The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo
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0:12 - 0:15Good afternoon. How was the Venlo burger?
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0:16 - 0:17Good?
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0:17 - 0:19Let me ask you some personal questions:
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0:19 - 0:22which one of you
is in a romantic relationship? -
0:22 - 0:24Please, raise your hand.
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0:25 - 0:27(Laughter)
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0:27 - 0:31I'm not hitting on you, guys.
Trust me, no. -
0:33 - 0:37Which one of you is lucky enough
to have a couple of friends around? -
0:37 - 0:39Again, a lot of people.
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0:39 - 0:44So, I should conclude you all
have a lot of people around you. -
0:45 - 0:51So, which one of you knows someone
who suffers from mental distress, -
0:52 - 0:54or even a mental disorder?
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0:57 - 1:00It's a lot harder to raise
your hand now, isn't it? -
1:01 - 1:05One out of four people in the Netherlands
suffers from mental distress -
1:05 - 1:07and one out of ten people
suffers from a condition -
1:07 - 1:10that we could diagnose
as a mental disease. -
1:11 - 1:13Please, look around you.
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1:14 - 1:18My talk is about you
and the people in your lives. -
1:20 - 1:25I want to show you how our relatively
non-severe mental problems -
1:25 - 1:28can go from bad to worse very quickly,
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1:28 - 1:31and how often we create
these situations ourselves. -
1:31 - 1:33I also want to show you
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1:33 - 1:38how our healthcare system
fails to address complex problems -
1:38 - 1:42and how we can use the power
of suffering in order to evolve. -
1:44 - 1:45I want you to meet Jane.
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1:46 - 1:48Now, we all know Jane.
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1:48 - 1:52She could be your neighbor,
your relative, your average colleague. -
1:54 - 1:56Jane is a 40-year-old woman,
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1:56 - 2:00and she's married, has two children,
a son and a daughter, -
2:00 - 2:03and she works as a secretary
in a large company. -
2:03 - 2:05One day, Jane doesn't show up for work.
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2:05 - 2:07She was feeling tired for a while,
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2:07 - 2:12and she reports to her family doctor
and he advises her to take a good rest. -
2:12 - 2:15So, that's what she does: she goes home
and she takes a good rest, -
2:15 - 2:19and this rest takes up to four weeks.
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2:19 - 2:23After four weeks, she gets back to work.
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2:23 - 2:29Six months later, she drops out again:
same symptoms, but worse. -
2:29 - 2:34Again, she reports to her family doctor
and he diagnoses her with burnout. -
2:35 - 2:38He prescribes her
antidepressant medication -
2:38 - 2:41and, again, advises her
to take a good rest. -
2:41 - 2:44This time, this rest
takes up to four months. -
2:46 - 2:48After these four months,
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2:48 - 2:52she goes back to work,
still on medication. -
2:52 - 2:56Two months later, she drops out again,
third time within a year. -
2:56 - 2:58Severe depression.
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2:58 - 3:01She's referred to specialized
mental healthcare -
3:01 - 3:02for a very intensive treatment,
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3:02 - 3:05and, after one year
of intensive treatment, -
3:05 - 3:08she ends up at home,
losing her job permanently, -
3:08 - 3:10still depressed.
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3:11 - 3:13So, what's going on?
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3:14 - 3:17Why isn't her medication working?
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3:18 - 3:21Why isn't the therapy working?
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3:23 - 3:27The real problem that Jane is facing
is that she has an addicted son -
3:28 - 3:30stealing from her every day,
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3:31 - 3:36manipulating her every single day,
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3:38 - 3:42lying to her, threatening her.
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3:42 - 3:47So, every time she was sent home
by her family doctor to take a rest, -
3:47 - 3:49she was sent straight into hell.
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3:51 - 3:53The question that comes to mind is:
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3:53 - 3:57why didn't Jane tell her family doctor
about her addicted son? -
3:57 - 4:01She only asked him
to help her with her depression. -
4:03 - 4:07But, on the other hand,
the family doctor knows her son. -
4:07 - 4:11In fact, he knows the whole family,
and he also knows her son is addicted. -
4:11 - 4:16How come he's only focusing
on the symptoms Jane is presenting? -
4:17 - 4:20And how come the specialized
mental healthcare -
4:20 - 4:23is doing exactly the same thing?
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4:24 - 4:26That's because they're doing their job.
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4:28 - 4:31The family doctor is doing his job well,
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4:31 - 4:35focusing on the symptoms his patient
is presenting, and treating them. -
4:35 - 4:39scaling up, as does the specialized
mental healthcare, -
4:39 - 4:41following protocol
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4:41 - 4:46and treating her with so-called
evidence-based treatment. -
4:47 - 4:51It is however the system
that doesn't allow them -
4:53 - 4:56to focus on the main
source of the problem. -
4:57 - 4:59The system is broken.
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4:59 - 5:06It is the system that does not address
complex situations like Jane's adequately. -
5:08 - 5:15It is this system failure that made me
as a mental professional healthcare worker -
5:16 - 5:21think about a drastic change
in the way we help people like Jane. -
5:22 - 5:26And so, I want to introduce you
to the M.A.D. approach. -
5:27 - 5:30"M.A.D." stands for
motivation analysis diagram, -
5:31 - 5:35and M.A.D. is based on the principle
that the level of suffering -
5:35 - 5:40influences our motivation to take
responsibility for our own recovery, -
5:40 - 5:43and taking this responsibility
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5:43 - 5:47is a fundamental element
in any effective treatment. -
5:49 - 5:53In order to show you
that it is a real diagram, -
5:53 - 5:54this is how it looks like.
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5:54 - 5:59It tries too far to fully explain
the model in full detail, -
5:59 - 6:02but I will show you its main principles.
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6:02 - 6:05And the first principle
of the M.A.D. approach -
6:05 - 6:08is that the degree of suffering
influences motivation. -
6:08 - 6:13As you can probably imagine,
if my level of suffering is too low, -
6:14 - 6:18then I probably won't be motivated
to change my behavior -
6:18 - 6:20or make other choices.
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6:20 - 6:25On the other hand,
if my level of suffering is too high, -
6:25 - 6:29chances are that I'm not able to change,
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6:29 - 6:32due to too much pain or pressure.
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6:35 - 6:38So, if I can influence
your level of suffering, -
6:38 - 6:41then I can also influence your behavior.
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6:43 - 6:45In Jane's case,
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6:45 - 6:49the family doctor and the
specialized mental healthcare -
6:49 - 6:55decreased the level of suffering
by treating her symptoms, -
6:56 - 6:59but therefore, they also
decreased her motivation -
6:59 - 7:02to address the main source of the problem.
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7:03 - 7:10So, influencing the level of suffering
is a key element in the M.A.D approach. -
7:12 - 7:14The second main principle
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7:15 - 7:20is that M.A.D. focuses
on the main source of the problem, -
7:20 - 7:23instead of the symptoms
that are presented. -
7:24 - 7:28Again, in Jane's case,
we stopped her treatment, -
7:28 - 7:34we also stopped her medication,
and all we did was follow up. -
7:34 - 7:39We only monitored the level
of suffering rising again. -
7:40 - 7:43Eventually, she opened up,
she told us about her addicted son. -
7:43 - 7:47So, that's what we did:
we treated her son's addiction, -
7:47 - 7:50we gave him the attention
and care that he needed, -
7:50 - 7:53and we also provided him
with another place to live. -
7:53 - 7:55Within four months,
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7:57 - 8:01Jane's symptoms cleared,
without any additional treatment. -
8:03 - 8:06The M.A.D. approach has been proven
successful in the past three years -
8:06 - 8:08within my company,
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8:08 - 8:10and as a comparison,
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8:11 - 8:15up to 85% of the people who are treated
in regular addiction healthcare -
8:15 - 8:19will fall back in their former habits
within the first year. -
8:19 - 8:23Eighty-five percent will fall back.
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8:25 - 8:26Using the M.A.D. approach,
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8:26 - 8:30we are able to reduce
this fallback to only 10%, -
8:30 - 8:35and just imagine the personal
benefits for our patients. -
8:37 - 8:42Imagine the social benefits,
or even the financial benefits. -
8:44 - 8:47It is my personal mission
for the upcoming years -
8:47 - 8:50to make this M.A.D. approach trainable
and therefore accesible -
8:50 - 8:53to every professional healthcare worker.
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8:54 - 8:58But you also can start using
the M.A.D. approach today, -
8:58 - 9:02helping your relatives,
helping your loved ones or colleagues. -
9:03 - 9:07And in order to do so,
I have three recommendations for you. -
9:08 - 9:11First one is: recognize suffering.
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9:12 - 9:15In order to do so,
keep asking questions. -
9:16 - 9:17Again, it's no rocket science,
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9:17 - 9:20but try to figure out
what is really going on here, -
9:20 - 9:23instead of jumping to conclusions.
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9:23 - 9:26Try to detect the main source
of the problem. -
9:27 - 9:32The second one is: stop focusing
on what people want. -
9:33 - 9:36Start focusing on what they really need.
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9:36 - 9:39These two things are not the same.
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9:41 - 9:46The third one is that nobody
likes to suffer, it hurts, -
9:47 - 9:49but instead of reducing the pressure,
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9:49 - 9:54you can use it as a powerful tool
for you to evolve. -
9:55 - 9:59So, next time, tomorrow,
on Monday, back at work, -
9:59 - 10:02next time you meet your Jane,
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10:02 - 10:05I want you to remember
these recommendations. -
10:06 - 10:07Thank you for listening.
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10:07 - 10:10(Applause)
- Title:
- The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo
- Description:
-
Patrick Leenen developed a revolutionary new way of no-nonsense treatment of mentally ill people. He shows amazing results with his treatment method. What those results are, you’ll hear in his talk.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 10:17
Leonardo Silva approved English subtitles for The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo | ||
Mile Živković accepted English subtitles for The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo | ||
Mile Živković edited English subtitles for The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for The power of suffering | Patrick Leenen | TEDxVenlo |