Does anyone else get annoyed with the fact that everything nowadays has a label on it from clothes to health conditions. I am not saying labels in MH dont have their place because of course they do but it seems that there is a perceived "norm" in society determined by things like culture, and if you remotely step out of the norm then there is something wrong with you and you need to be categorised and put in a box. Reminds me of that song "little boxes".

I am just as guilty of doing this as anyone when making a diagnosis at work and also in my own life too. Plus I am guilty of have perceived notions of what a label means without them necessarily being right.

I wonder what would happen if we were a bit less hung up about pigeon holing people in and effort to understand them and instead too them more on face value.

Probably wouldn't work tho lol

Hope you are all well

Hugs

Cracked

I was doing some IE in DBT group last night and my friend helped me figure out why I had difficulty saying no.

I was abused and the first time I said no did not end well. I did not say it again.

Being in a missionary situation made me feel like I was not allowed to say no as I dont want to be selfish as that is a sin.

I dont want to make my Mum sad by saying no to her like she was after Dad died.

I am just noting this down so I remember - not that I think I am likely to forget tbh. But at least I know where it comes from and that means I can do some work on it.

Hope you are all well

Hugs

Cracked

I am doing a twice weekly online group where we discuss DBT and its use in everyday life. It is not a therapy group and I have never had DBT but I have picked up stuff from the group and found it useful. I thought I would share what I have learnt.

DBT (dialectical behavioural therapy) is comprised of 4 parts; core mindfulness (CM), interpersonal effectiveness (IE), distress tolerance (DT) and emotional regulation (ER)

CM. This is about being in the moment and not thinking about things other than that. Mindfulness can be experienced in different way; feeling, seeing, hearing, smelling etc. And there can be combinations of these senses e.g. what you can see and hear. If you take a minute to look round the room you are in, what can you see, hear, smell? If you focus on this then you are not thinking about the things that are bothering you. Try doing an exercise by looking on youtube for a clip such as waves or lava and watching and listening to the clip to see what you notice.

IE. I have trouble with this. It is about being assertive and saying things like what you want or need and the word "no" which I find very difficult. IE teaches you ways to express your needs effectively and to put boundaries in place for yourself. Definitely a work in progress!

DT. This is about putting a gap between the emotion you are feeling and an unhelpful action. So feeling bad and self harming or drinking excessively. You can use all sorts of distraction to help you with this - take your pick. I find looking at vids on youtube in a mindfulness way helps but think about what would help you.

ER. This is about lifestyle and doing things to try to maximise good emotions and feeling better about life. So eating properly, sleeping properly, exercising and other be good to yourself things. And avoiding things which are bad for you such as drugs and too much booze.

DBT is really useful and can be used for all sorts of mental health conditions. It might be worth looking into. If you want to check things out for yourself you can go to www.dbtselfhelp.com

Hope you are well

Hugs

Cracked

I have had quite a busy weekend.

Yesterday morning I started by leading the online DBT group I am part of which is really helpful for so many different mental illnesses, and very helpful to me esp as I have so many different mental illnesses...

Then I had a choir performance at the regional forensic unit. It was a bit nerve wracking as I last was there for a GMC assessment, plus there are some pretty dodgy characters there. But the performance went well which was good. I had two solos which seemed to go OK too.

Then I went shopping in the lovely charity shops on my high street plus I got a lovely haircut for too much money but I dont care as it made me feel all good about myself.

Today I had church - where I was a christingle lighter, oh the responsibility. Plus I surrepticiously finally found out the name of the nice man who is half of a couple who are really nice to me there.

I hope you have all had good days.

Hugs

Cracked

The GMC are gits
David Cameron is a tit
I loath people who are rude
And those who are a prude

I hate Jeremy Kyle
And all his stupid bile
Raw tomatoes are the pits
So is getting zits

I hate PMT
And ppl who are "just lovely"
Sarcasm is not wit
You know who you are - you are a git

The X factor is dire
I hate those who are a liar
Smug marrieds piss me off
Ppl who say "boff" (wtf is that about)

I hate my consultant psych
She was likely the college bike
She colludes with the GMC
Who need shooting by the army

Am I grumpy, yes
I am under stress
I will eff off, fine
This is the end of my rhyme

Hope you are all OK

Hugs

Cracked