Areas › Anger › Equanimity and perspective
A story that grips one person can harm another. Before reaching for something graphic to make a point, be sure you know who is in front of you.
Shocking images work because they stick, which is exactly the danger for someone who has hurt themselves before or who thinks about it when things go dark. Ask first, and keep a plain version of the same point ready so nothing is lost when the answer is yes.
Qur’an and Sunnah
God has set a due measure for everything (Quran 65:3). The measure includes how much a particular person can be asked to hear.
وَيَرۡزُقۡهُ مِنۡ حَيۡثُ لَا يَحۡتَسِبُۚ وَمَن يَتَوَكَّلۡ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ فَهُوَ حَسۡبُهُۥٓۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ بَٰلِغُ أَمۡرِهِۦۚ قَدۡ جَعَلَ ٱللَّهُ لِكُلِّ شَيۡءࣲ قَدۡرࣰ ا
and will provide for them from an unexpected source; God will be enough for those who put their trust in Him. God achieves His purpose; God has set a due measure for everything
Qur’an 65:3read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
What the research says
A systematic review of mindfulness based interventions for people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders found few programmes explicitly adapted for psychosis and considerable variation in what was actually delivered. Methods with decent general evidence get handed over unadapted to the people who most need them fitted. Adaptation is the step that tends to be skipped.
Sabé M, Kohler R, Perez N, Sauvain-Sabé M, Sentissi O, Jermann F, Prada P, Perroud N, Böge K. (2024). Mindfulness-based interventions for patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A systematic review of the literature.. Schizophrenia research doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
Why it works
The detail that makes a story memorable is what makes it dangerous for a person already carrying that image.
When not to
If someone tells you they have thoughts of harming themselves, that becomes the conversation and the teaching point can wait.
This one is still a draft. It is waiting on a scholar and a clinician to read it before it is published.
Near this one
Holding your tongue is expensive. It is fairer to admit that than to pretend the calmer version of you comes free.
One bad experience with someone in a uniform, or from any group, tells you something real about that encounter. It is not a verdict on everybody who resembles them.
Angry memories come back in extraordinary detail: the tilt of the head, the exact words, the door. That vividness is what a threatened body does with a memory, not proof that the event deserves the room it is taking.