The voices in my head

The Ted video I have chosen for our health related blogpost is called "The voices in my head" by Eleanor Longden. It was filmed in February 2013 and is about 15 minutes long. As a student Eleanor suddenly started hearing voices in her head. When a friend told her that something was wrong with her and that she needed medical help, schizophrenia was diagnosed. She spent many years in the psychiatric system but still managed to earn a Bachelor's and Master's degree in psychology. Today she is cured and wants to help other people suffering from that mental disease by giving lectures and publishing articles. 

Summary

In the video Eleanor Longden tells her very own story about the sickness schizophrenia. She starts at the very beginning when she first heard voices in her head, talks about how she managed to get cured and finishes with the situation today - how she wants to help other people suffering from schizophrenia. 

Vocab work

medical record: detailed record of all the background of a person or group under study or treatment

Synonyms - anamnesis, medical history

"Now it's down on my medical records that Eleanor has delusions that she's a television news broadcaster"

schizophrenia:any severe disorder in which contact with reality is lost or highly distorted

"I'm now very proud to be a part of Intervoice, the organizational body of the International Hearing Voices Movement, an initiative inspired by the work of Professor Marius Romme and Dr. Sandra Escher, which locates voice hearing as a survival strategy, a sane reaction to insane circumstances, not as an aberrant symptom of schizophrenia to be endured, but a complex, significant and meaningful experience to be explored."

hospital admission: the act when a patient is admitted to hospital

" A hospital admission followed, the first of many, a diagnosis of schizophrenia came next, and then, worst of all, a toxic, tormenting sense of hopelessness, humiliation and despair about myself and my prospects."

Personal reaction

When I read the title "The voices in my head" my attention was immediately drawn at this video. It is a very emotional and touching video because Eleanor talks about her own experiences, her own feelings. For me the video is even more poignant because the daughters of my mom's friend have this disease and I often hear stories about them. She tells us about things you can't even imagine. People suffering from schizophrenia live in their very own world and no one from the outside can understand what they are going through. 

But this video also shows us that if you're strong enough and accept your fate you can be cured. It's a very hard process, but Eleanor shows us that there's help. For me the takeaway message is that you should never give up and that it is very important to have encouraging people around you to help. 

Presentation technique 

When it comes to the presentation I think Eleanor did a really good job. She uses her hands very much while explaining things to emphasise what she's saying. It also makes the presentation more lively and seems like she is very self confident. I also like that she uses short sentences for better understanding. Through quotes she gives the presentation a personal touch and makes it very moving and touching for listeners. 

Amsterdam Food Diary

Hi guys!

How are you? Hope you had such a nice start into your easter holidays as I did - I was at Amsterdam with Larissa and just came back today :) For this reason we both decided to do a food diary for our "I speak food" blogpost.

As we left on Thursday afternoon and just arrived Friday in the morning, our first real food (except cereal bars and buns we had taken with us^^) was lunch on Friday:

Friday, March 27




As my roommates were in Amsterdam just some months ago they told me
about fries stands being typical in Amsterdam. But even if we knew we didn't expect to see soooo many in just one single street! So we decided to eat fries with ketchup for our first lunch :)







As it was very cold in the evening and we were almost starving we just went into the first restaurant that looked nice - which was an Italian restaurant. There I ate one of my favourite foods: Spaghetti pomodoro :)



Saturday, March 28

On Saturday we had breakfast at our hostel. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo, so I'll just describe what I ate :D As it was a buffet you could choose from various things: ham, eggs, cheese, jam - almost everything was there. I ate two slices of bread with jam and a bun with butter. I also had a cappuccino and some orange juice :)

As we weren't that hungry we decided to just buy some snacks at a supermarket for lunch. I had a tomato mozzarella wrap which tasted really nice!








Not really having eaten a lot for the whole day we were really looking forward to our typical Dutch dinner we had planned. So we went to a small cafe which was said to serve typical Dutch food in our guidebook. As we already were in a Dutch restaurant I thought I had to eat something typical Dutch: Pea soup. It is not a soup as we would define a soup, it's more like a hotpot, with mashed peas and meat in it. It didn't really look that tasty, but actually it tasted better than it looked :D It's definitely not gonna be my favourite food but it's okay^^ I also ate a mixed salad and drank some sparkling ice tea (which I haven't ever seen in Austria up to now).



Sunday, March 29

We had breakfast at our hostel again (although it was a different hostel as there were no two beds available in the other hostel for that night^^). I had a slice of bread with jam, one just with butter and a cappuccino again.








As we already did the days before we just had a snack for lunch and went out for dinner. We bought a Focaccia with tomatoes and basil on it in a supermarket and ate it immediately as it just tasted so good :D







For dinner we went to an Italian restaurant again as the two of us simply love Italian food. I had a Pizza Margherita and a cup of tea because it was freezing cold :D





Monday, March 30

Again we had breakfast at our hostel - I ate almost the same as on Sunday, so I didn't take a picture^^




As it was really cold we just had to grab some coffee at Starbucks :D I just had a simple Cappuccino - so nothing really to talk about.










As it was our last day in Amsterdam I thought it would be nice to eat some fries again, this time with garlic sauce though :)








Our train back home left at 4:30 pm and we arrived at Graz the next day at 1 pm, so we bought a lot of snacks to eat on the train. As it wasn't enough we had to buy something in Vienna at the train station again :D

Thanks for stopping by! wish you all nice easter holidays :)
Lena

Who am I?

The first answer that comes to my mind when I hear that tricky question is - “I am ME“. A 19 year old student living in Graz, loving her family and having a passion for ballet dancing. 

Yes, I love my family. You might say that’s not interesting because everybody does, but it’s not just usual love, it’s more than that. I have such a good relationship with my two-years younger sister that we cry every time one of us goes on a trip with school and we don’t see each other for one week :D When I moved to Graz last October it was really hard for us and we just managed to get through it because I still go home at least once a week and we talk almost every day. If you want to know more about me and my sister, check out this blogpost :)

Another important thing you should know about me is that I am really into ballet dancing. I started when I was five, so 14 years ago, and I still go to class once a week. The funny thing is that no one knows how little five year old me got the idea of starting ballet. Not even my parents do :D But I still love it. Even if I never want to become a professional, I really like our students’ performances we do every second year. Not because I like people watching me dancing, just because rehearsing dances is so much more fun than just training :D

Cinderella, 2011

Of course I also have other hobbies, but none of them are interesting enough to mention them here, so this has to be enough for now :D  If you still want to know something else about me, all you have to do is ask :)

Wish you a nice weekend,

Lena