Procrastination and stress

[creative_writer]

@tyme happy to hear you had a good day with the kids.

Things got pretty bad earlier today. I’m not even sure what I need for my mental health

[tyme]

When you are feeling better, do you have a safety plan, and is this regularly reviewed and updated? @creative_writer 

I wonder if this can be something to work on for times when things are tough?

[creative_writer]

@tyme I do have a safety plan but it hasn’t been reviewed for a while. I got through things by distracting myself on the train back. I was having urges to just do it, I had to take my mind off. I’ve been trying to not become dependent on PRN, but I guess a dose probably won’t hurt to settle things

[creative_writer]

Is ptsd a pathology or is it a normal reaction to a disturbing event/events?

[Jynx]

@creative_writer big question! Might depend on who you ask ay, but I am pretty sure the whole reason that the diagnosis of 'PTSD' was developed was as an alternative to the pathologising that was going on prior. Personally I prefer to describe it as a 'psychological injury' as opposed to a disorder for the same reason.

I think if we make a comparison to a physical injury, it might help us understand why some people develop ongoing symptoms of distress, and others don't, even if they were exposed to similarly traumatising events.

Let's say you got two people who both got hit with a similar event - one person has come away with a sprain, the other with a broken leg. Maybe that's cos already, person A had privilege growing up, so they had better access to nutritional food growing up and their bones are stronger.

Then, we also see that Person A has good medical care, so in the immediate aftermath of the injury, their leg is already in a splint. Person B's broken leg doesn't get wound dressings for aaaages.

Turns out Person B's family is also not particularly supportive, so they don't even have anyone popping around to check on them or do stuff around the house. So Person B has to do it alone, which means constantly putting weight on their leg, making it heal even slower.

So even though Persons A and B both had exposure to a similar trauma, one of them is all healed up and the other is still hobbling along months or years later. Would we say that Person B is 'disordered' for not being able to run after all that? Heck no!

So same goes for someone who went through a traumatic psychological event, who gets little-to-no support in the immediate aftermath, who doesn't get supported by friends/family to heal properly during their initial recovery - is it any wonder they're more likely to end up with PTSD than someone with privilege, support, and access to proper care?

So to my mind, PTSD is indeed a normal reaction. In fact I could go on to argue that ALL pathology is actually just normal reactions for brains under stress but that's a ramble for another day haha

[creative_writer]

@Jynx maybe it’s just me. From a traditional perspective, all mental illnesses fall under psychopathology or abnormal psych. I know there is a bit of a shift occurring now, but I still feel this way of looking at mental illness is stigmatising and invalidating in itself. I’m not entirely against diagnosis, so don’t get me wrong. I think we need to be more mindful of the language we use. I’m not a fan of “psychopathology” or “abnormal psychology” terms. I also think we should separate person from mental illness, like x has schizophrenia as opposed to x is schizophrenic. Subsciously, I feel some practitioners hold the belief that having a mental illness=abnormal reaction, which I find problematic. Maybe today’s workshop on mental health has stirred up frustration. We had a consumer come in who felt stigmatised in the mental health system time and time again.

What caused my psych therapeutic relationship to breakdown was I felt like she was implying it’s an overreaction to feel so affected you can’t function, maybe I misinterpreted, but she was always so clinical. I’ve had so many moments in my life I could not function because of rumination

[Jynx]

@creative_writer 100% agree with you! Words have so, so much power, way more than I think most folks realise. It's why I've found narrative therapy to be so effective, and also why I agree that much of the language we use to describe mental ill health is extremely stigmatising and pathologising. Like... a person who was emotionally neglected as a child and has had no securely attached relationships their entire life might end up diagnosed with a personality disorder - and within that is almost like, a message that says You should have been able to cope with all of that trauma, and the fact that you're not 'well-adjusted' now is an indicator of personal failings; so here's a label that will forever brand you as 'crazy'.

Reminds me of one of my fav quotes: It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. - Jiddu Krishnamurti. See, to my mind, you don't want a psych who is trying to shave off your corners so you fit into society's 'acceptance' box. A good psych is one who helps you see your pointy corners are worth celebrating. Who helps you to become the most authentic version of you, not someone who says that there's only one way for a human being to be 'mentally well' and it's to fit into this very VERY specific idea of 'happy and successful'.... and (in my very strong and biased opinion, lol) the 'happy and successful' human they want us to be is actually just the ideal wage slave - never complains, never gets burnt out, can be bullied and used and will just put up with it cos it's 'normal'.

[creative_writer]

@Jynx I’ve had moments when I felt pathologised, and you do start to internalise it. I’ve spent years thinking that I was my MI. If we want to reduce stigma, we must start reducing stigma in MH professionals. Stigma is still high in professionals, not saying all professionals stigmatise, but many do unconsciously. I honestly hate the term personality disorder. I’m sure all of us have traits to some extent, even those of us who don’t fit the diagnostic criteria. I liked how my supervisor on placement would normalise emotions. She encouraged me to do it with clients too, I didn’t really do much of it at first. I don’t feel like my psych did enough of it. It probably wasn’t the right fit. I am seeing a counsellor through SANE now, which is going well. Not sure what I will do after the sessions are over. I don’t really want to be in therapy forever either. However, I do still ruminate a lot. I think if I felt more stable and I could get stuff done, things would be a lot smoother. Not sure how to get there. I was going into crisis yesterday. Today has been better. I met a peer for lunch. We bonded with our ND brains

[Jynx]

Ach sorry I didn't get to respond to this properly tonight @creative_writer - I want to though!

Just wanted to quickly stop by, send some hugs, and say WOOHOO ND BRAIN BONDS!! Hope it's the start of a great new friendship maybe? 😊😉💜

[creative_writer]

@Jynx it’s okay. I’ve been resting up tonight. Sharp pain at the back of neck isn’t fun along with nightly rumination. I swear there is some sort of imbalance. Probably hypermobile joints misbehaving. Probably doesn’t help with MH. So sort of been down in dumps tonight.

Maybe, I think I’ve been more open with forming friendships lately, it’s still hard, but one step at a time

If I don’t see you again tonight, I’ll see you around some other time 💗