I don't write this blog much nowadays, which doesn't mean that I am not reading and thinking about mental health just as much as ever. I have recently been privileged to make the acquaintance of another 'schizophrenic'. This chap is quite elderly, and seems very together, but has had every treatment going, including deep shock insulin therapy and 'about 40' goes of ECT. He says that none of it has helped, but is still very much of the biological viewpoint, feeling that there is a biological cause for his condition and that therefore there must be treatment that will fix it. He reads a lot around the subject, and if he hears of a new medication, he asks his doctor for it. Although, he says, none of the medications fix his problems.
The odd thing is, that from what I've heard about his symptoms, they sound like extreme anxiety and not much more. Even way back, when he was a teenager and all his problems began, he was never psychotic. He says that he asked for a diagnosis - the psychiatrist treating him did not want to give him a label. But he needed one, he says, because he needed to know what was wrong with him.
Well, in my opinion, although he still has some anxiety and suffers from insomnia, there is not much wrong with this chap. He is a fine example of a human being, if you ask me. He has lived a full and active life, and is an upstanding member of the community. I have no idea what would have become of him without all the treatment, but he has survived all of it remarkably well. An inspirational chap. Even if I don't agree with the biology thing, I totally respect him and his opinions on mental health, and I am glad to have met him.
I finally got around to writing several reviews today - of Agnes' Jacket, by Gail Hornstein, of Food as Medicine co-authored by Patrick Holford, and a few others. I started off the day really poorly, I started coming down with a cold yesterday and took a turn for the worse this morning. But after hours lolling around on the sofa, I finally pulled myself together, wrote a long email and later those book reviews. So I feel as though I achieved something, and remarkably, I also feel much better. Hopefully I will be well for the weekend - which, if you had asked me this morning, I would have said was an impossibility.
I took my exam, hurrah! The day afterwards, I hired a beach hut just for me (Paul was at work, and the kids all at school). I sat and roasted, read and wrote. It was cool (well, hot, but cool). Paul came down in his lunch hour from work and brought me ice cream and crisps. I will remember that day for a long time!
Hope all of you readers are well. Any of you with your own blogs, I will be catching up soon. That's all for now!
Friday, 14 June 2013
Thursday, 30 May 2013
Being a Writer
I went to an author talk at my local library this evening. My local library is wonderful by the way - it has recently been refurbished at a cost of £2 million. It is plush and comfortable - apart from anything else, at long last it boasts a toilet ( I cannot count the number of times over the years that I have had to leave the library to take the kids to the public loo over the road. Which is more annoying than it sounds).
It also has a coffee machine, which is a mixed blessing - I was in there the other day revising and the darned thing was broken, and the lady sent to refill it was on the phone to her employers at the top of her voice for what seemed like hours. I like studying in the part with the coffee machine though - I sit at a big desk looking out of two huge arched windows, and it reminds me of a kids programme I used to watch donkey's years ago, when you had to choose which window you would be looking through today; round, square or arched. I always liked the arched window best.
Apologies for writing this drivel...why am I wittering on about arched windows? Apologies for apologising, actually, why should I not write about whatever? I am lacking confidence in myself at the mo. I blame the dratted Psychology exam - I am stressed because I don't think I am going to do very well at it, although how well I do doesn't matter in the slightest, because I don't need another A level. But I kind of think I will be letting myself down if I don't do well...
A week or two ago I was so stressed out that I decided not to take it at all, but then that decision caused me stress too, so I decided to just get on with it. I think it will be my last exam though - I can't imagine wanting to go through this ever again. Funnily enough, I am studying stress at the moment, which seems to make me even more stressed than usual. I am also studying 'abnormality' - i.e. mental illness, which is quite hard, because I don't agree with a lot of information in the text book, but if I want to pass the exam I will just have to get over myself in that respect!
A funny thing happened this evening - at the author talk I referred to at the top of this post. I sold the author one of my books! I was actually trying to give it to her - I was talking about how I had self-published and she was interested to know how I was doing, and I said I'd had some success but probably because I wrote for a niche market - those people with an interest in mental health. Then she said her friend had a 23 year old son who had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar (and?! Poor boy, hit with a double whammy. But it was probably 'or'...) Anyway, I handed her a copy of my book, meaning it as a gift, and then she asked if she could buy it.
I hate selling my books! But I had just bought hers - she was signing it while we chatted - and also I knew Paul would be pleased if I sold a copy for a change, rather than giving one away. And also I know I need to learn to value my work properly. So I let her buy it.
I just hope that her friend (if she gives it to her friend, I am assuming that's why she wanted it) benefits from it - I should imagine it must be reassuring to know that you can recover from that diagnosis, if you are a mother of someone recently diagnosed. Although everybody's story is different - but I think the experience of severe mental illness itself is surprisingly similar for a lot of people. I was convinced, for example, that the delusion that I was being addressed personally by the television was unique to me - but I have since learned that it is quite common. As is experience of being affected in strange ways by electricity - I got and gave massive electric shocks when I was ill, and I am pretty sure that this is surprisingly common too.
Anyway, I told the author that I want an agent, and a proper publisher - I think I'll need those if I am going to get widely read. So I suppose there is an outside chance - a very slim one - that if she likes my book she might recommend me to her agent....? I am not going to hold my breath though - I need to get on and write first of all, and regularly. This lady has written ten novels in fifteen years - that is exactly where I want to be, a regular writer, a prolific author. I am sure if I devote myself to my craft properly, an agent will come in due course, if that is meant to happen. If not, there is a lot to be said for self-publishing - the control, above all.
Enough for now. Need to get this exam done, then need to write, not write about writing!
It is half-term at the moment, and I have been having a lovely time with the children. I have been doing more with them than I had got into the habit of, and it is great. I had a long chat with my eldest this morning - she showed me all her art work from last September and I was really impressed. Usually she is at school, or at a club, or out with her friends, and we hardly see each other. And the years slip by, and I am mostly engrossed with the younger children, and suddenly I think - how did that child get to be a teenager? And how is that little one nearly nine years old?
At the moment I feel that time is rushing by so fast that I just want to immerse myself in my family - and I have been indulging myself in that this week. It's probably partly displacement activity - if I am baking biscuits, or crumbles, or helping them with their stories or projects, then I can't be revising for that darned exam, now can I?
It also has a coffee machine, which is a mixed blessing - I was in there the other day revising and the darned thing was broken, and the lady sent to refill it was on the phone to her employers at the top of her voice for what seemed like hours. I like studying in the part with the coffee machine though - I sit at a big desk looking out of two huge arched windows, and it reminds me of a kids programme I used to watch donkey's years ago, when you had to choose which window you would be looking through today; round, square or arched. I always liked the arched window best.
Apologies for writing this drivel...why am I wittering on about arched windows? Apologies for apologising, actually, why should I not write about whatever? I am lacking confidence in myself at the mo. I blame the dratted Psychology exam - I am stressed because I don't think I am going to do very well at it, although how well I do doesn't matter in the slightest, because I don't need another A level. But I kind of think I will be letting myself down if I don't do well...
A week or two ago I was so stressed out that I decided not to take it at all, but then that decision caused me stress too, so I decided to just get on with it. I think it will be my last exam though - I can't imagine wanting to go through this ever again. Funnily enough, I am studying stress at the moment, which seems to make me even more stressed than usual. I am also studying 'abnormality' - i.e. mental illness, which is quite hard, because I don't agree with a lot of information in the text book, but if I want to pass the exam I will just have to get over myself in that respect!
A funny thing happened this evening - at the author talk I referred to at the top of this post. I sold the author one of my books! I was actually trying to give it to her - I was talking about how I had self-published and she was interested to know how I was doing, and I said I'd had some success but probably because I wrote for a niche market - those people with an interest in mental health. Then she said her friend had a 23 year old son who had just been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bi-polar (and?! Poor boy, hit with a double whammy. But it was probably 'or'...) Anyway, I handed her a copy of my book, meaning it as a gift, and then she asked if she could buy it.
I hate selling my books! But I had just bought hers - she was signing it while we chatted - and also I knew Paul would be pleased if I sold a copy for a change, rather than giving one away. And also I know I need to learn to value my work properly. So I let her buy it.
I just hope that her friend (if she gives it to her friend, I am assuming that's why she wanted it) benefits from it - I should imagine it must be reassuring to know that you can recover from that diagnosis, if you are a mother of someone recently diagnosed. Although everybody's story is different - but I think the experience of severe mental illness itself is surprisingly similar for a lot of people. I was convinced, for example, that the delusion that I was being addressed personally by the television was unique to me - but I have since learned that it is quite common. As is experience of being affected in strange ways by electricity - I got and gave massive electric shocks when I was ill, and I am pretty sure that this is surprisingly common too.
Anyway, I told the author that I want an agent, and a proper publisher - I think I'll need those if I am going to get widely read. So I suppose there is an outside chance - a very slim one - that if she likes my book she might recommend me to her agent....? I am not going to hold my breath though - I need to get on and write first of all, and regularly. This lady has written ten novels in fifteen years - that is exactly where I want to be, a regular writer, a prolific author. I am sure if I devote myself to my craft properly, an agent will come in due course, if that is meant to happen. If not, there is a lot to be said for self-publishing - the control, above all.
Enough for now. Need to get this exam done, then need to write, not write about writing!
It is half-term at the moment, and I have been having a lovely time with the children. I have been doing more with them than I had got into the habit of, and it is great. I had a long chat with my eldest this morning - she showed me all her art work from last September and I was really impressed. Usually she is at school, or at a club, or out with her friends, and we hardly see each other. And the years slip by, and I am mostly engrossed with the younger children, and suddenly I think - how did that child get to be a teenager? And how is that little one nearly nine years old?
At the moment I feel that time is rushing by so fast that I just want to immerse myself in my family - and I have been indulging myself in that this week. It's probably partly displacement activity - if I am baking biscuits, or crumbles, or helping them with their stories or projects, then I can't be revising for that darned exam, now can I?
Tuesday, 14 May 2013
The DSM V is Nigh
The new diagnostic and statistical manual is almost upon us - it is due to be unveiled in June, and debate about it is, and has been for some time, rife and building. Here is a recent article in the Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/may/12/dsm-5-conspiracy-laughable I am sure that there will be many more similar pieces in the coming days and weeks.
My feelings about psychiatric diagnosis have been well aired over recent years. I feel strongly that diagnosis is not helpful - particularly the diagnosis of schizophrenia, of which I have personal experience. I have lived enough of my life under the shadow of this label to fully understand the harm it does, and that harm is substantial.
I have come to the conclusion that mental health is a subjective matter, and a personal one. Of course, if someone seeks help from a doctor for a health matter, then they should be helped. The matter is complicated for the sufferer of psychosis - I did not want to be helped when I was mentally ill, but my suffering was clear for all around me to see, and my distress and vulnerability could well have led to disaster. The treatment I was given was wrong and damaging, but the intention of those trying to help me, at least at the outset, was to improve my condition.
What does not sit well with me is the issue of forced treatment, of forced compliance with the mental health system, because that system can only operate effectively if trust is in place - if the client truly believes that the practitioner is trying to help.
A lot of people believe that the tide is now turning - away from a perception of mental illness as a biological matter, treatable with medication only, and towards a far more practical view of it as a response to emotional trauma. Hence the article above, and countless others that I have recently read.
I have not written on this blog for some time - due to the fact that sometimes I feel that I have said all that I need to say, or can say, on the subject of me and that I don't know all that much about other people's experiences of mental distress! However, in the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, 'We can only know others by ourselves'. I know that I must continue on this path, adding my voice to those of other 'survivors' of the system and others who are seeking to improve it.
Staying quiet cannot help anybody, but saying my bit can help and has done already. Repeating it in the hope that a few more will hear can't do any harm.
Funnily enough, I was a bit embarrassed after my last blog post, which compared psychiatric diagnoses to star signs. I felt that I hadn't expressed what I wanted to say clearly enough, and that readers of that piece might wonder whether I was losing the plot (I must stop worrying about that!)
So I was really relieved when I heard Richard Bentall, the esteemed psychologist, yesterday morning on 'Start the Week' saying that he had made exactly the same point (that psychiatric diagnoses are about as scientific as star signs) during a recent talk he had given. He said that star signs appeal to people, just as psychiatric diagnoses do, 'because we like to categorise people'.
I just wish that more psychiatrists would be more open about the fact that a lot of what they do is guess work. Surely honesty is crucial, because how can they otherwise inspire the trust of their patients, the trust which is such a crucial part of healing?
Anyway, it is well worth listening to that programme too. It was on Radio 4, it was called 'Music and the Mind' and here is the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r9xr
Ta - ra for now!
My feelings about psychiatric diagnosis have been well aired over recent years. I feel strongly that diagnosis is not helpful - particularly the diagnosis of schizophrenia, of which I have personal experience. I have lived enough of my life under the shadow of this label to fully understand the harm it does, and that harm is substantial.
I have come to the conclusion that mental health is a subjective matter, and a personal one. Of course, if someone seeks help from a doctor for a health matter, then they should be helped. The matter is complicated for the sufferer of psychosis - I did not want to be helped when I was mentally ill, but my suffering was clear for all around me to see, and my distress and vulnerability could well have led to disaster. The treatment I was given was wrong and damaging, but the intention of those trying to help me, at least at the outset, was to improve my condition.
What does not sit well with me is the issue of forced treatment, of forced compliance with the mental health system, because that system can only operate effectively if trust is in place - if the client truly believes that the practitioner is trying to help.
A lot of people believe that the tide is now turning - away from a perception of mental illness as a biological matter, treatable with medication only, and towards a far more practical view of it as a response to emotional trauma. Hence the article above, and countless others that I have recently read.
I have not written on this blog for some time - due to the fact that sometimes I feel that I have said all that I need to say, or can say, on the subject of me and that I don't know all that much about other people's experiences of mental distress! However, in the words of Robert Louis Stevenson, 'We can only know others by ourselves'. I know that I must continue on this path, adding my voice to those of other 'survivors' of the system and others who are seeking to improve it.
Staying quiet cannot help anybody, but saying my bit can help and has done already. Repeating it in the hope that a few more will hear can't do any harm.
Funnily enough, I was a bit embarrassed after my last blog post, which compared psychiatric diagnoses to star signs. I felt that I hadn't expressed what I wanted to say clearly enough, and that readers of that piece might wonder whether I was losing the plot (I must stop worrying about that!)
So I was really relieved when I heard Richard Bentall, the esteemed psychologist, yesterday morning on 'Start the Week' saying that he had made exactly the same point (that psychiatric diagnoses are about as scientific as star signs) during a recent talk he had given. He said that star signs appeal to people, just as psychiatric diagnoses do, 'because we like to categorise people'.
I just wish that more psychiatrists would be more open about the fact that a lot of what they do is guess work. Surely honesty is crucial, because how can they otherwise inspire the trust of their patients, the trust which is such a crucial part of healing?
Anyway, it is well worth listening to that programme too. It was on Radio 4, it was called 'Music and the Mind' and here is the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006r9xr
Ta - ra for now!
Saturday, 27 April 2013
Am I a Scorpio? Or a Schizophrenic?
A friend told me, many years ago, that it is a good idea to thoroughly clean and tidy your home before you go on holiday. Thus, on your return, even if you have post-holiday blues, you are cheered by the sight of your pristine home.
I have followed this advice ever since. It works. Although I must say, I don't ever feel down on returning from a holiday - however good it feels to be away, it always feels equally good to come home again.
This time, the pre-holiday cleaning and tidying rather exhausted me. There was a lot to do - there always is, because when the kids are out of the house I am not usually cleaning, but rather writing or studying, and when they are home I am usually cooking or dealing with their concerns (homework and so on).
Luckily, I am a fast and thorough cleaner (those years spent working as a chambermaid were not wasted, after all. I learned humility, and I learned that the things that matter most in life are not prestige and money and I learned - how to clean!) So when I need to tidy up, I do it pretty effectively - but still, by the time I had finished I needed a holiday even more.
It was a great break. We were only away for five days, and it was a very active break - at Center Parcs, if anyone is interested. I like it there, the quality of accommodation is always high, the staff are always friendly, and it caters for all ages of kids. We have been several times over the years and we are not done yet, although next time we might venture to one of the continental parks.
Paul and I decided not to take our laptops on holiday, which I think definitely helped us to relax. There is a lesson there, I think to myself. As I tap away, first thing on a Saturday morning, on my daughter's iPad.
I borrowed the iPad to read the paper online. I have been dithering about stopping my subscription to The Times, but in the end I couldn't bear to. Reading the paper is the way that I relax, and anyway reading good writing helps to inform my own (each of us can talk ourselves into anything if we try hard enough, non?)
So instead I decided to go digital - read online. It will save the time it takes to physically get the paper, at least. And I have really enjoyed the experience this morning - razor sharp images, news stories that you can watch as well as read...
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I remember, this is a mental health blog.
Writing about reading is not totally unrelated, I suppose - good mental health depends to some extent on doing the things that make us happy, surely. And since, from the earliest age, my ambition was to be a reporter (my mother says that from the age of four this is what I said I wanted to do) then reading a daily paper makes even more sense.
The beauty of blogging is that you can write, and publish immediately. Who says that I am any less of a reporter than the columnists I read in The Times? They may get more readers, and they may be paid and they may have editors who help to finesse their work - but otherwise, surely we are on a par? Some kind of a par...
Actually, I could probably do with an editor today, because I am not used to writing on this sort of equipment. It slows my writing, and my thought processes. That's my excuse anyway.
Also, I have not figured out how to link to stuff on this machine, so I will have to come back later and put something in here:
http://mindhacks.com/2013/04/24/deeper-into-genetic-challenges-to-psychiatric-diagnosis/
This is it - it's an interview with a leading geneticist, who started by looking for evidence if schizophrenia in the genes, and discovered that it is not as straightforward as he thought (surprise!).
I would go further, and say that these people are still on a wild goose chase - since there is no way that people without whatever genetic link they may end up finding which 'proves susceptibility' to 'schizophrenia, autism' and whatever else they are now looking for, will not still be susceptible, given exposure to high enough levels of stress.
I suppose all this keeps scientists busy, and something useful may eventually be uncovered. But personally, I think their time would be better spent on discovering how to make people resilient to stress, or how to recover if and when they do break down. Rather than looking for the causes in our genes. Ho hum...
I was answering a text from a friend yesterday. My phone had no connection at Center Parcs, so on our way home I had several messages. This friend wanted to let me know that she had recommended my book and blog to someone with a recent mental health diagnosis, who had found them useful. So I text her a few thoughts to pass on to her friend - for example that she should not get hung up on the diagnosis, whatever it is. And it occurred to me then that a parallel can be drawn between mental health diagnoses and star signs.
If you read your horoscope regularly - as I used to, in my mother's weekly women's magazines when I was young, you end up thinking that your star sign has application to your life. I am a Scorpio. Therefore I am - I forget exactly - mysterious, passionate, and so on. I discount the things that don't apply to me - maybe because I am on the 'cusp' with another sign - and magnify the ones that do. Similarly, when I read that 'x' is likely to happen to me this week, I forget it if it doesn't happen, but if it does, I remember and see it as proof of the accuracy of my star sign.
I saw through all that long ago. The Times has a horoscope section, but I don't look at it. I have no idea what star signs any of my children are.
And thus with psychiatry. I don't need those people to tell me what I 'am'. I don't need their drugs, I don't need their advice to consider myself disabled, to take disability benefits from the government for the rest of my life and never raise my sights above the lowly horizon that they have assigned to me, in their view of my world. That is THEIR view. Of MY world.
I am not a 'Schizophrenic' any more than I am a 'Scorpio'.
I am a human being, doing all that I can to live and to love well and wisely. I follow my own instincts and make my own decisions regarding how to become the best person I can be.
And yah boo to anyone who thinks I should be doing otherwise.
I have followed this advice ever since. It works. Although I must say, I don't ever feel down on returning from a holiday - however good it feels to be away, it always feels equally good to come home again.
This time, the pre-holiday cleaning and tidying rather exhausted me. There was a lot to do - there always is, because when the kids are out of the house I am not usually cleaning, but rather writing or studying, and when they are home I am usually cooking or dealing with their concerns (homework and so on).
Luckily, I am a fast and thorough cleaner (those years spent working as a chambermaid were not wasted, after all. I learned humility, and I learned that the things that matter most in life are not prestige and money and I learned - how to clean!) So when I need to tidy up, I do it pretty effectively - but still, by the time I had finished I needed a holiday even more.
It was a great break. We were only away for five days, and it was a very active break - at Center Parcs, if anyone is interested. I like it there, the quality of accommodation is always high, the staff are always friendly, and it caters for all ages of kids. We have been several times over the years and we are not done yet, although next time we might venture to one of the continental parks.
Paul and I decided not to take our laptops on holiday, which I think definitely helped us to relax. There is a lesson there, I think to myself. As I tap away, first thing on a Saturday morning, on my daughter's iPad.
I borrowed the iPad to read the paper online. I have been dithering about stopping my subscription to The Times, but in the end I couldn't bear to. Reading the paper is the way that I relax, and anyway reading good writing helps to inform my own (each of us can talk ourselves into anything if we try hard enough, non?)
So instead I decided to go digital - read online. It will save the time it takes to physically get the paper, at least. And I have really enjoyed the experience this morning - razor sharp images, news stories that you can watch as well as read...
Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I remember, this is a mental health blog.
Writing about reading is not totally unrelated, I suppose - good mental health depends to some extent on doing the things that make us happy, surely. And since, from the earliest age, my ambition was to be a reporter (my mother says that from the age of four this is what I said I wanted to do) then reading a daily paper makes even more sense.
The beauty of blogging is that you can write, and publish immediately. Who says that I am any less of a reporter than the columnists I read in The Times? They may get more readers, and they may be paid and they may have editors who help to finesse their work - but otherwise, surely we are on a par? Some kind of a par...
Actually, I could probably do with an editor today, because I am not used to writing on this sort of equipment. It slows my writing, and my thought processes. That's my excuse anyway.
Also, I have not figured out how to link to stuff on this machine, so I will have to come back later and put something in here:
http://mindhacks.com/2013/04/24/deeper-into-genetic-challenges-to-psychiatric-diagnosis/
This is it - it's an interview with a leading geneticist, who started by looking for evidence if schizophrenia in the genes, and discovered that it is not as straightforward as he thought (surprise!).
I would go further, and say that these people are still on a wild goose chase - since there is no way that people without whatever genetic link they may end up finding which 'proves susceptibility' to 'schizophrenia, autism' and whatever else they are now looking for, will not still be susceptible, given exposure to high enough levels of stress.
I suppose all this keeps scientists busy, and something useful may eventually be uncovered. But personally, I think their time would be better spent on discovering how to make people resilient to stress, or how to recover if and when they do break down. Rather than looking for the causes in our genes. Ho hum...
I was answering a text from a friend yesterday. My phone had no connection at Center Parcs, so on our way home I had several messages. This friend wanted to let me know that she had recommended my book and blog to someone with a recent mental health diagnosis, who had found them useful. So I text her a few thoughts to pass on to her friend - for example that she should not get hung up on the diagnosis, whatever it is. And it occurred to me then that a parallel can be drawn between mental health diagnoses and star signs.
If you read your horoscope regularly - as I used to, in my mother's weekly women's magazines when I was young, you end up thinking that your star sign has application to your life. I am a Scorpio. Therefore I am - I forget exactly - mysterious, passionate, and so on. I discount the things that don't apply to me - maybe because I am on the 'cusp' with another sign - and magnify the ones that do. Similarly, when I read that 'x' is likely to happen to me this week, I forget it if it doesn't happen, but if it does, I remember and see it as proof of the accuracy of my star sign.
I saw through all that long ago. The Times has a horoscope section, but I don't look at it. I have no idea what star signs any of my children are.
And thus with psychiatry. I don't need those people to tell me what I 'am'. I don't need their drugs, I don't need their advice to consider myself disabled, to take disability benefits from the government for the rest of my life and never raise my sights above the lowly horizon that they have assigned to me, in their view of my world. That is THEIR view. Of MY world.
I am not a 'Schizophrenic' any more than I am a 'Scorpio'.
I am a human being, doing all that I can to live and to love well and wisely. I follow my own instincts and make my own decisions regarding how to become the best person I can be.
And yah boo to anyone who thinks I should be doing otherwise.
Tuesday, 16 April 2013
Developments
I am excited to have been chosen as a runner-up (one of forty!) in the Rethink Your Mind competition. Here's the link to that: http://www.rethinkyourmind.co.uk/
The exciting part is that we get to collect our prizes from the House of Lords in a couple of weeks' time! So London beckons...
Another development is that I have been featured in a new magazine, Still Here, which was set up by the incredible Katy: http://stillheremagazine.com/ Thanks Katy!
I feel I should apologise for not posting much here recently - I am far too busy at the moment, doing all sorts of things. I need time to sit still and focus on what is important - luckily I have a holiday coming up, so hopefully that will give me a chance to think and to sort out my priorities.
I am reading a lot about mental health - just finished Agnes' Jacket by Gail Hornstein, which was an amazing book. But sometimes I think I am reading too much - I probably need to concentrate on writing for a while now.
Anyway, I will be back on here when I can, hopefully soon-ish.
Adieu for nieu.
The exciting part is that we get to collect our prizes from the House of Lords in a couple of weeks' time! So London beckons...
Another development is that I have been featured in a new magazine, Still Here, which was set up by the incredible Katy: http://stillheremagazine.com/ Thanks Katy!
I feel I should apologise for not posting much here recently - I am far too busy at the moment, doing all sorts of things. I need time to sit still and focus on what is important - luckily I have a holiday coming up, so hopefully that will give me a chance to think and to sort out my priorities.
I am reading a lot about mental health - just finished Agnes' Jacket by Gail Hornstein, which was an amazing book. But sometimes I think I am reading too much - I probably need to concentrate on writing for a while now.
Anyway, I will be back on here when I can, hopefully soon-ish.
Adieu for nieu.
Friday, 5 April 2013
The Black Dog Tribe
I have been featured on the Black Dog Tribe website - I am really excited about this! I might never have known, if Katy Gray (@SchizophrenicGB) had not told me about it on Twitter...
Thanks, Katy!
Here's the link:
http://blackdogtribe.com/news-features/memoir-schizophrenia-will-be-inspiration-0
Thanks, Katy!
Here's the link:
http://blackdogtribe.com/news-features/memoir-schizophrenia-will-be-inspiration-0
Centre for Excellence in Mental Health and other resources
Here's the link to an amazing resource - the Centre of Excellence in Mental Health, based at the University of Birmingham:
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/social-policy/ceimh/index.aspx
I have spent the evening glued to this site, watching some amazing films, of people like Gail Hornstein, Dorothy Rowe, Richard Warner and so on. When you come across stuff like this, it is really possible to believe that the tide is changing!
I found the CEIMH through Gail Hornstein's website: http://www.gailhornstein.com/
I am reading her book, Agnes' Jacket, which is absolutely packed with information about enlightened ways of treating emotional distress. This morning I made a huge list of websites and other information to look up, based on references in just one short part of the book.
Here's just a few of them - the Mental Health Testimony project archived at the British Library http://cadensa.bl.uk/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5?searchdata1=CKEY5542415&library=ALLthe Survivor's Poetry Network http://www.survivorspoetry.org/ the Freedom Center http://www.freedom-center.org/
And here's another, new site, that looks really interesting - the McPin Foundation: http://mcpin.org/ They are interested in peer-led research, so contact them if you would like to be involved. And please spread the word about them.
Enjoy!
I am still only half-way through Agnes' Jacket, by the way, and will definitely post a review when I have finished, but meanwhile I can assure you it is most definitely a worthwhile and very pleasurable read. Grab a copy as soon as you can.
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/social-policy/ceimh/index.aspx
I have spent the evening glued to this site, watching some amazing films, of people like Gail Hornstein, Dorothy Rowe, Richard Warner and so on. When you come across stuff like this, it is really possible to believe that the tide is changing!
I found the CEIMH through Gail Hornstein's website: http://www.gailhornstein.com/
I am reading her book, Agnes' Jacket, which is absolutely packed with information about enlightened ways of treating emotional distress. This morning I made a huge list of websites and other information to look up, based on references in just one short part of the book.
Here's just a few of them - the Mental Health Testimony project archived at the British Library http://cadensa.bl.uk/uhtbin/cgisirsi/x/0/0/5?searchdata1=CKEY5542415&library=ALLthe Survivor's Poetry Network http://www.survivorspoetry.org/ the Freedom Center http://www.freedom-center.org/
And here's another, new site, that looks really interesting - the McPin Foundation: http://mcpin.org/ They are interested in peer-led research, so contact them if you would like to be involved. And please spread the word about them.
Enjoy!
I am still only half-way through Agnes' Jacket, by the way, and will definitely post a review when I have finished, but meanwhile I can assure you it is most definitely a worthwhile and very pleasurable read. Grab a copy as soon as you can.
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