Appreciation
 by Stewart McArdle
 

No one can truly appreciate how a disorder in the brain can impact or even devastate one’s life until it happens to you or someone you know. A disorder, whether it be a stroke, Alzheimer’s, a head injury, manic depression, or a wide variety of other conditions, affects a person’s thoughts and moods, often resulting in some unpredictable or strange behavior; thereby, changing one’s life. By a brain “dis” order being a significant “dis” ability, I am referring to a disturbance of the normal workings of their body and mind that causes a person not to be able to fully control themselves.


The brain is a whole universe of its own. Your brain is the seat of all thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Your brain is the hardware of your soul, the very essence of who you are as a human being. How your brain works determines how happy you are, how effective you feel and how well you interact with others The brain patterns can help or hurt one’s life. Your brain creates your “reality” through your perceptions and experiences in the world In fact, how your brain works can determine the quality of your life. There is a brain-body connection. For example, if you believe that the glass is half-full, your thoughts and feelings will reflect an optimistic point of view and your body will respond accordingly.

Unfortunately, for someone with a brain disorder, the mind can turn on itself and “be its own worst enemy”; thoughts and feelings can become distorted and life becomes all-consuming and overwhelming. Every brain disorder is different, just like every person’s brain is different, like the fingerprints of one’s soul. I get a sense that a brain disorder is very painful, often physically and emotionally draining.


A good analogy for how the mind of a person with a brain disorder can have trouble functioning properly is: “The person with the brain disorder sees other people do things for the first time like cutting branches from a tree. When the person with the brain disorder does it, he or she ends up injured from branches falling. The person forgot to move out of the way, even though he or she recognized the fact that branches would be falling. The muddled thought processes caused the person to forget to think to move out of the way. One knows something, but does not act upon the information.”

Even identifying that someone has a brain disorder does not adequately prepare someone for all of the changes that accompany it. There are often physical, emotional and intellectual
changes; there may be glimmers of hope of the “old self’’ as the brain reconfigures itself. Things, like properly caring for oneself, that a person once took for granted can seem foreign and very difficult with a brain disorder.

Change can be scary, especially when it is forced upon you. Often, no one wants to change. One needs the proper time and space to adapt. Sometimes, things are not what they seem and one’s “reality” or life circumstance can be disorienting. One’s memories and experiences are suspect and not always reliable.

Also, there is a physical toll on a person; paralysis or some weakness can often result from a change in the brain. Behavior modification is easier said than done. Telling someone to just “Grow up” or “Act right” can be very taxing for a person with an impairment. A brain disorder really changes one’s self-perception, to where a person views themselves differently, often in a negative light.

There is a gloss-over problem as many people fall through the cracks and do not receive the proper benefits and services they need to live fully. Many are lost and floundering, like they are stuck in a crack of a wide canyon and they need a rope to be thrown in. A brain disorder is analogous to a computer malfunction in that the same bad “program” keeps repeating itself. At present, there is no “cure” for a brain disorder; a person with a brain disorder greatly needs the hope and understanding of others. Many people with severe cognitive impairments are devalued as having lives not worth living.

Sometimes, there can be an epiphany, an insight of understanding , that can be accommodating for a person with a brain disorder. A brain disorder is a life long journey that often is exhausting and can leave one defenseless. The dizzying rigmarole of treatments for a person suffering from a brain disorder is largely done through trial and error. Every person is different so the medications and therapies need to be constantly monitored and adjusted to have the best outcome to help the person. What works for one person may or may not be effective for another. Understanding the various treatments and complexity of the disorder can be very helpful for a person’s recovery. Challenges anew as every endeavor pays off in some result, some improvement, change over time. Small gains lead to big rewards!