[ParaforGod]

I had a good outlook on life before as I do now but I just wanted to say I also new of Joni Earickson Tada before my accident. Isn't she great?

[mulepower]

I never was depressed before my injury while now i have my ups and downs. There are different ways to cope,even denial early on but the fact is i go on because you have no choice. Many may be happier in their present state but i won't sugar coat it.I'm not happy about it and many times feel cheated because i can't have as much fun as i used too. Dealing with pain has built up my tolerance,although it doesn't make it any better. I miss things dearly,simple things and the more i dwell on them,the angrier i get. You can't run away from your injury though but you can dream and that satisfies for the moment. In my case,i get depressed because of my physical condition,yet i work through it. I see what others do with so much less and i marvel in amazement.

Sorry,i don't have any research and i wasn't injured until i was 30. Personal experience will have to do.

[Kevin]

I deal with serious depression myself so I try to stay up with depression stuff just because it makes it a bit easier to deal with. I haven't seen a study like this though. It would be an interesting study to do! I'll be doing a masters thesis (research or project) next year and am looking for topics. I've actually toyed around with this topic for a while now, but am not sure exactly how I would do it.

The only related research I know of deals with self image in relation to the extent of 'recovery' a person has from their depression. It found those people with lower self images had a much harder time dealing with and recovering from their depression.

Guest_Joy_*, on May 9 2007, 12:13 AM, said:

i would be interested to see if any research has been done on the percentage that had happy, fulfilling lives pre-injury, as opposed to those who already had negative self-images. or those who based self-fulfillment on physical appearance pre-injury. also, with how the adults around them while growing up viewed the disabled.

while i don't have a spinal cord injury, i do have a permanent mobility disability, which laid dormant for the better part of 22yrs. but i grew up in a tolerant home, and was exposed to joni earickson tada's story since childhood. my parents even took me to hear her speak when i was in early elementary school. so i grew up around the idea that life goes on.

[nomis]

I can see value for research into exploring “how the adults around them while growing up viewed the disabled”.

This really involves the whole population – how do people view the disabled and what affect does it have when it happens to you, both your pre-injury conditioning and post injury rehabilitation. Big project.

But I think any research pre/post injury on “happiness” is pointless. It’s the sort of pop psychology of consumer magazines. I don’t think any outcome could be meaningful and certainly won’t be reliable. What is relevant is the skills the person has to cope with a new situation or how those skills can be learned.

Research limited to depression has a better chance to succeed. Maybe that has some information on situational variation and change. IMHO.

[Kevin]

That's a good point, but it wasn't quite the angle I was thinking about. The research I've been thinking about (just have absolutely no idea how to go about it) would deal with the change in attitudes after a disability. For the most part there's a time of mourning and depression when what's lost is at the forefront. A while later though, normally years, many people are able to say "heck with it! I'm getting on with my life and having fun." What I'd like to look into is when does that change happen and what the underlying cause of it is. If some relation can be found, any relation, then that information can be used in rehab / therapy to shorten those years down to weeks or months.

Granted I'm over-simplifying this a lot, but that's the gist of the idea.

On the other hand, I'm on the search for other SCI / wheelchair related research or project thesis material. I start my thesis this coming fall and would like to get a jump start on it by at least finding something feasible and fascinating (to me, at least) so I can do some preliminary work on it before school starts. Any ideas by anyone would be very much appreciated!

nomis, on Jun 20 2007, 05:18 PM, said:

I can see value for research into exploring “how the adults around them while growing up viewed the disabled”.

This really involves the whole population – how do people view the disabled and what affect does it have when it happens to you, both your pre-injury conditioning and post injury rehabilitation. Big project.

But I think any research pre/post injury on “happiness” is pointless. It’s the sort of pop psychology of consumer magazines. I don’t think any outcome could be meaningful and certainly won’t be reliable. What is relevant is the skills the person has to cope with a new situation or how those skills can be learned.

Research limited to depression has a better chance to succeed. Maybe that has some information on situational variation and change. IMHO.

[chimneygirl]

Hi,

I find the reasearch that you propose to do interesting. As someone said before it may be pointless on a general scale to others but very interesting for your theisis. Your not out there to save the world but you would like to pass with something that interests you so you can put your heart and soul into your work.

I start my Psychosexual Degree in September and I too hope to find some interesting information on how anyone with SCI perceive what they can and cant do sexually now....

E mail me we could possibly help EO.

[chimneygirl]

Quote from previous message: What is relevant are the skills the person has to cope with a new situation or how those skills can be learned.

This is a wonderful way to look at any work done on SCI. How the skills can be learned is soo soooo important.

I have been in my chair 11 years and feel I have come along way in my acceptance, i have learnt how I work internally and that what i learnt as an able bodied person age 0 - 27 emotionally had to change, I learnt how to change (it took a while) now i feel content with the way I am and becouse of that i feel able to relate to others on a better level which in turn allows them to relate to me on a better level....

Always learning if you open to it!

[nomis]

Kevin and Chimneygirl
Firstly, I really like the idea of the research you're proposing.
If I say anything here that seems negative please see it as me feebly challenging you as a positive thing and anyway, as I'm not an academic, I don't know any better (that should be give me free reign to say anything!).

I think comparing pre-accident and post-accident has problems. How can you get reliable pre-accident info? You can't rely on memory. You could maybe use a general population baseline or a random sample but that's pretty crude.

I reckon you're on to something with that "change of attitudes" but also, to my mind, different people take such different paths and times, and it can be a new event in life that triggers change - the full force of my physical damage didn't reach me for 13 years when a relationship broke up. Or, was it the full force, you only have my word?

Chimneygirl, your proposal of "how anyone with SCI perceive what they can and can't do sexually" gets me excited. This is the big question that I've probably been exploring since my accident nearly 4 decades ago. I put in the "probably" cos much of the time it is happening unrecognised.

In our complicated, orderly societies we tend to forget that as humans we are basically an animal life form that is a ball of energy hell bent on surviving by eating, staying warm and reproducing. We hype sex in our lives without really appreciating its overwhelming driving force in us. And that force is still 100% after spinal injury. What to do with it? Too many suppress it and miss out.

I reckon I'm finally coming up with answers for myself (though I've probably thought that throughout my life). To me, I'm finally making sense to myself but maybe that's an age thing. At 59 it's probably fair to say my brain is getting to the over-ripe stage (not yet rotten) and maybe that involves changes re acceptance.

Acceptance does not mean less, it means so much more than I ever expected. I'm downright shocked by the power of sexuality/sensuality within me. I've led a fairly busy life sexually through fortunate circumstances but for much of that time, along with the fun, confusion limited my experience.

I'm raving. Maybe I should have thought about this before flicking off a quick post. Too bad, here goes.

[sfultong]

Good post, nomis.

I'm curious to explore my sexuality more, but so far I haven't really gotten the chance.

I'm very optimistic about my sexual future, though. Before my injury, I viewed myself as a fairly attractive, if rather skinny, young man. I guess I felt that somehow I wouldn't live up to my initial attractiveness somehow... and I think it heightened my shyness. Now that I'm in a wheelchair, I feel like I'm an oddity and I have nothing to loose.

I dunno... maybe I'm just rationalizing, and it's just the effect of the antidepressants I've been taking since my injury. Interestingly enough, I was prescribed the antidepressants at the doctor's behest... she said I seemed a little depressed, and I told her that my cynical attitude was a part of my personality.

Right after the sedatives wore off after my injury, I felt really happy to be alive, so... I was probably happier then than the week before my injury. Not that it was a bad week, it was just stressful, and I didn't feel like I was making progress in my new job.

[nomis]

I guess medication influences are another consideration to any research.

Sfultong, it would be stupid of me to contradict anything your doctor tells you but you might like to check exactly why you are on antidepressants.

Don''t wait for the person of your dreams, exploring sexuality can start with yourself. Feeling alive is a pretty good beginning. I guess it's a life-long journey so plenty of time for great highs and scary lows - it's the lows you mostly learn from, in my exprience, anyway.

[Kevin]

Nomis,

Don't worry about sounding negative! The more you challenge me the more you make me think and refine my ideas, or come up with something new altogether!

You are right about people taking different paths at different times. If I actually did this research (still a possibility) I'd have to limit my research to a specific disability, preferably one that isn't progressive like MS. My mother has MS and I think about doing the research with her and it wouldn't work because her MS is still progressing. Besides, MS has much too broad of an impact of a person to be able to reliably find a single group with consistent enough symptoms to study. (sorry, I got a bit off track there...)

Too many ideas... I need to start pinning one down. Problem is I want to do a wheelchair related thesis, but can't think of anything that either hasn't been done before or requires more resources than I have available.

Kevin

nomis, on Jun 26 2007, 07:09 PM, said:

Kevin and Chimneygirl
Firstly, I really like the idea of the research you're proposing.
If I say anything here that seems negative please see it as me feebly challenging you as a positive thing and anyway, as I'm not an academic, I don't know any better (that should be give me free reign to say anything!).

I think comparing pre-accident and post-accident has problems. How can you get reliable pre-accident info? You can't rely on memory. You could maybe use a general population baseline or a random sample but that's pretty crude.

I reckon you're on to something with that "change of attitudes" but also, to my mind, different people take such different paths and times, and it can be a new event in life that triggers change - the full force of my physical damage didn't reach me for 13 years when a relationship broke up. Or, was it the full force, you only have my word?

Chimneygirl, your proposal of "how anyone with SCI perceive what they can and can't do sexually" gets me excited. This is the big question that I've probably been exploring since my accident nearly 4 decades ago. I put in the "probably" cos much of the time it is happening unrecognised.

In our complicated, orderly societies we tend to forget that as humans we are basically an animal life form that is a ball of energy hell bent on surviving by eating, staying warm and reproducing. We hype sex in our lives without really appreciating its overwhelming driving force in us. And that force is still 100% after spinal injury. What to do with it? Too many suppress it and miss out.

I reckon I'm finally coming up with answers for myself (though I've probably thought that throughout my life). To me, I'm finally making sense to myself but maybe that's an age thing. At 59 it's probably fair to say my brain is getting to the over-ripe stage (not yet rotten) and maybe that involves changes re acceptance.

Acceptance does not mean less, it means so much more than I ever expected. I'm downright shocked by the power of sexuality/sensuality within me. I've led a fairly busy life sexually through fortunate circumstances but for much of that time, along with the fun, confusion limited my experience.

I'm raving. Maybe I should have thought about this before flicking off a quick post. Too bad, here goes.

[nomis]

Kevin
Having such an open choice for a thesis subject sounds like a kid in a candy store but I see the frustration of not knowing what to chose. With such an important project you've sure got to believe in your topic.

One area that fascinates me is the struggle people have to be themselves, the fight between who you are and who other people (society) want/expect you to be. It applies to everyone but is perhaps more obvious in the disability sector.

[wheels5894]

If you want to find out if any research has been carried out, Joy, you are really going to need an academic library to start looking for topics. I suspect that this would have been done under psychology if it has been done at all. If you find anything, perhaps you might register and report back.

For the record, for everyone else, do you not think that after negative feelings after paralysis that we all come to find new things to enjoy rather than crave the things we can't do? I mean, coming to terms with something life changing surely means leaving the past behind and getting a fresh start?