Sunday, May 26, 2013

How Do I Self-Regulate?

[Lab 8- May 10: Enabling Occupation Through Self-Regulation]

This lab made me ask questions that I would't intuitively ask myself. What are my sensory preferences? What are my emotional regulation strategies? Definitely Not questions I've ever asked myself and at first glance, I genuinely think that I don't know how to answer!

Throughout the lab, I thought back to that stressful situation that I blogged about in my previous reflection on the lab about Cognitive Strategies (Appying the TIC TOC Technique), I realized that I know how I self-regulate better than I thought! There are...


Role Playing a Psychoeducation Group

[Lab 7- May 3: Enabling Occupation Through Learning]

Engaging in role-playing in this lab really made me think about the emotional experiences of the parents of those who had their first incident of psychosis and/or going through their own recovery process. I think that my role as the eldest child and older sister to three siblings helped me settle into the role of "Patrick's mother". After our session, I felt oddly relaxed. The students who played the OTs in our psychoeducation group did a great job of leading and facilitating the discussion. All of our group members actively participated and volunteer to share their experiences, so the group ran very smoothly.


Thursday, May 2, 2013

Can You Hear Yourself Think?

[Lab 5- April 19: Enabling occupation through coping – Lived experience exercise]

I often have my earbuds in whenever I'm walking, waiting for the bus or commuting.  Even when I'm not out and about, my room is rarely a complete silence because I enjoy working with a bit of background music. But hearing music is different from hearing voices. I'm sure that we all have a voice or two inside our heads. That inner self-talk that guides us through everything from high-stress situations to making mental lists of what to do throughout the day. Without hearing myself think, I'm sure I'd feel a bit lonely when I'm without my music on my long walks home. But I would never describe my self dialogue as disturbing or interfering with my everyday activities. My experience in this Lived Experience of Psychosis lab, showed me how difficult it really is to live with hearing a constant cacophony of voices and odd noises.

Applying the TIC TOC Technique

[Lab 6- April 26: Enabling occupation through thoughts and feelings: Cognitive approaches]

One of the cognitive strategies I learned about in today's lab was the TIC TOC technique. Let's see how it can be used to dissect a recent emotionally stressful situation of mine: