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33. 14th September 2017 – The New Year

Unlike secular self-improvement guides on self- improvement, which focus on learning new skills, increasing monetary wealth and setting targets the Jewish way focuses on middot – personal characteristics.  This way says that to improve ourselves firstly we must become aware of who we are, our strengths and our weaknesses.  We all have good traits such as being generous or hospitable.  But to improve we must focus on our weaknesses. If your weakness is that you are impatient, it would take a lot of energy and effort to try to be even a tiny weeny bit less impatient, but that’s what you should do, if your weakness was that you were always late then getting to one place on time might seem like an enormous obstacle but you should try it.  You won’t earn more money for making this sort of change but in Jewish terms you have achieved something absolutely huge and it is even said that perfecting just one of these character traits is the reason for the existence of humankind[1].

In Jewish tradition there is no better time to focus on middot than Rosh Hashana – the Jewish New Year (which falls next Thursday and Friday).  Thus, in Judaism, a new year’s resolution – to work on a particular middah (the singular of middot) – is not something superficial, but if thought about seriously, and over time and with sincerity and effort worked upon, can invoke real change in a person.

In theory I think this this method of self-improvement sounds great – self-depreciation is all too easy but then so is keeping to the same behaviour patterns year after year – so picking on the one middah that needs working on the most does seem like a sensible way to improve yourself. However, this year I have decided to take a break and not make any effort in improving myself at all (not that I did very well at it before).  I have decided that I am too ill to make such changes.  I think I do quite well to get out of bed, get my children to school in clean clothes, give them some sort of dinner and get them to bed (in a completely chaotic sort of way).  If I tried to give myself any other target I would surely fail, so what’s the point?  This isn’t because I am too lazy or have had enough of religion, it’s just that I’m too exhausted.  I don’t have the energy to self-improve. And looking around I can see that there are other people that might feel the same way as me – those living with cancer (and their spouse who is a full time carer); those who are chronically depressed or have dementia or for whatever reason life just seems to be a bit too much.  Surely Judaism should give me and these people a bit of a let our clause for the New Year?

However, having done a quick scan of Jewish law I have decided that there are two reasons for the get-out clause I and many others need not try to self- improve this year. The first is that I am ill and the Jewish law can be very lenient on those are ill (for instance if you need to use a car to go hospital,  because you are ill, on the Sabbath- a day that you normally wouldn’t be able to drive – then you can[2]).  And the second reason why I believe that I and many others who are ill, who are full time carers or who are generally exhausted and life-is-too-much don’t have to try at self-improvement is because that we are already expending all our energy  trying to, in whatever way, make life just a tinsy wincey better for ourselves minute-by-minute day-in-day out. Day after day I

write letters and phone doctors in the hope that I will achieve full health and this is a huge challenge.  Each ill person is on a different journey and faces different challenges but they are all hard and require extreme effort. In this way surely I am along with the other exhausted-life-is-too-much people surely acting in the best of Jewish traditions of self-improvement – of meeting an internal struggle straight on and day-by-day trying very slowly but steadily to overcome it.

Alternative therapy

I’m up for any crack pot idea if I think it will help me get better.  You name it, I’ve tried it – hair analysis, drama therapy, sacro-cranial therapy, cognitive analytical therapy and soon a new diet.  This week someone who I very much respect suggested that I went for some free alternative therapy which involved a very limited time commitment.  I was very much up for it. And so, in the spirit of self-improvement, this week I went to see a  Very Important Rebbe. For those of you that don’t know a Rebbe is a rabbi who has had a job promotion – he’s a rabbi and then some.  People seek a Rebbe’s advice because he’s on a higher spiritual plane than us mere mortals.  And I have to say, I was impressed with my visit. The Rebbe listened very carefully to what I had to say, gave me a blessing and a short regular task to carry out.  I actually thought the task was a lot more useful than the many tasks that cognitive therapists have suggested over the years and I truly felt blessed from his very sincere and heartfelt blessing. I don’t know if the visit will have any influence on whether I get better or not but as I said it didn’t cost anything and no harm done. So Sharon’s assessment on visiting a Rebbe: an alternative therapy definitely worth trying out.

 

PS  Happy tenth English birthday to my lovely daughter Gabriella, whose Hebrew birthday is the second day of Rosh Hashanah.  I don’t know if you will ever read this, but if you do you probably won’t be ten and it won’t be your birthday but I just I just want you to know that I wanted you to have a happy birthday.

PPS The Rosh Hashanah self-improvement thing is obviously a pretty hard thing to achieve many, if not most, Jewish people that I meet do not try at it.  That’s because it’s hard, they think that they might fail and maybe they will. And I believe that a compassionate all-knowing god understands that.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Shlah – Leviticus 1:18

[2] There are various law surrounding how you would use a car on the Sabbath if you are ill, so check them out – by speaking to a rabbi or Jewish person educated to a high level in Jewish law, if you think you will need to do this or if you’re just nosey. or Jewish person educated to a high level in Jewish law.

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31. 3rd August 2017 – Being scared

There are three events in my recent past that have really scared me and I wanted to share them with you – the first was a car accident with my youngest daughter who was about six months old at the time; the second was when I came downstairs one morning to find that our TV, amongst others things, was missing and the third was going on the pirate ship at Legoland.

About three years ago, I sat in the passenger seat on a motorway somewhere in the middle of Israel minding my own business when all of a sudden there was a crash towards the back of the car – my baby daughter started crying and my husband and I were flung forward.  Someone had hit us.  All I remember was getting out of the car and getting out of the car to comfort my baby daughter – but realising that the only reason why I was doing that was was because I knew that was that other people would do in such a situation – it wasn’t an instinctual feeling, it wasn’t innate, it was just something that I knew was the right thing to do at the time.  And I felt scared.  I still feel scared thinking about it.  I knew that there was something wrong with me.  I wanted to feel differently, I wanted to feel panicked and stressed and shocked, but instead I felt dead inside – just as I normally do.

Then about two and a half years later I came downstairs one morning with my elder daughter, aged eight standing behind me and she said in a loud shrill voice, looking through the open lounge door, ‘The TV’s been stolen; we’ve been burgled,’ and at first I really didn’t quite understand what she was saying.  I then became aware that the TV wasn’t there. ‘But did that necessarily mean that it had been stolen’, I thought.  ‘How did she come to that conclusion so quickly?  Could there be another possible explanation?’  I couldn’t think of one.  And then I felt scared.  I was standing in front of my daughter as we walked down the stairs – why didn’t I notice that the TV was missing first and why couldn’t I just put two and two together figure out that we had been burgled.  I knew there was something wrong with me and I felt stupid and scared that my very thoughts somehow weren’t doing what they were supposed to be doing but I didn’t know what to do about it.

And the last event was, when I went Legoland in that same year, with my family. We were reaching the end of the day and had found the Pirate’s ship.  ‘That looks fun’, my eldest daughter said and off we went to queue up.  We sat right right right at the back. The ominous bar came down and I was scared – scared in a good way, but still scared.  And as the ship went faster and faster I kept on holding my daughter’s hand tighter and tighter and my screams got louder and louder.  Whereas previously, after the car crash and the burglary, I had detested feeling scared, now I rather enjoyed it.  Feeling scared gave me an exhilaration that I rarely every have.  ‘Let’s go again’, I said to my daughter.

Therefore after analysis of these three situations I conclude that feeling scared is all in the mind. At the same three events other people might have felt extreme panic or anxiety – the only difference being that their brain reacted differently.  Thus feeling scared is just about the brain reacting to certain events, or thoughts, and is actually not about what is taking place before our eyes.

In other news

This week I have had further testing – at 24 hour EEG, where wires were attached to my scalp for a day to measure my brain activity.  I have had this test done many times before so I am not expecting anything the results to show anything new but it is worth taking the test anyway, just in case.

My first appointment at the ketogenic clinic isn’t until late September so in the meantime I have been carrying about research about cannabis oil.  Although in the UK, you cannot be prescribed medical Marijuana, you can buy quite legally, cannabis oil – a substance made out of the hemp part of the cannabis plant and there was been some research that says that this oil can help with seizures.  So if the ketogenic diet doesn’t work I will try that.

Now that I have almost finished working on London City Airport – The first thirty years – I need to find something else constructive to do with my days. My neuropsychologist contacted Headway, the brain injury charity, to see if they could assist me with finding something, but unfortunately because I do not have a diagnosis of a brain injury, Headway does not have funding to see me.  As I said in my last blog, I will not being see my neuropsychologist again. However, I responded to the Epilepsy Society’s request for suggestions about how they could best serve people with epilepsy (train neurologists in the non-seizure impact of epilepsy, carry out research into how cognitive of the condition could be treated) and I also attached a link to my blog. They got back to me and said – would you like to write a blog for us about the ketogenic diet.  I thought that was a good idea, so that is what I am going to do – it should keep me amused for a while.

 

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15. 25th September 2016 – Equality for Mental Health and I have a diagnosis

There has been a lot of good work done to get mental health on an equal footing with physical health – for example those who have are mentally ill can now claim benefits and are covered under the Equality Act. However, there is work that the general public can do without the need of the likes of Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn.  Today I present three ways that everyone can help achieving equality in mental health – through talking about it, through prayer (or thinking about those in distress) and through funding research.

Firstly – by talking about it.  And by this I don’t mean having a heart-to-heart about your problems – although just talking about your difficulties to someone else is obviously very important.  I mean just normalising talking about mental health.  I’m an experienced mental healthite so I was happy to ‘come out’ but if it’s your first time you just hide under a bush in embarrassment because you feel that no-one else could possibly understand (It’s easier to come out as gay).  And that’s a bit silly because one in four people have a mental health problem every year. So you know lots of people  with a mental health problem – they just haven’t told you about it.  In the 22nd century I pray it will be normal for a colleague who you don’t know that well to say ‘How are you?’ and you will feel quite safe to reply ‘I went to the GP yesterday because I was a depressed and he gave me some tablets’. ‘I am sorry,’ your colleague will reply. ‘I was depressed last year – I started exercising and it really helped.  I’ll be thinking of you.  Get well.’

Which brings me very nicely onto the second  piece of work that the public can do – pray/ think about/ send good wishes to people with mental health difficulties in the same way that you would people with physical symptoms.   As I have tried to describe mental health difficulties can reduce the quality of a person’s life just as much as physical ones – and you can also die or be physically harmed by them.  If a friend has a serious physical illness you might say ‘I’ll be thinking of you’ or ‘I’ll pray for you’.  Why can’t the same wishes be sent to someone with a mental health difficulty?  On online support groups for depression and epilepsy often a member will write a message telling the group of their distress and there is a beautiful tendency of other complete strangers to say that they are thinking or praying for them.  And thus we would know if there was equality in mental health if it became common place for those nearer to home sent these type of wishes to their loved ones in distress.

And lastly – donating money to mental health research charities would do a lot to get mental health on an footing with physical health.  I have now been diagnosed with a dissociative disorder (which I will talk about next).  This is after nearly twenty years of being in the mental health system and having been diagnosed with all sorts of weird and wonderful things before.  And I know that I am not alone with misdiagnosis – People can come into a psychiatrist’s office with generalised anxiety disorder and go out with bipolar or come in with depression and go out with social phobia.  It takes a long time to achieve the correct diagnosis and without the correct diagnosis the illness is difficult to treat.  Research into achieving the correct diagnosis is one of three research priorities put forward by the charity https://www.mqmentalhealth.org. The second one is understanding the effectiveness of therapies for each condition – because there is little point in correct diagnosis if there is not effective treatment.  Finally in the knowledge that 75%of mental health conditions start before the age of 18 there needs to be more understanding of what makes children ‘at risk’.  The charity also state that at the moment mental health only receives 5.8% of the health research spend (in the UK). And although there are charities like MQ for every £1 spent by government on mental health research the general public donates 0.3p. The equivalent for cancer is £2.75.  Therefore, a sign of equality for mental and physical health would be that charities like MQ research became ones that the general public were aware of and gave to generously.

In other news

I went to my expert neuropsychiatrist and he said something like – ‘ I am diagnosing you with a dissociative disorder.  You are distant from the world.  Although you have epilepsy what you are experiencing are not epileptic seizures. You are having pseudo-epileptic seizures.  You are depressed.  You have had some trauma in your life that needs to be unearthed.  Take some anti-depressants, exercise, eat well, plan to do something exciting and come back in three months’ time when you have figured out what’s wrong with you.  I will put you on a waiting list to see a therapist in six to nine months’ time’.  As I said – I believe that the diagnosis is correct – I am dissociative.  It’s just I don’t believe the cause.  I believe that my illness is neurological and not psychological, as he suggested. So I am still on my search down the crumbling dirty track road, looking for my pot of gold.  However, as I have said, diagnosis is key, and now that I have been correctly diagnosed I have been recommended the name of an expert in dissociative disorders and I am trying to track him down.

 

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14. 18th September 2016 – Self-Awareness

The purpose of psychotherapy, I am told, is to increase self-awareness – by becoming aware of who you are – you can begin to be proud of your strengths and work on your weaknesses.  And in becoming self-aware you become more accepting of yourself and thus are more self-assured and able to taken on the challenges that you face in life.

I never understood this process before but now I do – and I wanted to tell you that I have found that this process works.  It’s actually quite revolutionary and exciting!!!  Of course, you don’t have to go into psychotherapy to increase your self-awareness – I wise man I know once suggested that for a week I could keep track of those things which consistently crop up, which were difficult for me, and spot the pattern or common denominator in all of these situations. And in doing so I would find out what I needed to work on in life (Of course, I can’t keep a track of anything, so I didn’t do it!)

But by writing this blog I have dramatically increased my self-awareness. I have managed to articulate to myself (and others) that I have difficulty with processing information, with memory, with problem solving and with most cognitive functions.  But in doing so I have realised that none of this is my fault.  It is quite simply out of my control.  So if it takes me a long time to write a blog, to make dinner and I can’t quite ever understand what is going on in my diary, that’s OK. I don’t need to think I am stupid or be angry with myself.

Through this new understanding of myself I have come to learn the extent to which these difficulties are impacting on my life and thus have been very confident in my decision to seek medical help.  And for people with an undiagnosed neurological conditions the process of self-awareness should send them straight to a professional’s door-  a person who realises that they have an attention deficit (ie ADHD), periods of elation and also depression (ie bipolar), or that they have difficulty reading (ie dyslexia) and so on cannot work on their weaknesses by themselves – they need help (we all do from time to time). But of course, everyone can be healed through this process of self-awareness – if a person begins to realise that they are impatient or aggressive or judge too quickly – everyone has something – they can start to work on these negative character traits by trying each day to not be that way (and seek a professional’s help if the character trait is getting in the way of their life in an unacceptable way).

However because I have come to a new realisation about myself I can for the first time in my life be aware of my strengths.  For example I now know that can write and I like doing it.  I am persistent (according to an epilepsy Facebook group discussion this is a common characteristic of people with epilepsy) and I do care about other people. And in becoming aware of my strengths and understanding my weakness, I am more confident about myself, who I am and what I want out of life.

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In other news

I am very excited about my appointment with my specialist neuropsychiatrist next week.  Please g-d next week I will be able to give you some news – even if it is just a ray of light at the end of a very dark tunnel. ‘Fingers crossed’, as they say or to put it another way ‘I am appealing to The Infinite Power that Exists Out There to start to give me the answers that I have been looking for. I still am not seeing any benefits from my naturopathic medicine but on the other hand – it is still worth experimenting with it.  It doesn’t cause any harm, and for some people it really helps.

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13. 11th September 2016 – Parenting theories

Over the break I have carried out some extensive research into parenting theories and have come up with my top three which I would like to share with you.  The aim of this process is to discover which theory would be most useful for me to use at the moment, whilst I am going through this difficult time (NB If you decide to plagiarise this blog for an academic essay in psychology or sociology you will almost certainly fail).

Theory one – children are resilient.  Many people are telling me this one at the moment, whilst secretly being grateful that their children have a relatively ‘normal’ life. However having observed the resiliency theory in real life with my own children – there does seem to be a lot of truth to this. Children have no previous experience to fall back on so they just get up and get on with it because it all seems normal.  My children have accepted that when mum sees a bruise on their leg, she might ask them where they got it from – even though she saw them fall over and attended to the incident last week.  It is normal for them.  They cope and they just get on with the various odd things that happen around them.  Still resilience theory doesn’t really resonate with me. It seems to suggest that it’s ok to make things bad for your children because they are resilient so it doesn’t really matter anyway.

Theory two – a classical psychological interpretation – This theory states that parents screw up their children and then the children spend the rest of their lives trying to undo the damage.  This theory was propagated by Freud, Jung, Piaget, Vygotsky and the like who believed that in these formative years a child’s cognitive and emotional development is established for the rest of their life. Oh dear, I think.  This is not good.  I thought children were supposed to be resilient and what I did didn’t really matter.  It looks like my children will spend years in therapy.

As a sub-theory to this theory is the one that says – if a mother is happy then a child is happy.  For my second pregnancy I was depressed almost throughout.  And if being depressed wasn’t bad enough the whole time I was thinking ‘My unborn child is picking up all my vibes and is going to be depressed their whole life.  How can I un-depress myself?   I am a crap mum before I have even started – what chance is there for my child?’ (I later miscarried, but that’s beside the point). And what about the one in ten mums who suffer from post-natal depression – surely all of their kids aren’t screwed up?  But there must be some truth in Freud et al’s theory – my children are not oblivious to my strange behaviour and my eldest can remember when I was chronically depressed.  There must be an impact – it must shape how they make sense of the world – but does it all have to be negative and does that impact have to last a lifetime.  What happens if some miracle happens and I get better – will my kids still be screwed up because there were some difficult years?

And then there is theory three – All a parent can do is try their best.  This is the theory I am going with for now.  I always thought it was a pretty odd theory – how do I know if I am trying my best? (Does an athlete only try their hardest when they score a personal best?).  However, I have come to understand that I am trying my best.  For me making a dinner for three kids is hard work (lots of decision making, planning, use of memory etc) – sometimes the kids have had the same meal more than once a week, often they don’t get veg and the kids only generally get a drink if they ask for one.  But I know 100% I am trying my best.  And if the kids end up in therapy in years to come, I will know that I tried my hardest for them and that life if complex and even though I tried my best it doesn’t always mean that my kids will have the future that I want for them – ie good mental health, a strong sense of self, to be a mensch (a good person who helps others) after all what else is important?

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Exciting News:  My poor suffering husband (and Boris Johnson) were right – if desperate write to your MP.  My MP Oliver Dowden wrote, on his House of Commons embossed-letter-headed paper to the specialist doctor that I want to see and told him I was feeling a bit desperate and the very busy doctor has now mysteriously found space is his diary for me in two weeks time (I would like a pad of Mr Dowden’s paper.).  The natrupathic medicine is not making a difference but this week I am going to add Lithium to see if that has an impact.

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7. 18th July 2016 -Mothering whilst ill

I am not the mother I want to be, but I know that I am not alone in thinking this.

As an example of my unmotherliness, I will explain to you what happens when my children come home from school. My eight year old says, ‘I want to watch tv – where is the remote control?’  Me: Spend 20 minutes trying to find it – I feel guilty because I probably lost it. Think to self, ‘I need to make dinner.  What shall I make?  Don’t know’.  ‘What would you like for dinner?’ I ask my five year old, ‘Pasta with tuna,’ he says.  Think to self, ‘Good plan – we have plenty of time to make that.  I will go and put washing on first because I haven’t done that today.’  Go upstairs to get washing. Think to self, ‘What am I doing upstairs?’ Not sure.  See three year old taking all the wipes out of the packet. ‘Why are you making a mess? Let’s go downstairs’. Take daughter downstairs and when at the bottom think to self, ‘I forgot the washing. I will go and get it.’ Go upstairs to get washing.  Me to self, ‘Must make dinner.’  My son says, ‘I am hungry!!’  Me: Feeling guilty that I still haven’t started making dinner,  ‘Have a yoghurt’, I say (only latterly so I realise that this will mean that he will not be hungry for dinner).  Put pasta on – Not sure how much to put in saucepan so use half the packet. Put washing in the machine. Fifteen minutes later pasta is overcooked and I call children in. Elder daughter starts to put mayonnaise in tuna because she likes it with a very specific amount of mayonnaise which I don’t understand. ‘Need to clear breakfast counter,’ I think – children cannot eat from it with that much mess. My son says, ‘I will get the glasses,’ (this is his favourite job). Me to self, ‘What do I need to do now? Oh yes get – Knives AND forks and serve youngest two good on plates which will fit their meal.’ And so it goes on.

So for all of you whose meal times don’t look like this – Kol akovod (well done) – I am in awe of you (and before you suggest it – writing a list of the 25 things that need  to be done when the kids get back from school does not help).  You have the gift of memory, processing and strategic thinking.  It turns out, I realise now, that strategic thinking is not just something that management consultants do.  Almost everyone does strategic thinking as a result of processing the information around them. It helps them to be organised and make on-the-spot decisions about inconsequential things.  If you can’t strategically think and your IQ is at reasonable level – life sucks.

So I am not the mother I want to be – I want to be present with my children, to feel that in–the-moment connection, I want to be a strategic thinker who understands what is best for my children and am able to prioritise their individual needs. I want to be the solid rock that they can count on to help them along their way. But right now I can’t be that person. Neurologically it is not possible.

However, as I said, I am sure I am not alone in not being the mother I want to be.  There are probably millions of other mothers who are in my position but they just don’t announce it on Facebook! (a very silly thing to do!!!).  So for all those who are going through a tough time – whether you are, bipolar, an alcoholic, having an acrimonious divorce or have cancer –  but-really do want to be a good mother (or father), here is a list of the benefits your children can get from your imperfect situation.  Your children:

  1. Have a much better sense that life can sometimes be hard and is not always the way they want it to be.
  2. Might have to fend for themselves a little bit more than other kids. If they really want something they have to go get it themselves otherwise it might not happen.
  3. They learn sometimes they don’t get what they ask for and that is OK

And in my case, which might not, unfortunately, apply to everyone, they also:

  1. Realise that if you are open about your problems other people often show kindness

Obviously if you are going through a difficult and trying time and think this list is a load of crap then I totally get it. But if you liked the list, I’m glad it helped you.

NB I made two factual errors in last week’s blog which I would like to correct.

  1. Firstly I said that 300 people had looked at my blog. However, due to me being confused 100% of the time I got the number wrong. Nevertheless, the data implies that most of the people I know are aware of my problems.   That’s the way it should be because if I had a physical problems most of my friends would know about it.
  2. Sadly, FedEx are not taking my hair sample to Germany – it was too expensive. The idea of a man coming to pick up my hair in a white envelope and taking it all the way to Germany to be analysed for deficiencies in mineral and vitamins sounded very romantic but it was not to be. However, through Royal Mail tracking services, I can now inform you that my hair sample took the late night flight from Heathrow and is now somewhere in Germany awaiting to be taken to Hersbruck.