December 2009
0 posts
November 2009
5 posts
October 2009
1 post
Though future is not present
On the other hand my father often thinks of future, which makes him anxious. Asked about how he was by nurses who take care of him he never fails to complain of a chest pain he feels at dawn. Then he asks me what and how he should do if something urgent occurs to him when is alone at night. Honestly speaking I myself do not know what I can do because my experience of cardiac infarction taught me...
Freely in space and time
It is often said that the patient who suffers from dementia lives in the world of ‘here and now.’ As far as my father is concerned this is not necessarily true.
One mornig my father surprised me by saying abruptly that he would go to a barber to have his hair cut. It seemed that he had forgotten that he could not walk without the help of others.
I should not have stopped him then but...
September 2009
4 posts
A Song for you
We went on walking for a long time hearing the song of a river. On our head were singing cicadas, messengers of the Muses.
‘I have a song for you here. ‘
I handed her an earphone of my iPhone. I tried not to miss any change in her expression. I heared the tune which could not be heard.
‘You were beautiful yesterday…the day before yesterday too…and on the day when...
August 2009
15 posts
The weight of one vote
The general election will be held soon here in Japan. Apart from the possiblity that the political party actually in office may lose its power the election this time has important meaning for me. The meaning is a private one but as this is something I have never experienced before there is no knowing what will happen on the day of election. I wrote ‘private’ but come to think of it...
A patient behind the disease
Adler always emphasizes that there is a patient behind the disease. Few may doubt that this is true but my conviction sometimes wavers when I see my father forget even what he has just done a moment ago and I realize how his insufficent understanding can cause accidents which are not supposed beforehand. He gets emotional to me because he understand that I am his son. I should be glad about this...
First trial of voice recording. Greeting from...
How is the progress possible?
There is a German word Fortschritt (progress), which literally means ‘a step forward.’ I often think how the progress or the development is possible. As this German indicates the progress can be caused by a step forward but if we just walk on the same level some people may be walking ahead, it is true, they are walking just because they know something earlier than others, which is to...
Dream interpretation
Dreamt a strange dream last night. To make the long story short it was as follows: while I am in hospital I notice the moon rising at the edge of the mountain. I go out with my camera to take photos of the moon. I suddenly fall down from a roof of the hospital suffering no hurt.
The interpretation:
I am determined not to miss the chace which I believe is important in whatever situation even when...
Then where are they?
I saw the TV program, in which it was said that the number of people visiting the graves is decreasing though bon is an annual event. In Japan during bon or the festival of souls the spirits of the dead are believed to return to their families. If they return to the family logically speaking the family do not have to the graves. There must be many reasons for this but I guess the decrease may be...
making a legitimate claim by words
I always want to take the side of the youth.
My new book entitled ’Introduction to psychology for high school students’ will be published soon. The publisher sent me ten books today. As is known from the title I wrote this book mainly for the youth but I guess that the parents who are interested in Adlerian psychology first buy this book. Reading it through, however, they may not...
What I can do for my father
It is sometimes pointed out that the patients suffering from dementia do not worry about the past and the future because they live ‘here and now.’ This is not true at least as far as my father is concerned. He often complains of the anxiety he feel at dawn when he has a pain in the chest though it is often the case that he forgets his pain. Nevertheless it cannot be denied that he...
Can they say 'No'?
The new lay judge system in which citizens perticipate has started. I know that confessing that she/he participated in trial as the lay judge does not violate the obligation to keep official secrets but I was surprised to know that all of the lay judges attended the press conference after the trial and allow the press to have their photos taken. I even could know their ages and the proffessions.
...
Do something
At the final lecture he gave in Vienna Alfred Adler ended with the word, ‘Kinder, macht etwas, und macht’s gut.’ (Children, do something — and do it well.’)
He once said, ‘When a child is beaten somewhere in China then we are to blame, for that shows we have not worked hard enough. There is nothing in the world which has nothing to do with us. Ich stetsdenke was ich...
It is up to you to decide everything.
There is little we can do for a patient unless she/he is not willing to give up her/his symptom. ‘A patient is like a person in a dark room,’ Adler would explain. ‘He complains to me, “I cannot get out.” I switch on the light and point out the door-handle. If he still says that he cannot get out — I know that he does not wish to to get out!’
A Columbus of the soul
“He (Alfred Adler) was a Columbus of the soul who knew that to discover new lands, he must sail forth upon uncharted seas” (Bottome, Phillis. Alfred Adler, p.200).
Reading books often cannot be of much help in trying to notice the mistakes we have made so far. The readers tend to skip where something which they do not want to accept is written. They read books only to ascertain that...
July 2009
5 posts
Contribution towards life
When Alfred Adler was asked at what period a child should begin his contribution towards life, Adler said ‘Within the first half honour.’ This is what his friend Phillis Bottome reports in her biography of Adler (Bottome, Phillis. Alfred Adler: A portrait from life, Vanguard, 1957, p.157).
Some may think this is exaggeration but I think Adler would have said so. In fact newborn babies...
Shaking hands
The mere fact that Alfred Adler always shook hands warmly with every child with whom he counseled impresses me. For him every child was an equal. He used only the simplest words, which is not necessarily easy.
my passion
‘My passions are the grapes that I tread out for mankind’ ‘(Alfred Adler might well have said).
You cannot give too much.
I have been reading the biography of Alfred Adler (Phillis Bottome, Alfred Adler: A portrait from life, Vanguard, 1957). Though this is not the first time I have read this book I enjoy reading it partly because I like this psychiatrist, whose theory and thought I have been studying for many years.
“Adler was no hoarder; whatever he had, he gave’ (p.119).