Central Melbourne reflections

Firstly, a huge thank you to all who wished me well yesterday after I had reached 730 consecutive blips. My dear S (unfortunately still at home in Auckland rather than here in Melbourne with me) wondered whether it was right and proper to reward obsessional behaviour with praise. The second keynote address this morning was on the vexed issue of the diagnostic validity of personality disorders; Professor John Livesley stated that even the extremes of obsessional personality are normal, although he wasn't sure if his wife would agree.

As a further instance of my own obsessional characteristics, I will comment that today completes two years from when I started, with my first blip being dated 25 November 201o. So today, having overlooked doing so yesterday, I will acknowledge the gratitude that I feel to the creators of this site, which has given me great pleasure, interest and satisfaction over the two years. I have "met" many interesting people through blip; I have learned lots about photography and other things; I have a creative outlet.

This morning I woke early enough to look out the window of my hotel room and see a red morning sky preceding sunrise. Remembering a run I took along the bank of the Yarra River in 2010 before I joined blip, I hastily changed and headed to the Yarra, reaching the Morell Bridge in time to (from the middle of the bridge) capture the reflection of the low and golden sun in the tower buildings of central Melbourne, and the reflections of those buildings in the Yarra.

The conference continued today, with areas of interest for me and spots of new information. It is tempting to like best the speakers who confirm one's beliefs, and certainly that was so with John Livesley. But it was so good to hear an erudite, evidence based critique of the current and future classification of personality disorder.

The other highlight was two independent researchers seeking to create a functional definition of the concept "Best Interests of the Child" for use in Family Court matters. One sought the opinions of professionals involved in such matters, the other asked many fewer ordinary men and women for their thoughts. It was concerning to me that the professionals believed that included in the concept of Best Interests of the Child was realising their full potential as adults, while also making no mention of the importance of attachment. It concerns me, because I have seen professionals attempt to break attachment to a biological parent on the basis that a theory predicts possible poorer outcomes as an adult for children raised by such a parent. Interesting that the lay persons were highly focussed on attachment as essential.

This is good in large