Mental Health Resources:
http://www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/health/bdg/index.php - check out the great work of the Bradford Dementia Group!
www.dementia.stir.ac.uk - a wonderful resource to help out with practical matters.
www.mhmedia.com - '...equality and respect for people who experience mental distress.'
www.thecairn.com - this site highlights the wonderful advocacy and empowerment work that Suzy Johnston (author of 'The Naked Bird Watcher') and her mum, Jean Johnston (author of 'To Walk on Eggshells') are doing.
www.brainnutrition.co.uk - this makes so much sense.
www.fitnesstherapy.co.uk - as does this!
www.humangivens.com - access an excellent journal and consider signing up for one of the many useful workshops to give you practical psychological insights and skills.
http://www.theawakeningsproject.org/ - a wonderful and inspiring project in the US!
http://www.bluesbegone.co.uk/splash.asp - cognitive behavioural therapy.
Writing Sites/Related Sites:
http://www.fictionfest.co.uk - website of writer and educator, John Holding. He's got a great novel looking for an agent!
http://www.carolinesmailes.co.uk/ - check out the work of this wonderful fresh voice - not only great writing, but raising awareness about difficult issues such as mental/physical abuse and self-harm.
http://www.clatworthy.org.uk/itm/index.html - please purchase this super poet's work whose first collection has been written to celebrate the life of her daughter who passed away after a long illness last year. All proceeds go to the St John's Hospice.
http://www.deborahrey.wordpress.com/ - one of my very favourite writers and a person I admire tremendously.
www.ukauthors.com - an excellent one-stop resource - showcase your own work/rub virtual shoulders with laureates of the future! Check out their great yearly competition to get your book published! http://www.ukauthors.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=60
www.mslexia.co.uk - 'for women who write.'
www.survivorspoetry.com - an inspiring and educational site with a very high standard of work from its contributors.
http://la-fenetre.net/ - an ezine and magazine which proved itself to be the 'write' window for readers and writers!
http://www.bawl.org/ - A great writing community in Bay Area Houston which I'm a member of.
http://www.amysisson.com/ - Amy, a sci-fi writer, was the speaker at my first BAWL meeting (see above). I'm no great fan of the genre but if anyone could persuade me to give it a whirl, it would be Amy who is extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic.
http://www.tajmahalreview.com/index.htm - very global!
http://www.sacfreepress.com/poems/ - a wonderfully innovative venture to get the poetry word to *all* - their beautifully designed mini-booklets really pack a punch.
http://www.poeticdiversity.org/main/index.php - an excellent literary ezine!
http://www.subtletea.com/ - a comprehensive site with some great author interviews.
Miscellaneous:
http://www.jsrphotography.org - got a wedding coming up? Look no further for the perfect photographer.
http://www.steprideau.com/ - great zydeco music!
http://qunfuz.blogspot.com/ - the Middle East from the inside - an informative and intelligent blog.
www.msf.org - uphold humanitarian values!
www.peacefulworldnow.redvic.com
www.un.org/Overview/rights.html - the universal declaration of human rights.
www.warchild.org.uk - there shouldn't be the need for such a website...
www.jmt.org - let's cherish the wilderness!
www.newharmony.org - and you thought utopia didn't exist!
www.csv.org.uk - interested in voluntary work?
www.cityofliterature.com - Edinburgh is UNESCO'S first city of literature!
www.unicef.org - everyone should have a look at the ongoing and necessary work of this amazing voluntary organisation - why not become a member and help children to 'be' children.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov - science, engineering and a lust for discovery!
www.whalewatch.org - save the whales!
www.patchadams.org - laughter is the greatest healer!
www.keanemusic.com - one of my favourite bands.
www.moiraanderson.com - child abuse network based in Scotland.
I can also recommend 'Ouse Valley Poetry' in Liverpool who have a 22 year history of raising funds for multiple sclerosis as well as publishing some great talent in 'Isthmus'.
Details of their monthly writing competition can be obtained by contacting:
Maurice James
Ouse Valley Poetry
(Flat 1) 9 Wellington St
Waterloo
Liverpool L22 8QL
UK
***PRESENTING Margaret McCathie LAUGHTER THERAPIST***
THE HEALING POWER OF LAUGHTER
Laughter is healthy, needed even by the wealthy, and is definitely wise.
It is well known that a good laugh does you good, because every time you laugh you exercise seventeen different muscles in your face, it increases oxygen levels in the body and releases endorphins (feel good hormones) around your body. It brings a sense of freshness into your home or workplace, costs nothing and is one of the best stress relievers known. In medical terms it is called “eustress” because it has the opposite effects to stress.
Stress increases blood pressure, but laughter reduces it. Stress depresses the immune system causing a person to be more susceptible to illness, but laughter elevates it. Stress also affects sleep, creating patterns of insomnia, laughter can cure it. Stress lowers our energy levels (physical, mental, emotional), whereas laughter picks them up.
In 1964, Norman Cousins was diagnosed with a painful and incurable inflammation-type disease. He checked out of hospital and into a hotel. He believed in the benefits of positive attitude and did not believe that the hospital environment was conducive to healing. In his hotel room he spent the next two weeks watching comedy programs on TV and reading books that made him laugh. He later wrote, “I made the discovery that 10 minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect which lasted for at least 2 hours, giving me 2 hours pain-free sleep.” He recovered from his condition and spent the rest of his life teaching the medical benefits of laughter. Laughter can also be a great benefit in the workplace. In a recent scientific study, laughter therapy was found to improve the work of 30 students at a Malaysian university. The students found it relaxed them and helped them focus on their studies. They slept better and felt healthier.
In my workshops I find that when people laugh together it instantly breaks down any artificial barriers. It always promotes better communication and team spirit, healing any internal conflicts in the workplace. This is why a growing number of businesses are turning to laughter therapists as an alternative method of teambuilding and tackling stress problems. They recognize it helps staff to see the lighter side of life while staying focused on their role within the company.
In India there is a doctor called Dr. Kataria who runs laughter clubs. His book is called Laugh for No Reason. He has devised laughter sessions that are very much like yoga classes. They begin at a certain time every morning with laughing for 20 minutes, starting with haha…heehee…hoho until there is uproarious laughter. It is a tremendous way to start the day and frequently ends up with participants spontaneously breaking out into laughter for the rest of the day.
Steve Wilson is a laughter therapist who runs the World Laughter Tour. He trains people to teach others how to laugh. The work of a laughter therapist is simply to help people see the funnier side of life. They believe that each and every moment is what you make of it, that you can take it extremely seriously, or you can look at it differently and always see the lighter side. Every situation has a lighter side. The work of a laughter therapist is also about respecting that not everyone is ready to be uproarious or outrageous, allowing people to choose their level of participation so that nobody feels threatened or self-conscious.
Patch Adams is a wonderful doctor who believes that the combination of laughter and love are the best medicine. Patch has proved time and again in his work as a doctor, that laughter is a cure. He has made such an impact that millions have now seen the film “Patch Adams” based on his life and work. He even travels to war zones to bring laughter and joy, sometimes taking 40 clowns with him. They consist of doctors, nurses, therapists and lay people whose only qualification is a desire to serve in a loving and caring way. They dress as clowns so as to not be threatening to anyone of any age group. It is not the type of clown that would splash a pie in your face, but a caring clown, bringing fun and laughter to hospitals, prisons, old peoples homes and orphanages.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if hospitals offices prisons and schools had laughter room instead of smoking room? Patch Adams came to Scotland in the year 2000 to run a laughter workshop in the City Chambers in Edinburgh. The workshop was filmed by Swiss Television and a film was made called In Bed with Patch Adams. It shows him helping a man who was suffering with depression. Patch is in bed with the man helping him to practice laughter exercises. It was wonderful to watch someone who had a laughphobia, getting in touch with the lighter side of their dark nature and just laughing.
In May, I will travel to China with Patch and, as a laughter therapist, help him bring a smile to hearts and minds of many Chinese. And in June I will run a laughter workshop at the request of the Dalai Lama, who both carries and lives up to the legacy of the laughing Buddha.
When I was little, I would get in trouble for laughing in class at school. The teacher would put me outside the door because I would infect everyone else. Little did I know, that at the age of nearly 60, I would be teaching others how to chuckle, giggle and chortle their way through life. It’s almost laughable really!
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Seriously Though... |
***READ ON FOR AN EXCELLENT ARTICLE by Clare Hill***
Creative Writing and Mental Health
Creative writing can be used as a form of therapy for those of us who are in emotional pain. Taking a painful event from your past and putting it down on paper is akin to grasping a pair of tweezers and pulling a splinter from your finger. Editing and polishing your piece acts as a salve, soothing the sting. The process of rewriting lessens the personal impact this event has on you, as you are coming to terms with your pain by allowing it to be expressed.
Living with mental illness gives you a rich vein of emotion to tap into. Different moods give you different perceptions, and it is the unique quality of this perceptiveness which makes writers of many manic depressives. Emotions experienced can be used to create believable characters in fiction, and emotive poetry or articles.
Creative Writers With Mood Disorders
Hans Christian Andersen
Charles Dickens
Mary Shelley
Virginia Woolf
Ernest Hemingway
Mental illnesses strike approximately one in four people in their lifetime and can be potentially fatal, as suicide may result. From the list above, both Virginia Woolf and Ernest Hemingway committed suicide.
Bipolar depression, as manic depression is now known, is characterised by mood swings, from high (mania) to low (depression). The effects of hypomania - the beginning stages of mania - are that the person is active, enthusiastic and highly creative. This gives bipolars “spontaneous flexibility” - producing a rich variety of ideas and the ability to switch from one area of interest to another, and “adaptive flexibility” - the ability to come up with unusual ideas or solutions. During hypomania cognitive processes quicken and mental energy surges. This is why increased creative output can be achieved during this phase. Unfortunately, then a depression can follow, with the person becoming withdrawn, lethargic, tearful, and resulting in a period of low creative output.
Creative pursuits are becoming more widely regarded as a therapeutic tool. Writing can often be used to illustrate your feelings more powerfully than mere talking, so a doctor or psychiatrist may get a better idea of what a person is experiencing if they have written about it. There are many online support groups for people experiencing mental distress which now include pages for creative expression. Many people use this as a way of communicating their deeply felt emotions, perhaps by writing fiction with some element of the truth of their experiences contained within. Ascribing feelings to a fictional character is a good way of dealing with situations that are difficult to talk about.
Writing, more than most professions, can co-exist with a relapsing and recurring illness. Composition doesn’t require fixed hours; poems or essays can be set aside and returned to on better days. Although it can be difficult to set yourself a timetable, as current wisdom suggests writers do, or set a word count to reach each day. If a person is depressed, they may not feel like writing, or their depression may be mirrored in their writing, which is particularly unhelpful if they are trying to write a light-hearted or uplifting piece. If a person is manic, the spelling and grammar may be chaotic, and plots may twist and turn too much, resulting in a piece which is confusing.
I, myself, have a recurrent mental disorder, which does dictate the way I write in some ways. On my ‘bad’ days I edit, read and research. On my ‘good’ days I write, check and submit pieces. This way, I achieve a balance in my work. It may not be the fashionable way to write, but it works for me. I try every day to get something work related done, even if it is just reading magazines for editorial stance and ideas for pieces. This way, I don’t feel as if I have wasted days when I have become depressed. I use my manic periods as a way of getting inspiration for pieces which I may not normally think of. By writing these ideas down, I hopefully end up with a couple of useable ones when I am grounded enough to write them.
Mental illness does not mean that a person cannot do something such as writing as a career, but it may mean that they have to do something differently to others, as current mood, medication, lack of sleep and so on can all have a bearing on how well a person will be able to perform a certain task. An amount of juggling is required to find a balance, but the result can be insightful, unusual pieces which make the reader look at the world in a different way. Hopefully!
‘Submit to being called a neurotic… Everything we think of as great has come from neurotics.’ Marcel Proust
Resources
Possible markets
Too write - www.toowrite.com - run competitions for true stories.
Openmind magazine is the magazine of the mental health charity Mind.
www.mind.org.uk
Chipmunka publishing - www.chipmunkapublishing.co.uk - publish e-books and paperbacks from people with experiences of mental health problems.
Sources
Hypomania and A&R
James Hyman
www.jameshyman.com/blog/archives
alt.support.depression FAQ Part 5
www.biopsychiatry.com
Bipolar disorder & creativity
Neurotransmitter.net
Creativity and Mental Disorder
www.rcpsych.ac.uk/campaigns
© Clare Hill 2005 http://www.clarehill.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk
TEN TIPS to help beat depression
(In no particular order and can be used in conjunction with antidepressant therapy)
(1) Help others – perhaps family, friends, colleagues, or through voluntary work www.csv.org.uk
(2) Regular exercise – direct any negative vibes into a positive action – a very effective way of increasing your overall well-being
(3) Hang out with positive people, and laugh with them!
(4) Sack the negative ones!
(5) Be open with your feelings – your family, friends, doctor or counsellor need to know the extent of your despair
(6) Make use of the self-help culture – there’s bound to be a book for you!
(7) Read inspiring literature – Nelson Mandela’s ‘Long Walk to Freedom’ and Maya Angelou’s autobiographical novels work effectively for me, as do ‘The Celestine Prophecy’ by James Redfield and ‘The Road Less Travelled’ by M. Scott Peck
(8) Embrace change – don’t be frightened of it
(9) Listen to your heart and your stomach! Go with your instincts; also consider a dietary assessment to ensure you are getting necessary brain food and a good balanced diet overall
(10) Regular rest – sleep, chill out, ‘spa’ if you can afford it!
TEN TIPS to help you live with dementia
(1) It’s not all doom and gloom – focus on the positives – there will be some!
(2) Support is paramount – ensure you get this from your family, friends, local services such as your primary health care team who should direct you to the appropriate facilities to meet your specific needs – be open about the good and the bad feelings you may have
(3) The Bradford Dementia Group at Bradford university do brilliant work to help people in a practical sense http://www.bradford.ac.uk/acad/health/bdg/index.php as do the Dementia Services Development Centre at Stirling university www.dementia.stir.ac.uk
(4) Read ‘Person to Person – A Guide to the Care of Those with Failing Mental Powers’ by Tom Kitwood & Kathleen Bredin
(5) Treat the person as the person they always were (the above book can help with this)
(6) Don’t be ashamed – walk out/hobble out/roll out with pride!
(7) There may come a time when the stress of dementia overwhelms you – please say so and know that this is the brave thing to do!
(8) Don’t overestimate or underestimate safety risks
(9) Ensure your financial and legal matters are in order and claim all entitlements from social services – contact a lawyer, social worker, doctor or your key worker/named nurse for advice
(10) Petition your MP if local services are lacking – you will effect better facilities for the future!
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