The big issue: You can knock… but you can’t come in
"Perhaps those most frequently silenced by the medical profession are people with chronic, long-term ‘hidden’ illnesses and impairments, such as chronic fatigue syndrome, endometriosis, lupus and fibromyalgia. Thalia Joyner had scoliosis as a child and was subjected to traumatising, intrusive surgery in her early teens. She then suffered further spinal injuries in a motorbike accident and, 10 years later, having forged a career and had a child, lost mobility in both legs again that triggered a spiral downwards, and she was unable to walk for many years. She has since retrained and works as a therapist. So-called medically unexplained symptoms are most doctors’ nightmare; they defy their expertise. What gets overlooked are the impacts on the person themselves. ‘There is a lot of medical gaslighting and professional gaslighting,’ Joyner says."
5 ways to help a friend who is in a mental health crisis
"When a close friend is having a mental health crisis, it’s understandable to feel an array of powerful emotions such as fear, shock, confusion, or sadness. Perhaps they have been hospitalised because they are not safe or able to manage right now, or they are now working closely with a mental health team. Regardless of the type of mental health difficulties, or exact details of the situation, here – with help from counsellor Thalia Joyner – we share five tips for supporting a friend in crisis."
What is Gaslighting and what are the signs?
“Gaslighting comes from a 1938 play then a movie in 1944 called ‘Gas Light’, where a husband manipulates his wife into thinking she is losing her sense of reality so he can commit her and take her inheritance,” Counselling Directory member Thalia explains.
“This term has now been used to describe a set of psychological manipulative behaviours, to get the person being gaslit to doubt their own reality.”
What to do if you’re scared to trust the Government’s lockdown exit plan
"Anxiety and stress is a normal response to anything that is a threat,’ Thalia says.
‘We all have a place in our brain that is like a smoke detector, an alarm that signals any possible threat to us, it can be physical threat, emotional or psychological. The pandemic and virus is a threat to us on many levels.
‘When possible threat is detected it mounts a response in our nervous system triggering all sorts of physical and psychological symptoms such as anxiety, fuzzy headed, fatigue, digestives issues, low mood and sleep problems to name a few."
7 Ways to manage chronic pain that don't involve painkillers
“Living with chronic pain is traumatic, stressful and isolating in itself,” says Counselling Directory member Thalia, who became a counsellor following her own experiences of chronic pain.
Counselling can provide a safe space to talk about all this. Joyner says there’s also evidence that “when we have experienced trauma or long-term stress”, the body’s baseline functioning can be impacted, which may have a role in things like chronic pain."
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