mind.org.uk recent publications

Mental Health Awareness Week comes around far more quickly! For this one, after finding solace and support over the years in reading Mind’s ''Your Stories', I thought I’d take a punt at writing about my own experiences and coping mechanisms.My backgroundMental health is an issue which has been close to my heart for quite some time. Sadly in 2007, we lost my Dad to depression – a well-grounded and loving family man, his passing crippled us all in a way we never could have imagined.

Britain people liking mindfulness

Sut rwy'n ymdopi gydag iselder a phryder

Wythnos Ymwybyddiaeth Iechyd Meddwl yn cyrraedd yn llawer cynt bob blwyddyn! Ar ôl cael llawer o gysur a chefnogaeth dros y blynyddoedd wrth ddarllen 'Eich Straeon' ar wefan Mind, eleni rydw i wedi penderfynu ysgrifennu am fy mhrofiadau i a’r dulliau rydw i’n eu defnyddio i ymdopi. Fy nghefndirMae iechyd meddwl wedi bod yn agos at fy nghalon ers rhai blynyddoedd. Yn anffodus, collasom fy Nhad o ganlyniad i iselder yn 2007 – dyn hoffus, oedd â’i draed yn gadarn ar y ddaear, ac a oedd yn meddwl y byd o’i deulu. Effeithiodd y golled ar bob un ohonom mewn ffordd na fyddem byth wedi gallu ei dychmygu.

mindfulness

Jords brought my story back to life

bipolar disorder at 32. I had been living with it for close to 15 years. I had a very happy childhood but when I got into sixth form I became withdrawn, angry and moody. “My behaviour became more erratic, with wild mood swings.

liking life mindfulness

What I’d say to my 18-year-old self: “You’ve got BPD.”

Borderline Personality Disorder - or Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, as it is now often termed - was even a ‘thing’. Listening to a phone-in on a local radio station, I found myself relating to almost every trait listed by fellow sufferers: impulsive behaviours; lack of sense of self (I have always felt I have a quality of invisibility around me, my voice not heard or perhaps not even sure of what it wants to say); emotional instability and massive overreaction to perceived slights or, far worse, abandonment; self-harm; and a predisposition for intense but unbalanced or unhealthy relationships.“Oh my God”, I exclaimed, turning to Alex (my husband and the longest suffering hero in the Northern Hemisphere) - “that’s me!”From there began my bumpy nine year journey towards an eventual diagnosis, fuller self-awareness, and healing.BPD is a complex condition which varies enormously in its intensity.

liking feelings behaviour

James from Yard Act spoke to my heart

“Trying to get through my mental health problems whilst coming into adulthood has been a rollercoaster.”My mental health story started at 12. Since then I’ve been dealing with bulimia, emotionally unstable personality disorder, depression and anxiety. Trying to get through all that whilst going through school, becoming a teenager and coming into adulthood – has been s a rollercoaster I wasn’t expecting to ride.

people personality emotions

Dod yn rhiant ar ôl colli babi

Ble roedd y cariad ysol roedd pobl yn sôn amdano?Roeddwn i’n teimlo’n sâl. Wyddwn i ddim beth i’w wneud. Ar yr un pryd, roeddwn i’n teimlo cymaint o gywilydd.Cafodd Louis a minnau fynd adref ychydig ddyddiau wedyn a doedd gen i ddim mo'r syniad lleiaf ble i ddechrau.

The lasting impact of a traumatic birth experience

There were no relaxing playlists, none of the fairy lights and candles I had promised myself. No positive affirmations in sight and a husband who felt helpless.Fast forward a few hours and I was now on the delivery suite, accepting an epidural I always said I didn’t want and having to lay in bed for my baby to be monitored. There were no relaxing playlists, none of the fairy lights and candles I had promised myself.

liking life positive

Becoming a parent after baby loss

I looked at this little, tiny baby in an incubator, and I felt numb. Then the guilt and shock quietly took over. When Louis’ due date was upon us, unfortunately the labour was short and traumatic.

liking feelings parents

I’m running 7 marathons in 7 days for Mind

“People need to know that it’s fine to not feel themselves and that asking for help isn't being weak.”I am running for Mind in the hope that it makes people more aware that it’s OK to speak up for mental health and in the process lesson the stigmatisation and discrimination many people with mental health problems still feel. People need to know that it’s fine to not feel themselves and that asking for help isn't being “weak”.

people feelings mindfulness

Dogs need mental health support as much as we do

grief was really hard on my mental health, and Toby was a light in the darkness after a traumatic time.I’ve struggled with my mental health since I was a teenager – I overthink and am over emotional with low self-esteem. I also have dyspraxia a condition that affects fine and gross motor skills, balance organisation skills and memory. Day to day life can take me so much more effort and energy about things people take for granted when you’re dyspraxic.I experienced a lot of bullying which led to me developing severe social anxiety and depression.

people life emotions

Getting sober from social media

online was detrimental to my wellbeing and my mental health took a nosedive. I ended up being sectioned under the Mental Health Act with psychosis and later, schizoaffective disorder.Social media isn’t the reason I went through psychosis, but it was intertwined with my journey to rock bottom. When you work in social media, you’re immersed in it.

people life Psychosis

Being broke, broke me

Universal Credit, trying to claim Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for my health issues. I was having support from various services, but with the beginning of the lockdown it all seemed to vanish. I was alone in a fourth floor flat. I didn’t see or speak to other people for weeks at a time, but I was trying to stay strong for my adult children who were also struggling.“I had no money, no friends and was estranged from my family.

people life feelings

The benefit of benefits

bipolar disorder is one thing, but the financial strain it causes when you are ill is another. It was recommended I claim benefits to help bridge the financial gap for my family when I got unwell.So I started the process applying for them. The first difficulty I encountered was finding out which ones to actually claim.

liking parents Gap

Dyma Cruella, fy anhwylder bwyta

Mae Cruella, yn araf bach, wedi llwyddo i reoli fy mywyd, gymaint felly nes fy mod i’n ysgrifennu hwn o Uned Anhwylder Bwyta ymhell o gartref. Yn sicr, nid dyma oeddwn i’n ddisgwyl fyddai fy mywyd yn 18 oed. Pan oeddwn i’n 14 oed, gosodais nod i fi fy hunan, gydag un o’m ffrindiau ysgol, o fwyta’n iachach a cholli ychydig o bwysau.

Mae Cruella Dyma Cruella mindfulness PAM Diodes

Meet Cruella, my eating disorder

I thought I was getting healthier but little did I know this was the birth of Cruella, who was slowly getting stronger and making me weaker. I began treatment for my eating disorder at 15 after one of my teachers at school suspected that I had an eating disorder and contacted my mother. I was already on a waiting list for CAMHS to receive treatment for anxiety after experiencing childhood traumas. While waiting for support, my anxiety got worse, with my panic attacks becoming more frequent.

people liking life

How to be happy with mental health problems

anxiety disorder that is a type of PTSD.People often assume that being an anxious person makes you an unhappy person so I started to think about how it is that I do manage to cope so well, in case it may help others.I used to keep my anxiety and eating disorder secret. Then one day I heard a well-known poet at an event recite a poem about ‘shallow’ women with eating disorders in a derogatory way. So, I wrote and performed a poem about what it is really like to suffer from an eating disorder.

happiness people feelings

‘I have bipolar disorder and became one of the top students in the UK’

"My mood suddenly spiked and I booked to go to Singapore last minute despite having no money."Towards Christmas my mood dropped again and this lasted until April. I didn’t sit all of my exams and failed the ones I did sit. Instead of feeling low, my mood suddenly spiked and I booked to go to Singapore last minute and stay at the famous marine Bay Sands hotel despite having no money.

Britain Singapore city Singapore feelings mood Extreme

Mae trawsnewid wedi helpu fy iechyd meddwl

anhwylderau bwyta am dros 10 mlynedd. Dilynodd cyffuriau, problemau alcohol a hunan niweidio. Roeddwn yn gaeth mewn cylch o boen heb allu teimlo na deall beth oedd yn digwydd.

India

Transitioning has helped my mental health

Eating disorders continued for more than 10 years. Drugs, alcohol problems and self harm followed. I was trapped in a vortex of pain without being able to feel or understand what was going on.

Britain Argentina India city Cambridge feelings friends suicide

Maisie, my guiding light

depression and anxiety, then having to be hospitalised for anorexia. Alongside those conditions though, there was always something else going on too.

life feelings emotions

My weightlifting became obsessive

GP smiled at me, flexed his arm at me and said “You don’t look like you’ve got an eating disorder”. We both laughed, and I agreed. But there’s the problem.

people liking behaviour

My confidence blossomed with gardening

Mayfield Nurseries in Southampton seven years ago, and it’s been a life-changer – and a lifesaver. Mayfield is a social enterprise that supports people like me struggling with mental health. Every penny we make from plant sales is ploughed back into helping people with mental health issues. I volunteered for the first 18 months, and for the past five years I’ve been fully employed here."I lost friends because they didn’t understand depression.

county Southampton people liking friends

I realised I had a problem when I was exercising for many hours a day

borderline personality disorder (BPD) prior to this and had always coped by keeping myself as busy as possible, but something within me had snapped and I was no longer able to hide the impact of my illness.I’d been struggling with self-harm and other self-destructive behaviours for several years and hadn’t been taught how to manage these properly. Being alone with my thoughts was impossible for me, and the only coping mechanism I knew that didn’t cause active harm to me was exercise.“My mind is a loud and active place, so the zen emptiness that physical activity provided felt euphoric.”Unused to having so much free time, and struggling to manage my ever fluctuating moods, in those first weeks out of work I decided to try to help improve my mental state through exercise and time outdoors.

personality feelings mindfulness

Conservation helped my recovery

returned to work too soon and this led me deeper into the depths of my depression."I was challenged by my therapist to find something to focus on, a hobby or wellbeing opportunity."Adrift from work and undergoing psychotherapy I was challenged by my therapist to find something to focus on, a hobby or wellbeing opportunity. I left that session and headed to Waterstones.

Ray Mears Bruce Parry Tarn Howes county Lake feelings mindfulness presents

Lockdown gave me time to reflect

eating disorder. At the time I thought I just had a weird fixation with academia. When I was studying, I would say to myself, “Oh well you could have lunch once you've done a certain number of hours work or once you've done this much of your checklist.”I wrongly got into my head that by being hungry I could maybe study better.

people friends mindfulness

Sut helpodd Monitro Gweithredol fi i gael fy hunan barch yn ôl

Monitro Gweithredol i fyny. Roedd y ffaith y gallech chi hunan gyfeirio ar lein yn rhan fawr o’r apêl i mi, A dweud y gwir, pe na byddai'r agwedd hunan gyfeirio yna, fyddwn i ddim wedi dal ati i ganfod cefnogaeth.

How Active Monitoring helped me get my self-esteem back

Active Monitoring popped up. The fact you could self-refer online was a big part of the appeal to me.

people feelings confidence

My local Mind rescued me in lockdown

eating disorders like me, and the number of people hospitalised because they have lost their community treatment is horrific. Thankfully, my local Mind has been there for me when I’ve needed them – just as they were six years ago when I was at my lowest."I was put in the back of a police van, handcuffed and taken into an inpatient unit.

people feelings mindfulness

Finding the ability in disability

“Why would I want to discover myself when I hated who I was and didn’t want to see what I’d later become?”Subsequently, growing up, I shied away from finding myself. Why would I want to discover myself when I hated who I was and didn’t want to see what I’d later become? All I saw myself as was a tragedy.Who would want to accept that?It was a vicious cycle.

liking feelings Discover

Poetry helped me through the pandemic

schizophrenia around three decades ago, and have been living with the condition ever since."The pandemic allowed the voices to get out of control because there was nothing or nobody to challenge them."During the pandemic my anxiety level has risen drastically. Sometimes I would hit a dark wall and felt I couldn’t continue.

people liking mindfulness

How PTSD support helped me change my life

It was at that point I knew I was not ok. I had sleepless nights, nightmares, anxiety and panic attacks.We were told during our training that we will all have one call that would stick with us, and that was mine.After a week of not feeling right, I had no choice but to speak up.

liking feelings mindfulness

Sut yr helpodd cefnogaeth PTSD fi i newid fy mywyd

Roeddwn i’n cael nosweithiau digwsg, hunllefau, ymosodiadau o bryder a phanig.Roedden nhw wedi dweud wrthym yn ystod ein hyfforddiant y byddai pob un ohonom yn cael un alwad a fyddai’n sefyll gyda ni, a honno oedd fy un i.Ar ôl wythnos o beidio â theimlo’n iawn, doedd gen i ddim dewis ond siarad lan. Dywedais wrth fy mos yn gyntaf fy mod i ofn mynd i’r gwaith a bod yn yr un fan ble digwyddodd y cyfan.

mindfulness Labrador

Sut yr helpodd rhagnodi cymdeithasol fi i ddod yn ôl yn fi fy hun

Fi oedd y person oedd yn dal y teulu gyda’i gilydd ac oedd yn gwneud yr holl redeg o gwmpas. Fi oedd yr un cryf.Doeddwn i ddim yn meddwl fod dim o hyn wedi effeithio arna i, ond fel yr oedd pawb o’m cwmpas yn gwella ac yn dod atyn eu hunain, roedd pethau’n cau i mewn amdanaf i.

personality mindfulness man

How social prescribing helped me get back to myself

I was the person holding the family together and did all the running around. I was the strong one.I didn’t think it had affected me, but as everybody else around me was recovering and getting better I found myself being withdrawn.

liking feelings confidence

My experience of hospital during a mental health crisis

I felt this stigma throughout my stay. Perhaps it wasn’t always intentional, but more so a case of staff not knowing what to say to me or how to act around me.

people feelings mindfulness

Fy mhrofiad i o’r ysbyty yn ystod argyfwng iechyd meddwl

Roedd yna fisoedd wedi mynd wrth adeiladu at y gor-ddôs: apwyntiadau meddyg parhaus, sesiynau cwnsela, hunan niweidio, cynyddu fy nhabledi gwrth-iselder yn rheolaidd. Roeddwn i’n dweud drosodd a throsodd nad oeddwn i eisiau byw, ond roeddwn i’n teimlo fel nad oedd neb byth yn gwrando.Roeddwn i hyd yn oed wedi cael sgyrsiau gyda ffrindiau am hyn, eto, mae’n ymddangos nad oedd neb yn meddwl y byddwn yn ei wneud e go iawn.

mindfulness

Maen nhw’n dweud wrth ferched duon fel fi ein bod ni’n ‘grac’

microymosodiadau rydyn ni’n eu hwynebu mewn cymdeithas heddiw.Os yw merch Ddu yn cael ei dangos yn hapus ac yn hyderus, mae’n cael ei labelu fel 'gwraig Ddu gref'.Mae yna gymaint o labeli sy’n cael eu rhoi i ddynion a merched duon heddiw oherwydd hiliaeth systemig. Yn aml, mae dynion duon yn cael eu labelu yn y cyfryngau fel ‘gwydn’, ‘crac’, ‘ymosodol’ a ‘throseddol’.

people personality affection

Talking therapy made me realise I had nothing to hide

"The taboo around mental health in the Asian community was also a constant thought."My GP told me I could self-refer months before, but I didn’t. Why not? Because I felt ashamed, embarrassed and if anyone, outside my immediate bubble, found out, they would think I’m weak.The taboo around and poor understanding of mental health in the Asian community and the notion that it would be really damaging if someone were to find out was also a constant thought.

feelings fears mindfulness

Art has been a healing tool

“Art is a tool in the toolset to manage some of the challenges of life’s changing circumstances.”I also grew up understanding the importance of mental health and the need for support. Art is a tool that helps me manage some of the challenges created by life’s changing circumstances.

parting mindfulness beauty

How peer support changed my life

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder occurs in around 1.1% of the general population of the UK. Yet my whole childhood and adolescent life, I never crossed paths with anyone who had the same diagnosis.My relationship with OCD has been ever-changing.

Britain liking life feelings

Black women like me are told we’re ‘angry’

attached to struggling with one’s own mental health.But there is another huge problem – the struggles that young Black people like myself face when it comes to seeking help with our mental health. Much of this is due to the microaggressions we face in society today.If a Black woman is shown to be happy and confident, she is labelled as a “strong Black woman”There are so many labels that are given to Black men and women today due to systematic racism.

people liking confidence

I scaled the heights for my mental health

schizoaffective disorder was when the psychiatrist gave me my diagnosis. It was a month after I have been sectioned.

liking mindfulness men

Fy mhlant yw’r rheswm gadawais i'r strydoedd

anhwylder bipolar math 1 tra roeddwn yn ddigartref. Fel arfer, mae anhwylder bipolar math 1 yn cael ei ddiagnosio ar ôl i chi o leiaf un pwl o orffwylltra sydd wedi parhau’n hwy nag wythnos ac weithiau mae ysbeidiau o iselder yn nodweddiadol hefyd - fe gefais i’r ddau.“Roeddwn i’n chwarae gemau gyda fy hunan yn barhaus”Cyn i mi gael fy asesu’n ffurfiol fel bipolar, roeddwn i, am flynyddoedd, wedi bod yn delio gyda’r hyn oeddwn i’n feddwl oedd ‘dim ond fi’.

I got off the streets because of my children

type 1 bipolar disorder whilst I was homeless. Type 1 bipolar disorder is usually diagnosed if you have experienced at least one episode of mania which has lasted longer than a week, and is sometimes characterised by depressive episodes, too – both of which I experience.“I was constantly playing games with myself”Before I was formally assessed for bipolar, for years I'd been dealing with what I thought was ‘just me.’ But it wasn’t ‘just me’, there was something else going on beneath the surface.To other people I appeared ‘stupid’ or reckless.

people life positive

My loss changed my perspective on what's important

took his own life. Although he was adept at hiding it, for years he had suffered periods of low mood and depression.

liking life mindfulness

My year of running for Mind

“With the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, we are all facing so many more pressures.”I don’t think anyone can honestly say they haven’t experienced some problems with their mental health over the course of their lives from anxiety to panic attacks, stress to depression. And now with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, we are all facing so many more pressures.

liking mindfulness stress

My psychosis helped me as a psychiatric nurse

psychosis. As a result I have, at times, been in the unusual position of being employed by the trust where I have been an inpatient.“The situation wasn’t only unusual for me but also the professionals who have known me.”When I started I worried about it, and wondered if it would hold me back.

people presents Psychosis

I became a human book

Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), which occasionally slipped into bouts of depression. It was exhausting and overwhelmed my day-to-day life.

Family life feelings

Sources

lifehack.org

dumblittleman.com

rationaloptimist.com

addicted2success.com

theutopianlife.com

everydaypower.com

positivelypositive.com

possibilitychange.com

lifeoptimizer.org

tonyrobbins.com

marcandangel.com

michaelhyatt.com

biteable.com

makeitok.org

mhstories.com

talkspace.com

lifewithnoelle.com

theinvisiblementor.com

adaa.org

thoughtcatalog.com

mentalhealth.org.uk

anxietyunited.com

success.com

pickthebrain.com

see all sites

mind.org.uk recent publications

Related articles