Unexpected questions – I didn’t expect to be asked that!

 

Fearless baby – now that looks like a risky activity!

Since coming into contact with mental health services, I’ve been asked all sorts of questions I never imagined I’d be asked. Questions by a social worker as part of a needs assessment for a care plan, a mental health advocate at Mind, a mental health day centre and my new support worker as part of preparing my support plan. These include:

• How long after we don’t hear from you should we consider you to be missing? That’s one to ponder when you’re asked out of the blue. The support worker suggested two weeks or a month. I said one day: I’d like to think someone would start looking for me after a day, you know?
• Do you have access to children? “Access” to children? How does that work? I was asked that as part of a needs assessment for a Care Plan.
• Do you have a history of violence or aggression? Really? Do people get asked these questions when they’re assessed for a medical problem? No.
• What is your level of trust and hope in services? I was asked this only today as part of my support plan now I’m getting my first ever support worker. Well, when you factor in PTSD then parking on meds and benefits, frankly pretty low.
• What risky activities do you engage in? Ooh, eating food just past its ‘best before’ date? Going for a walk without a pac-a-mac? This prompted some hilarious responses from the lovely twitter people!

Read the full twitter conversation here.

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What does mental illness look like? Asda and the mental patient

Have you been thinking along these lines or have things like this been said to you? Do you want to understand the other side of the argument or know how others have responded?

• Isn’t this all a bit over the top? Don’t get so het up about it, it’s just a fancy dress costume! There are more important things to worry about. Get your priorities straight! You’re blowing this all out of proportion.
• It’s just a bit of fun! Go on, get a sense of humour, laugh a little, don’t be such a killjoy!
• No offence was intended – it wasn’t intentional!
• You’re just drawing attention to all this. Ignore it and it’ll go away.
• It’s freedom of expression1 You’re trying to censor me! It’s a dangerous slippery slope when you start trying to ban things!

If so, read on to find out what people have written on this subject, why it’s important, and what comes next.

Blog post to follow hopefully in the future, once it’s all percolating through the medication haze. In the meantime, here are my tweets from the evening of 25th. A

Please let me know of any additional links to add to the page so it’s as complete as possible.

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My related links:

• Storify stories of tweets
  • What does mental illness look like? Halloween – my tweets (25th September)
  • Responses from tweeps to my tweets (25th September)
  • When hashtags go bad – #chosenbyme (25th September)
• What does mental illness look like? Panorama & the Great Disability Scam (29th January)
• What does mental illness look like? The head clutcher (31st May)

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Responses from health and mental health organisations:

• Centre for Mental Health – #mentalpatient – the end of the beginning, by Andy Bell, deputy chief executive (twitter @andy_bell_, @centreformh) (27th September)
• Merseycare NHS Trust – Open letter to Asda from chairman & chief executive
• Mind charity – Fighting stigma – Everyday #Mentalpatient (short Storify of tweets) (26th September)
• Rethink Mental Illness 
  • A spooky tale with a happy ending, by CEO Paul Jenkins (twitter @pauljrethink, @rethink_)
  • The Can You Tell? campaign #canyoutell
• South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust – “Following Asda’s #mentalpatient mistake we have offered to work with them locally on education and staff training” (27th September) (twitter @allofusinmind)
• Time to Change
  • Asda’s “mental health patient” costume is staggeringly offensive (26th September) (twitter @timetochange)
  • #mentalpatient trends on Twitter as people show the real face of mental health (26th September)
  • Challenging stigma on Twitter: Asda and Tesco’s ‘mental health patient’ costume (26th September) by Sarah Robbo (twitter @sarah_robbo)

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Other organisations:

• Finchley Reform Synagogue – sermon of Rabbi Miriam Berger (28th September) (twitter @finchleyreform)
• Neo (communications agency) – Asda inspires the mental health campaign of the year – “The explosive power of reactive campaigning online was again shown yesterday, when Asda accidentally inspired the best mental health campaign of the year” (27th September) by Charlie Peverett (twitter @cpev, @weareneo)
• Social Slurp (weekly Social Media campaign watchdog for the digital advertising/marketing industry, from Blue Claw) – #MentalPatient Campaign Fights Inappropriate Halloween Costumes (27th September) (twitter @blueclawsocial)
• Time Bank volunteering charity – Changing our attitudes to mental health by Becky Mumford, project coordinator, the Switch

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Blogosphere:

• Adventures in Madness blog – What does a mental patient look like? (28th September)
• Amy Chose Life blog – The ‘Mental Patient’ scandal – my thoughts (27th September) by Amy-Louise (twitter @a_louisem)
• Beauty From Pain blog – ‘I don’t know what type of nutters are out there…’ (with pictures) (29th September)
• Be Mindfull, Not Mindless blog – ‘Mental Patient’ Costumes – A Blessing In Disguise (27th September) by Emma Harris (twitter @harris_emma)
• Card Therapy blog – Dear Mr. A. Clarke, CEO Asda and Mr. P. Clarke, CEO Tesco (26th September) by Emma Sheppard
• Digital Mental Health blog by Victoria Betton (twitter: @victoriabetton) – #MentalPatient – where it all started and what it all means – “When I sneaked a peak at my emails (ironically in the middle of a Time to Change Leeds steering group meeting) and clicked on an Asda link from one of our consultant psychiatrists, my heart started palpitating. I couldn’t believe the image in front of me. Surely this Halloween costume was a wind up? But the URL was legit. I shared it with colleagues around the table. We all gasped. “ (27th September)
• Dippyman blog – How a ‘mental patient’ fancy dress costume can be a force for good, by Paul Brook (twitter @paulbrook76) (26th September)
• The Fementalists blog – Storify story – This is what a #mentalpatient looks like, #canyoutell? now with more pictures! – “In response to some seriously distasteful and stigmatising “mental patient” costumes from ASDA, Tesco, and Amazon, mental health activists shared photos of what people with mental ill-health actually look like” -Storify story of tweets
• Graham Shaw Storify story – Using social media to effect change: a short story (26th September)
• I am, I am, I am blog – This is what a “mental patient” looks like, by Christie Mackie (27th September) (twitter @cefmac94)
• It’s Madness blog – Confessions of a mentalist part 3 – It ‘Asda’ be a joke (27th September)
• Lindy B blog – Can you tell? (27th September) (twitter @lapsangsusie)
• Mozbloke Storify story – Asda and the ‘mental patient’ fail, by Steve Morris (26th September
• Psychology Magpie blog – Supermarket ‘mental patient’ costume stigmatises children as well as adults (28th September)
• Skepchick blog – What a Mental Patient Looks Like (26th September) (twitter @skepchicks)
• The World of Mentalists blog – This Week in Mentalists – What’s in a Word Edition (28th September) (twitter @TWOM_blog)
• Zen and the art of tightrope walking blog – Asda, axes and the persistent myths of mental illness, by Vivienne Tuffnell (27th September) (twitter @guineapig66)

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Mainstream media coverage:

• BBC
  • Asda ‘mental patient’ costume withdrawn from sale online (25th September)
  • Asda and Tesco withdraw ‘mental’ patient outfits (video report by Emma Simpson) (26th September)
  • Radio Five Live drive time show (at 40 mins & 2 hr 53) with Laura May (twitter @lauramaywritten) and Jane Hughes (twitter @janehug) of Rethink Mental Illness (26th September)
• Bournmouth Echo newspaper – Bournemouth fancy dress store defends controversial “mental patient” costumes after outrage (27th September) (twitter @Bournemouthecho)
• Channel 4 news
  • I’m a real person – a wife and a mother. And I am bipolar, with Shea Wong (26th September)
  • Mental patients tweet outfits in riposte to Asda & Tesco (26th September)
• Daily Mail newspaper – Now it is revealed Tesco had an ‘inflatable gay best friend’ in its online store… day after it stopped selling mental patient costumes (27th September)
• Guardian  newspaper
  • Asda withdraws ‘mental patient’ Halloween costume – “Thousands react angrily after supermarket website advertises fancy-dress costume that stigmatises mental illness” (26th September)
  • Tesco pulls ‘psycho ward’ costume as consumer complaints mount – “Tesco apologises for ‘Committed’ costume as Asda is forced to withdraw a mental patient fancy dress costume” (26th September)
  • ‘Mental patient’ fancy dress shows how deep offensive stereotypes go in society – “Tesco and Asda have done the decent thing. But we must work to end the stigma about mental health in work, communities, friends – even the NHS” (26th September) by Alistair Campbell (twitter @campbellclaret)
  • Asda, offensive halloween costumes and mental health stigma – “The sale of costumes offensively portraying mental health patients shows there is still a great deal of stigma that needs to be challenged” by Dean Burnett (twitter @garwboy) (26th September)
• Independent newspaper
  • Asda and Tesco apologise over ‘psycho’ costumes (26th September)
  • Tesco apologises after ‘Gay best friend’ doll blows up into a PR disaster (27th September)
  • If it’s not okay to dress as a cancer patient for Halloween, it’s not okay to dress as a mental patient – “We all have physical health and we all have mental health. The two are equal and should be treated that way.” by Ilona Burton (26th September)
• ITV – Asda ‘deeply sorry’ for selling ‘mental patient’ fancy dress costume (25th September)
• Nursing Times – Asda withdraws ‘mental patient’ fancy dress costume – “Supermarket chain Asda has withdrawn a “mental patient” fancy dress costume from sale after the product was deemed distasteful by the public” (26th September) (twitter @nursingtimes)
• Western Mail – What separates a comedian’s exploration of mental illness from a supermarket ‘psycho’ costume? by Darren Devine, interviewing comedian Juliette Burton (twitter @julietteburton)
• Yorkshire Evening Post – Leeds charity’s outrage over fancy dress costume (27th September)

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Overseas media:

• Aljazeera America (US) – Outrage over ‘mental patient’ Halloween costume in UK (27th September) (twitter @amjamstream)
• The Blaze website (US) – Why Were ‘Mental Patient’ And ‘Psycho Ward’ Costumes Pulled From Walmart-Owned Stores? (27th September) Interestingly, the story was filed in the entertainment section of the website – and, when I looked, it was underneath an advertisement for ammunition for a .22 long rifle with the headline, “We supply patriots, not the government”. A poll at the foot of the article asks, Did these Halloween costumes offend you? The choice of answers was “no”, “yes, mental health is no joke” or “I would be OK with them if they didn’t say “psycho2 or “mental”” 76% chose the first option (followed by 14% and 11%).
• Mr Conservative website – Walmart Removes Turban-Themed Bin Laden Halloween Costume From Website After Muslims Complain (28th September)
• Stand Up Kid blog – ‘It’s 2013, not 1813′: From stigma to stunning: brilliant social media response creates community around controversy (27th September) by Mark Joyella, US TV news anchor & reporter (twitter @standupkid)

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Criticisms of the anti-stigma campaign:

• Spiked online-only current affairs mag – Who’s afraid of a Halloween costume? by Ken McLaughlin, senior lecturer in social work at Manchester Metropolitan University

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What does mental illness look like? The head clutcher

The Scream by Edvard Munch, 1895

Once you start to notice them, they seem to be everywhere: the head clutcher. What are they? Not the image above, The Scream, an iconic portrayal of human misery, which has been much copied and parodied. Instead, they are stock pictures trotted out to illustrate media stories with a mental health angle, typically showing someone with their head in their hands.

I’ve tweeted about them before and, last week, I started to do so using the hashtag #headclutcher after seeing one stock photo (below right) appear in 3 separate media stories in the same day! Poor woman.

Head clutcher woman – she’s popular with the press

In this blog post, I’ve drawn together what others have written about the head clutcher, including the blog by tweeter @Huwtube. After seeing my #headclutcher tweets, he wrote an hilarious post entitled The Rise of the Headclutcher, critiquing various such shots. It’s well worth checking out if you want a laugh.

Of course the serious side of this is that using stock head clutcher photos perpetuates an image in the public mind of what mental distress looks like. And, if you don’t meet that stereotype, well clearly you’re not deserving of help.

I’ve commented on this before (here) and I’ve experienced this myself. I can appear confident and cheerful and this counted against me in an Atos medical assessment (for eligibility for state sickness benefits): after checking I could touch my toes and reach overhead, the assessor noted in his written report that, because I had made eye contact, I must be fine. No mental health problems whatsoever. Perhaps if I’d spent the assessment with my head in my hands I’d have met with his expectations of what mental illness looks like and scored more than the zero points I was awarded.

As national anti-stigma campaign Time to Change says (in its guidance to journalists on choosing images to accompany stories with a mental health angle), “Some really strong stories that may include great content and have educational value can be weakened by the use of an inappropriate image”. We can do better. We should do better. We must do better.

Check out the links below for more examples of head clutcher shots, together with others’ blogs on the subject. And, if you come across more head clutcher shots or other stereotypical representations of mental illness in the media, please feel free to add them in the comments below.

Happy head clutching!

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My head clutcher Storify stories (with links):

• What does mental illness look like? The Headclutcher – the original tweets & links
• Head clutcher part 2 – even more links & hilarious suggestions, plus serious comments

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Links to others’ stories on the head clutcher and other media representations of mental illness:

• Psychodiagnosticator blog (twitter: @Huwtube) – Rise of the Headclutchers (29th May)
• Purple Persuasion blog (Charlotte Walker, twitter @bipolarblogger) – No dressing gowns allowed! Photographing mental distress (24th October 2011)
• The World of Mentalists (twitter: @TWOM)_blog) caption competitions – Head-Clutching Guy (22nd January), Long-Haired Head-Clutcher (5th February), Ich bin ein #Headclutcher (6th July)
• Zedcat‘s blog (Twitter: @stfumisogynists) – How to do madness: An illustrated guide (7th March)

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Media guidance:

• Time to Change guidance  – Using images in media stories – The images that are used in stories can be just as damaging as the words or the headlines.

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Other stories about the use of stock photos:

• Independent newspaper – The top ten visual cliches – “This is about reaching for the most obvious image with which to illustrate an abstract subject.” (23rd June)
• The Society Pages – Salad, Desire, and Advertising – on women laughing alone salad ( 7th January 2011)
• Vagenda magazine – Stock Photos of Women Looking Remorseful After Sexual Encounters (6th February)

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Mainstream media stories illustrated by head clutcher pictures (often the same one):

• BBC news loves the head clutcher:
  • Nova ‘Bíblia da psiquiatria’ amplia lista de transtornos e gera polêmica – Head clutcher woman spotted in Portugal! (15th May)
  • Students’ ‘suicidal thoughts’ warning from NUS (20th May)
  • Suicidal woman ‘told to have a cup of tea’ by NHS helpline (22nd May)
  • Two win sickness benefit test legal challenge (22nd May)
  • Put mental health on timetable, schools urged – the” hoody head clutcher”, a new category to illustrate young people’s mental health concerns (5th July)
  • Male suicide: CALM on Department of Heath help for men (9th August) – a rare male head clutcher / wall facer
• Birmingham Mail – Mental health problems linked to rise in crime – “City council and police unite to study effects of service cuts on people disorders” (19th August) – “people disorders”?!
• Guardian newspaper – How to survive in social work – When dealing with hostile and aggressive people you should not take it personally, advises the blogger Masked AMHP (14th June)
• Major Depressive Disorder Symptoms website – Options of Major Depressive Disorder Home Remedies (5th April)
• Mirror newspaper – Mental health: Young at suicide risk as health cuts bite (26th May)
• Money Advice Service – Half of UK workforce fears income loss (8th July) – here’s head clutcher woman worrying about her finances!
• Nottingham Post newspaper is another head clutcher fan:
  • Plans to modernise mental health care – Headclutcher woman spotted in Nottingham! (8th June)
  • A listening ear when it all gets too much at university – Headclutcher man in Nottingham on the same day! (8th June)
• Sunday Express newspaper – Anger at move to ignore views on suffering of the many thousands with mental problems (24th July) – head clutcher man squats in a corridor, alone …
• Telegraph newspaper
  • Buddhist meditation ‘as good as drugs’ at beating depression – Buddhist meditation is just as effective as drugs at combating depression, a study has found (November 2008)
  • One in three absences at work due to anxiety and stress, official Government survey finds – on “fit notes” (26th June)

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Headclutchers in stories by other commentators:

• The Mental Elf (twitter: @MentalElf)
  • Treatment of bipolar in specialised outpatient mood disorder clinics substantially reduces readmissions to psychiatric hospitals (19th March)
  • More evidence needed on additional interventions to reduce mortality in older people with depression (13th August)
  • Preventing or reducing domestic violence against pregnant women: more studies desperately needed (14th August)
  • We ignore the rise of suicide in people with mental illness (20th August) .

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Laughing at mental illness – good news for Russell Howard

I really enjoy radio and TV comedy and comedy clubs. As I tweeted a couple of weeks ago:

“I love laughing. And this comedy series with @RussellHoward always ends with an uplifting story.”

My tweet included a link to the BBC Three show Russell Howard’s Good News. This show, now in its eighth series, is written by Howard and is a light hearted upbeat sample of the previous week’s news stories. The show includes lots of humorous video clips and newspaper headlines, a mystery guest with a whimsical skill which Howard samples on stage, and ends with an unashamedly cheesy story. The show’s material is tested in front of an audience on Sunday, filmed on Tuesday then the show airs on Thursday. It’s the channel’s most successful entertainment show ever.

Last Thursday, to warm people up for the new series that started tonight, Howard’s 2011 stage show Right Here, Right Now was broadcast. The tour played to over 200,000 fans and is one of Howard’s best selling DVDs. That’s a whole lot of people laughing along to the series of jokes I was shocked to see Howard tell on the theme of “madness” and “lunacy”.

Here was Mr Upbeat, Mr Uplifting Story, Mr “It’s not all doom and gloom”, telling jokes using mental illness as an insult. Not only that, the routine repeated inaccurate and damaging stereotypes, linking mental illness with violence.

I wondered why Howard, in particular, was going for cheap jokes and easy stereotypes. Perhaps comedians have run out of groups to laugh at. Perhaps they think laughing at mental illness is still okay, now they’re not supposed to tell racist or homophobic jokes any more. Why not laugh at people who can’t stand up and challenge it, for fear of being the subject of stigma and discrimination themselves? Go for it. It’s easy to laugh at autistic children, as Howard did in his mental illness routine. Fair game.

Last week, a flyer came through my letterbox for a local comedy club. I’d love to go again. I used to sit in the front row with a foot resting on the stage, waiting to be picked on, enjoying every moment of the show.

Would it be the same if I were to go now? How would I feel now if I were in a comedy club and the comedian started telling jokes that make fun of mental illness? What would I do? Laugh along? Sit it out? Heckle? Leave?

What about you? You’re in a comedy club. You’re enjoying an evening out with your friends. The comedian’s really funny. And then the jokes about mental illness start.

Not jokes based on the teller’s personal experience – it can be good to laugh at ourselves after all, especially if the joke is really funny. But no. Jokes that use mental illness as an insult. Jokes that equate mental illness with stupidity. Jokes that repeat dangerous stereotypes, like people with mental illness are violent. Jokes that aren’t clever and aren’t funny. Jokes where the mental illness punchline is throw in where in the past a racist or homophobic stereotype would have done the same job.

Would you laugh along at the jokes, trying to blend in? Would you sit it out, hoping no-one noticed you, waiting for that segment of the routine to pass? Would you excuse yourself quietly and go to the toilet or get a drink from the bar while the routine played out, then rejoin your group? Would you quietly walk out, leaving the comedian and audience to laugh at mental illness while you go elsewhere, or go home?

Would you walk out noisily? Would you heckle the comedian? Would you call out something witty to make him think twice about poking fun with people with mental health problems? How would you feel? What would you do?

Take a look at the varied responses of the lovely twitter people here.

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• My Storify of tweets with a discussion with the lovely twitter people about comedians making fun of mental illness
• Russell Howard’s website
• Russell Howard’s Good News – new series starts tonight
• On twitter: Russell Howard’s Good News and Russell Howard
• If you’d like to contact Russell Howard, you can do so through his managers, Avalon Management and here
• Book free tickets to see the recording of the current series of Russell Howard’s Good News
• Clip from Right Here, Right Now – “That’s not music, that’s mental illness!”
• Clip from series 3 – mentally ill toys

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Psychiatrist humour: the alternative DSM-5?

Happy New Year and thank you for taking the time to read my blog.

I do enjoy a good laugh, and sometimes it’s psychiatrists helping me to find my funny bone. First there was UK psychiatrist Dopamine Diva. Back in December, she revealed what she’d really like to say when asked, “Will these tablets turn me into a zombie …?”). That conversation still makes me laugh 2 weeks later.

Now there’s more hilarity from US psychiatrist Satirical Shrink, who tweets as @SatiricalShrink. She’s summarised, in 140 characters or less, 10 common psychiatric diagnoses using the hashtage #DimeStorePsychiatry.

It got me thinking that maybe US psychiatrists could do away with all the drama and controversy surrounding the rewrite of their psychiatric reference manual, the DSM-IV, and just use these 10 Twitter categories instead. Have a look for yourself and see what you think.

Remember, the clue is in the name: these tweets are satirical. They’re not intended as judgments.

Lesson #1: The Narcissist, aka Prima Donna. Plus: Life of the party. Minus: No one else can attend.

Lesson #2: Obsessive-Compulsive, aka Anal Retentive. Plus: Tends to be neat. Minus: Tends to be maddening.

Lesson #3: Paranoid, aka Conspiracy Theorist. Plus: Picks up on cues. Minus: Cues usually wrong.

Lesson #4: Addict, aka Drunk or Dope Fiend. Plus: Likes to have fun. Minus: Likes to be numb.

 Lesson #5 Passive-Aggressive aka Dawdler/Martyr. Plus: Easy to get along with. Minus: Hard to get along with.

Lesson #6: The Depressive, aka Eeyore. Plus: Emotionally sensitive. Minus: Emotional baggage.

Lesson #7 The Control Freak, aka Backseat Driver. Plus: Highly productive. Minus: Highly eruptive.

Lesson #8 The Phobic, aka Yellow Belly. Plus: Always prepared. Minus: Always scared.

Lesson #9 (my personal fav) The Rage-aholic, aka Loose Cannon. Plus: Strong-willed. Minus: Strong lungs.

Lesson #10 The Sociopath, aka Con Man. Plus: Really charming. Minus: Really harming.

Do you recognise yourself or anyone you know in these tweets? I know I do! Let me know in the comments section below what you think of these categories, and any ones you think should be added in.

A bit about Satirical Shrink. Her Twitter bio is, “Teaching Physician. Psychiatrist. Writer. Raging workaholic, working rageaholic. Out of rehab and in denial. No, you can’t have any fucking Xanax”. She decribes her location as, “5th Circle of Hell” (though appears to be based in the US). Her current Twitter pic is to the left.

Here’s a link to the Storify story of Satirical Shrink’s tweets. Hope you enjoy them as much as I did.

I’ll add more psychiatrist humour as I come across it. Never underestimate the power of laughter.

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Happy Christmas Atos!

A collection of tweet stories on the Atos Work Capability Assssment (WCA) process:

• The Atos letter thuds onto the doormat. This is what it felt like when the Atos form thudded onto the doormat. This is what the form looks like. Storify story with tweets & photos.
• Mental health & Atos: how can I convalesce? A Storify story (with tweets) about what it feels like to be faced with the start of the Atos process.
• Mental health & Atos: should I come off the drugs? A Storify story (with tweets) on what to do about the sedation and lack of motivation and focus that can be side effects of some psychiatric drugs.
• Mental health & Atos: treating it like a game. A Storify story (with tweets) on trying to stay afloat during the Atos process.
• Mental health & Atos: waiting for advice. A Storify story (with tweets) about waiting for help from the Community Mental Health Team to complete the Atos form.
• Happy Christmas Atos! How to make your Atos form less intimidating (Storify story here.

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Tuesday 5th February 2013: I was finally able to put my Atos form in the post. Not complete, but as complete as I could make it with the limited help provided. With services at CMHT slashed (eg almost all the support workers have been let go), if you can’t do these things on your own you’re pretty much stuffed.

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Will these tablets turn me into a zombie …?

Here’s a link to an hilarious conversation I had with Dopamine Diva, who tweets as @Dopamine_Diva and describes herself as, “Mildly eccentric psychiatrist. Not always completely euthymic myself. I like chocolate, knitting and rock music.”

The photo on the left is her Twitter pic.

Dopamine Diva says she’s frequently asked, “Will these tablets turn me into a zombie?” “To which I reply, ‘No. My aim is to get you well and doing the things you want to do. If they make you sleepy, I’ll change them’.

“However I’d prefer to say, ‘Yes. Yes they will. It will be awesome, and we can see if the hospital’s Zombie Plan is any good.'”

Which still makes me laugh every time I read it.

Here’s a link to a Storify story of the original tweets. Well worth reading if you want a belly laugh.

Of course the flip side to the story is that commonly prescribed psychiatric medications like antipsychotics can be highly sedating. That’s why they’re prescribed for insomnia. And (because of their weight gain properties) also for anorexia. And becoming a fat zombie isn’t so funny after all.

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Mental health: psychiatrist bingo

Here are some tweets I sent this afternoon after coming out of an appointment with my psychiatrist.

These appointments tend to be fairly hard going and, no matter how I try, I tend to come out of them feeling fairly flattened by his bulldozing and bullying.

I try various tricks to try to get myself through them. Now I generally try to just speak when spoken to and respond only to my psychiatrist’s questions rather than offering something of my own. But sometimes I do need to ask something. Such as what happened to the referral my psychiatrist made in June … But no good can come from that.

So this time it was “Psychiatrist Bingo“: mentally ticking off my psychiatrists pet phrases or behaviours each time one popped out. And often they came out more than once. Here’s a link to the Storify story.

Why do I put myself through these appointments? Because my GP, with whom I have a good relationship, really doesn’t feel confident in managing my condition without back up from an expert. Because being seen by a psychiatrist at the Community Mental Health Team is a gateway to other services (like the day centre I’ve just joined). Because I’ll need a letter from a psychiatrist as part of the pending Atos work capability assesment (WCA) process.

What would I like in a psychiatrist? Simple: someone who worked with me as a partner on a journey towards health. I’ve tried to build that relationship with my psychiatrist. Utterly fruitless. Hence Psychiatrist Bingo. Because, if you can’t have a healthcare partnership, at least you can have a laugh (or at least smile inwardly whilst looking deferential).

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Mental health: you can’t dye your hair red!

Here’s a Storify story I put together with my tweets and other tweeps’ hilarious responses when I started off by tweeting:

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“Downsides of having a mental health diagnosis: you can’t dye your hair red or be grumpy & opinionated without it being considered a symptom.”

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It’s a serious point: everything is considered a symptom and we can even start needlessly pathologising our own ordinary everyday experience once we’ve had a diagnosis. Well, there’s more to life than a mental health diagnosis.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the tweets!

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Update: February 2014

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