Hi @ArraDreaming
I don't know if that "not a crisis" post was aimed at us both but I can understand your reaction that it might feel that way. I had similar thoughts.
Unfortunately, just now at least, I cannot click support on your post. But, rest assured, I understand your frustration and appreciate that it's so hard to know what service(s) to reach out to, if any, and how to do so. I personally find it so much harder to 'get that right' when suffering more than usual. It's so easy to accidentally cross barriers we don't even know exist. After all, language is very dynamic and has so many meanings for different people.
I feel like it can be so difficult to keep oneself as emotionally regulated as possible - enough to be not 'in crisis' - then reach out and risk one's emotional regulation.
Please make note, moderators (I do not seem to be able to do the @moderator thing), that it's very difficult to be suffering in the moment and then come across people / services in the mental health field who want to classify our experiences as either crisis or coping. That's a binary state and, as Donnie Darko said so very well, that's ignoring the whole range of human emotion!
I personally have had so much sad experience of bouncing around between a triangle of states:
- Coping but wanting to ensure stability is maintained so risk reaching out, when I'm as emotionally regulated as possible (or as I ever get) and maybe can email an ongoing support person with suggestions (that I probably cannot back up by the time that person reads the email) or keep a meeting with them, trying to focus and get stuff discussed in realtime
- In acute/crisis but not knowing if that is enough to go to emergency or ring the CAT
- Existing in the meantime
I glanced a book once, by a Canadian doctor who had been working with mental health clients for about 20 years, that acknowledged what so few seem to recognise in the mental health field: it's not always beneficial, helpful for people who are struggling to be confronted by psychology. To benefit from psychology, arguably one has to be fairly balanced because some, maybe most, forms of psychology can be confronting.
So, what do those of us who are unable to simply jump at the "psychology" suggestion, put to us so often, do for support whilst we are not 'in crisis' but struggling nonetheless?
The industry needs to get real with itself and wake up to this reality. Otherwise I feel like we are just bounced around between "hey, are you in crisis?"; "one day a time / look after yourself"; and ??? These forums?
Of recent times, support for me frequently amounts to what is now an A4 shopping list of phone numbers (and perhaps website addresses). That's what it boils down to. That's how we are expected to cope. How about at least taking that a step further and creating decision flow diagrams? The more straight forward the choices, the less likely we are to risk connecting with the less-ideal service. That way, we save ourselves the risk of 'rejection' (personally, no matter how soft, I feel that intensely) and those working so hard to staff the various services will hopefully have an easier time as well.
