Analyzing the Intuitive Counseling

Intuitive Counseling

The detailed account of my intuitive experiences encouraged me to learn from my experiences, and that includes mistakes as well as the positive enlightenments. In this paper I reflect upon my experiences during my career as a recreation counselor at Deveruex Foundation, which I started two years prior to completion of my degree. In addition to that, I started working at the oldest psychiatric hospital in the United States after completing my graduate degree where I was promoted several times. The know-how helped me in understanding my own intuition and how that can enhance my qualities of the intuitive information.

Firstly, when I started my career at Deveruex Foundation as a recreation counselor, I was very excited since I had the opportunity of working in a real-life practical field that was related to my degree, which was a graduate degree in Psychology. Very few students gain this chance of having a practical experience, as it helps in gaining a hand-on experience of theories we were studying. It eases the process of comprehending of what we were learning in the class. For example, I got to know the meaning of 'dual diagnosis' and I learnt that it meant treating a person with two illnesses and providing independent diagnosis and treatment independently. As I was assigned the task of planning daily activities for dual-diagnosed teenage women, I knew that they were suffering from mood disorder as well as schizophrenia. I came to know that their schizophrenia was mainly the reason for their mood swings (Tracy, 2015). Depression and anxiety are the common symptoms of schizophrenia patients (Larson, Walker, & Compton, 2010, p. 1347). Other symptoms included lack of social relations, absence of motivation, lack of personality, confusions, agitation, disturbing thoughts and bizarre behavior (Smith & Segal, 2016). Alternatively, there were teenage women that turned to drugs because of such afflictions, and in order to quell these negative feelings, they took to addictions. This self-destructive behavior was the result of the patients' failure of trying to suppress the symptoms of depression and anxiety, and the more the patient tried and failed, the more the addiction increased. I came to know that combating schizophrenia was as important as treating mood swings and this was the reason I was assigned the task of planning daily activities of the patients of dual diagnosis.

Observing Intuition

As I worked on a locked psychiatric unit, I realized that working with dual diagnosed patients was challenging as well as rewarding. Most of my intuitive experiences included the recent learnings in the unit:

The unit was locked, because of which, the schizophrenic patients become restless and tend to pace the halls. I used to wonder whether I could anticipate how they were about to act or if they were able to respond to external stimuli aptly and reasonably. I observed their gait and was sensitive to their feelings and movements.

The new patients were usually more anti-social and were unable to express themselves. They showed their hyper-vigilance in the form of actions like moving their chairs continuously. They did not know how to show their fears and concerns. It was my responsibility to determine their level of paranoia and had to show respect towards them. I valued their needs and wants and whenever they wanted to sit in a specific place, I allowed them to do so. I set my nurse station at a point from where I could observe their activities throughout the unit, making that place as my first choice.

The hospital rules strictly prohibited the use of headgear, but some patients put odd things in their heads at times. Such actions were a part of retort to the messages that were forced into them, apparently. It seemed a kind of reaction.

The daily activities were planned in the form of individual and group counseling sessions. This included the individual session with the mental health experts such as the psychiatrists and the group sessions consisting of three to four same age women, the teenage girls, who might like to share their experiences with someone skilled in conducting such sessions. In some of the sessions where I was present and observed the participants, I concluded that when the patients who were suffering from the same illness were present at one place and discussed their similar symptoms, causes, negative feelings and their consequences, the others who were listening felt a little relived that they had company, someone else who felt the same as they did. It was due to the fact that schizophrenic patients have trouble in building relationships with others and these group sessions assisted in fostering interpersonal relations with ease (Gupta, 2005). This gave them courage to face the situation as the other person did. this courage, though, was not long lasting since the session had to be scheduled numerous times to maintain the same sense of belonging with the others who suffered the mental disorders, both schizophrenia and mood swings, and to keep their spirits high to resolve the issue. However, each session helped in mitigating some part of their pain; they saw and heard the problems of fellow teenage women who had dual diagnosis, helping them understand that such issues were not unique to them.

Another corresponding duty that was assigned to me during the job was to monitor the daily activities of the dual diagnosis patients. I had to incorporate some light exercises in their daily routine and had to administer whether they were performing them daily or not. I observed that some of the dual diagnosis patients mentioned that they had performed workouts daily, whereas they were not doing so, as their mental and physical conditions did not show signs of improvements. Their psychiatrists also asked me whether I was planning exercises for them and whether the patients were doing them or not, and when I said that I was planning exercises then it was revealed that the patients were lying about having performed them daily. It dawned upon me that dual diagnosis patients were prone to lying. Although, the main aim behind planning this daily activity was to provide the patient with a structured everyday life so that physical symptoms of schizophrenia could be alleviated.

The daily activity that I had to plan further included relaxation techniques. As the women were very young, it was relatively easier to conduct techniques like deep breathing and progressive muscle relaxation. They were easily relived of the stress and were able to bring their mind and body within a complete balance. They were also encouraged to interact with one another, as mentioned above in the group sessions, as it was done in the presence of their psychiatrist. Apart from that, they were allowed to interact in casual surroundings, such as in the living room, or sometimes while watching TV. Some recreational activities like watching and playing small games such as cards once in a day helped them too. I learnt from my intuitive experiences that schizophrenic patients need company and some activities to get themselves busy so that they do not burden themselves with stress and are not occupied with bizarre thoughts and confusions that become the sole reason for their lack of confidence, motivation, and overall personality.

An additional interesting intuitive finding during my career at the foundation was that women are more subjected to depression as compared to men, even at the early ages of teen years. This can be due to fluctuating hormone levels or being more attached in relationships than men (Burton, 2012). It has been widely accepted that women tend to think more, which is good on the positive side but has negative effects as well, as compared to men who do not feel things as deeply as women.