Author: Dr Nandita de Souza | September 29th, 2021
When talking to children and families about various mental health conditions, a good clinician will make efforts to banish confusing technical jargon from the conversation. However, this is easier said than done. As part of our professional training, quite often, our understanding is based on what we have heard in lecture halls or read in books and journals. Technical language is the norm in academic discourse! Our training does not prepare us for the real world, where we meet many people who are not familiar with various scientific terms and medical disorders. A solution is to think of something simple and mundane to compare the complex condition with. For example, when talking of ‘neural networks’, one can compare it to a map of a city with interconnecting roads.
A pressure cooker letting off steam is a good analogy for a temper outburst. We can recognise the early signs of anger building up by watching what the person is saying and doing (much like the ‘sssss’ sound of the cooker as it heats up). This can help us stop talking or move away (turn off the stove) and prevent the outburst.
Children are really good at creating their own images as they naturally think in pictures, rather than words. One child described his mother’s nagging as, “That keeeeeee sound, just like a mosquito”. As mental health professionals, we can learn so much from what our clients tell us in their own words. As one father shared his despair when his wife contradicted him in front of the children, “I told her that we are like two wheels of the scooter. If we go in different directions, the scooter will not move!” A wife shared that when she gets mad with her husband during mealtimes, she looks at him through a fork held up in front of her eyes and imagines that he is in jail.
Images help us understand, remember, learn and laugh!
DR NANDITA DE SOUZA
Director and Paediatrician