1 in 4. That's the statistic that's thrown about. About 1 in 4 of your family, friends, colleagues will suffer an episode of acute mental health in their lifetime. So this will touch everyone even if you are unaware of say a friend who is under the black dog or full of overwhelming anxiety etc etc.
Some folks will have an ongoing battle with their mental health and will experience multiple episodes, they will feel weak and fragile and oft embarrassed. They may look like they are not making the efforts to socialise, contribute but underneath they will be fighting believe me. Battling their own challenges in myriad ways.
One of the things that has become apparent is that if you can't see an episode off at the pass so to speak, in the early weeks engaging with therapy or self help can and often will prove difficult. I asked Ruby Wax, as she waxes lyrical about the benefits of Mindfulness regards mental health how she manages to engage with Mindfulness and therapies when overwhelmed by Depression and Anxiety and she responded that at that time you need to seek your GP and medication.
Until recently all my interventions had been medication from my GP and my Mental Health case worker, though there had been dialogue with the MHN and GP the medication interventions were and to some degree are still acute. Now this left me frustrated and as I really want to get better I sought through therapies I had used before to seek self help with CBT and Mindfulness. Talking Therapists didn't really want to engage whilst I was trying to access the NHS Psychiatric services as they felt I needed long term therapy due to the episodes repeating themselves.
Frustrated that CBT and Mindfulness were not giving me progress alongside my medication In my keenness to get better, run before I can walk, I sought out advice from friends and forums etc. some friends reached out to me which was wonderful as well, helped the dim hope in me at the time. So ...... Now I have finished reading the Steve Peters book 'The Chimp Paradox'. Fascinating approach. It seems that a lot of mind management models seek to reframe the cognitive processes in some way. Prof Peters approach is a Do Something approach. Intervene with the Chimp. CBT appears to be a ReWiring approach. Three Principles of mindconsciousness & thought is a Do Nothing approach. Has all left me a tad confused though hopeful that something will work longer term. I guess I have to find what works for my head / my mind. I dont know if your personality dictates what will work for you. There is no real reference to the BiPolar spectrum in Chimp Paradox only Autism so when he talks about different mind types then I'm not sure where my Cyclythymia fits. The very non interventionist nature of the Three Principles scares me a bit as it feels that you ought to aim to change or better yourself in some way. It feels very counter intuitive. CBT is something that I have worked with over a number of episodes now and though I understand the science I feel like I'm putting the effort in but not getting the results. Ultimately I think my desire to get better is meaning that I'm impatient as my NHS interventions have all been medical thus far so I have forged ahead with reading and CBT and very recently private talking therapy. Now I have multiple models in front of me. This is all very hard as two things I'm rubbish at during an episode is analysis and excision making. Amongst others.
Fortunately I think the medical intervention is beginning to help and my moods have been improved apart from a couple of manic blips. The anxiety though is still there peaking occasionally though perhaps not as overwhelming as it has been. The meds for the anxiety are a tad tranquilising and mean I can feel dopey for a lot of the day.
I'm hoping that Diagnosis will progress when I return from the USA and it means I'll be better placed for matching medication and therapy to my condition.
What's the point of this ramble you might ask? I guess it's to underline that mental health episodes are not served by 'pull yourself together' as the landscape for therapy is complex as are all patients.
Hope some of this makes sense.
Tony x
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