This is a painting of “TRAPPED IN MY OWN BODY” done by kodama
(kodama, 2017)
it’s a representative of a person’s physical appearance not matching the way s/he would like to be or seen as.
This reminded me of most of the patients I see which went through a traumatic injury leaving them differently able than they were before. A patient having to adjust to living with their “new body”’ and then being so frustrated that they can’t perform certain tasks and ADLs that they previously could do. Change is never an easy thing especially if you never mentally prepared yourself for it.
During one of my session my patient had an emotional breakdown because she said she doesn’t feel like herself anymore, her body is no longer hers as she doesn’t control it but it controls her. It reflects on the picture again as she feels trapped in her own body, a prisoner to her injuries.
I noticed that I never try to relate to my patient on an emotional level when treating them, all I do is focus on the treatment plan, there is always so much more beyond just treatment of the physical body but there is the mental part as well.
The body has to works together in order to get a beneficial recovery and mental health is a very important part in healing there for it should be made a priority.
“Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. (what is mental health, 2019)”.
I found a lot of my patients that went through a MVA are angry and impatient with their bodies, most of them were not driving the car that caused the MVA therefore they feel someone else rob them of the ability of “being in control’’ of their bodies.
During my treatment session with one of my patients as we were attempting active movements the patient failed to take the limb to full range, they got so frustrated with themselves that I had to take time to calm them down and explain that treatment is not a once off thing but it will take a couple of session to see a difference. They further explained that they are unable to do things that they did before because of a “stupid drunk driver”.
i have learnt a lot and i feel my experience was put to summary in this picture, trauma patients or let me say a lot of patients that have body changes after a trauma or medical condition do feel “trapped in my own body”.
references
what is mental health. (2019, june 4). Retrieved august 22 , 2019, from mental health.gov: https://www.mentalhealth.gov/basics/what-is-mental-health
kodama. (2017, febuary 23). trapped in my own body. Retrieved august 22 august , 2019, from own poetry: https://allpoetry.com/poem/12845414-trapped-in-my-own-body—by-Kodama
2 thoughts on “Trapped in my own body”
Hy Luto thank you for sharing your experience. Your artwork is creative and relates to your experience and you have also linked it to your piece.
Just a suggestion try and have fewer paragraphs so that your piece can have a nice flow and also looking at paragraph 3 and 8 it seems like you are talking about 2 different people try and focus on one patient, and elaborate more on your ethical dilemma for example in para 3 you mention that your patient had an emotional breakdown what happened after, how did you react ? Why? What happened after. How were you supposed to handle the situation. What did you learn.
Hope this helps.
Hey luto it was nice reading you piece . what i think you should do is try make your paragraphs flow , link them together do not jump from one idea to the other. also look at some spelling errors . try to swap paragraph 4 and 5. and combine paragraph 2-5 yet reducing some sentences there.