While this book was originally published over a decade ago, I am finally coming around to reading it.  This book was on a list of recommended reading for a Diagnostics class I took during my master’s degree program.  At the time, I did not have the time to devote to the text.  However, as a young clinician; I found it important to go review the message so many wise professors and professionals have shared with me over the years.

I have a particular interest in autobiographical stories of mental health conditions.  As a clinician, I believe that gaining an understanding of how a person with a condition experiences that condition can only improve my understanding of my clients and society at large.  Within this text, I was struck by the explicit description of the internal experiences of schizophrenia.  While I have read other autobiographical accounts by people with schizophrenia, this piece provided an explicit account which others did not detail.  I found it helpful in providing an explicit description of how disorganized and delusional thinking are experienced.  Additionally, it emphasized that not all psychosis is correlated to visual and/or auditory hallucinations.

The second aspect which struck me about this text was the callous indifference of the treating professionals.  Reading about mental health professionals treating clients with the same amount of stigma and disdain as others on the street is very disheartening.  You would think professionals within the field would be more understanding given their professional knowledge.  While I would like to believe that the profession has improved in the last three to four decades, I am not sure.  This can particularly be seen in the types of treatment modalities offered to patients with specific diagnoses.  In this example, the author details how crucial talk therapy had been to her overall success while recognizing that it would not be typically offered to a patient with her same diagnosis.  Are we doing our clients a disservice by only providing services indicated by their diagnosis? Understanding that mental health conditions do not present with homogenous symptoms, should we be offering homogenous treatment based on diagnosis?

Lastly, I was struck by the explicit description and experience of mental health stigma both within treatment and outside of treatment.  In the book, the author describes the several decades long battle within herself to accept her mental health condition.  While the author goes on to discuss the importance of this battle as crucial to her long term understanding of her condition, I could not help but wonder if she would have arrived at the same level of self-awareness if she had not experienced the callous treatment from her treatment team.

While I found the expressions of mental health stigma by those outside of the mental health profession to be less surprising, it emphasized how difficult it is to share mental health problems with friends, colleagues, family, and intimate partners.  As a clinician, it reminds me that we cannot always assume our clients have support systems especially for clients who require a great deal of support.

Overall, I found this book extremely beneficial towards increasing my knowledge of schizophrenia as well as the experience of a person with a mental health condition.  However; I found it most beneficial as a mirror to myself and the mental health field.  This book highlights that while me may be in the era of “trauma informed care” we may not be providing the level of care that our clients deserve.

In the wake of the most recent school shooting, I cannot help but make a connection of a diagnosis of Asperger’s disorder between the Parkland shooter and the Sandy Hook shooter.  (Granted, a sample size of two is not by any means clinically significant nor evidence of a statistical trend).  While never formally diagnosed, the Sandy Hook shooter met criteria of what would have been considered Asperger’s Disorder under the DSM IV-TR.  See this report detailing information regarding the Sandy Hook shooter.  This is not to say that all people who meet criteria of Asperger’s are psychopaths, but merely to question if there is a connection between the two.  Have we loss understanding of higher needs children with autism with the DSM-V change to the category of  Autism Spectrum Disorder?

We know that people who struggle with Asperger’s struggle with social interactions.  Having worked in the school system, I understand that those who struggle with social interaction are more likely to struggle socially and feel ostracized due to inappropriate social interactions.  Is there a connection between social isolation and school shootings?  Research studies involving psychopathy have indicated that there are observable differences in brain scans between psychopaths and neuro-typical individuals.  Is it mere coincidence or indication of a subsect with particular needs that are not being met?

Personally, as a person who is not an autism spectrum specialist, I have noticed frustration at the school level with students who do not respond to “typical” behavioral interventions.  These interventions are often not specifically designed to address the unique needs of a student with Asperger’s.  While school systems have placed a lot of time and dedicated resources towards those considered on the farther end of the Autism Spectrum Disorder; have we placed as many resources towards students who are on the closer end of the spectrum?

I recently read the book “Look Me in the Eye” by John Elder Robison.  Previous to reading this book, I had falsely assumed that those within the Autism Spectrum Disorder simply did not have a desire to engage in social interaction and our desire to pressure them towards social interaction was aversive to their nature.  After reading this book, I completely reconsidered my false assumptions.  As it was not a lack of a desire to socially engage, but merely an lack of understanding towards how to execute social interactions.  The solution relied more in explicit teaching of social interactions versus waiting for a child to understand the implicit teachings provided by the setting.

This opinion does not offer any specific policy or practical implications, but merely a questioning of current measures are addressing the current need.

As someone who has worked in the financial industry, education field and the mental health field, I am keenly aware of how financial distress can impact all aspects of someone’s life.  These stressors are often compounded for youth.  Traditionally, it is assumed that lessons regarding personal finance would be passed down through traditional generational teaching.  However, this assumes that parents/guardians had adequate knowledge of personal finance to teach their children.  While many parents/guardians do their best to provide knowledge to their children, they cannot provide knowledge they do not have.

Unfortunately, many people do not get the knowledge they need to successfully manage personal finances.  As a result, young people can often find themselves in financial distress before realizing how much trouble they are in.  It can take years for them to get back on the right track.  All of which could have been avoided if they had been given some information beforehand.

Many people I have spoken with have questioned why personal finance is not something taught to students in high school.  As someone who has worked in the education field, I can attest to the fact that there is simply not enough time to teach students everything they need to prepare them for life outside of high school.  In an attempt to bridge that gap and provide basic personal finance to high school students, I developed a training with the focus of teaching students basic personal finance skills.

It begins with basic banking fundamentals such as types of bank accounts and works with students to understand how to make smart financial decisions based on their future goals.  It provides insight on how to determine needs versus wants and how to align those needs and wants with your financial future.  While the guide focuses on two general paths, Workforce Path and College Path; it focuses more on determining needs for those path and how to distinguish between needs and wants.

Being able to distinguish between needs and wants allows them to begin the process of making a budget.  It breaks down different components of a budget and how to make adjustments to the budget to fit their personal lifestyle.  Once they understand how to create a budget, they focus on tracking how they are progressing towards their financial goals and how to make adjustments.

Most importantly, the course focuses on debt.  Discussions range from student loans to credit card debt.  It discusses how important a credit score is and how you can get trapped in credit card debt forever by just paying your minimum balance.  A lot of time is spent discussing difference in interest rates and how higher interest rates can make you pay thousands more dollars for an item.  There are also some ways to build credit that do not involve credit cards.

The training concludes with a discussion of investments.  While retirement might seem like a faraway concept to high school students, it focuses on the importance of starting early and that saving even just a little can help you greatly in life.  Having strong saving habits provide future financial stability.  If you work with students, especially high school students, or have children of you own, consider increasing discussions of personal finance.  Student need these skills and not having them can be detrimental to their future.

 

Personal Finance 101: High School Edition

1. Understanding the Basics
   • Banking Basics
   • Basic Account Options
   • Keeping Track of Your Money
   • Future Determines Finances
   • Workforce: Employment Basics
   • The Worker Budget
   • College Student Expenses
   • Paying for College
   • Why College?
2. The Budget
   • Budget Basics
   • Savings & Investments
   • Required Expenses
   • Variable Expenses
   • Building Your Own Budget
   • Reconciling the Budget
   • Adjusting the Budget
3. Understanding Debt
   • Components of Loans
   • Credit Score
   • Student Loans
   • Auto Loans
   • Credit Cards
4. Understanding Investments
   • Components of Investments
   • How to Save
   • Types of Investments
   • Insurance Products

I first came upon Bringing up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting by Pamela Druckerman at my local library.  I must admit I was initially very skeptical.  There is a plethora of sources that express countless parenting strategies, what would make this book different than any other strategy?  Additionally, as an American, I was slightly offended at the concept that Americans needed to “learn how to parent” from the French.  However, as I began reading the book, I quickly became aware that this book is targeted to a very specific audience and with a very specific message.

The author, Pamela Druckerman, makes it very clear throughout the book that she is discusses differences between middle class families in both America and in France.  In these families, parents are often well educated and have successful careers.  They approach parenting similar to how they have approached their education and careers, with considerable research and conviction.  Unfortunately, researching parenting tips and guides can often leave parents more confused.  This book offers an attempt to filter various parenting research based on a proven model, the French model.

While the author does not spend a great deal of time discusses theoretical perspectives of her work, it is clear the crux of the book is an attempt to navigate between permissive and authoritarian parenting styles to achieve the much desired, authoritative parenting style.

Authoritarian parenting is often thought of as strict parenting.  It is a style in which parents provide strict specific rules to their children and receive punishments for even the smallest infraction.  In interaction with children, parents often do not provide context or understanding to the child about the rules.  The priority is for the child to be obedient.  Children are not encouraged to express themselves or formulate their own opinions.  As a result of this strict parenting style, children are prone to low self-esteem.  They often have difficulty in social interactions as they wait to be told what to do and what not to do.

On the other end of the spectrum is Permissive parenting.  This style of parenting is often seen as the indulgent parent.  In this style, the parents are loving and nurturing but often fail to provide clear and consistent structure/rules.  Parents tend to be lenient to avoid confrontation and are often exhausted by their inability to control their child.  As a result of this parenting style, children often grow up without self-control and self-discipline.  They tend to lack the ability to self-regulate and experience problem with authority.  Parents who may have had authoritarian parents often adopt this style as an extreme opposite to their upbringing.

Authoritative parenting, is considered to be the best of both worlds as it is considered to be the most effective parenting style.  In this style, parents have a high expectation for their children while understanding that children are bound to make mistakes, from which they can learn.  Parents have reasonable rules and structure that they provide to their children, they have an open communication with children, and take their children’s thoughts and feelings into consideration.  However, the authoritative parent understand that it is ultimately themselves who are in charge and make the final decisions.  Key in this parenting approach is understanding that each child is different, thus adult responses should be tailored to the specific child.  Children raised under this style tend to grow up happy, capable, and successful.

Unfortunately, there is no manual that describes how to obtain this magical middle ground. While many resources offer suggestions and tips,  there are few that provide step-by-step instruction.  While many parents desire to implement rules and structure for their children in a way that is respectful to their autonomy, they are often unsure of when a child is ready.  Inability to determine when a child needs more freedom or less freedom, can put parents into an eternal state of panic.  In this book, Druckerman provides a developmental timeline and discusses strategies available at each stage.

She provides an amazing account of how she made the journey from Permissive, American mother to an Authoritative, French-inspired mother.  Her book provides excellent tips as well as research to demonstrate this transition.  Most importantly, she stresses the importance of understanding that it is not an adjustment that can be made overnight.  The transition from permissive to authoritative parent occurred gradually over time.  Similarly, the authoritative style of parenting gradually changes over time, there is no stage of completion.

Druckman provides an amazing blend of research, conventional wisdom, and reality that makes this book relatable to mothers of all ages and stages.  Her ability to bear her soul and honestly express her experiences decreases the shame and guilt that can be experienced by all mothers.  I highly recommend this book to mothers everywhere.

Additional resources for those interested in learning more about parenting styles:

https://www.verywellmind.com/parenting-styles-2795072

https://my.vanderbilt.edu/developmentalpsychologyblog/2013/12/types-of-parenting-styles-and-how-to-identify-yours/