Stories about mental health
5 Buddhist wisdom stories about mental health from Buddhist teachers, each linked to the original talk.
- Penang lady scared by her first jhānaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: A Penang lady (not even a Buddhist) falls into deep jhāna without knowing what it is and is so scared/obsessed she tours psychologists and psychiatrists who have no clue.…
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lady in Penang many years ago and I don't even think she was a Buddhist but no she managed to get into one of these deep meditations his jaunders and she didn't know what it was at all and it really scared her to the point that uh she was so obsessed with trying to find out what the heck this was one of the best experiences of our life so she went to so many psychologists and psychiatrists and they didn't have a clue what was happening to her and eventually that she came to see me in Penang and there she sort of I explained exactly what it was and it was wonderful to describe you know will she describe what she felt and I described a few things you missed out telling me said yes that's it she was so happy that you know somebody else had understood what she'd experienced and it was quite safe and quite beautiful
- She flew from Bern just to say thank youStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Asked for a new foreword to Opening the Door of Your Heart, Ajahn Brahm recalls a woman from Bern who had flown to Perth only to thank him and go home. She had had cancer,…
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A woman came to Bodhinyana Monastery from Bern in Switzerland. And she came and she had no reason to lie. I believe exactly what she said. She said, "I flew all that way from Switzerland to Perth to find you. Now I found you, I'll go home. I wanted to say thank you personally. Cuz she had cancer, anxiety disorder, depression, you know, the whole works. You know, when you really get, you know, really screwed up inside. Said, "Doctors, no help. Psychologists, no help. Someone gave me your book, cured. Full remission. No anxiety anymore. Psychologist said, 'Go. You're okay.'" So, she wanted to come and thank me for that. And of course, as soon as said, "You have to remember, can you sign my book?" It was one of these dog-eared books. Not one of these books you put on the shelf. She had read this, I don't know how many times. "Can you please sign it?" When I signed it, she started weeping, crying. That is helping. That is aid. That is disaster relief in another way.
- The walking stick that always missedStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: First year at Magnolia Street: a man in a psychotic episode waves a walking stick violently at Brahm but always misses on purpose; half an hour of calm talk ends in trust.
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Magnolia Street, he came and he had a psychotic episode. And he had a walking stick cuz he was still, you know, he couldn't walk properly. And he started, uh, waving quite violently that stick at me. But he always missed me. It's just like he got the stick and trying to whack me on the head, but he would always miss. And it was obvious for me that it was on purpose. He wouldn't hit me. I just sat there talking to him, calming him down for about half an hour. And at the end of that little confrontation, you know, he trusted me. He trusted me so
- The ward that focused on the good hoursStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: After a talk at Singapore's mental-health institute, a Christian ward head quietly tells Ajahn Brahm his ward now focuses on patients' healthy periods rather than their episodes…
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This whole attitude was reinforced when last weekend I was teaching at a conference of the Institute for Mental Health in Singapore. Those from Singapore, a few here, the old Woodbridge Hospital, which now they've moved and renamed because maybe it had a bad association with mental sickness. And I was so pleased that after I gave a presentation that was so well received, that one of the fellows there who was quite a staunch Christian, he asked me, "Can you come and bless my ward? Give a Buddhist blessing, please." Those of you who know Singapore know that's quite something. But when I was talking to him, and to many other staff there, the heads of departments, they told me that the philosophy in that hospital was to focus on that part of their patient which was sane, sociable, which was kind, which was intelligent. They weren't focusing on the psychosis. They weren't ignoring the schizophrenic fantasies. They were focused on something else. I thought, "Wow! You guys have understood." Because if you focus on somebody's faults -- you know the old two bad bricks -- the fact that sometimes they act in a dysfunctional way, or they speak in hallucinatory ways or they behave in sort of a violent to themselves or other ways. If you focus on that, then you make this person into someone.. or make this dysfunction the whole of them, rather than just a part of them. And a positive psychology says let's put that aside. Let's focus on the other half of them. Too often, we focus on the dysfunction. How about focusing on the rest of the time when they're perfectly -- I won't say normal because being normal is stigmatising the so-called abnormal -- when they are kind, sociable and able to sort-of flow in society without any problems or reactions from other people. When you focus on the other side, the healing happens. This is such an important psychology to see. I was so pleased that at last, somebody is getting the message.
- Treat the part that is not schizophreniaStory · Ajahn Brahm
In brief: Singapore schizophrenia-unit professor (Catholic): he doesn't treat schizophrenia — he treats the part of the patient that is not schizophrenic; results better than classical…
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professor of schizophrenia unit in Singapore mental health. Professor he was a Catholic but I asked him how do you treat schizophrenia in Singapore? I always remember this conversation because he said just as you explained AJ Brown I don't treat schizophrenia in a schizophrenia unit of the mental health campus I think was in woodlands over in the north part of Singapore and I said yeah what do you treat then he said the other part of that patient I treat the part which is not schizophrenic and I understood what he was talking about said excellent what's the what's the results he said so much better than classical treatment [snorts] there's no such thing as a schizophrenic is a person who has episodes which we recognize as schizophrenia treat the other part of them and that grows. [snorts] All those times which I went into prisons to teach, never ever saw a criminal