Equilibrium Magazine Issue 51 - Winter 2014-2-2

8/11/2019 Equilibrium Magazine Issue 51 - Winter 2014-2-2

1/27

MAGAZINE FOR WELLBEING

WINTER

2013/14

ISSUE51

Winter Issue 51

>> Singing4Health

>> Philosophy & Psychiatry>> EFT

>> Brain Behaviour

>> The Happiness Project

>> Reality TV


2/27EQUILIBRIUM 2

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3/27EQUILIBRIUM 3

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put this issue together and we hope you enjoy it. Packed full of the usual news, reviews and opin-

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Graphic design: Anthony Park.


4/27Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM EQUILIBRIUM 4

Singing4Health

It was that we felt like singing. Like singing

songs, or learning songs to sing.

And we wanted to sing the same song

together. Do we have songs in common, so

that we can sing them? Maybe not many,

because we are diverse, so we should nd

a song to sing.

So we started to nd a song to learn to

sing. But we couldnt read music. And we

couldnt read the words, so someone would

try to sing the words for us to remember.

But the words were many and we couldnt

remember so many words that were not our

words. So we gave our own words to the song.

And we gave our very own sounds to it too,

as it felt natural to produce the sounds that

where coming to our lips and to our body.

And we sang, and it felt so good.

And we knew we were singing very much

our own song, and that was a song of

nature, a song without words made out of

our mood and feelings. A landscape of our

very being made sound with our bodies.

Since 2003 I have been a Primal Singing

facilitator and performer, as well as an

improviser and voice teacher with a healthapproach. I explore different ways of voice

production that can be developed either

in songs or vocal pieces, that integrate

the creativity and abilities of the different

groups of people who come to my work-

shops. We do primal singing between other

activities such as improvisation, relaxation,

breathing techniques and songs.

This has been an amazingly enriching expe-

rience and a great opportunity for explo-

ration of ways to sing and create healthy

group dynamics, singers with a sense of

community and to deal with stress in our

personal life through developing an activity

that will make people improve their breath-

ing, relax their minds and enjoy the many


5/27www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUM

sounds a human voice can produce,

giving value to self expression and vali-

dation in the group over other aspects

such as number of songs that one has

to learn, observing how the group

evolves and becoming more than a

director who demands what has to

be done, a catalyst of processes that

will take in the group. Helping people

connect with their voices, bodies and

creativity towards the magical music

that expresses our own.

And then, other people who heard us,

and who could read music, and read

text, and remember words, and make

complex rhythms all at a time... asked us

what we were doing. We are singing our

primal song.

And they realized that it was a good

idea to sing the song that comes out of

you, and wanted to join and sing their

primal songs too. And they discovered

that it was liberating and aesthetic, and

that it felt good too!

Maria Soriano is a member of the Natural Voice

Practitioners Network and the founder of Sing-

ing4Health, that promotes physical, mental and

social well-being through musical activities,

primarily centred in singing.

EQUILIBRIUM 5

Maria Soriano



Philosophy & Psychiatry The Next 100 years

Iwas led to this colloquium by a tweet

from Medical Humanities a tremen-

dously active and inspiring bunch

of people at Durham University and

thought I would enquire within. It was

the third part of a travelling symposium

marking the centenary of Karl Jaspers

General Psychopathology.

In the few weeks preceding it, there hadbeen a week long summer school in

Oxford: Philosophy of Psychiatry: Mind,

Value and Mental Health.

After which was the 15th INPP confer-

ence/travelling three centre UK Sympo-

sium rstly in Durham. The one day

workshop there was titled Current and

Future Applications of Phenomenology

in Psychiatry. This included presenta-

tions such as Rethinking the First Person

in Phenomenological Psychopathology

and Incomprehensibility: A New Ethics for

Psychiatry.

The second part, at Kings College

London, was entitled Conceptual Issues

and the DSM. Among others, there were

sessions on The Denition of Disorder

in the DSM: Evolving but Dysfunctional

and Lost in Translation: Dysfunction and

Domains. I was to attend the third part.

The dominant theme was (and still is)

Making Change Happen. And how

philosophy and psychiatry can work

together to achieve this.


7/27www.haringey.gov.uk/equilibrium EQUILIBRIUMEQUILIBRIUM 7

Polly Mortimer

Back in January I was asked to provide

a 100 word biography/declaration of

interest and passed the rst test (and

only test!). Then hefty reading material

started to appear in my inbox some

surely only decipherable by the initiated.

Highly intrigued and appetite whetted, I

set off at a punishing 4.30 am for Oxford

one bleary July morning and was for the

next two days buried in a fabulous mix of

ideas, thoughts, secret languages, buzzy

presentations and edgy controversy all

adding up to a really mind-changing

experience.

Not being a philosopher or a psychia-

trist I guess I, as A.N.Other, would havepositioned myself with the service user/

survivor cohort if pressed. I began to

boldly declare myself as an ex-psychotic

(for that I am), as I found the environ-

ment a safe and trusting one. Swiftly I

realized that my lack of knowledge of

academic philosophy was something

of a hindrance (some of the presenta-

tions were so arcanely worded that only

the inner cabal could decode). But

nevertheless no-one made me feel at

all decient and the atmosphere was

one of huge support and good will, and I

summoned courage from somewhere to

be able to feed back to the hall after the

group sessions.

Standout moments for me included the

patience and kindness of academics

within the groups, highlighting the moral

courage of the survivor in sharing their

stories and how possibly the psychiatric

community could follow suit. Off-piste,

the amazingly delicious conference

dinner at which I talked to Anke Maatz,

a young trainee psychiatrist from Zurich.

Breakfast among European philosophy

teachers from Lublin and Prague, lunch

with a PhD student from Hearing the

Voice and a researcher for SANE , and

bonding with Alicia Monroe from Florida,

Dean of Tampa medical school, whose

words are very wise. Conversations with

Sanneke de Haan working with OCDpatients who receive deep brain stimu-

lation, and the ethics and outcomes of

this intervention. Staying with me are Nev

Jones (a US philosopher inter alia) and

her erce but principled calls for alter-

natives to heteronormative language

and othering, as well as the dominance

of men as main speakers at upcoming

conferences. The power of the posterpresentations included a graphic repre-

sentation of a state of breakdown by

Gay Cusack from Australia, calling out

for the work of post psychiatrists Bracken

and Thomas; I was haunted by an eerie

lm presented by a Social Sculpture DPhil

student (and local psychiatrist) Dr Helena

Fox which took us through an asylum

cont.


8/27Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUM

like setting to an intricate study of folds

of bedclothes and gradual revealing ofhands within.

Topics ew around value-based

models, narrative and the nature and

form of narratives, deacademicising the

language, critiques of CBT, the case for

psychodynamic psychotherapy, true

freedom of thought, meaning in delu-

sions and hallucinations, recovery and

all its meanings, service user engaged

philosophical research, co-production

(experts-by-experience & by-training),

and Thomas Fuchs lifeworld .

The colloquium opened with Victor

Adebowale , cross bench peer and Chair

of Turning Point, and his hugely inspiring

words about change and how to effect

it. The mindset has to change. In his

experience there is a tendency of letting

the excellent get in the way of the good

enough. Renewal is crucial as well as a

shift in power. Who holds the power is key

power needs to be shared.

We all parted with great goodbyes and

huge goodwill for change. Future plansare being laid and hopefully the conver-

sation that has been started will continue

to gather momentum. Academia being

naturally conservative and tending

towards silos of expertise, the fact that

the colloquium happened was a huge

boost, and the power imbalances can

start to be addressed. As a complete

layperson and fairly philosophically nave,

I had come to the conference with the

thought that it was about the philosophyOF psychiatry, rather than philosophy and

psychiatry. This set me thinking

There is such a need to interrogate

psychiatry for what it is. What is it? Does

it need to be? Is it a cult or a construct?

What could replace it? Could psychia-

trists all become neuroscientists in this

brave and sinister new world of diagnosis

by brain scan? Where will that lead us?

Is there a philosophy of psychiatry? What

is it? How can the human rights abuses

within the eld be ethical? What is psychi-

atric care? How ethical is psychiatrys

dependence on the major pharmaceuti-

cal companies and the use of dangerous

life-threatening drugs on young children

and the elderly and others? The fact that

recovery is higher in developing countries

than in industrialised ones needs to be

examined. People are still subjected to

ECT and lobotomy; is this ethical?

Theres so much to explore, and I hope

that this wonderful and awe inspiring

conference is just the start.

St Catz Colloquium Philosophy and Psychia-

try - The Next 100 years. Making Change Happen

Oxford, St Catherines College. Organizers: Bill

Fulford, Matthew Parrott and Laetitia Derrington.

Department for Continuing Education.

July 25 and 26 2013

cont.

EQUILIBRIUM 8



A blog on brain behaviour from the

Research Digest could be a sign that

mainstream science is catching up

with the science that the late Maharishi

Mahesh Yogi used to substantiate the

benets that transcendental medita-

tion can bring to its practitioners. In order

to spread the good news of TM he

reasoned that the square root of 1% of

the population of the world practising TM

(a law in physics that, to effect a mass,you only have to get 1% of the popula-

tion to do it), is all that is needed to bring

about more fullled and successful socie-

ties, leading to world peace. His natural,

easily learned technique is used to bring

about optimum use of the brain and its

ability to rise to higher states of conscious-

ness, which he addressed in his Science

of Creative Intelligence. The individual is

the unit of world peace, he said, and it is

through this experience of bliss that the

mind can harness the laws of nature that

are located at the minds unfathomable

source. The blog in Research Digest refers

to research on the brain using electrical

stimuli to try to fathom the complexities

of the brain and to produce bliss (Induc-

tion of a sense of bliss

by electrical stimulation

of the anterior insula,

Fabien Picard, Didier

Scavarda & Fabrice

Bartomolei, 2013).

Transcendental media-

tion means you dont

need electrical stimuli,

however, as the Maha-

rishi advocated that by

practising TM twice daily

the unlimited creative

intelligence or bliss

that we all have within us

can be tapped and brought to bear on

our experience in an expert and methodi-

cal way. It seems to me that while scienceis becoming aware of the possibilities that

are within the capabilities of the brain,

Maharishis science is dawning with it a

world of possibilities is being opened up to

us all.Research Digest

Blogging on brain and

behaviour

Thursday 19th September

2013

Brain Behaviour Ian Stewart

EQUILIBRIUM 9



Watercoloursby Eileen Smith

EQUILIBRIUM 10



The Happiness ProjectBy Alice Croot

EQUILIBRIUM 12

Irst read The Happiness Project in early

2012 after reading a spate of positively

glowing reviews online. I did not really

know what to expect a brand of zeal-

ous, get-out-and-do-good, evangelical guilt

trip was my worst fear but actually it did

exactly what I had hoped it would do. It

made me think about happiness and ways I

could become happier.

Rubin starts with the realisation that

although she was not unhappy, she also

was not appreciating everything in her life

which she felt she should, so she set about

methodically researching happiness and its

causes and came up with a list of what her

own priorities were. She dedicated a month

to each topic eleven

topics in all, with

December being the

chance to put them

all into practice and

worked out how shecould use that month

to explore and appre-

ciate her life more.

She says early in the

book that I wanted to

change my life with-

out changing my life,

a theme which marks

her out from many

of the famous life-changing biographies

such as Elizabeth Gilberts Eat, Pray, Love

or biographies about loss, such as Joan

Didions A Year of Magical Thinking, and

this is precisely what holds its charm. Few of

us could take nothing whatsoever from this

book, with topics that range from vitality

(January) to marriage (February) to money

(July), and certainly in my case even when

the topic had no obvious connection to me

I have no children, which she spends April

appreciating there were still things that

made me think about how I relate to other

people in general.

For me, the most important point made

is about how deep the connection is

between your relationships with other



EQUILIBRIUM 13

people and your own happiness. This

may seem natural and particularly

apparent with how you interact with

your partner, your parents, your children

and wider family, but it also includes

your friends, people you encounter onlybriey, your critics, and even the way

you gossip or preferably dont. She

quotes Tolstoy, who said nothing can

make our own life, or the lives of other

people, more beautiful than perpetual

kindness, and she does this throughout

without seeming holier-than-thou; in fact,

her frustrations and stumblings are part

of what makes the book so relatable,and certainly make you feel you are not

alone in nding it difcult to resist gossip,

or not snapping when you have had a

bad morning. In many ways it is about

being aware of what is happening in

your life and recognising whether or not

your actions will contribute to your happi-

ness, rather than attempting to live a life

of impossible virtue.

Rubin suggests that a key part of being

happy is to be yourself, and to be true

to yourself. Do not worry about what you

should like, or think you should like, but

invest in discovering what makes you

happy. It could be a hobby, probably

similar to what you enjoyed as a child,

or it could be cutting out something you

feel obligated to do but is not neces-

sary or helpful. An oft repeated truth that

she nds is that one of the best ways

to make yourself happy is to make other

people happy; one of the best ways

to make other people happy is to behappy yourself. So if it is weight training,

if it is foreign policy, if it is Barry Manilow

wonderful. Find that passion and pursue it.

Throughout the book she gives exam-

ples of other peoples experiences with

their own happiness projects as well as

mixing in her research, which gives the

reader a chance to think about howto apply these deeply personal resolu-

tions to themselves (always resolutions

rather than goals you achieve a goal

in a way which does not apply to every

day happiness), and this is followed up

by notes at the back which help you to

set up your own happiness project. She

has set up a website (www.happiness-

projecttoolbox.com) which will help you

decide what your priorities are without all

her painstaking research for example,

her current front page article talks about

making sure your habits are right, some-

thing she talks about in her book. She

recommends four things; sleep, exercise,

external order, and managing eating

and drinking, things which she works

Gretchen Rubin

HarperCollins: New York, 2009

cont.



Photo: AnthonyEQUILIBRIUM 14

on throughout the book and which do make a

difference to her. She also talks here about her

other books on happiness at home, and her

forthcoming book about breaking habits.

When I rst read this book I felt energised and

motivated to change small things in my life. I

started thinking about how I could do what I

really wanted and implemented the one minute

rule if something can be done in a minute or

less then do it. My desk is now almost always

clear and has been since that rst reading. The

second time I read it, only a few months later, I

made further plans and did some things which

I would not have done otherwise I jumped

from a boat into the ocean because it scared

me, and that was as important to me as keep-

ing my temper when someone was deliberately

provoking my anger. But in reading it again for

this review (which only took about a day, on and

off it is a quick read) I have made the biggest

changes. I was already much happier than I

was when I rst read the book, that is true, but

rather than taking small actions I have taken

bigger steps. I have contacted people about achildrens literature book club I had been consid-

ering for a while but not made time for, I asked

my mother if she would like to do a happiness

project with me next year as a way to keep in

contact when we are in different countries, and I

have thought about whether I am actually really

helping people when I give my time to tasks

which dont make much difference, even if I feel

virtuous, or if there is a better way I could try to

help.

So would I say the book is for everyone? No,

probably not. But if, like myself, you thought that

owning one self help book would immediately

spiral into a Bridget Jones-esque binge of life-

changing intentions and no real action then I

would urge you to try this. Gretchen is happier, I

feel happier, and there is a real chance that you

could too.

PoetryThink of the beautiful garden

With roses and garlands

Flowers of all kinds

And fresh air

Taking a walk in the park

Artistic endeavours

Planting plants and exercising

Good luck to everybody in the

future

And be good with behaviour

Do something constructive with

your day

As long as its just one thing

Communicate effectively

Complete your education

With knowledge and know-how

I thank you for those special days

you gave me

Have fun with life

Good luck for the future

Everyone

Denica Chaplery

cont.



EQUILIBRIUM 15

Here are 21 facts that you might not know, but are all true - even though they might

seem strange!

1. Crocodiles have over 240 teeth in their entire life.

2. The worlds shortest man, Pinping, is only 2ft 7inches tall.

3. The 14-foot-long narwhal is a whale whose teeth can reach up to eightfeet long.

4. Night butteries have ears on their wings so they can avoid bats.

5. The T-Rex had a jaw strong enough to chop a person a half in one bite.

6. Female triceratops wore make up (painted their faces) to attract

male triceratops.

7. Chimps have their own form of political elections within their groups.

8. Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day.

9. Indian police are known to have the largest beer bellies in the world; inone case, an ofcer had a waste size that was triple his chest size.

10. Cows in India can cause trafc jams for miles.

11. The largest sandwich is over 3ft long.

12. A tiny lizard called a Tiktiky can sever its tail and grow another within

two weeks.

13. The act of kicking a football, when in space, can cause a person to

move 500 yards backwards, due to the lack of gravity.

14. There are worms that are 4ft long.

15. A baby Giraffe can already be over 5ft tall when it is born.

16. An insect called a Mayfair only lives for 8 hours.

17. An Astronaut sees about 36 sunrises and 35 sunsets in one mission.

18. When the Mayans played football, they used the head of the losing

captain as a ball for the next game.

19. Dragonies can y up to 50 miles per hour.

20. The rst light bulb was actually created by the Egyptians.

21. An ancient ruler of North East India is known to have over a 101

children and out of 100 only one was a daughter.

Facts: Strange But True!!!!


16/27Summer/ Issue 38EQUILIBRIUMEQUILIBRIUM 16

EFT- Tapping into Potential

So this week I was taking my rst webi-

nar about the foundations of business

practice in the arts, and this webinar,

which was the rst to be performed by

this woman, went severely pear shaped

thats to say I could hear nothing through

my phones but white noise. But I did hear

her say You have to get this book: EFT

Emotional Freedom Technique it will

change your life.

Well this kind if information is often ignored,

Ive done it a million times before, but

this time it came from Rosalind, who Id

worked with and had much respect for.

Shed already helped move my art busi-

ness forward from a very stagnant place to

quite a signicant place. So if she said EFT

had the potential to change peoples lives,

I thought it worth giving the time of day. As I

write the book is winging its way to me.

EFT, or also commonly known as Tapping,

was something Id come across before; Id

met others whod used it. Id read the Heal-

ing Codes and used some of those touch

techniques, but to little effect because Id

become so frustrated with the process.

EFT works by releasing blockages within

the energy system which leads to limiting

beliefs and behaviours. It is said that these

blockages cause emotional and/ or physi-cal issues and include lack of condence

and self esteem, feeling stuck, anxious or

depressed, or the emergence of compul-

sive and addictive behaviours, even physi-

cal issues such as long term back pain.

So it goes back to ancient Chinese beliefs

based around the meridian system which

believes there are electrical energies pass-ing throughout the body. These charges

need to somehow be balanced in order to

function at an optimum level. The tapping

on these meridian points release blockages

in these energy paths, allowing things to

ow more naturally.

So EFT treatment involves the use of nger-

tips rather than needles to tap on the end


17/27EQUILIBRIUM 17

NigelPrestatyn

points of energy meridians that are situ-

ated just beneath the surface of the skin.

So its like a kind of nger acupuncture,

or acupressure.

The process involves one focusing on

their own specic problem whilst tapping

with ngers on the end points of energy

meridians. The combination of send-

ing kinetic energy to our energy system,

whilst uncovering and focusing on root

causes facilitates a balancing of the

energy system thereby eliminating the

short circuit to the bodys negative

emotion. The tapping areas are:-

1) Top of the Head, 2) Beginning of the

Eyebrow, 3) Side of the Eye, 4) Under the

Eye, 5) Under the Nose, 6) Chin Point, 7)Beginning of the Collarbone, 8) Under

the Arm. The setup area is the karate

chop area of the hand. These would

be classed as the basic tapping areas,

though there are further areas around

the body.

So the Setup Phrase might be: I really

dont deserve to be happy becausewhen I was a soldier at war I hurt many

people. (Apparently EFT is great for post

traumatic stress disorder.) This would

involve tapping on the karate chop area

of either hand. This is a difcult thing

for me to get to grips with, because

its repeatedly stating a negative, and

focusing on that negative, and Ive often

worked hard to do the exact opposite!

But in order to shift the problem, we need

to truly understand the problem and

connect with it on a deep emotional

level.

After stating the problem, youd begin

a round of tapping whilst using the

Reminder Phrase which in this example

might be, I dont deserve happiness.

The key is to get to the real core of

the issue, digging around until you nd

statements that really resonate with

your problem on a deeply profound

emotional level. These core issues, the

powerful ones which bring about real

change, are often deeply buried, and

stemming back to our early years. So it

takes a little emotional intelligence toroot around until you nd these core

issues. Often it is suggested to re off

several arrows in the hope of hitting the

true core issue.

And the way to determine whether the

process has been successful or not is

by gauging the level of emotional or

physical pain before you start, and againafter several rounds of tapping. So if the

emotional pain in our example remains

at 10, we need to try other statements,

if it comes down to 5, then we continue

through as many rounds as it takes to

bring it down to 1 or 2, or even a zero.



Reality Television & Mental Health

Long gone are the days when folks

gather from all around to applaud the

Gladiators ghting in the Coliseum, risk-

ing their lives with blood, sweat and tears all

in the name of active entertainment... Or

have they?

I recall being 16 years old and transxed to

the television screen. Tonight was the night.

Everyone was talking about it. It was a

Saturday night and it was the Pop Idol nal.

I was glued to the edge of my seat, eagerly

awaiting the results. As I sat in the comfort

of my family home, feet up with a cup of

tea, I watched on as one of the nalists

was rapidly losing condence, perspiring

under the bright studio lights, desperately

begging the audience to vote for him and

stuttering as the masses of results from the

public rolled in. They purposefully dragged it

out. The lights got brighter, the music louder

and cheers from the crowd bellowed from

beyond. I remember thinking to myself,poor guy, whats going to happen to his

condence if he doesnt win? More to the

point: Why am I watching this in the rst

place? Was it because I genuinely liked the

sound of their voices covering songs I had

heard a million times before, or did I secretly

like having the power of holding peoples

destinies in my hands, knowing that people

all over the country were feeling the same

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By Christina Clark, Psychiatric Nurse

way? I was allowed to feel sorry for them,

excited for them or even dislike them,

and with a mere 50p phone call I could

manipulate their destiny. Their future was

in my hands!

But can I really go as far as to compare

a 50p phone vote to that of a Gladiatorsfate determined by the crowds thumbs

up or thumbs down? Okay, so we

cant exactly accuse the likes of Simon

Cowell of placing peoples lives on the

line in the literal sense its not as though

contestants have to slay boars three

times the size of them or wrestle wild lions

to the ground. Perhaps though, society

could go as far as to accuse some of

the producers of reality TV shows of plac-

ing peoples lives on the line in a more

emotional sense.

Reality is dened as the state of things

as they actually exist, as opposed to

an idealistic or notional idea of them.

But who exactly denes this? We are

surrounded by reality TV shows, but do

they really portray reality? I mean, how

many of us suddenly wake up one day

and have become a global superstar

overnight and what mental pressure

must this surreal notion place on people?

I dont think we can even begin to imag-

ine what that must feel like. People are

literally putting their futures in the hands

of unacquainted strangers through a

television screen. And questions must be

asked as to who these audiences are

and more importantly what their motives

are. Are they really there to help people

become a success in life or just partici-

pants in a game, playing with other

peoples futures?

Andy Warhol once said In the future,

everyone will be world-famous for 15

minutes. But At whose expense?

appears to be the question on lots of

peoples minds

Emily Marsden, a specialist psychiatric

Nurse, who works with young people

presenting with their First Episode of

Psychosis explains how an overnight

celebrity suddenly becomes very vulner-

able. The media have the power to

either maintain or crush their over-

night status depending on what sells

at the time. I imagine that the people

in the media industry who are respon-

sible for their overnight fame are more

concerned about making money than

whether that person is feeling okay and

being well supported.

When looking at reality TV and mental

health, there have been a plethora of

cases which have bought the subject

to media attention and some much

cont.



more ongoing ethical debates amongst

professionals. In 2006, a Big Brother contest-

ant, Shahbaz Chaudry, shockingly claimed

he wanted to take his own life whilst being

broadcast live on television. Not surpris-

ingly, controversy and ethical debate arose

after the contestant was placed on suicide

watch and denied exit from the house after

requesting to leave. He was subsequently

pulled out of the show after increasing

concerns were raised around his mental

wellbeing. Unsurprisingly, this raised ques-

tions around how much support the contest-

ants were being given and whether or not

they were intentionally pushed to their limits

to increase entertainment and viewing; in

other words, whether or not he had been

exposed to intentional exploitation. Marsden

agrees that reality programmes regularlyexploit those with mental health problems

in the name of entertainment: In general,

reality TV is purely a form of entertainment

and unfortunately doesnt seem to exist to

teach people anything. I feel that in a lot

of instances, TV producers go for the shock

factor to get good viewing gures, which

often means issues arent covered very

sensitively. This can often mean people withmental health issues are depicted as odd

or different to you and I when the real-

ity is that mental health issues can affect

anyone.

Big Brother producers, in a response to the

incident, claimed that contestants are

screened by professionals to ensure that they

are psychologically stable and able to cope

with such experiences. Is this good enough

though? Marsden hopes that rstly, contest-

ants have someone that regularly meets with

the person to check that they are coping

ideally someone with psychology train-

ing that can provide therapeutic support if

needed. I would also hope that producers

and channel executives would have some

awareness of the pressures and make sure

people are not put under too much pressure

Im sure that doesnt happen. I would want

to make sure they were aware of all the

pressures and negative aspects that come

with being on TV/in the spotlight so that they

werent going in to it blind.

Another high prole example of the pressure

that fame can place on a persons mentalhealth is the alleged mental breakdown

that Susan Boyle endured after coming

runner up on the reality show Britains Got

Talent. Concerns were made public after

Susan was rushed to a private psychiatric

unit the day after the competition nale. This

too led to numerous viewer concerns that

she was not provided with the correct duty

of care by the producers of the show. Thisspeed of overnight fame and public expo-

sure must be enough for anyone to nd hard

to grasp.

Thankfully, after making a good recovery,

Susan went on to become a global superstar

with support from friends, professionals and

even backing from the media. Perhaps in

EQUILIBRIUM 20

cont.



turn, shining the light for those with mental

health problems and in turn potentiallyprojecting positive outcomes which show

that mental health problems do not neces-

sarily hinder success on reality TV shows.

The public embraced Susan, even those

who didnt watch the show were able to

follow her journey due to the vast cover-

age in the media; some even termed her a

national treasure. She had been exposed

to the world and had shown everyone thatshe could overcome mental health prob-

lems and that it would not hinder her future

success.

Marsden discusses how reality TV shows

could also be used to help tackle some of

the stigma surrounding mental health prob-

lems. For example, well made y on the

wall documentaries can denitely tackle

the stigma surrounding mental illness. I do

however think its difcult to get that right as

its a sensitive and complex subject. People

making the programmes need to have a

good understanding of mental illness them-

selves or they risk reinforcing stereotypes.

On the ip side of this, there have also been

a handful of high prole cases of people who

have entered reality TV contests and been

denied continuation in the competition due

to the fact that they have disclosed a current

or historic mental health issue. This may well

highlight the high levels of discrimination still

apparent within the world of show business

and perhaps even more so their concep-

tions of the stigma this may bring from the

wider public. It perhaps leads us to ques-tion the ignorance of the TV producers; just

because you have a mental health problem,

it shouldnt automatically exclude you from

being a contestant. We live in a nation of

equal opportunities and a history of mental

health problems wouldnt legally be able to

impact your employment aspects, so why a

reality TV show? Where do we draw the line?

Another point to also consider is what nega-tive affects rejection may have on a persons

mental health and on a larger scale: the ght

against stigma and discrimination. Marsden

emphasises the need to make more effort

to portray people with mental health issues

as normal people rather than highlighting

their differences or exaggerating their weak-

nesses.

Reality TV is a culture that denes a huge

part of my generation. Sometimes it seems

as though people around me are more

interested in voting off the latest Big Brother

contestant, keeping someone in the jungle or

paying to see a contestant on the X Factor

win the Christmas number 1 (again). I often

wonder how many of these people vote

in the general elections or even know the

name of their local MP.

It is apparent that much more education

and insight is needed for the producers of

reality TV shows and not just around mental

health issues but also on the impact that

overnight fame can have on anyone,

EQUILIBRIUM 21

cont.



regardless of their psychiatric history.

More consideration needs to be given as to

whether the entertainment aspect of making

these shows really outweighs the ethical

impact it has on issues such as human exploi-

tation. None of us can fully predict whatsuch a phenomenon of becoming famous

overnight would do to our mental health,

hence the necessity for appropriate psycho-

logical support and mental preparation

beforehand, during and after the process.

But on the ip side, why should mental

health disclosure affect the opportunity to

enter these contests? After all, with the right

support and sensitivity around these issues

perhaps more people will feel able to enter

these competitions and be able to spin

some of the unfortunate existing negative

stigma and portray mental health in a more

positive light. Some may even view peoplewith mental health problems as stronger

than the average Joe; having already

battled through problems they may be more

mentally resilient and prepared for chal-

lenges and difcult circumstances. They are

also perhaps more able to accept the rejec-

tion and also put into perspective the bigger

picture and (crucially) the more important

things in life.

HumourDevHumour, also known as sense of humour, is

dened in the dictionary as the ability to

appreciate or express that which is humor-

ous. There are several theories that make

humour relevant to wellbeing, like the relief

theory, which says that laughter is a mecha-

nism by which psychological tension is

reduced. This is because it releases a chemi-

cal called serotonin, a feel good chemical,

into the brain. The best way to see humour as

a form of entertainment; if you think about it,it is trying to cheer you up or trying to make a

funny point about a subject.

Over time different styles of humour have

been popular and have changed, from

Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Buster

Keatons slapstick silent comedy to todays

style of stand-up comedy. Slapstick comedy

continued during the 60s and 80s, with

comedians like Benny Hill, Frank Spencer and

Kenny Evert, which is tongue and cheek, and

lots of people still nd funny now a days, as

it is very visual. However, comedy since the

mid nineties seems to have changed and Ithink some comedy sketches have become

too over done. A constant use of one specic

type of humour could be seen as rather tire-

some; bringing in more new material it could

be more fun.

Humour also has a unique tendency to cross

cultural backgrounds, even if you are from

an ethnic minority. Sometime it is designedto make fun of how people in their commu-

nity behave. A prime example is Goodness

Gracious Me, which is about life as a South

Asian person in the UK. As a South Asian

myself, seeing this programme reminds me

what people from this community are really

like. You might also be able nd some similari-

ties from your own background.

EQUILIBRIUM 22

cont.

cont.



Politicians and celebrities are often mimicked,

made fun of and vilied by comedians world-

wide, most commonly leaders of countries

(i.e. Prime Ministers or Presidents) and other

leading Politicians. Most of the humour isbased on what they are doing or what they

shouldnt be doing. They can be rather over

exaggerated, no matter what country they

come from.

Comedians, or anyone who tries to be funny,

rely on the reactions of people on the receiv-

ing end. So if a person attempts a funny joke

or something silly, and it does not go well,that person may not try that joke again or at

least re-work the joke. Most comedians tend

to do situation-based comedy or stand up

comedy. One way of trying to be funny is by

using language to play with different mean-

ings, for example I am taking a break can

be seen as a person trying to break some-

thing. Another interesting way is to be funny is

by nding the meaning of the word in another

language, for example in English Hey dude

mean you are saying hello to someone you

think is cool, but in Bengali (a language from

the subcontinent) Hey dude means Hello

milk.

When it comes to mental health, humour

plays a very important part. When you have

mental health problems you may nd your-

self in a state where you have trouble control-

ling your moods. Some people describe it as

being in a big hole without any light at the

end. In this state, gentle humour can be useful

in making each step less daunting. It can

slowly helping them get various ideas on how

to get themselves out of any situation and to

see things from a different perspective.

EQUILIBRIUM 23

A quote from Nelson

Mandela

Social equality is the only

basis of human happiness

Comment:

In an ideal society, the human

potential of the individual should

always evolve towards an ever

increasing harmony and diversica-

tion with others in the direction of

progress, achievement and full-

ment. Social equality should be the

accepted norm, indeed without it

the society would cease to function

for the benet of all.

I believe an ideal society motivated

by the aspirations of the individual

should involve a technique like

transcendental meditation to

allow the individual to develop his

personality so that the inner happi-

ness of the individual provides a

stability that resolves problems

before they arise, enabling a soci-

ety to be one of all solutions and not

one of all problems.

Ian Stewart


24/27

A Personal InterviewAlans Interview with an Anonymous Participant at the Recovery College:

What is your diagnosis and how do you feel about it?

Schizophrenia and OCD. I prefer not to think about it because it makes it worse when I think about it.

How long have you suffered from mental illness?

Around 18-23 years.How do you manage on a daily basis?

Sometimes I nd it difcult to manage but I try to concentrate on what I am doing at the time.

Have you thought about telling your story to the public (anonymously or otherwise)?

I come from a South Asian background and mental health is seen as a NO GO AREA so I just keep it

to myself.

What advice would you give to someone else with a mental illness? What have you found most

helpful?

Take it day by day. If you are having trouble nd a friend or someone you can trust to tell what you

are going through. Make sure you ask them to keep it to themselves.What are your hopes for the future?

To deal with it better.

Accepting a diagnosis of mental ill health, with

all of the unknown lifestyle implications is let

me argue easier to come to terms with if the

patient can or could be considered already

intelligent and well adjusted. Preserving the

strengths of your personality is, Dr Johnson ESabine might argue, the very essence of the

struggle with your mental illness.

Alan was rst admitted to psychiatric hospi-

tal in 1986 and many years later he continues

to pursue work, leisure, and his pursuit of the

Lords wisdom. He does not deny his needs for

extra agency care and support. He is visited

by his carer once a week on Sundays for help

with maintaining himself and his home a well

appointed and comfortably furnished one bed-

room at, above and adjacent to the full array

of locally needed facilities.

Living only on a means-tested state pension,

this still allows Alan the relative luxury of eating

in local cafes and the occasional friendly invita-

tion for a home-cooked lunch or dinner.

Alan is self-employed and works in an advisory

capacity doing consultancy work. Alan is also a

well-regarded writer and, himself having been

moved to do so many times, often prompts

others to tell their life stories as a source of inspi-ration for others.

Alan advises other mental health service users

to carry on regardless. This does test us more

than non-mental health patients. We all have

our crosses to bear, however, and Alan is not

alone in nding advantage in so-called disad-

vantage. Take the problem-solving route and

make use of relevant and wider learning oppor-

tunities.

As a parent, his day-to-day life consists of

making an earnest effort to provide for his

family and, who knows, one day he may have

time to read a good book. Take one day at a

time, is his maxim: be thankful and count your

blessings in all things.

ADiagnosis

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FoodPhotographyHelen Grace Ventura Thompson


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Documents

Equilibrium Magazine Issue 51 - Winter 2014-2-2