NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA REGIONAL AUTISM ACCEPTANCE PROJECT- SCRANTON-WILKES BARRE, PENNSYLVANIA

In looking back upon the work of the radical psychiatrist, David Cooper, I was particularly impressed with his term of 'liberation zone'. In this psychotherapy should be a place where a person is able to feel free to be themselves and to be able to shake off the shackles that constrain them and lead them to distress and despair. In my book, ROOTS OF DISTRESS ( http://stores.lulu.com/voice4kids ), I have commented extensively on the social and political processes leading to emotional turmoil as well as emphasizing the need to return to understanding experience as well as creating community.
I have expressed as well the frustration with seeing children who are trapped in situations of mistreatment, situations that perpetuate distress and lead to madness, and that manys approach is to solely have them conform or 'adapt' or 'cope' with the injustices. Or worse, they are removed from the situation only to be subjected to new circumstances (hospitalization, residential 'treatment') that only further perpetuates distress and causes alienation. So, I suggest that we need to look carefully at this term of 'liberation zone'. We need to establish places where our sense of community can flourish, where children (and adults as well) can work through the injustices perpetuated upon them, to feel safe again, a place of true sanctuary. If we began to develop these sort of places, then we would be truly contributing to the well being and 'mental health' of persons. But, a situation as this would run very counter to our societal greed, of our expectation to make profit at the expense of another, or really to make profit off the suffering of another.

-Dan L. Edmunds, Ed.D.
www.DrDanEdmunds.com