Posted by saintjames on June 29, 1999, at 0:39:31
In reply to Re: My work with the disabled, posted by Cass on June 28, 1999, at 23:10:21
> Hi Saint James,
>
> I really admire your work with people who are hurting. But, you mentioned "contracts." Do people, from your experience, follow through on these contracts? I must admit, when I was seeing a psychologist, he used to beg me to have a contract of non-self harm. I used to agree just to make him feel better. I had no intention of complying. I no longer make false promises like that. But, I can't help but wonder how many people comply with "contracts." If it helps, all for the better. It just didn't work with me. Good luck with everything.
>
> CassJames here....
Mixed results is what I understand, this is the only contract I have done and it was sucessful, but no one thing made it stop. When you are on the other side of this issue you will do anything to get a person not to hurt or kill themselves. In this case the person did not feel comfortable calling me at anytime (I work in a rural area and the person was very isolated) so the contract was proof that
I cared and REALLY could be called at any time. We put things in the contract like " If I tell james I have been hurting myself again he will not get mad at me, hate me ot think less of me." This seemed to be a real fear of this person, despite me assuring this person till I was blue in the face ! It is common for someone to disclose abuse and then the next time you see them, everything is OK...no problems. I used a contract to bridge this period.It all really comes down to the person and if they really mean what they say in a contract, like you say.
This person was first put on AD's, which helped but did not totally stop the self abuse. Naltrexone did the trick plus I was able to find a MSW to see this person weekly (that took medicade and worked with this issue often)
Cass, what worked for you and how are you doing now ?
james
poster:saintjames
thread:7963
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990628/msgs/7969.html