Archive for March 17th, 2011

COPING WITH EPILEPSY: WHEN COUNSELING DIDN’T HELP

March 17th, 2011, Posted in Epilepsy
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“You’ve only told us about your successes. Tell us about your failures. Everybody with epilepsy doesn’t end up happy, having outgrown epilepsy and off in college, do they?”
“No. One of the distressing facts you have to face as a counselor is that you can’t save the world. There are some pathetic people out there. Yes, there are some sad kids, and some miserable parents, as well. There are some who enjoy being unhappy. There are some who derive their pleasures from saying ‘poor me.’ There are those who just don’t have any motivation, and some who don’t have enough motivation to change at the time you see them. You have to try to keep communications open, so if their motivation develops later, they can come back and get help.
“The successes I’ve been talking about are primarily among the 80 percent of children whose seizures can be brought under control and who don’t have other handicaps. In this group it is easier to give them hope. You can easily and honestly say to them, ‘Look, most people like you will have their seizures completely controlled. You will probably outgrow your epilepsy’ I can give them some positives to look forward to.
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COPING WITH EPILEPSY: WHEN COUNSELING DIDN’T HELP”You’ve only told us about your successes. Tell us about your failures. Everybody with epilepsy doesn’t end up happy, having outgrown epilepsy and off in college, do they?”"No. One of the distressing facts you have to face as a counselor is that you can’t save the world. There are some pathetic people out there. Yes, there are some sad kids, and some miserable parents, as well. There are some who enjoy being unhappy. There are some who derive their pleasures from saying ‘poor me.’ There are those who just don’t have any motivation, and some who don’t have enough motivation to change at the time you see them. You have to try to keep communications open, so if their motivation develops later, they can come back and get help.”The successes I’ve been talking about are primarily among the 80 percent of children whose seizures can be brought under control and who don’t have other handicaps. In this group it is easier to give them hope. You can easily and honestly say to them, ‘Look, most people like you will have their seizures completely controlled. You will probably outgrow your epilepsy’ I can give them some positives to look forward to.*231\208\8*