The vent of a hyperactive mind.

Anxiety and depression are getting an increasing amount of media attention and for all of the right reasons. Inferiority complexes and mental health in general, is widely becoming accepted as something of vital importance to healthy modern day living. Indeed, what's the point, if we can't be happy and relaxed at least some of the time in our lives? However, I was at a fascinating training earlier this week about public narrative. Tony talked passionately about the masks that young adults, especially young men have to wear. I guess he was talking about the 'brave face' mask, the 'not offended' mask, the 'laugh it off' mask and the 'look how strong I am' mask. Masks that cover what many gentlemen (and women) feel, which can quite often be loneliness, weakness and feelings of overwhelm. But then there are some individuals, not always men, who wear their masks all the time, and who's masks eventually end up becoming part of their personalit...

I've just read an interesting article that started examining the physical affects of anxiety and depression on the mind. It cited the shrinking of the hippo campus and the relative ineffectiveness and lack of evidence of medicinal remedies. I was fascinated until it reached it's conclusion, that the cure, is healthy eating,  exercise and a change of mind.  All of the things that, anyone will tell you, never happen whilst your suffering. From my own perspective, (a severe bout case of anxiety, with mild to moderate depression) I knew all of these 'secrets' would help. But when the motivation is missing, and you feel like you've nothing left to live for, sufferers simply cannot do them. My eating became lazy, accompanied with thoughts that if I got lucky, I might just have a heart attack and die anyway. I didn't want to wake up in the morning, why would I bother cooking myself a nutritious lunch? Exercise, yes, I knew that would make a difference, but...

I'm a big fan of the idea of universal basic income; UBI. The ideology that welfare becomes a thing of the past, because people have enough to live on. Those who want more than 'just enough to live on' follow their heart doing something they love, and earning themselves a better standard of living. The money wasted on complex ESA, JSA assessments, enforcement and compliance is reinvested to support everyone, civil servants are sent home with their pockets lined with UBI instead. After a catastrophe a couple of years back, my wife and I have been supported with ESA, JSA, child tax credits and working tax credits (not all at the same time) . My wife doesn't earn enough to pay tax, and I'm trying my best to establish myself as an entrepreneur. Having UBI as a safety net wouldn't motivate me any less than I am now, I wouldn't give up, because I'm loving what I'm doing. But it would take a lot of the stress away. Stress that's increased do to the u...

The last few years have been interesting. It's fair to say, I've had a catastrophic mental breakdown and have had some incredible support to try and get myself back on my feet. Much of it is still ongoing and I've opted for a course of CBT, which I have ended up funding myself, as I think (like the occupational health report from 2 years ago) it will be beneficial. This CBT could apparently have been offered on the NHS, but is far less prevalent in Wales, than it is in England. My therapist commutes to England because of this issue, which according to my local MP, shouldn't exist. (This needs more investigation, but is certainly a conversation worth having). Learning about the benefits system has been a steep learning curve. My old job was complicated, but I'd class myself as above average intelligence, and I struggled to get my head round what I should be entitled to and what I shouldn't. Indeed, answering 'yes', to my dentist to inform him that I was...