Lois’s answer to “Reading 'Mirror Dance', I was just out of Premed, and our psychology professor had vividy described…” > Likes and Comments
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I can't speak for people with anorexia, but Mirror Dance is the only novel that made me feel like my PTSD was a superpower. We usually have such bleak representations in popular media, and I was moved to read that Mark's story doesn't end with Mirror Dance. His story does not culminate in one cathartic moment that ends his suffering forever. The cycle of pain and growth is lifelong for those who commit to addressing it. I am a reader, fiction writer and trauma survivor, and that book is a gift on every level. I can't overstate how grateful I am that you wrote it.
All I can say that that psychology professor seems to be stuck in the Ronald D Laing mode who proclaimed that schizophrenia was an expression of a family ganging up on the weakest most vulnerable member. Which was/is, largely, horse bollocks when we look at what's been researched since. My tendency is to think the same of that 'regaining of control'. The whole point is that they do NOT have control over their condition. {eye roll}
My premed is quite long ago, and I actually meant 'current research at the time' (*'*$! character restriction). I still find the psychological concept of control experience (for eating disorders, not psychosis) quite convincing: a family relationship which appears harmonious from the outside but does not allow the adolescent any control over her own life. As a response, the adolescent turns to her own body to obtain any form of control experience. Reminded me very strongly of Mark, at the time.
Interestingly enough, John, I very recently read that researchers have found genetic and biochemical markers for anorexia nervosa. Changes the picture some, that does! (it was probably in the science pages of The Guardian -- I took note but didn't bother to mark the reference; a very interesting factoid though. I've been intensely interested in what can go wrong in brains since the 1970s ..).
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Christy
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Dec 26, 2018 01:26PM
I can't speak for people with anorexia, but Mirror Dance is the only novel that made me feel like my PTSD was a superpower. We usually have such bleak representations in popular media, and I was moved to read that Mark's story doesn't end with Mirror Dance. His story does not culminate in one cathartic moment that ends his suffering forever. The cycle of pain and growth is lifelong for those who commit to addressing it. I am a reader, fiction writer and trauma survivor, and that book is a gift on every level. I can't overstate how grateful I am that you wrote it.
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All I can say that that psychology professor seems to be stuck in the Ronald D Laing mode who proclaimed that schizophrenia was an expression of a family ganging up on the weakest most vulnerable member. Which was/is, largely, horse bollocks when we look at what's been researched since. My tendency is to think the same of that 'regaining of control'. The whole point is that they do NOT have control over their condition. {eye roll}
My premed is quite long ago, and I actually meant 'current research at the time' (*'*$! character restriction). I still find the psychological concept of control experience (for eating disorders, not psychosis) quite convincing: a family relationship which appears harmonious from the outside but does not allow the adolescent any control over her own life. As a response, the adolescent turns to her own body to obtain any form of control experience. Reminded me very strongly of Mark, at the time.
Interestingly enough, John, I very recently read that researchers have found genetic and biochemical markers for anorexia nervosa. Changes the picture some, that does! (it was probably in the science pages of The Guardian -- I took note but didn't bother to mark the reference; a very interesting factoid though. I've been intensely interested in what can go wrong in brains since the 1970s ..).
