Snuffeln und Doezelen

After crowing about my TF's flakiness and how my section didn't have to do the special miniproject for my History of Madness classs, I met with her today and discovered a.) she's really sweet but b.) she forgot to tell us about the miniproject last Thursday, and OOPS it's due this Thursday!

Although annoying, this isn't all that big of a deal-- just looking at the available literature (mainly online) for two mental hospitals and comparing them to see what the face of residential psychiatry is for the interested public today. I'm probably doing good ol' Mclean and The Retreat in the UK, unless I can find something more interesting than Mclean. But ANYWAY, the POINT is that while poking around The Retreat's website, I found that one of the means of treatment for some of their more severe patients is something called Snoezelen. Now, what exactly is Snoezelen, you ask? Bearing in mind that it's casually plopped into a list alongside such innocuous-sounding courses of treatment as "Small group work" and "Quality of life sessions", my evil mind immediately assumed it was something bad bad BAD! involving scary butch nurses, restraints and electrodes.

Upon Googling, however, Snoezelen was revealed to be "a multi functional concept: In a purposely designed room (mostly a white room) the use of light and sound elements, scents and music initiate sensual sensations. These have both relaxing and activating effects on the different perception areas. The specific design directs and arranges the stimuli; it creates interest, brings back memories and guides relationships."

For some reason this isn't letting me upload the image of the Snoezelen Room, but click on the link and see how lovely and relaxing that looks. Mmm.