Celina Vilas-Boas
Location Portugal
Activity
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
Involving the people at center was a big challenge in the beginning of this project because psychiatricized people are one of the most disempowered groups: stripped of their civil rights, often locked away from society without even a phone, facing inhumane conditions over and over and that is said to be due to a "disease" that makes the mind (the person) not...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
Focusing on the individual increases their sense of guilt and inability and so reduces their will to act. Exploring the "big picture" with the people at center opens the possibility of connection through shared problems and a new channel of action for feelings that were before internalised.
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
Starting in marginalized communities under food apartheid conditions, I would work with local community organizers to create community gardens to produce fresh local organic free products. Besides guarentying the access to quality food (replacing the cheap but poisonous processed options), it would have impact on the sense of community and on promoting outdoor...
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I'm glad the question mentions "lasting change" because that's all I could thing while reading the article. This may solve the problem if we identify it as cigarette butts pilling up on the ground, but it does not guarantee behavioural change as it is not certain that people who vote on that spot will avoid throwing their cigarettes to the ground where there...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
My focus right now is on Mental Health and in promoting more humane, more respectful and and less restrictive answers to people in crisis or/and who have "psychotic symptoms". I want both to empower people to advocate for themselves and to create space to receive that advocacy within the MH system and its professionals. I'm acting locally but aiming nationally...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
thumbs up for the presentation of this question and the existence of "mirrored answers": from the perspective of the carer and from the perspective of the person with diagnosis. It's really interesting to analyse the results 'cause only a bit more than 25% of the answers focused on the carer's behavior. It raises questions like is it the relative who is...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
Recovery sure is a tricky concept when we live in a system that does not allow us to live the life each individual chooses for him/herself...
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Thank you, but I think that's not the point where I have doubts: I'm not questioning the possibility of the "hallucinations" and "delusions" being traumatic, I'm asking about what triggers them. And it seems she is excluding the possibility of (previous) trauma when it's one of the theories about the origins of this experiences. But it's ok, maybe we just have...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
*all WESTERN countries plus the ones being colonized again. Not all cultures see "allucinations" as a disease and so not every country uses anti-psychotics, particularly during long periods.
In a comparative study between three "developing countries" (Nigeria, India and Colombia that only use anti-psychotics for short periods of weeks or of a few months) and... -
Thank you for your answer, but it doesn't really respond to my question. Dr. Nadine says, about the treatment, "Often it's difficult because if somebody is quite distressed and the service providers aren't aware of the person's history, they can make an assumption about their symptoms and think that it's psychosis, while actually there are quite understandable...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
For me, the question here is: what makes someone smoke cannabis on a daily basis?
I have a looooot of friends that smoke, some do it daily and I see a myriad of different reasons, each one has its own. Maybe the probability to develop psychosis lays on that reasons and not on the cannabis... -
Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
In the beginning of the question "What is the impact of trauma on diagnosis and treatment?" it seems Dr. Nadine is saying that when there is an identifiable trauma it's PSTD and not psychosis...? But before we were saying research is showing the link between trauma and psychosis. Can someone please explain what have I missed...?
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I don't really have anything to say, I just wanted to express the warm heart feeling I got reading your post. Thank you.
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The definition of what's real and what's not always imply the exercise of power. That's why the Pope is the Pope and so many are just psychotic. In the same way, defining a right way to look to this experiences is also to exercise power. So, regardless of my personal beliefs, I think we should seek the perspective that suits the person better and that means to...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
In the movie "The Voices" [don't see it; it's terrible and (re)produces the link between voices and violence], the guy who hears voices asks the therapist if she hears voices too and she says (only when in a extreme situation... not as part of regular therapy) she has similar thoughts that tell her she is fat or a bad therapist... it doesn't have the same...
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This is an "on going" discussion for me... It's hard to tell when the decision to take action is for the person's well being or for our well-being... The understanding of this experiences is just so... thin, that we are incapable of empathize with it and so, to comprehend it. It's really interesting how some people are able to see the continuum between their...
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Celina Vilas-Boas replied to Celina Vilas-Boas
In the beginning of this talk [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DH3BfXAlHNM] she tells her story in a wonderfull way, it's really worth it. It kind of puts we as the ones incapable of making informed choices... 'cause we don't know their perspective/story/whatever. Let me know if you liked it! :)
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Celina Vilas-Boas replied to Celina Vilas-Boas
I believe people who approach this experiences by the outside are indeed trying to help doing the best they know, but in the same way (some) white people volunteer in Africa with the idea of saving them imposing our lifestyle (based on capitalism, patriarchy, hierarchy...) without any respect for their cultures or for the simple right to decide, it seems like...
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Thank you! In the end, we cannot forget anti-psychotics are drugs too, just legal ones. And the process that makes one illegal and the other legal is everything but clear. And even with anti-psychotics a lot of people keep "thinking their delusions are real"... (I use the quotation marks 'cause I don't feel legitimized to say if they are real or not)
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Celina Vilas-Boas replied to Brenda Hildebrand
or maybe being jailed is danger...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
Who are we to say those ideas, those experiences are false? Hearing someone saying psychosis isn't just a matter of biochemistry is great, but if we keep attached to the idea that we, as professionals, can define what's normal and what's not, what someone (everyone?!) wants or not, we are not really pursuing what's best for the person with experience but...
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Celina Vilas-Boas made a comment
Hi! I just realized I'm not a Psychology student anymore... but I'm not a professional either! :) I'm from Portugal and currently living between there and Barcelona; I was a volunteer in a Psychiatric Hospital and now I'm working on Mutual Help Groups for people that deal with the so called mental health problems. I hope to learn more about this experiences...