Kerplunk assemblages and unrecovery
Some unrecovery analogy imagery:
We have all played Kerplunk I hope. But as a recap there is a tube with holes,
sticks are crisscrossed holding up some balls, and the trick is to remove the
sticks without all the balls falling.
Our mental health is like a game of Kerplunk, and our issues are a combination
of the balls and sticks. ‘Recovery’ is the ability to remove the
sticks without the balls falling. As a slight adaptation to this analogy some
of the balls can be removed by moving sticks, and ‘life’ adds balls all the
time. The sticks are ‘safety’ adaptations that stop all the balls falling at
once.
This game of Kerplunk is mostly played by us alone (in our own minds), so in
this analogy the game is played in a room on your own. But we can always hear
people telling us which sticks we ‘should’ remove, whilst we are sitting there
looking at the problem, even though these people are not in the room with us.
Government policy also demands we remove sticks, and moreover can add balls (as
can other aspects of life), as well as remove sticks if we don’t keep an eye on
them.
Unrecovery practices are an ad hoc practice, that is a temporary solution to keep
control of our own Kerplunk game, knowing that a wrong move can send all the
balls falling. ‘Bad’ recovery is procrustean and insists on this or that stick
must be removed, and then blames you when the balls fall. ‘Good’ Recovery, and
other therapeutic practices, listens to your knowledge of what you can see of
the game, and merely supports you with your autonomy whilst you play the game.
This latter ideal however from our observation seems to be at odds with current
government policy and market/ capitalist needs, as it doesn’t meet the outcomes
measures of outside forces.
For those who don’t know the term, that I have added some changes to the games
with sticks and balls being added and removed whilst you play, like a Heath
Robinson machine, is what is called an assemblage. Unrecovery is an ad hoc practice
with which to deal with such an assemblage.
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