the PDF of her book - National Aphasia Association

Forewords and Preface i
Foreword
Paradigm Shift
Martha Taylor Sarno, M.A., M.D. honoris causa
Research Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
NYU School of Medicine, New York City, September 2012
Until quite recently, little thought has been given to the subjective
experience of living with aphasia. Yet, from the perspective of the person
with aphasia its emergence is not just an acute, traumatic event but is
felt in all of life’s dimensions in unique and unpredictable ways rather
than in a sequence of stages. Living with aphasia is a process of transition
and transformation. Aphasia not only disconnects the person from the
community but invariably alters the person’s identity and sense of self.
Living effectively with aphasia requires an evolving ‘self’’ and a transition
from one ‘self’ to another as the self is reconstructed.
Many of the issues faced by those who manage the rehabilitation of
persons with aphasia stem from its dependence on a medical model which
predictably focuses on pathology. This model has abandoned long-term
quality of life issues and served to further “medicalize” the management of
persons with aphasia beyond the acute stage. The long term consequences
of aphasia cannot be solved in today’s medical environment.
Ruth Resch’s rich description of her life with aphasia over three
decades is a testament to the necessity of our understanding the ‘insider’
perspective. Her earlier career as a psychoanalyst and researcher of babies
and mothers endowed her with a deep understanding of the development
of the inner self and the capacity of the sensory systems to bring balance
and fulfillment across the life span. After suffering a stroke and the onset
of aphasia she engaged successfully in the difficult process of separating
the ‘verbal mind’ from the visual mind, thereby providing a platform for
arousing previously enjoyed pleasures in painting, drawing, and music .