Thanks Maria for sending me this link to a buzzfeed page, with loads of great cartoons about anxiety. I’ll not copy them here, as the buzzfeed page has already done the hard work.
One of them led me to a blog:
sad girl scribbles
by a girl called Gaby at virtualgirlfriend.tumblr.com, which contains a plethora of drawings touching different issues including anxiety and depression.
One of many that I particularly liked was this one, which deals nicely with the tension between wanting to abolish difficult feelings and needing emotions to be human:Plants may not have feelings… but I think I’ve made a few plants look pretty sad. They definitely look happier when they’ve had a little love and affection – or at the very least least sun, clean water and good food; all of which I can relate to.
Following from my last post, a few friends have recommended some other videos and pictures and comics.
The first, sent to me by various friends, deserves a whole post to itself. It’s the wonderful Hyperbole and a Half. A selection of brilliant comics on a variety of topics including depression. Both funny, sad, true and uplifting, they are a work of genius. Some of them are short and sweet, others, like ‘Depression part Two’ are seriously long (by internet attention standards), but deserve a proper read. The author, who describes him/herself as “heroic, caring, alert and flammable”, brings a dark humour to serious experiences:
Another friend, Ben, recommended this animation on depression, which uses Churchill’s ‘Black dog’ to illustrate the experience of depression, and how, perhaps using imagery, a person can learn to live with their experiences. The animation is by the illustrator and author, Matthew Johnstone (in conjunction with the WHO) although I’m not clear if he’s talking of his own experiences. Worth a watch..
Susanne sent me this cartoon, which speaks for itself.
And then Julia reminded us that depression is actually often actually misdiagnosed IED (Inappropriate Environment Disorder), a new diagnosis that I’m hoping to get to replace almost all other diagnoses in the DSM-VI.
A few things popped up on my various feeds this week, all on the same kind of topic.
The first was this cartoon (thanks Catherine)…
Which comes from a blog called www.robot-hugs.com. Below the line on the facebook page where the cartoon had been posted, was the old story about empathy:
So there’s this guy walking down the street and he falls into a great big hole. A doctor walks by and the guy yells up to the doctor ‘hey, I fell in this hole, can you help me out?’ The doctor writes a prescription, throws it into the hole, and walks on.
A priest then walks by and the guy yells up to the priest ‘father, can you help me? I fell into this hole and I can’t get out’. The priest says a prayer, throws down a Bible and walks on.
And then a friend of the guy walks by and the guy yells up ‘hey, buddy, I’m stuck in this hole and -‘ and before he can finish the friend jumps down into the hole.
‘What the hell are you doing?’ the guy says, ‘Now we’re both down here!’
‘Yup’, says the friend, ‘But I’ve been down here before and I know the way out.’
This story is exactly what happened to a client of mine this week. Someone he cared about jumped into his hole and helped him find the way out. These are the people we need in our lives.
And then I came across much the same thing from the brilliant RSA shorts series. This from a lecture about sympathy vs empathy.
Oh, and I nearly forgot the first one, again from Robot Hugs! Full of useful advice.
Anyone care to recommend any other cartoons they really like about psychological health?
Type: YouTube Channel: Time to Change
Highly Recommended Resource.
Time to Change is a campaign which sets out to end mental health stigma. That’s a tough, but laudable goal (especially tough given the continuing level of irresponsible reporting by media such as the Sun newspaper) .
The campaign started in 2007 and is supported by the mental health charities Mind and Rethink. In terms of online resources, Time to Change has both a webpage and a YouTube channel. More broadly, Time to Change seeks to engage the general public through all forms of media, whether it be TV, radio, internet, magazines or poster campaigns. I’m going to briefly discuss the YouTube channel today.
In short, it’s a brilliant resource. Useful to everyone from mental health service users, through to teachers, families and indeed anyone who wants to know wants to understand more about mental health difficulties, be it their own or other peoples’.
The videos cover a large range of formats/styles and topics. To take just a few examples:
Animations such as the one above, beautifully illustrating a young person’s experience of depression and recovery.
A mock horror film trailor, ‘Schizo’, which seeks to undermine traditional associations between mental health and violence).
Short, poignant and powerful mini-dramas, such as ‘The Stand Up Kid’, which explores the unseen impact of stigma in schools.
A silent film, ‘The 5th Date… time to talk’, complete with speech bubbles, which considers the sometimes scary experience of disclosing one’s mental health diagnosis to a date.
Endorsements and discussions from famous people who have been open about their difficulties such as Stephen Fry and Frank Bruno (who discusses mental health with his daughter, Rachel Bruno) .
Many of the videos are sorted into particular topics, for instance there is a section with five videos, all of which feature a different person’s experience of mental health and the workplace. In total there are over 80 videos, and so far, every one that I’ve watched is excellent. I’m going to try and work my way through the other videos, there’s a lot of them, but they are generally very short, and all inspirational, so not a chore.
This very brief video (3.25) includes the experiences of 5 young people. It’s short and concise and thus does not provide much detailed information. However, each of the young people in this video are featured in their own longer videos, where they discuss their experiences in more detail. This video thus provides a great opener for for any discussion about mental illness, especially with young people. The related videos then provide additional material for further, more specific discussion.
These are just some of over 80 videos provided by ‘Time to Change’ on YouTube. I’ve also provided a brief review of the channel here.
Youtube Video Review: ‘Cutiepieforeverc’ Highly Recommended Resource.
Main topic: Bipolar.
Another brave testimony by a young US American lady. In 16 minutes, ‘Cutiepieforeverc’ describes her experience of bipolar disorder. Her first clear problems came when she went to college (away from home). In common with many people who receive a bipolar diagnosis, her first symptoms were lack of sleep (something it appears that she had always faced to some extent). This led to a period of 2-3 weeks where she hardly slept and indeed felt very little need to sleep*. During this period she engaged in a variety of ‘reckless’ behaviourincluding shopping sprees and late night runs (from which she was regularly picked up by the police). It appears that she did not seek help at this point, this had to wait until the ensuing depression, which lasted around 6 months, led to her getting to ‘breaking point’ and contacting her mother, leading to her hospitalisation. Although I don’t have research evidence to support this more generally, many of the young people I have worked with (or done research with) have experienced their first serious problems at college/university, and often in the first year.
‘Cutiepie’ details her hospitalisation as ‘the most horrific experience of my entire life’, which is not an uncommon description, even from those who believed that they needed to go to hospital. She worked out that in order to get out of hospital, she could lie and cover up her depressive symptoms (that hospital may have made worse), which worked. Again many people will recognise this catch 22 situation, of being stuck in a hospital that does not seem to be working for them, and needing to pretend that all is fine to leave the hospital. She then goes on to discuss her journey to find a medication treatment that worked for her. At the point the video was made, she describes feeling very settled and content with her life and medication. She ends the video with some advice for people going through similar experiences:
Don’t ever settle for a medication that does not feel right and does not make you feel right.
Don’t ever settle for a doctor that does not want the absolute best for you.
Excellent Advice! In my opinion, health professions should absolutely encourage their clients/patients to take control of their own treatment and encourage them to seek out (with guidance), what works best for them.
Overall, this video was a very clear and concise description of one young person’s experience of bipolar disorder. ‘Cutiepie’, describes experiences that many people with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or similar will be able to relate to, and as such this video would make an excellent resource for therapy groups or interested individuals.
*Sleep abnormalities are becoming one of the most convincing traits linked to bipolar disorder diagnoses, and emerging evidence suggests that early sleep problems may be a risk factor for the development of later mood disorder symptoms. When I get time, I will try and provide some links to the latest research.
Youtube Channel Review: Rawsammi Highly Recommended Resource.
Main topic: Bipolar.
This is a great and brave resource. Rawsammi (her user name) is a mid-twenties US American lady, who has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. She’s posted dozens of videos, that cover everything from her experience of hospital, through to hyper-sexuality, the DSM-V and ‘taking responsibility’. Rawsammi’s videos are delivered somewhat as a stream of consciousness, rather than being focussed and concise, but each video that I’ve watched contains useful information, emotion and humour. The videos talking about her experience of hospital and the run up to hospitalisation are extremely open and honest, and I think could be extremely valuable to others who have had similar experiences.
It would take hours to go through all the videos and I don’t have time to review them all, anyone who wants to add their thoughts on any of the specific videos is more than welcome to comment below.
Media Brief Review. Brief Video (5.26) Topic: psychosis Produced: by Surrey and Borders NHS trust
This is a short video about early intervention in psychosis from the Surrey and Borders NHS trust. The video attempts to show one person’s experience of psychosis. The lady involved provides personal information and is honest and open about her experiences of psychosis and of UK mental health services. Unfortunately, the structure of the video and the production are not very good.. Nevertheless, it could still be a useful resource. The participant is non-white (black, no further information), and thus her testimony may be helpful to those of similar background.
Having spent many years avoiding doing anything like writing a blog, I’ve finally found a vaguely compelling reason to put my daily thoughts in print, or at least pixels.
What is that reason?
I’m doing some research for a pet project, and it has occurred to me, that as I very rarely finish pet projects, if this one is to be of any use to anyone other than me (or indeed, me), perhaps I should just write it up as I go along.
A project you say?
I do. I’m researching internet resources that may prove therapeutically useful for people suffering from mental health difficulties, as well as for mental health workers and students In particular I am interested in those difficulties that are sometimes referred to as ‘severe and enduring’. In practice this most often means diagnoses such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and personality disorder.
My interest stems primarily from wanting to have access to honest, accurate and diverse representations of different peoples’ experiences for use in a therapeutic environment. When I first did a YouTube search several years ago to find a compelling video clip that would help communicate the experience of mania in a teaching session, I found very little. Fast forward to the current day, and there is a growing wealth of experience represented on the internet, from brave, first-hand descriptions to the latest in academic thinking.
I was initially planning to trawl through the internet and make private notes on the resources I found, which I could then share with my colleagues and clients. However, realising that most of my pet projects never see the light of day, I thought that a blog was perhaps the way forward.
So how’s it all going to work?
No idea, right now, I’m just trying to work out what is possible within a blog. Regardless, I’m very grateful to my good friend Ben Meghreblian for helping me set up this blog in superfast time.
I guess it will evolve with time, or simply be abandoned a few weeks down the line….
What I have decided is that:
It should not be about perfectly written prose.
It should, if possible, be readable, useful and interesting.
It should be a collaborative venture, open to contributions.
It’s an excuse for me to do something with all those random photos I take (so there may be lots of images with little or no clear relevance to their posts).
Plants may not have feelings… but I think I’ve made a few plants look pretty sad. They definitely look happier when they’ve had a little love and affection – or at the very least least sun, clean water and good food; all of which I can relate to.
