists.
There is also another place where they can express what they know an that is the F.A.B. In the F.A.B.(Frente de Artistas del Borda) currently operating Theatre
artistic workshops, puppets, music, mime, Participatory Theatre, Body, Dance,
Visual Arts, Literature, Journalism and Photography. To them we add one of
"deinstitutionalization" theoretical workshop where discussion on
this topic considered Ideology axis FAB. Each workshop runs a coordination team
composed artistic coordinator, one psychological and one or more contributors.
Thus, the proposed work is interdisciplinary, as it has with the joint
participation of members of different artistic disciplines and psychologists,
with subsequent incorporation into the work team sociologists and social
psychologists, among others. The artistic coordinator serves to convey
conceptual and practical resources pertaining to their artistic discipline,
coordinates a group creative process, and brings his knowledge of codes of
professional and human relations in their field.
In conclusion, art is everywhere and manages to show the best of anyone, even of those
with mental illnesses.They only need support and affection,the rest can be done as any human being.
Sources:
Nami(1996)Mental illnesses.[ONLINE]Available at http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=By_Illness.[Last Accessed 09-08-2013 2013]
Frente de artistasdel borda(2007)Talleres[ONLINE]Available at http://www.frentedeartistas.co.ar/talleres/.[Last Accessed 09-08-2013]
Pablo Irles (2008).Aquarius 2008 colifata.[ONLINE]Available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTvfVCgBPUs.[Last Accessed 09-08-2013]
