Articles About The Centre

IT SEEMS ironic, but newspaper and TV coverage of health issues could he bad for your wellbeing, according to one theory. In Britain, psychologists have found that watching disturbing TV news bulletins makes people feel worse' about their own personal worries, while the New York Times has claimed that reports ascribing health risks to everything from cellular phones to electric blankets and baldness is inducing, widespread paranoia and panic. And secret surveillance techniques, such as supermarket "eyes" and long-range cameras, are adding to our paranoia, according to Dr Joe Berke, co-found &of the Arbours Association, which helps people in mental crisis. Brian Keenan's experience as a Middle East hostage may seem rather far removed from all this, says Berke, but that is not so at all.

He says: "it only feels alien to us because his persecution took in extreme form. Although he experienced actual torture, the event was also amplified by his mind to lead to his self-torture by terrible thoughts. His paranoia was, of course, readily understandable."
One problem is that persecution and paranoia tend to be viewed as mutually exclusive - either they're after you or they aren't whereas it is possible that persecution can cause paranoia, and that paranoia can mask persecution.

It is now increasingly hard, says Berke, to distinguish between persecution (the devils without) and paranoia (the devils within). Arbours is marking its 25th anniversary with a two-day conference on this theme at Regent's College in London this weekend.

The aim is to examine the margins between real and imagined enemies: the psychological and social forces that may harm both individuals and organisations. Brian Keenan and psychoanalyst Otto Kernberg, a world expert on paranoia are among the speakers.

Psychoanalyst Andrea Sabbadini, who has worked with torture survivors, says: "People who have been tortured may have nightmares that they will be caught and hurt again, even if they are living . in another country and the torture has long stopped. Such fears are understandable, but not realistic."

At its crisis centre and long-stay communities, Arbours sees itself as dealing with the casualties of both the devils without and the devils within. "When people say. there is somebody or something hounding them, we never assume that is a delusion, " says Dr Berke. "There is very likely some real, often family, experience of persecution which, when it stops, is replaced by equally powerful inner demons that may destroy and corrode all future relationships."

One woman, Mary, who stayed at one of the Arbours long-stay therapeutic communities, used to cut herself or take an overdose whenever she was angry. It was blatantly obvious to everyone else in the house that she was angry, but she denied any such feelings and put the blame for her actions on "her voices".

Helping Mary to acknowledge her painful or frightening feelings and accept them as part of herself was an important part in her rehabilitation.

And, to a certain extent, this is what we all need to do to preserve our mental health, says Berke, even if we are still managing to
keep on an even keel, but are just less happy or more hopeless and defeatist than we might be. One of Arbours aims is to help People see things differently, and this, he believes, is a key factor in minimising the misery of feeling at the mercy of vague internal or external threats.
"The first thing is to be aware of how our emotions are manipulated and interact, " he says. "Then we need to pay more attention to the immediate things in our lives, like valuing a loving partner, or parent or friends. People get so caught up with a fear of dying that they forget to live. All life involves risk. Be coming obsessed with creating security and eliminating risk means no excitement and spontaneity in life at all.

For details of the Paranoia and
Persecution conference, phone or fax
081-340 2936.