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MAGAZINE FOR WELLBEING
AUTUMN
2012
ISSUE46
Autumn 2012 / ISSUE 46
>> Hooked into Consmption
>> Urban Harvest
>> Confned Spaces
>> Claralympics!!
>> The Most Savage Insult
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Equilibrium is produced by service users. Reproduction in
whole or in part is strictly forbidden without the prior permis-
sion of the Equilibrium team. Products, articles and services
advertised in this publication do not necessarily carry the
endorsement of Equilibrium or any of our partners.
Equilibrium is published and circulated electronically four
times a year to a database of subscribers; if you do not wish
to receive Equilibrium or have received it by mistake, please
email unsubscribe to [email protected]
disclaimer
web alerts
Equilibrium PatronDr Liz Miller
Mind Champion 2008
Photo copyright remains with all individual artists andEquilibrium. All rights reserved. 2011
Equilibrium is devised, created, and produced entirely by team
members with experience of the mental health system.
If you know anyone who would like to be on our
mailing list and get the magazine four times a year
(no spam!) please email:
(www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium).
Design: www.parkegraphics.co.uk
Front cover image ofwww.photos-public-domain.com
the team
Facilitator: Kate Chase. Editorial team: Dev Chatterjea, Angela,
Pumla Kisosonkole, Ian Stewart, Meg Kelly.
Graphic designer: Anthony Park.
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After 7 years as facilitator of Equilibrium I
am moving on in a few weeks. As a team
we have managed to move Equilibrium
from a 4 page newssheet to a longer
paper based version and then (as now)
to a limitless electronic space corralled
into online magazine format as well as
being on our blog: www.equilriummag.
blogspot.co.uk. We have embraced Twit-
ter too and tried to broaden our reader-
ship.
What will I miss? Countless things the
chat, the winter sing-alongs (Mamma
Mia Mamma Mia) with Marcias fab
harmonies uh huh, the mice in St Anns,
countless cakes (latest being a fab
eggless confection with fruit and akes
thanks Gavin!) , picnics in the park and
the Claralympics (qv), Marco Lanzarote,
Nigel Prestatyn and Olive, Ants super
skills in all things designy and his absolutefaith in organic management,
the indoor sparkler event, sitting
on important chairs in the train-
ing room, chats about everything
from vitamin D to the Ugandan
royal family, Gavins total faith in
our abilities, and the collective
effort to try and make a
difference.
I slope off now down the road in
N8 and hand over to Kate who
Im sure will bring Equi out of the
digital shadows. I will continue to try and
keep wellbeing on the map and keep up
my obsession with trying to improve the
lives of those with some form of distress.
As recovery is more prevalent in the
developing world than in the UK, and in
lots of ways the treatments on offer vary
little from how they were 60 years ago
(ECT, strong drugs etc), theres so much
room for change. I will still contribute and
really look forward to each fresh issue of
Equilibrium.
Valediction!
Clarication:
Article on Stuart Low Trust Philosophy Group in issue 44 of Equilibrium
was written by Rachel Paine and Harry Adamson.
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The Fix: How Addiction is Invading Our Lives
and Taking Over Your World, Damian Thomp-
son (Collins, 2012, 18.99 hardback)
The idea that products from cakes to inter-
net sites are increasingly designed to beas addictive as possible is both chilling and
entirely unsurprising. After all, there seems to
be no limit to how low multinationals will stoop
to mould us into ideal consumers, cut off from
anything (social bonds, knowledge of the
conditions in which these items are produced,
a capacity both to fully inhabit the present
moment and to see beyond it) which might
hinder an unbridled gobbling of so-calledgoods and services. Any effort to make the
inhabitants of economically rich countries
more aware of this is to be applauded, even
if, as in this case, the attempt borders on the
slapdash.
Thompson has some interesting points to
make. His principal concern seems to be to
highlight how many more people than we
might imagine in fact, almost anyone who
regularly uses the internet are ensnared in
powerful patterns of addiction which can
come to govern our daily lives. He convinc-
ingly argues, for example, that it is no coin-
cidence that iphone users are forced into
OCD-type behaviour in order to keep their
mobiles charged and updated with the latest
software, nor that sugary cupcakes trigger
similar biochemical responses to heroin.
Unfortunately, Thompsons writing style is at
times irritatingly repetitive, as is his occasional
tendency to make assertions rather than
fully develop arguments backed up with
evidence. To give one example, the state-
ment that through our addictions to technol-
ogy we are increasingly replacing peoplewith things is repeatedly made, but not devel-
oped. This is a pity.
Nevertheless, anyone reading this book may
nd themselves more aware and wary - of
the ways in which we risk losing ourselves in a
torrent of short-term desires, each demanding
its own x as soon as possible, or sooner. And
this awareness might just result in our having
more of a chance to pause before we reach
for just one more piece of chocolate, or look
at just one more website before we return to
the non-virtual world. So its interesting how
the insubstantial, slightly tantalising writing
style of this book had me drawn hurriedly from
one chapter to the next, barely leaving time
for the arguments to be digested. After alll,
publishers want us to consume, too.
Image:www.helpforinternetaddictions.com
Hooked into ConsumptionMeg Kelly
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On a sunny Saturday
afternoon in Septem-
ber, I biked down to
Ally Pally to join Urban Harvestsannual Red Berry Walk. With
blackberry season almost over,
you might have thought there
would be little to pick unless
(unlike me) you knew about
hawthorns (native and exotic),
sloe, crab apples, rosehips and
quince!
Before this walk, I would have
been hard pressed to identify all
of these, let alone know what
to do with them. But during the
hour or so I spent strolling round
the park with a large and friendly
group of foragers, I learnt
enough to feel condent about
foraging on my own afterwards. I
learnt that whilst native hawthorn
berries are small and mostly
seed, their exotic cousins can be
the size of small cherries and
many grow as ornamental street
trees. Sloe (which, confusingly, is
the fruit of the blackthorn) turned
out to resemble tiny purple
plums though eating them raw
is not recommended. They can
be used to avour vodka, or
possibly salted like olives.
My favourite nd was the crab
apples. It was a triumphant
moment when, a few weeks
later, I found myself at the
bottom of Muswell Hill and peck-
ish. Should I pop into the newsa-
gents and buy a chocolate
bar? But hadnt we found a crabapple tree round here during
the foraging walk? I found the
tree again, and its small sweet
and sharp red fruit on their long
stalks free, and healthy - kept
me going until I arrived home for
lunch. And I never even knew
that crab apples were edible
Urban Harvest is an informal
group based in North London,
holding regular foraging walks
and foraging-themed meetings.
For information about foraging,
details of future events or to join
the email list, visit www.urban-
harvest.org.uk.
Fruit for free:Urban Harvest Foraging WalkMeg Kelly
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at Mind
GreenMinds
in Haringey
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M
ind in Haringey have been running
a gardening group at Station
House on Stapleton Hall Road forthe past two years. The purpose of the group
is to improve the well-being of people living
with mental ill-health by being out in the
garden growing fruit and vegetables.
It has proven to be a very successful group
and many of the members feel that it has
had a positive impact on their mental healththrough the social interaction, feeling of
ownership and sense of belonging. Mind in
Haringey has created an educational, socia-
ble and fun environment which has reduced
the feeling of isolation that many of the serv-
ice users experience.
One of the regular participants joined the
group following severe bouts of depression
and has stated that the gardening group
has helped him cope with his mental illness.
More recently, he has graduated from being
a service user to becoming a volunteer and
now assists with running the group and has
been leading the planning process for the
coming years project.
The gardening group has given me ground-
ing and a reason to be. I have regained my
condence and self-esteem with Mind in
Haringeys help and could not hold them in
higher regard.
The group have transformed the land to the
rear of Mind in Haringey to include a seat-
ing area where people can meet for coffee,have lunch and meet friends, creating a
very sociable and welcoming environment.
They have also created a sensory garden
which is full of herbs and lavender which
are regularly used by some of our therapy
groups. Beyond this is a large area of work-
ing allotments which involved landscaping,
planting of a variety of seasonal fruits and
vegetables, herbs and owers. The fruit and
vegetables are dug up and used to provide
a meal to the participants of the gardening
group.
The group is currently preparing the allot-
ments for winter and have been planning on
further developments to the garden. These
include creating a natural meadow on the
third tier of land which will include bird and
bat boxes, bee hives and a pond. The group
feels that this will maintain a natural balance
with nature and attract wildlife into the area.
The real success has come from providing
the participants with a sense of achievement
and ownership of something that they have
helped to create. Our participants regularly
express how much they enjoy attending the
gardening group and how much better they
have felt since being a part of it. To see a
persons condence grow through a sense
of achievement really claries the impor-
tance of the project.
If you would like further information about Mind in Haringey and the other activities we provide or would like to support the
work we do, you can visit our website at www.mindinharingey.org.uk, or our blog at www.mindinharingey.blogspot.com
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This was a day of contrasts from the old fashioned
retro medical model keynote speech from Kay
Redeld Jamison (USA) to a one person installation
come play come medical note that was Dylan Tighe
(Antic imposition: Acting Mad(ness).
Madness and theatre are high on my list of preoc-
cupations and I was chuffed to see a whole two
day conference jointly organized by lecturers fromCambridge and Exeter Unis
First up the famous KRJamison who wrote The Unquiet
Mind and grabbed a slice of public attention. As time
has passed I have realized how faulty her thoughts
on mental distress are she has had severe bipolar
disorder for a long time and ascribes to the lithium/ECT
school of treatment . Admittedly the fact that she has
been suicidal and has been a counselor to the suicidal
too may inform her affection for pharms, but her pres-
entation stuck very closely to a very neuroscienticand non holistic script.
CONFINED SPACESConsidering performance,
madness and psychiatryCambridge Sept 2012
Image of Dylan Tighe
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She is literary and artistic and speckledher talk with quotes from Robert Lowell
Where youre going, Professor you
wont need your Dante. (ie the nearest
asylum). She also speckled it with words
such as disease, biological, genetic, clini-
cal, etc setting out her stall as a pretty
medical one. She talked of heredity (the
gene has never been found, and intergen-
erational heredity apart from new work
on epigenetics is unproven. She brushedover the fact that a lot of her literary and
artistic subjects may have been syphilitic
(van Gogh etc) and was very keen to
prove their bloodlines were full of inherited
madness.
She claimed that each psychotic episode
would take a chink of the brain hmmm
what about the harm done by drugs to
the brain? She glossed over any evidencethat suicidal ideation may be increased by
some drug treatments and was hugely keen
on the illness of the brain model.
Other presentations included a look at
drama within old asylums, annual shows,
etc all seen by the presenter in a slightly
distant and anthropological way. And a
dramaturg from the Young Vic produc-
tion of the Changeling spoke of how they
rendered Middleton/Rowley for the 21st
c. A woman from the US spoke of working
within the Clubhouse system and running
movement classes. They subverted (in a
way) their drug regime by putting on a
pageant wearing sashes marked Thorazine
and Lithium
Dylan Tighe a theatre practitioner in his 30s
from Dublin presented a one man medley
of his medical notes, his theatre reviews, aYoutube vid of his play and his next album.
Brave and very affecting.
The best bits of any conference are the 0-60
conversations had in lobbies and on the
way to meals. I bonded in seconds with a
historian of the emotions (speciality: PTSD,
inching and mimicry) and a Professor of
Medical Ethics with a love of theatre.
The afternoon brought smaller groupsessions great work being done in York
with performers with distress and those
without and audience assumptions. Two
speech therapists working with children
with a diagnosis of AHDD spoke of a drama
intervention improving the kids lives, and
a bunch of anthropologists explained how
they had become healthcare assistants
on a ward with Alzheimer patients and
created a drama. I was not so sure of theethics of this if the patients had not had
Alzheimers and been able to express them-
selves more lucidly how would they feel?
Felt knackered at the end and slipped
back home but it had been a fabulous mix
of angles, thoughts, emphases and ideas
for the future. I now hope to be part of a
special interest group on healthcare and
theatre.
As the conference organisers said:
As the old asylums are being demolished,
left derelict, or transformed into ats, and
the survivors of the system pass away, it is
vital that we document this vanishing theat-
rical past and chart its development in the
contemporary psychiatric landscape.
Polly Mortimer
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Poem of the Issue:
Dylan Thomas
A stranger has come
To share my room in the house not right in the head,
A girl as mad as birds
Bolting the night of the door with her arm the plume.Strait in the mazed bed
She deludes the heaven-proof house with entering clouds
Yet she deludes with walking the nightmarish room,
At large as the dead,
Or rides the imagined oceans of the male wards.
She has come possessed
Who admits the delusive light through the bouncing wall,Possessed by the skies
She sleeps in the narrow trough yet she walks in the dust
Yet raves at her will
On the madhouse boards worn thin by my walking tears.
And taken by light in her arms at long and dear last
I may without fail
Suffer the rst vision that set re to the stars.
EQUILIBRIUM 10
L
ovein
theasy
lum
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2 Notes fromMarco Lanzarote
1) If you have ever been a smoker and
wondered after you stopped how, or if, your
lungs could return to normal function then the
answer could be eat plenty of broccoli.
Researchers at John Hopkins University in Balti-
more, Maryland have found that apart from
helping to prevent cancer, broccoli may also
have benecial effects on the lungs.
The article in New Scientist (23.04.11) states that
white blood cells called macrophages help
clean the lungs and guard against infection.
The chemical pathway that performs this task is
wiped out by smoking.
Sulphoraphane, a plant chemi-
cal that is made by broc-
coli and other cruciferous
vegetables- can restore
this pathway. So, give
up smoking and eat
plenty of broccoli.
2) A news article in Asylum magazine (autumn
2012) reports briey on research published by
the LSE on the millions of pounds wasted in the
NHS due to the lack of proper mental health
treatment, and suggests the appointment of aspecial cabinet minister to deal with the issue.
The article estimates that of the 6.1 million
people with treatable anxiety or depression in
England, only 131000(or 2.1%) received talking
therapy.
The coalition, whose Care Services Minister Paul
Burstow is advising that 400 ,million is being
invested to make sure that talking therapies
are available to all people of all ages who
need them
Mental ill health costs society
105 billion per yearI have
always been clear that it
should be treated as seri-
ously as physical health
problems. (Asylun News
p11)
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Hats off to the late
Princess Alice,
mother of Prince
Philip. She managed
to recover from
harrowing war work
in World War 1 on
the front line, a
diagnosis of para-
noid schizophrenia, 2.5 yrs in an isolated
German clinic, separation from her children
and bravely she harboured an escaping
Greek Jewish family in WW2 .
And more hats off to
Patrick Stewartthe
actor who fronted
an extraordinary
episode of Who do
you think you are?
He had suffered
extremely as a child
and adult from
witnessing extreme
domestic violence meted out on his motherby his father, returned from WW2. He pieced
together his fathers war, spent at places
where extreme events happened such as
Arnhem. He then visited Combat Stress, the
brilliant charity for those who declare with
war trauma ( PTSD ) - thousands more never
reach CS. Finally he could start to under-
stand, but never condone, the rage and
intolerable behavior of his father as rooted
in his horric experiences.
Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUMEQUILIBRIUM 12
On a routine journey back from the south
Bank one night I found myself comparing
myself to Mayhew the great documenter
and interviewer of 19 c Londoners. I satmute, but with my eyes and ears the Friday
night became more and more psych-
edelic. From girls spewing into binliners on
the Embankment, I found myself next to a
pinktrousered neer-do-well trying to inter-
est mild Italian tourists in going to Camden
to score some weed he was far from his
missus and baby.
Then when I reunited with my bike I
passed some stranger sights too a man
on a quad bike leering at schoolgirls at a
busstop, a small woman scuttling into the
bushes of a dark park and nally out of a
side turning came a young woman wear-
ing nothing but a hoodie, bra and thong
nonchalantly and undistressed crossing the
road to her ats.
What we notice in the city 1Polly Mortimer
Hats OffPolly Mortimer
image:primetime.unrealitytv.co.uk
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EQUILIBRIUM 13
Tree Fall3 images of left-hand column: courtesy of Lucy Fisher
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Paralympics - A Personal Experience
EQUILIBRIUM 14
By Dev Chatterjea
A
s everyone knows, the Paralympics
was an major success, and the high
achievement of the athletes and
people involved in the event i.e. all staff and
volunteers (games makers and ceremony
volunteers) is well known. To stage an event
in such epic proportions was a major task. As
you probably have guessed I participated
as a volunteer in the opening ceremony and
as a Games Maker. To participate in such an
event was a major and enjoyable moment.
Before I start talking about my experiencethere is one point that should mention. All
these athletes are the best in their elds.
It would not be logical to assume that all
people with various disabilities should be able
to do such feats, and so should be judged by
their own capabilities.
As a lead up to the games we had a series
of training events. Some of the training would
last 9 hours or more. This is especially for the
ceremony where we had to train for eight or
nine hours straight for four days in a row.
As a Games Maker an average day there
would be two shifts in the morning, 6 am to
3.30pm and the evening shift would be from
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EQUILIBRIUM 15
4pm to 12pm each day. I used to do the
morning shift which meant leaving home
at 4.45 am and reaching there by 6am,
followed by a group meeting next to the
Aquatics Centre at 6.30. During one of
these meetings we would get to know
whats going on for the day and end with
doing the hoke cokey and the Mexican
wave including an annual wave to the
CCTV cameras. This may seem a strangething to do but it was a way of getting us
in the mood for the day.
There was one occasion where I was
asked to work at the world square. This
area was known as the rush hour zone
and aptly named the congestion zone.
This is where all outdoor entertainment
would occur. A standard morning wouldstart with us in our allocated areas ready
to start, some lively music. At this point
we would have to direct large crowds,
well over 30 people, to their destinations.
This mad rush as one staff member put
it would occur many times a day. During
this time you would get some strange
questions such as: Can my daughter
throw fairy dust on the athletes? Which
way is the main stadium? When they were
looking straight at it. On a sobering note
a young family came up to me and said
they dreamed they would one day see
something like this and they liked what we
were doing.
One day on the Main entrance at Strat-
ford Gate which was where the mad
rush would happen. Working at the gates
would mean standing for long periods
of time. One morning at the Stratford
Gate we were as usual scanning tickets,
a group of ecstatic people all wearing
clothes with the Union Jack ags, includ-
ing wigs came through. As normal we
scanned their tickets. Towards the end a
couple came in wearing the ag clothes
but the other way round. The man whowas wearing the dress danced in scream-
ing I am Miss UK. You could imagine our
reaction to seeing this!
A month before the Games Makers
started work, we started the rehears-
als for the opening ceremony. This was
some feat because most of us had not
performed on stage for years let alone ona global stage of more than a 2.5 billion
people. The rst two rehearsals started at
a studio in west London were we got our
accreditation, our roles in the ceremony
and numbers. In my case I was a marshal.
A marshal is one of a group of people
who dance, guide and keep the athletes
happy. On the face of it it seems very easy,
but everything is done to the second and
highly timed as well as lot of rehearsals.
I would nd this out when the rehearsals
moved to a large warehouse in Dagan-
ham, on the outskirts of London. The day
would start at 11pm with several bendy
busses taking over 900 performers to a
rather remote warehouse. This is where
the hole rehearsals was done to scale
and timing. We were put to our paces
cont...
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such as entering the stadium in order, danc-
ing on the spot and creating the shaad (the
Paralympics ag). This was repeated over
several times and each time faster. The day
would end at 7pm and we would be sent to
the stations by busses. This type of rehearsal
would continue through the weekend
and on to Monday in rather warm summer
weather.
Around ve days before the start of the
opening ceremony our rehearsal moved
to the stadium. It wasnt until then that it
occurred to myself and other performers
how immense was the scale of what we
were going to do. I remember walking on
to the center of the stadium seeing all the
props, the globe and the lighting men work-
ing on the set, and thinking to myself I am
really doing this!
On the Sunday, which we called the test
day, we had our dress rehearsals. This is
where everyone involved in the show, from
the performers, camera men, elections, ag
bearers and us the marshals, came together
to see how it would pan-out in full show
mode. This is when we got our uniforms,
those blue, yellow, orange coloured uniforms
which was the same colour as the stage
oor. Doing the full dress rehearsals made it
more real.
On the day of the of the Opening Ceremony
(or aptly named Show day) everyone came
in a good six hours before the start. As we
were getting ready and doing a quick
rehearsal I could sense the excitement of
what was going to happen. There was also a
mad rush to get our uniforms ready. Unfortu-
nately the costume department had got all
EQUILIBRIUM 16
above images: Dev Chatterjea
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EQUILIBRIUM 17
the marshals uniforms, but some were missing.
Also, some were incredibly small and tight, and
some were too big.
Around about 7pm the audience started to
enter the stadium area. From our vantage
point we could see a gigantic heard of people
coming in from Stratford Gate. Rather than
panic, which is a commonly known reaction,
there was a rather overwhelming feeling of
excitement and electricity in our ready area.
As the show time got closer each group were
called out one by one, and each time we all
got even more excited.
Finally our turn came. One of the staff calledour groups name and the whole room burst
into deafening scream with everyone including
me screaming with excitement. Within seconds
a staff member took us outside to the noisy
thumping music coming from the stadium. As
we waited marshals at the front started shout-
ing this is it guys. And we walked on stage. The
rest is history.
THE CLARALYMPICS!!
Owing to many factors one being that
none of us are champion sportspeople and
to the various reasons why that is age,
ability, being hampered by various condi-
tions and/or the drugs given for them, etc
etc we decided to have our own Olympics
in the park this summer.
The Claralympics took
place on an after-
noon of mixed weather
- in Priory Park, N8. Sadly
Clare Balding was other-wise engaged but we
managed to have a
smashing picnic of arti-
choke tartlets, pistachios
and fruit and started our
games in earnest with
no commentator but
ourselves. For those who
were happier seated on the ground we
had Throw the ball into the bag and How
many pistachios can you peel in 1 minute.
This last game was judged by our own
personal Games Maker Lizzy (in uniform)
who happened to be passing at the time
and joined us.
Then we segued onto the more chal-
lenging part of the games The Richard
3 Banana Race followed by Anarchist
Rounders. Dev won the R3 race, and Anar-
chist Rounders is designed to have no
winners. Based loosely on Monty Pythons
Philosophers Football Match, there are no
rules and everyone wins and loses. Posts
are marked by apple juice cartons.
There were no prizes but everyone had
a laurel branch to put in their hair (like in
Ancient Greece) and went home happy.
Pictured: ofcial adjudicator of the global
event that is the Claraympics.
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Vitamin D Angela
EQUILIBRIUM 18
Irecently had a general health check done
in my GP surgery. A blood test was done
and the result showed my vitamin D level to
be too low. The surgery gave me a prescription
to take and said that I had to get a vitamin D
supplement over the counter.
I bought a supplement which was 1000 iu
which is 500% RDA ( Recommended Daily
Allowance ). I was taking it every morning after
breakfast. Then I noticed that I kept feeling
hungry, so I cut it down to 2 times a week. I did
not feel hungry anymore but I started to feel
depressed with a capital D in the mornings.
The mornings was like a nightmare . My radio
clock alarm would go off at 7 oclock andsthen I would keep pressing the snooze button
until 11 clock. This happened every morning
for 4 weeks.
I spoke to a nurse at St Anns Hospital and a
centre ofcer at the Clarendon Day Centre
and they both said what happened 4 weeks
ago ? There was nothing I could think of, and
then one day I spoke to somebody in the
church about it and then the penny dropped.
It was the Vitamin D tablets. I spoke to my GP
about it and she said it shouldnt do that and
told me not to take it for the next 3 to 4 weeks.
I was feeling very bad so I had to book an
appointment with the Consultant Psychiatrist.
He said that the vitamin D tablet has reacted
with one of the medications prescribed for
mental health problems. So he gave me an
increased dose of antidepressant to take if I
feel I need it. While unwell I felt hungry and
paranoid. For example I was crossing a high
road and I got into my head that a car was
going to crash into on purpose. I freaked out,
ran straight into a young man coming towards
me and grabbed his hands which were on hischest. I even feel scared when I hear my wash-
ing machine going into spin.
This is a very unusual state of affairs. The GPs
said it shouldnt have happened to me so I
have stopped taking them so dont worry !
This has happened to me personally. It does
not mean you must stop taking vitamin D.
image:www.123rf.com
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As the brother of Edward who is
too severely ill to be productive
or constructive, particularly so in
a mental health day care centre setting,
Ive often wondered if he might still benet
on some level from being in a more lively
setting with other similar individuals - a setting
beyond the dour connes his care home, andthe same few familiar faces that frequent it.
Mental health centres of yesteryear throw
up images of individuals lounging around
in smoke-thick rooms doing little to simulate
a productive, worthwhile existence. But this
image is outdated. Todays day care centres
are places where individuals are expected
to be productive and constructive; where
theyre taught skills, provided with various
types of training, helped to recover and
move on, etc. And if they dont meet this
criteria? well theyre unlikely be allowed to
attend.
From this transition from the old to new ways
of running a mental health day care centre,
individuals like Edward have been left out of
the loop.
Clearly most day care centres do not have
the necessary resources to accommodate
the severely ill like Edward. But Ive often
wondered whether for one day of the week,
at least special resources could be provided
by day care centres which could accommo-
date such individuals. Where they could listen
to music, have lunch, tea and coffee, watch
lms, have entertainment put on, etc. In fact
be offered some semblance of broader inter-
action, connection, and quality of life. But
then would this laying on of special resources,
(to use council lingo), be cost effective? Thats
a question for the number crunchers.
Likely, for the time being at least, Edwards
daily life will be a little narrower in quality than
I would like. Im also acutely aware of the
great care and attention he receives at his
present home. Those who run it do a tremen-
dous job with extremely limited resources.
Perhaps Edwards care home is a scaled-
down version of a larger day care centre, with
ve members instead of fty. Perhaps it does
contain all of Edward needs. Perhaps Im in no
position to judge And perhaps only Edward
can know for sure what his needs are... and
what they arent. But will he tell us...?
Edward& the Day Care Centre
EQUILIBRIUM 19
Nigel Prestatyn
image:www.sodahead.com
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EQUILIBRIUM 20
On Saturday 13th October,
a beautiful sunny autumn
day, over 60 CoolTan Arts
participants, volunteers, support-ers and patrons gathered outside
Maudsley Hospital to begin a spon-
sored walk to the Tate Modern. Our
Largactyl Shufe walk was organ-
ised to celebrate World Mental
Health Day and explored the idea of
BRANDED how labels and brand-
ing create stigma against those with
mental distress.
Cllr Abdul Mohamed Deputy Mayor
of Southwark, Councillor Peter John,
Leader of Southwark Council, and
Cllr Veronica Ward joined us to open
proceedings.
CoolTan Arts is a Southwark based
charity run by and for people with
mental distress and exists to inspire
the wellbeing and creative partici-pation of a diverse range of people
through the production of quality art.
On the 4.8 mile journey walkers were
led on a route through the pretty
back streets of Southwark, with stops
on the way for talks and art-making,
entirely planned by CoolTan Arts
volunteers.
The walk included a stop to unveil
a dedicated plaque at the site of
the CoolTan Arts sculptural bench,
installed in the north east corner of
Camberwell Green, SE5. Designed
and made by Rossen Daskalov and
CoolTan Arts:Largactyl ShufeCoolTan Arts Celebrates World Mental Health Day and raises more than
5,000 on a Sponsored Walk for its workshops for people with Mental distress
Photo credits: Jez C Self, Hannah Maule-nch, Eva Megias and Emma Thatcher
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CoolTan Arts participants, it is dedi-
cated to the local community.
Finishing with a reception at TateModern, walkers had the oppor-
tunity to see CoolTans rst pop up
exhibition for A Postcard to the
World a mail-art project exploring
feelings about the Olympics and
Paralympics. The event culminated
with poetry, music, homemade
cakes and socialising.
Present at the reception were Simon
Hughes MP, Liberal Democrat MP
for Bermondsey and Old Southwark
and Cllr Althea Smith, Mayor of
Southwark, alongside local residents,
walkers and other guests and visitors.
Michelle Baharier, CEO of CoolTan
Arts, said: Im delighted at the
huge support weve had from Cool-Tan participants, volunteers and
all who joined us on this important
walk, in celebration of World Mental
Health Day and to destigmatise
mental health we hope the nal
amount raised will surpass the total
raised in 2011!
A total (so far) of 5,130.00 wasraised by charity staff, volunteers,
participants and supporters which
will allow creative arts workshops,
walks and self-advocacy training to
continue.
You can still donate to the CoolTan walkers by visiting: www.justgiving.com/cooltanartssponsoredwalk
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What we notice
in the city 2:
Slugs
Slugs are not this colour.
Slugs are not silver
but this one is, slithering over the paving
stones by the sage, as if it had just
slipped in under the gate
not just silver, but with black leopard-like
markings
I am horried, captivated, repulsed.
Theres a blackbird itting between
branches in the apple tree. I will him to
come here, come here and eat this slug
I put my bike away, go into the house,begin to doubt what my own eyes have
seen. Go out again
no sign of the slug. Are those silvery
trails, left on the stones?
Photoright:Po
lly,RoyalLondon
Photo: AnthonyEQUILIBRIUM 22
Meg Kelly
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T
here is a huge body of clinical literature
on the description, diagnosis and treat-
ment of borderline personality disorder
(BPD). Yet this literature pays scant attention
to its lived impact. Beyond rightful concerns
about the labels immense stigma, few exam-
ine the effect of branding someones person-
ality the core of their being as disordered.
It is now 22 years since the current National
Director for Health and Criminal Justice,Louis Appleby, denounced personality
disorder (PD) as an enduring pejorative
judgement.(1) Others have highlighted
the vulnerability of people with the label to
severe mistreatment and the smearing of their
characters across medical and legal settings.
(2) Still, service user and survivor reports of
ongoing discrimination and degrading treat-
ment go unheeded.(3)
Calls to expand the description and diag-
nostic criteria have resulted in increases in
diagnosis rates, with one recent survey claim-
ing that 72% of the British population had
personality disturbances(4) [] Clearly, there
is a desperate need to pay attention to the
voices of people who are stuck with this label.
BPD the ofcial explanation:
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) aligns personal-
ity disorders with enduring, inexible, socially
deviant styles of thought and behaviour. For a
diagnosis of BPD, ve of the following symp-
toms must be cited:
lintense interpersonal relationships
laffective instability lmood reactivity l
Image:www.familyanatomy.com
Language within mental health is more than just semantics, and this is most signicant in
the case of diagnostic categories like borderline personality disorder and its effect on those
diagnosed. By Clare Shaw and Debra Shulkes. Copyright: Open MInd
The Most Savage Insult
cont...
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EQUILIBRIUM 24
impulsive behavioursl
inappropriate intenseangerl frantic efforts to avoid abandonment
lunstable self-image lsuicidal and self-muti-
lating behaviours l chronic feelings of empti-
ness l transient stress-related paranoid ideas
It is often said that such vague and subjec-
tive criteria could apply to almost anyone;
who is to decide when anger is inappropri-
ate or intense?
So what is wrong with it?
Since it was introduced to the DSM in 1980,
several studies have criticised BPD diagnosis
for numerous reasons(5): its lack of scientic
reliability and validity; its biased construction,
which pathologises the coping strategies
and options of particular populations such as
women; its alarmingly unequitable patterns
of diagnosis 75% of those diagnosed are
women at least 70% of whom were sexually
abused as children. Many draw parallels with
notorious past diagnoses such as hysteria
its overwhelming stigma BPD is arguably
one of the labels most feared by staff and
patients, being associated with phrases like
manipulative, attention-seeking, untreatable
and untrustworthy, and a list of assumptions
so derogatory it has been described as little
more than a sophisticated insult; its use as a
punitive dust-bin diagnosis for those judged
to be bad patients because they are trou-
blemakers or have failed to respond to
treatment
[]
Diagnosed disordered: our storyA diagnosis of BPD destroys lives. We should
know. BPD is our primary diagnosis. When we
listen to the voices of those who have been
diagnosed with BPD, there is no debate it is
hurting people. Badly.
In many ways it is a relief to be diagnosed...
At last you have it irrefutably conrmed that
you are wrong and have always been wrong.
And it makes such sense you have nothing
else to blame but yourself. (Clare Shaw)
It became clear to me that th diagnosis
had caused women more distress that what-
ever validity had taken them to services in
the rst place No other diagnosis smears
the womans character, trustworthiness and
validity of her distress as much as BPD does.
(Louise Pembroke)
Having the diagnosis of BPD has never been
a positive experience, its always hung over
my head like a a dark cloud. (Jo)
The Most Savage Insult cont...
image:ww
w.mentalhealthy.co.uk
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Language within mental health is more than
just semantics. Words like personality disor-
der can deform thought and practice.
They position the diagnosed as other in her
distress. They tell her that her very being is
disordered. They obstruct recognition of the
role of context. And they push our voices,
opinions and experiences to the margins of
society.
Our diagnosis conrmed and deepened
the most negative messages we had been
given throughout our lives. It meant that it
was our fault that services had not been able
to help us. It meant that our experiences of
childhood trauma and violence were over-
looked as marginal details. It meant that we
were not going to get better there would
always be something wrong with who weare. We live with the legacy of that message
to this day.
Getting rid of the label
The diagnosis of BPD is causing extensive
damage to the people it is supposed to help.
It is leading to bad practice in services rather
than meaningful support. It is therefore imper-
ative that professionals, practitioners, activists
and academics stop promoting this regressive
and traumatising label and all others like it.
Led by service users and survivors we must:
undertake urgent research and monitoring
of the human rights situation of people with
the label; look for alternative ways of fram-
ing and explaining the distress which often
leads to a BPD diagnosis, as well as ways of
assisting those who have been injured by the
label.
Whether we maintain that all diagnosis is
awed, or whether we feel that alternative
diagnoses such as Complex Post-Traumatic
Stress Disorder offer more helpful, less
devastating alternatives to BPD, we must
listen to the voices of those subjected to
these labels. We must accept the simple,
incontrovertible reality that the words we use
to describe ourselves and each other really
do matter. Language can help. Or it canhurt. It can kill.
[If ]Id never come into contact with it and
someone had validated and helped and
cared and loved instead of immersing me in
this... I wouldnt have tried to kill myself the
second time. Because thats what it did. If I
had died, this would have been the cause as
it escalated my suicidality into a realm previ-ously unknown to me. It caused me to feel
sub-human. Its lethal.(6)
1 Lewis , G and Appleby, L (1988) Personality disorder: the patients psychiatrists dislike, The British Journal of Psychia-
try, 153:44-49.
2 Becker, D (1997) Through the Looking Glass: Women and Borderline Personality Disorder, Westview Press; Kirk, S and
Kutchins, H (1992) The Selling of DSM: The Rhetoric of Science in Psychiatry, Aldine De Gruyter.
3 Castillo, H (2003) A dangerous diagnosis, Mental Health Today, February.
4 Yang, M, Coid, J and Tyrer, P (2010) Personality pathology recorded by severity: national survey, The British Journal
of Psychiatry, 197: 193-199.
5 See for example: Herman, J.L (1997) Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence- from Domestic Abuse toPolitical Terror, Basic Books; Pilgrim, D (2005) Key Concepts in Mental Health, Sage; Wirth-Cauchon, J (2001) Women and
Borderline Personality Disorder: Symptoms and Stories, Rutgers University Press; Castillo, H (2003).
6 Personal correspondence with a survivor of psychiatry from Ireland.
Copyright: Open MInd
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