Saturday 22 March 2014

Mental Illness is an equal opportunities employer.

My husband has an observation which always make me laugh. When he used to visit me in hospital, he would see me chatting with my fellow patients on the ward. Usually I was to be found in the smoking room or somewhere being fairly sociable if I was in the mood. For me, there is nothing in the world quite like the shared experience of fellow psychiatric patients when we sit talking together. There are times when I have never laughed harder.  My husband says it is like witnessing the biggest in-joke in the world.

I feel a particular private freedom and license to be truly and wonderfully myself in this context. Why ? I have not one jot of fear of stigma or judgement about anything that I could say. Not a one. I may not have the same point of view as someone else, I may not look, talk or think the same way and we may come from social worlds a thousand miles apart. But what we have in common is so excrutiatingly deep that I feel a sense of belonging that transcends description.

This sense of belonging is a double edged sword though. We don't all sit together on the ward having a non-stop fraternity love-in. Most of us will at some point feel.... "Oh my God, is this me ? Is this who I am ? One of them ?"

Remember mental illness couldn't care less if you are a member of the Royal family, or born to a crack addict single mum on a housing estate or if you have a  learning difficulty or physical disability. 1 in 4 people currently suffer from a mental illness. When we regard each other we are not blind to these differences. As such we can feel drawn to someone or uncomfortable around them just as we would if we had not met because of our mental health situation. Either way, it's irrelevant because when we feel "Oh god is this me ? Am I really one of them? " the resounding answer is actually no. We are infinitely unique. We are not the same.

This is the point that the 1 in 4 people in the world would like the 3 in 4 to understand. Absolutely anyone can suffer so please stop the stigma. BUT here's the thing .... consciously or subconsciously the 3 in 4 know this perfectly well already which is why they are afraid. Fear and stigma are close bedfellows. When we fear something, we are programmed to distance ourselves from it because at a basic biological level we perceive it as a potential threat.

Fortunately, The discoveries of neuroscience explain to us the phenomenon called “neuroplasticity” which is the ability of our brains and minds to change. For example, thinking even only once in a different way about something changes a neural pathway in the brain. What this means is that potentially the next time we encounter that same thought we link up to the time we had a different opinion. Then the choice of how we think or react has opened up because we have been informed. This is how stigma is defeated. Thought by thought, conversation by conversation. This is how we see change occurring. This is how we transform.

I did. I changed my mind about myself. And I set myself free.



Photographs are of sculptures by Toin Adams http://www.toinadams.com/





2 comments:

  1. Mind blowing...absolutely mind blowing (though that maybe a poor choice of words but I think you know what I mean). One very brave and strong woman, we send you our respect,support and love. Thinking of you too Mr dB. Tim and Fi x

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  2. Thank you both. Very much appreciated, especially from such dedicated healthcare professional as yourselves. Much love to you x

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