The symbiotic cure for analysis

It’s a curious thing and a paradox that in order to cure analysis we have to analyse what we do when we are analysing things. Psychology is no exception. A paradox means you have an eternal loop of conflicting ideas.

Symbiotic relationships though are in essence those which do work. Symbiotic means that all sides benefit to their own satisfaction with regard to their needs being met; not wants being met - needs always outrank our desires when it comes to health. Another curious point to make is that we are not always aware of any, never mind all, the successful relationships we have with others that help us to be well. When we are mentally ill this is certainly true.  The fact that someone does deliver the local paper to your door inadvertently can help you access information which could lead to a happier lifestyle which then ends up one day getting reported in the local newspaper is but one example of many symbiotic relationships. It could lead to you seeing a job advert or a social event which makes all the difference to changing your life round for better.

When we look for trouble we will always find what we seek. When we look for illness we become ill because that is what we ‘want’ to find. We automatically want to be right about our suspicions so much that we become self-fulfilling prophesies of our own futures. We simply have to want to be well enough then, right? Sadly it isn’t that simple as real cruelty still pollutes and taints our planet but where does that stem from? Is there a desire to wake up in the morning to be vile to others without so much as a moment’s pause in that goal? The answer is no. Cruelty often stems from hurts sustained and very deep wounds. It might also stem from us genetically but we can never be sure as how people respond and react to us can literally alter the course of our lives. Another perpetual loop except and Catch 22/chicken and egg situation it seems.

If we are born genetically programmed to torture others, then in theory, given that our upbringing is equally as powerful an influence we can program that out of people. On the other side of the equation is the opposite argument that if we are born into a cruel upbringing then genetic advances can help us overcome the natural inclination to hit back via medication. That’s all very well so long as no one mucks things up at a critical point to remind us of our troubles and perhaps that is the one missing link we all need to be most vigilante of.

People generally are not born to be cruel or to torture others, they learn how to do it. If negative behaviour can be learned, then so too can positive behaviour but when do we know that people are truly fit to be trusted again? The answer is at present that we don’t, but does that mean we shouldn’t try to?

Recently in the UK our news channels have been awash with stories of corruption and nasties, from rape and child abuse to corruption from religious groups, governments, media, the world of business, police, councils, community services including the health care provision itself. Is it our true nature as a species to be corrupt? Are we infact nothing more than a cancer upon our own planet destined to always veer toward self-destruction? If so, then no one could know more about how to pull away from self-destruction than those who have felt compelled to try to take their own life. For them to pull away from that option and to do so repeatedly in the vast majority of cases is a testament to their courage and to the fact that mental health care is improving, albeit all too gradually. But why is it? Well because of people like us asking awkward, profound and fundamental questions and beginning to get somewhere with the answers.

The new kid on the block that seems to be making the difference is psychology. Psychologists have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world because unlike psychiatrists, their role is not to identify and treat with pills and potions, but to treat with little more than words (backed up by masses of research and study). We all loathe being subjected to intense scrutiny, that process alone is enough to cause trauma and distress and yet miracles happen and lives are converted from veering toward the cliff edge and the abyss of all things negative and painful to stepping away from the precipice to amble toward all things joyous, happy, positive, empowering, fulfilling and healing. Not only that but they do so in an increasingly safe manner with the aid of a trunk load of tricks in the form of creative outlets. And there is no limit to what forms positive and safe creativity can take.

Example: Writing has been traditionally thought of as beneficial to express emotions. Feelings cannot be transient (passing through us) unless they are let out. Therefore writing poems, stories and journals has so far been a favoured method of helping people. What if though, writing of any kind can help? If writing a report for work, or compile statistics keeps our minds occupied in something productive in a safe way works then do it. It works so long as we never over do it and never over analyse.

The Arts have always been far more forgiving of missed deadlines than the world of business, but it need not remain so if people can remember that health must come first in order to get even business decisions products, services and activities right. Can we not steer our own course in that direction? After all which is preferable, survival or destruction? This applies to companies as much as people for there too what we should be striving toward are symbiotic relationships between the company (which is an inanimate concept, ie a company is not a person) and all those who work for it. That means all who work for it, not just the higher ranks. Leaders are always better served and more profitable when those they lead have the desire to do their best; they tend to struggle when they bully as work is then done begrudgingly with many more mistakes that the staff care less and less about. In other words, be it work or home life, it pays to be more forgiving and compassionate toward others than not as everyone feels happier and achieves more and above all, there is less illness.

The cure of analysis itself is to live a simple life away from that part of it that is detrimental to our health, which is precisely where our regular contributors are right now. We need a simpler life. This does not need mean we will not return.

“Nothing is written in stone until we carve it
there ourselves.”

It's best to be careful as to what we choose to carve and how we do so.

We will leave the door open as to whether or not we will be posting thoughts again on here, so it’s not good bye from us, merely adieu for now. Besides, this site was intended to empower others to do even better than we have. As it stands we only have one more posting before 2014 planned.

To all those who fight to heal, patients and medical staff; researchers and community services...  thank you and good luck. We survive if we can for as long as we can by counting the numbers saved and honouring those we loose. “Tally ho!” from all at Mindwalking.

The Emperor's Clothes

The story of the Emperor's new clothes is this: An Emperor is conned into buying the most wonderful new suit of clothes by a couple of con merchants and none of the Emperor's entourage has the courage to tell him that actually there is nothing there. The clothes are not invisible, the do not exist. The only person who is brave enough to say so is a small boy, and more or less, that is where to story ends depending on which version you read.

If we translate that into our real world the Emperor could be an organisation, an employer, a powerful or influential person, a boss, a parent or just someone everyone else adores. The small boy would be anyone of disadvantage and/or anyone who just, out of sheer innocence or ignorance of what the Emperor believes, speaks out. When we talk about such Emperor's in the real world though, these clothes are not new at all.

"An error does not become truth by reason 
of multiplied propagation, nor does truth 
become error because nobody sees it. " 
Gandhi

1. Imagine if you will, that you are being bullied at work.

2. Imagine you are being stalked or suffering from physical, psychological, sexual or financial abuse. 

3. Imagine you have a brilliant solutions for a problem.

4. Take another scenario that you fear that someone is at risk of committing suicide and you are a child that no one will listen to.

5. Imagine you are unemployed and your benefits have been stopped for no legitimate reason.

6. Imagine that you have not been paid your wages by a multinational company and you are of low rank in the organisation.

7. Imagine that you cannot not communicate and/or have no communication devices and you have serious problems that you need help with.

8. Imagine that you are starving or homeless.

9. Imagine you are stranded and do not know where help is to be found because there is no information or signposts to it.

Now imagine you are any of the above and have (or have had) a mental illness that you openly tell people about. What do you think your chances are of being heard properly or taken seriously are?

British Law changed in October 2010 by way of the Equality Act. The Equality Act seeks to eradicate ALL prejudice without any indication as to how it is to be done. It may now be illegal in the UK, but it supplies no indication of how it is to be upheld. The only way to find out is to enter into a long winded, expensive and extremely stressful litigation action. (You take the culprit to court) where your opponent still has the advantage because it usually has the money and the contacts to discredit you totally - hardly fair, hardly just.

There are numerous organisations out there that can help in theory, but alarmingly they have all been hit extremely hard by recent cuts from the government, they include: Mind, Rethink, ACAS, Citizens Advice Bureau and even access to legal aid has been cut. Good intent can be far more damaging than the most malicious of intentions if it is not properly implemented and thought through.

The process is made all the more difficult when it is a powerful organisation or government department, e.g. a bereaved person on benefits that I know of was subjected to stoppage after stoppage after stoppage for two years with no reason. When they finally got an appointment to sort it out at a job centre, the member of staff said "Yes, gosh, it is in a mess isn't it? But I haven't got time to sort it today and I'm on holiday for month tomorrow." It took two years to get it sorted via the Parliamentary Ombudsman (you need to go via your MP for that) and the outcome was: that the DWP was at fault but that as the person was bereaved it didn't merit any compensation, not even so far as their credit rating being restored. 

As indicated in my article of last month, even the health care sector itself has insufficient safeguards and knowledge of how to prevent mental illness among its own staff and if that is the case then what hope is there for anyone else understanding the need of the mentally ill to be heard and more to the point, understood and helped?

There is something very important to consider here...

10. Imagine that you are so mentally ill that you are imagining any of the above.

Therein lies the nub of the problem when it comes to providing support for anyone with signs of mental illness and sadly there are people who will lie to get what they want even at the expense of honest folk e.g. women who pretend they have been raped who in my opinion, need psychiatric intervention in addition to a prison sentence. Fortunately such cases are rare but because they exist at all it causes damage in the form of genuinely distressed and desperate people not being heard and not being helped, whether they are in need of a living allowance, need of an advocate such as a lawyer or need of a doctor's appointment.

However, I would rather risk the occasional fraudster receiving support than risk a genuine person in need ever going without it as it literally costs lives and seriously jeopardises their chance of anything like a quality of life. This includes taking someone seriously to begin with even when you suspect they are imagining things or lying. Why? Because if you don't you might be wrong and there are ALWAYS ways to corroborate the truth. There are always evidence to prove or disprove anything. 

You do not have to be mentally ill to be treated unfairly, but once you have been so treated the likelihood is that you will be mentally ill for a very long time with all manner of trust issues if nothing else.

I am currently off work with work related stress and our Human Resources Department expects me to attend an Occupational Health assessment while I am ill. If I was a scaffolder with leg in plaster this would not happen and during such an absence the cause of the accident would be investigated and the risk reduced. Not so when it comes to stress at work which in itself is a form of mental illness. What is worse is that anyone with any mental health history has it continually raked over, dredged up as soon as they mention they are unhappy. Everything about that person is in question.

If a ‘normal’ person were to be subjected to the same treatment, then (call me crazy for this one), but I have a hunch they would end up with serious mental health problems. We will never prevent mental illness when the world continues to rake up everything that is painful to ANY individual. 

And what of the little boy who shouts that “the Emperor has no clothes!” sadly, whether you are mentally ill or not, if you don’t have means and you don’t have solid connections the reaction will most likely be one of resentment and intense wrath. No one likes it when it is pointed out that they have been foolish, far less those who have power. When that is done so publicly, as it is in the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, and indeed in real life throughout the media, then guess what? The Emperor suffers mental anguish as a result i.e. mental illness.

"The most potent weapon of the oppressor 
is the mind of the oppressed." 

Steven Biko 

I have always advocated that anyone with a mental health history who wishes to speak out needs to do so anonymously to protect themselves, particularly when they are low, are poor and when they have no one to defend them. I’d like to update that. I would now highly recommend that for anyone who is not in a position of power with regard to any situation at all.

The real world is a troubled one. It is riddled with hypocrisy and it only takes a few, a very few to spoil this beautiful planet of ours. So it is wise, if not essential to be cautious, to be wary and if that means you need to be paranoid to keep yourself safe from harm, then be that too, but still speak out or we can never hope to rectify anything at all – just do it safely.

Take your time to trust people, choose your words carefully and your tone of voice and wherever possible only speak out about your issues when you are calm, fed, well rested and when the emotions are largely out of the way first so that you can think clearly enough to communicate. “We are never in control when we are angry” is something I have been reminded of recently and how true it is.

The exception is the professional teams who are there to help you (when you find a good one). With them write down what you need. Write down what you do not need. And only afterwards write down what has happened. That way you will begin to understand how to fix whatever it is that has gone wrong.

We can never remedy anything without facing it and we all make mistakes but it is very much what we do about them and in the how we fix them as well as who helps that really makes the difference. A former GP of mine said, “Do not dismiss support from unlikely sources as just occasionally they can be the very thing you were looking for.”

Luckily my new doctor is turning out to be fabulous, so fabulous in fact that he promises to read this blog site and being head of the practice, he’s already had a word with the receptionist that I found so exasperating. So you see, you can get help if you are prepared to want it enough and fight for it enough. Though I must say, it comes to something when you have to know more than those who are supposed to be experts, (not that it applies to my new doc).

But what of the little boy in the story? What can he learn? He would be far safer to say “Is the Emperor wearing any clothes? Where is the proof?” And to do so privately, or send a note to the Emperor although even that may all to easily result in terrible retributions. Far better then to ensure that he has people to defend and protect him first before saying anything at all.

"We think sometimes that poverty is only 
being hungry, naked and homeless. 
The poverty of being unwanted, 

unloved and uncared for is 
the greatest poverty."
Mother Teresa

I am angry with the world and the older I get the shorter my fuse and the angrier I get with all it's very human errors which I make too because I am product of this world just as much as anyone else - but I refuse to take the blame for all it's mistakes on my own. I own up to mine and do my best to rectify them as soon as I can. Why doesn't everyone? It amounts to about 200,000 thousand years of human errors so far according to the Smithsonian Institute, somewhat shorter if you believe in God but its still between 2-6 thousand years. The trouble with anger is that it ultimately only ever serves to destroy those who are angry. The remedy to that is never to act when one is angry but to let those feelings run their course away from others and subside. If there is a God then surely we should focus on the ethics and not the origin of our species to get the recipe right, because either you cut it ethics is the key to us all being able to co-exist peacefully.

I can only hope that all Emperors (and Empresses for that matter) have the good sense to listen to small children some day and that that day will be very soon for all of us. I hope too, and firmly believe that honourable people will always say thank-you, sorry, make amends and recompense those injured of their own volition and will do so privately for what is their part in causing such misery and suffering. What is so often the case is the errors made are nothing more than a silly, petty error of judgement which we all are and can be guilty of. When all is said and done, it is the con men that pretend to be tailors beyond compare that ought to be reigned in, if not punished... is it not?

We are all complicit when allowing the con men of this world to get away with their villainy - the courtiers, the general public and the little boys who see the truth but say nothing. High time I think, that the whole world stopped and thought about what advice it is actually seeking, who from and why they are seeking it; as well as what its aims are, and how to sensibly and above all, safely, proceed.

"The weak can never forgive.
Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."
Gandhi

I could cite hundreds of pearls of wisdom if not thousands from around the globe, from every century, from every culture, race and religion and age group on this planet but I'll close with this final quote from a man that managed to save three lives that we know of. Just three but if we could all do that then there would be no unnecessary anger or deaths. We can never eradicate death or suffering. People die of natural causes, from disasters as well as from malicious intent and silly errors but we can certainly minimise the risks if we keep fighting to get that little bit closer to increasing compassion for those that are left behind trying to fight. With compassion comes a little bit more sense, a little bit more humanity and above all else... HOPE for absolutely everyone.

"Let's work the problem people. Let's not make things worse by guessing." Gene Kranz

I have a hunch Gene Kranz's words have just saved a few hundred more lives... if not more.

PS: I have to confess that the last three articles in particular have had a lot of input from others for me to be able to write them. Sadly I have, since writing this article learnt of someone who is so traumatised by the DWP benefit system that they are selling their belongings to get money to buy food as they refuse to go back on benefits. I used to be proud of being British, today I am not. 
I would particularly like to thank an anonymous retired psychologist in Australia for their support at this time, not least for giving me the courage to continue to write. As before, early signs are America is reading and the UK is disinterested. OK it's a bigger country, but this is a UK problem right? Or is it quite possible global?

Please do not expect me to blog for a while... I feel the need to rest, but if it's that important...

Thank you for reading and caring enough to do so.

Preventing errors = preventing illness

Recently I had to see my new GP in a different practice as I swapped, to seek advice. Just like last year I had to battle with the receptionist to stress the urgency of my need as I was aware that I had been angry for over a week, couldn't sleep, wasn't eating properly, hadn't washed or changed my clothes. I was tempted to let rip and in retrospect perhaps I should have because I am so weary of battling to get access to the support I need when I need it most. I was almost at the point of just giving up altogether and trying to heal myself entirely on my own for things I have no way of knowing how to heal myself on rather than endure the humiliating, distressing and extremely stressful ordeal of trying to get to see the doctor of my choice i.e. the only one I felt comfortable with talking to.

Perhaps I should have yelled at the top of my lungs that I was mentally ill and for all she knew I was about to commit murder. I finally did got a phone call from from my GP who openly admitted to his lack of knowledge on mental health, so I was able to instruct him as to exactly what I required and he carried out my instructions but how ludicrous! Would a cancer sufferer be expected to do the same, or someone with tonsillitis or any other type of ailment. On the other hand it is no surprise that I know more than him as you will see if you read on.

Fortunately he followed my instructions and everything is in hand again because luckily for me I can articulate my needs because I know what they are, but... what would have happened if that had not been the case or I was a first time sufferer? Why is it that mental health conditions are continually shoved to the bottom of the queue by an unqualified receptionist for emergency appointments at the first point of contact and that General Practitioners still know so little about mental health themselves?

As sufferers we need to be responsible enough not to waste a doctor's time, but as sufferers when we are in a state of crisis that is a totally unrealistic expectation to impose upon us. As sufferers are we any wiser than a GP in prescribing which medication to use? 

It is neither ethical nor helpful if the medical profession to be working in the dark in this way, however, it's not really surprising that first line services (Primary Care Trusts/GPs) are ignorant about what patients need when the whole of the health care profession itself is so woefully lax in preventing mental illness among their own staff.

The statistics on health and social care professionals suffering from mental illness and committing suicide show that they are at higher risk of problems than just about any other profession you can think of. You can either 'cut it' or you can't seems to be the universal perception when often the conditions under which they work are frankly unreasonable, e.g. long hours without a break, swapping from days to night shifts continually with not enough time for their body clocks to adjust, low pay, not enough time for the mountains of forms they have to fill in and log jams caused by often long winded and ill thought out, clunky, inefficient administrative systems.

When the Care Quality Commission (CQC) makes it's assessments of services it's remit does not have provision to look at the psychological needs of the staff that provide any form of care. This can result in the best staff burning out, leaving the weaker and less dedicated staff to 'hold the fort'. Is it any wonder then that abuse cases hit the headlines as without diligent alert staff there to protect vulnerable people, abusers have free reign to enter into theft, neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse for ANY kind of service at all.

In the three months that I was sectioned (over ten years ago now), three members of staff were suspected of abuse and suspended immediately pending investigation. The mental health facility I was in about eight staff for 40 patients on days and less staff on nights on the main ward. Three staff were also allocated to the Intensive Observational Unit (IOU).

It is a miracle to anyone can recover when surrounded by other distressed and sometimes very violent patients and with such unsavoury characters working there. One was allegedly grooming female staff into having sex, another was standing guard while their colleague (a female) had sex with a male patient in the Intensive Observation Unit. It is perhaps among sufferers of mental illness that the fear of whistle blowing and not being believed is highest but, we are there to get better, not to accumulate psychological problems.

In an emergency you could call the police, but I suspect if you are sectioned it's pot luck as to whether you would be believed. However, there is also the CQC (Care Quality Commission http://www.cqc.org.uk, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA Phone: 03000 616161) for any form of abuse or concern you wish to report. They are duty bound to respond as they are the body that regulate health care services in the UK.

How do we prevent abuse from health care providers?
In my view, in order to safeguard against abuse and illness I believe we should ensure all health and social care employers have to abide by work time directives and Employment Laws as this is not at all common practice. This should be monitored by the Care Quality Commission as part of it's normal inspection process along with psychologists to do regular checks on the staff who work in health and social care. In addition regular surveys on staff morale and stress levels as well as surveys from service users regardless of illness or disability about their care would I think help.

All staff in all sections of health and social care desperately need to be educated about mental illness if only to safeguard their own health let alone be better equipped to help us and, they need to be vetted more stringently before entering embarking upon their careers in the first place. It is alarming that an independent care home or even an NHS service can have fewer mental health awareness induction initiatives or psychological checks on new staff than a charity such as MIND or AgeUK but sadly it is often true.

Such things cost money though don't they? Well, according to HMRC (the taxman to you and me) we as a nation are owed an estimated thirty billion pounds, but according to according to the Tax Justice Network and PCS we are owed £120 billion pounds by... tax avoided, evaded and uncollected. I think a slice of that pie should definitely go toward better training, better staff, more stringent safeguards and oh yes more education on mental health!

Perhaps if more of us were employed we'd be able to sort it including many a long winded, inefficient, clunky administrative system. Is it any wonder that I have trust issues to get sorted?

Just my opinion though, you don't have to agree.

PLEASE NOTE: Written in a calm mood, not an angry one. We can only sort problems by getting to the root of them and through collecting ideas for the best solution.

A soul-to-soul felt thank you

I would like to say a thank you to the thousands of honourable health care professionals who literally risk their health in order to help all of us, be it on mental health or for anything else. Without them I would not be able to pick myself up again and again and again. It is for you that I dedicate this article. This is no way alters the fact that we need reforms to educate, improve systems and safeguard your health.
Thank you for being there and THANK YOU for doing what you do under such trying circumstances. It really shouldn't be this way, I hope one day it will become easier and safer for all.

PS: Since publishing this there have been interesting developments but confidentiality forbids me to say what, but I can tell you that globally Russia and USA are taking more interest than the UK at the moment. Typical.