On Monday 20th June 2016 I had my first ever therapy session, for my mental health.
I had been putting it off for a while, as actually sitting there and talking about my feelings and thoughts face to face, terrifies me.
I had asked my very very good friend Lynne for help finding somewhere I'd be comfortable going to, and she had found a place, in which the meetings take place over the phone. Which is utterly perfect for me.
The first thing that was required was an introduction, to both the sessions and to the lady that would be holding them.
The woman who'll be helping me through my next steps in this journey is named Amy.
She's a very lovely lady and made me feel very much at ease and comfortable.
At the beginning of each session, you're required to answer a series of questions.
All based your the last two weeks (I have a session every two weeks)
You answer these questions with;
Not at all, Several days, More than half the days and nearly every day.
I found that after the introduction session (two weeks later) that my scores had already gone down, only slightly but still it shows improvement.
So... During my first proper session, we spoke about my feelings throughout the weeks prior, explained why these things happened and talked about life.
We then moved on to something called Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT for short, which in layman's terms is learning how both thoughts and emotions connect to your physical and mental behaviour I.E
If you feel like you cannot do something, so you panic and feel ashamed, therefore you don't try to do it, and that cycle repeats.
It's all about changing the way you think about things.
To show this I was asked to take part in an activity called " My Hot Cross Bun" - rather silly name, but it works!
Example below...
After we spoke about this we moved out to the area of Sleep paralysis / night terror.
I have been suffering with these since before I can remember and I've been researching them just as long, to find a reason that explained it and made me feel "normal"
To my surprise Amy had found something myself and doctors have not.
"Hypnagogic Hallucinations"
We went through the site together and came up with ways I could normalise the figure that visits my dreams.
We spoke about how treating this figure as something scary would make me feel worse but if I tried to view it in a different light such as treating it at something that's just waking me up, or even realising that it's not real. Would completely normalise it.
We also spoke about how this only seems to happen when I'm stressed or anxious and how it may never actually go away, but that everyone experiences at least once in their life.
It's fair to say I feel one thousand times better after this hour session, and this is just the first one!
I urge anyone who is suffering in silence or who feels completely alone and lost, who doesn't know what to do next.
Go to your doctor, Try and get help.
Here're some helpful links
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Counselling
http://www.mind.org.uk/
www.insighthealthcare.org
http://patient.info/doctor/hypnagogic-hallucinations
What are you're thoughts on the help available for mental health?
What would you suggest to someone struggling with their mental health?
