[nabs-l] Seeking alternative techniques for working withproblems with couples?

Tue Apr 27 15:51:11 UTC 2010

Hello Cindy,

I would guess that one would have to be aware of reality to know if a 
patient is going outside of it. If you are aware of your surroundings, like 
the arrangement of furniture and objects in your own office, you would 
notice if a client is describing something out of the norm.

I think that maybe the look on a person who is hallucinating might appear 
dreamy, and pensive: far away. But the look results from the client's way of 
thinking, scared, impressed, out of touch, and this look might very well, as 
I suspect it often does get projected in the way a client speaks. I am 
willing to bet that you can pick up on the ways of speaking, what is being 
said, and how it's being said, inflection, to see if the patient is 
hallucinating.

Then, sighted practitioners are not always so sure if hallucination is 
taking place, and in the end anyone treating someone will fall back to the 
same therapy skills used by everyone.

I hope this makes sense.

Antonio M. Guimaraes Jr.

Student, Western Governors University
(617) 744-9716
Eastern time zone
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cindy Bennett" <clb5590 at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Monday, April 26, 2010 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seeking alternative techniques for working 
withproblems with couples?

>I definitely understand and would love feedback especially how to work
> with clients who might be halucinating. For example, once in
> personality psychology we were going over the personality disorders
> and my professors had some examples of clients on tape. We were to
> watch them and try to gage their symptoms and match them to a
> disorder. During one interview a man commented on how the room looked.
> I did not know until someone pointed out that his descriptions were
> completely made up, and what he had said about the room, something
> about paint chipping, wasn't an unrealistic description, and it made
> me wonder how i would gage such things.
>
> My guess, and i am not an expert nor to i have my license, would be to
> gage as much as you can from tone of voice and what people are saying
> as possible. It is amazing what you can figure out just from those. If
> you have a confident mind set that you can figure someone out rather
> than have the blocking mind set that you can't because you are blind,
> you will be able to go a lot further.
>
> Also, looking through a client's medical history before the interview
> and talking to them about their past which is done by any counselor
> will give you a lot of insight.
>
> I definitely think it is possible for blind people to counsel, and i
> am sure that all clinitians have their clients they are doubtful
> about.
>
> Just keep up with the field and new research and knowledge and take
> advantage of every opportunity you have to gain experience. Any
> psychologist who thinks they have the answer to everything i feel is a
> contradiction to the field. We will never know everything, and there
> will always be an exception to the rule.
>
> I am interested in more feedback though, and if anyone with counseling
> experience has ever had trouble with clients because of their
> blindness, i would love to hear how you dealt with it. How do you look
> over a client's forms when they fill them out during their first
> visit? How do you take notes? I feel like using a computer is a bit
> more invasive and distracting than taking written notes, but i
> couldn't think of another way to do it.
>
> I will be doing a practicum this fall, and although i won't be
> conducting any therapy sessions, i will be shaddowing a lot and am
> looking forward to the experience so i can start thinking about how to
> answer these questions presented by grad programs or employers,
> because with anything, it is always better to walk in with some
> answers, so i'm glad you're asking us.
>
> Cindy
>
> On 4/26/10, Gerardo Corripio <gera1027 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi listers, especially psychologists or who are studying in the field:
>> Unfortunately in university because I didn't have blind psychologist role
>> models to look up or ask questions I wasn't orientated right in my course 
>> of
>> studies thus my question. Any ideas of what alternative techniques or if
>> it's possible to work with couples facing problems? Due to the amount of
>> visual info required to see how their communication is and other factors
>> what alternative techniques do you guy use? Can we blind psychologist 
>> work
>> with family therapy or problems with husband and wife? Hope I made myself
>> understood; I have the idea but don't know if I expressed it right. I
>> sometimes have the feeling that my mother especially thinks my teachers
>> passed me because of my blindness because she has the exptectations that 
>> as
>> a psychologist I should have all the answers and know everything! Has 
>> this
>> happened to you guys also? We're also human bings and have our problems 
>> and
>> emotions and feelings!
>> Any ideas aprreciated or experiences.
>> Gerardo
>>
>>
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