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NHBPM Day Twenty-One: Mental Health – Why the Stigma?

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Welcome to another post of the WEGO Health ‘National Health Blog Post Month’!!  It’s Day 21 so, the end is nearly nigh!  I hope you are all enjoying the posts so far.  Ready for the next one?

Today, I have chosen the prompt asking to write about mental health.

As you may now already know, I have a BSC in Psychology, and currently volunteer for a local Mental Health Charity, so this topic and area is of importance to me.  I suppose, I decided to study Psychology at University and later to volunteer for a mental charity because of my own battles with mental health difficulties – that of depression and anxiety.  But what I have found with studying Psychology, volunteering and living with mental health conditions myself is still the stigma attached with mental illness.

We have all been told the statistics – that 1 in 4 people will at some point suffer with a mental health conditions themselves.  The statistic for the prevalence of dandruff, to compare is 1 in 5 people!!  Fancy that, mental illness is more common than dandruff!!  Yet, having dandruff doesn’t have the same negative stigma attached to it!!

In my 3rd year of University, I decided to study the stigma of mental health for my dissertation.  The results were shocking, especially considering that the population that took part in my study were well-educated students; a generation that were supposed to be open-minded and less judgemental.  However, after reading a statement regarding a hypothetical person with paranoid schizophrenia, this all changed.  They deemed the person to be dangerous, less inclined to give the person a job and less inclined to give the person a place to live.

Schizophrenia although producing symptoms such as paranoia, voices inside their head, and often delusions, they are seldom a danger to others – in fact, after reading several pieces of research for my dissertation, a person with schizophrenia is more likely to be the victim of a violent attack than the perpetrator.  So why the ever-increasing negative attitudes towards mental illness?

Well, it could be said that the majority of the blame could be placed at the media’s door.  Although, it is said violent crimes carried out by patients exhibiting mental illness is said to be rare, there are however endless reports in the media, of patients, among them schizophrenic’s, being the perpetrators of such attacks – often resulting in the loss of life of members of the community.  Although, these instances are rare, when they do occur however, they are headline news; published on the front papers with sensationalist headlines – making the connection of their mental illness and the crime.

So, although these crimes are rare, when they do occur and become headline news, they stick in our mind, therefore, making us think that they occur much more regularly than they actually do.  This is known as the availability heuristic.

Perhaps, these false beliefs are also due to the lack of knowledge of such disorders – people simply, believe what they read or hear, without gaining all the facts.  Fear born out of ignorance and misinformation, perhaps?  Or perhaps, the mentally ill are so heavily stigmatised as they deviate from the norm, and as history has shown society has often marginalised people who are different from the society’s view as being ‘normal.’

So, how as we as health activists, and society as a whole start to destigmatise mental illness?  Should media outlets encourage stories of mental illness in a positive way – show that there is hope for people who have been unwell from mental illness? To encourage celebrities and other well-known faces who has been inflicted with such illnesses, so that there is a face to mental illness; to make it less fearful and show that the mentally ill are not so different to the rest of us after all!

I have had the pleasure to meet, through my work as a volunteer to meet many wonderful people who have been touched with a mental illness, from depression to schizophrenia, and can say that they have been the most friendly and kind people I have come across.

So why still the stigma surrounding mental illness?

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NHBPM Day Twenty: Regrets? I’ve had a few…

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Today, is all about the moments that as health activists or as patients we regret.  The moments that looking back on, we wished we had done things differently.

Mine happened during my first year at University.  Around this time the dizziness was becoming increasingly worse, and was also experiencing at the time periods where I was fainting and losing consciousness for a few minutes.  This obviously caused some alarm, not only for myself but also for my parents.  I found myself on a couple of occasions I fainted whilst out walking the dog; waking to find Honey looming over me, licking my face, trying to make me come to!

 

 

After a couple of these episodes, my parents and I made an appointment with the Doctor; he checked my blood pressure, which has always been low, but he wasn’t overly concerned, and didn’t think it was the cause of these blackouts.  He then referred me to see a consultant at the local hospital, but warned me that it would be a wait.  He suggested that if I experienced another episode then I should visit the ‘Accident and Emergency’ department of the local hospital, which may fasten the process.  A couple of weeks later, whilst out with a meal with Mum, I fainted whilst in the bathroom, and so she phoned my Dad, who then came to pick us up and drove us to the hospital.

It wasn’t long after that, I received a hospital appointment with a consultant.  It was in what they called the ‘Day Hospital;, an outpatient department with beds, where if needed you would need to stay there all day to go through endless tests.  Thankfully, I wasn’t there all day, but he examined me throughly, and noticed a couple of abnormalities with my legs, exaggerated reflexes, I think was  the concern.  It was then he referred me for a CAT scan of my brain and spinal cord, as he suspected that it may be caused by some sort of neurological disorder.  After the appointment, I went home, and like most people I googled about the procedure.  It really didn’t seem like such a big deal, but at that time the dizziness was so bad – and was quite bad when lying down staring up at a ceiling, which obviously happens during a CAT scan.

A CT scan

 

Anyway, a few weeks later the appointment came through – my Mum was working so it was Dad who accompanied me.  I admit, that all hospital tests and procedures scare me a little, and was particularly worried about this one, especially as my Dad wouldn’t be able to come with me as CAT scans uses radiation, and I did work myself up because of my anxieties.

I worked myself up so much that I had a panic attack after lying on this small, narrow bed that would be used during the scan, I just felt incredibly dizzy, and didn’t like how open the room was; it felt like I was going to fall of the bed or something!  I just couldn’t go through with it, and so the test was cancelled and I went home.  The tension in the car on the way back home was horrific; Dad was so angry, especially as the trip was wasted.

Looking back on it, that was my one big health moment that I regret.  Not only did I waste my Dad’s time but also the hospital’s time – that cancelled appointment could have been used for someone else that needed it; wasted resource that would surely cost the NHS.  But I also regret it because there was that possibility, that they could have found what was wrong with me a lot sooner – I wouldn’t be diagnosed for at least another four years after that.  Maybe I couldn’t go through with it as at the time I was scared about what they would find; maybe I was not emotionally ready to find out what was wrong with me.  Although, perhaps if they had found out the cause sooner, especially the problem with my legs, then I could have entered physiotherapy a lot sooner, and perhaps my legs would not be as bad as they are now.  But now we will never know; there will always be that ‘what if’…

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WEGO Health Advocating for Another Carnival: Once Upon a Time…

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Welcome again to another WEGO Health Advocating for Another Carnival, it’s the fifth day and the prompt is as follows:

It’s storytelling day! Write a story about yourself, your community as though you are a children’s book author.  Be sure to include a beginning, middle, and end.  Extra points for illustrations! 

I love this prompt! It’s really different and am sure it is a style of writing us health activists haven’t tried before.  It seems to be a lot harder than it sounds but here it goes…

Once upon a time in a large kingdom called Wales there lived a young princess named Rhiann.  Rhiann was a very lonely princess, nobody understood her as she had an invisible illness meaning she was unwell but nobody could see what was wrong.  This was due to a problem with her brain, a problem no-one else in the kingdom suffered from.

As no other person could see why the princess was so unwell, many of the servants and commoners were suspicious of her assuming that she was inventing the illness to gain attention.  This made the princess so very lonely, and isolated, her only friend being her trusted dog named Honey.

One day, along with Honey, Rhiann went for a walk in the forest where she came upon a little cottage.  The curiosity got the better of the young princess and she stepped inside, “Hello?” she cried out.  Then a mysterious looking witch came into the light “Yes, princess?” she replied.  “Hello, my name’s Rhiann and I just happened to come across the cottage, I’m awfully lonely and was hoping to find a friend.”

The old witch stared at her in wonder, “Yes, my dear Princess, I have heard all about your troubles, and I have something here which will solve all of your problems”.  The old woman gave her a mysterious looking box, which looked very much like a large book. Rhiann opened this book, and instead found a screen with a board with keys, one featuring each letter of the alphabet, as well as numbers and other symbols.

“Thank you so much” the princess cried out, running out of the cottage, Honey behind her, determined to get back to the castle as soon as possible to try out the mysterious object.  As she arrived, Rhiann headed straight to her chambers, settling the mysterious object on her bed.  After studying it for several minutes, the princess found an on button – and she was soon transported to other worlds on the screen.  This thing she was given, according to a note that was attached to this object by the witch, was called a laptop, in which she was able to explore the ‘internet’ – a portal which could take the princess wherever she wanted to go.  The witch also gave instructions on how to use the internet as well as giving her addresses in which she could go on to make friends.

The princess desperately typed and typed these addresses on the laptop and whoosh, she found everything she could wish for.  She found a place were there were a lot of different people with a variety of different medical conditions.  She chatted for hours and hours with these people, talking about a lot of different things.  And she found that these strangers, accepted her for exactly who she was with no judgement.

And as the months and years passed all of these new people became her good friends and the princess was never lonely again.

THE END

So, what do you think of my attempts at writing as if I were a children’s book author?  I wrote this as if I were the main character – and the loneliness and isolation ‘the princess’ felt was the same feelings that I have had for many years, the feeling that you are not accepted.  That was until, like the character in my story I became active on the internet, especially within the health community as since then I have had the pleasure of meeting a lot of people who have accepted me for exactly the person I am, and I am blessed to call them my friends.  This is dedicated to all of them.

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A problem shared…

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Welcome to another blog post from ‘My Brain Lesion and Me’!

This month, the folks at WEGO Health are concentrating on ‘Health Activism in Real Life’.  So, instead of the focus on being on online support groups or on those like me who blog regarding a particular health condition or cause the focus is instead on those organisations or even on specific people who use the more face-to-face approach to health activism.  This could include any of the following:

  • Non-Profit Organisations, i.e. charitable organisations
  • Support Groups
  • Meet-Ups with fellow patients
  • Awareness Events
  • Conferences focusing on health conditions or causes

So, I thought that I would share my thoughts and views on this topic and its role in providing support to those who are dealing with chronic illness or disabilities.  Now, I have found great comfort in online support regarding my own health condition and subsequent disability – the internet has made it possible for me to forge friendships and a strong support system with people who may not have the exact same condition as me, but who are nevertheless exhibiting similar symptoms that I face every day.  Without the internet, it would not have been possible to speak out about my condition, increasing the awareness of my condition and what it is like to live with through the 12-12-12 Project over at Abledis.com.

 

Without the technological advances that are available at our fingertips – the computer, smartphone, tablets and so forth I am afraid that I would probably live a very lonely existence indeed, stuck in the house constantly with only my parents and the dog for company.  So, the internet and the support networks available are such a godsend for thousands of people out there who are housebound or who are unable to get out as often due to their health condition, giving the ability to be able to connect with others and not feel so lonely.

 

However, this isn’t to say that there is no place for the offline, there are many non-profit organisations out there that are doing a fantastic job in providing and support for patients or service users, advocating them in times of problems and providing an ear for them when they are struggling.  I myself volunteer for a great non-profit organisation providing support for those living with mental health difficulties, called Mind and the support they provide for people and the others services that they provide.  Not only that but it provides a safe, comfortable environment for people to make new friends and talk about their problems and experiences without judgement or criticism.

 

There are times when I just wish that there was a support group out there for people like me, experiencing a similar condition to myself where I can get support, advice and make connections with others – but there just doesn’t seem that there are any organisations or non-profit charities that my particular health condition and situation really ‘fit’ into.  Even searching on the internet hasn’t helped!!  But have started going to a new group, although wouldn’t class it as a support group more of a group for ‘meeting-up’, learning about different topics and hopefully going on trips around the local area.  It as been great for me – enables me to get out of the house for a few hours (something I can’t do with online groups!) and chat and meet a wide range of different people, most of whom living with a chronic illness or disability.

 

So, I am starting to get the best of both worlds – using the online and offline resources for health activism and both definitely have their advantages and disadvantages but still both are equally valuable in providing patients, carers and other people involved within the health community to share personal stories, gain knowledge, connect with others…

So, which of these do you prefer – using the online for health resources and enjoying the privacy and anonymity it provides or do you prefer the more personal touch and connect with others face-to-face, enjoy getting to know others on more of a personal level?  Would love to hear your views on this topic!!….

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HAWMC Day 15: Writing with Style…

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Well, it’s now officially halfway through the challenge for the Health Activist Writer’s Month Challenge!! Hope you all have enjoyed the entries so far and will continue to visit the blog after the Challenge has ended.  So, today’s challenge is as follows:

Writing with Style…What’s your writing style? Do words just flow from your mind to your fingertips? Do you like handwriting first? Do you plan your posts? Title first or last? Where do you write best?

Before I Start Writing 

Okay so before, I begin writing any posts to my blog, the first thing is decide on the theme of the post, a topic to write about for that particular entry – it may be about how I am feeling, or how I have been feeling lately with my condition – if things have gotten worse.  Sometimes, I find inspiration in things I have written in my personal journal, or perhaps articles I have read in a magazine or newspaper, a topical issue that needs to be debated and talked about.  So, I always know what I am going to write before I put a pen to paper (or in my case, type on a keyboard)…

Image: http://www.nextgreatbrand.com/sure-you-can-blog-but-can-you-write/

The Writing Process 

Before, I actually start typing my new blog entry, I usually jot some ideas and key themes which I want to address within the post.  Once I finish brainstorming ideas, I then get down to business.  I find that I write best in my bedroom, my own personal space and where I am able to get peace and quiet from any distractions, I usually try to write when I’m alone in the house, so I am able just to focus on what I am writing.  And then I just start typing just letting my words flow freely from my mind, occasionally taking the time to read carefully over what I have written, editing as I go alone – checking for spelling and grammatical errors…

After the Writing Process…

Then after I am happy with what I have written and am satisfied that I have covered all areas of the topic that I have written about I finish typing.  I then take a look at what I have written, checking for any spelling or grammatical errors, or even sometimes add to what I have written.  Once I am finally happy with that I have written, I then search for any appropriate images that I could incorporate into the post, if there are any images that goes well with the subject matter of the entry.  Once all that is done, I add any ‘tags’ to appropriately match the article, so readers are able to get a quick sense of what the post is about before they decide whether or not to read on….

And then I publish!!…

However, I also find that my posts are not always planned and sometimes write spontaneously, especially if I am feeling low or I haven’t been well – I use it as a cathartic way of expressing my emotions and feelings regarding my condition and the effects it has on my daily life.

If there are any other bloggers reading, what is your writing style??  Is the process I use to write the blog effective?  Are there any techniques that could improve my writing style?

Again would love to hear all of your comments and suggestions and what you all think…

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