Top mental health vloggers & videos

Happy New Year! Traditionally we start the New Year by recommending some of our favourite blogs. In the past we have covered mental health and also dementia. This year we’re looking at videos and vlogging.

“A vlog (or video blog) is a blog that contains video content. The small, but growing, segment of the blogosphere devoted to vlogs is sometimes referred to as the vlogosphere.”

There are a surprising number of people vlogging about mental health. Many of these are young people around the world who have grasped the opportunity that the video site YouTube provides to talk about their personal experiences online. Many report that they find it therapeutic to do this, and hope that their experiences will also help and support others who are struggling with mental health issues.

A high proportion of these vloggers regard their distress as an illness and their experiences are very much phrased around the medical model relating to mental health. There are, however, some videos which take the social model view, and others where the boundaries are blurred. You can read more about the debate around the medicalisation of mental health on this blog, suffice to say most (though not all) of the recommended vlogs and videos here tend towards the view that mental distress is, as campaigner, writer and speaker Jacqui Dillon states, “a normal response to abnormal stress”, as opposed to an illness. 

And so whilst we’re on the topic of Jacqui, we may as well start the list by highlighting a video of her on our very own PAVO YouTube channel. This was made at the 2013 Powys “Shaping Services” conference.

The channel Crazywise is run by photographer and film maker Phil Borges and features videos questioning how 'Western culture defines and treats severe mental disorders'. Phil is also working on a feature length documentary 'challenging the current mental health system in crisis'. Many of the Crazywise films are interviews with "experts" talking about their experiences in the field, including British psychiatrist Russell Razzaque who has a background in mindfulness meditation and is currently leading a clinical trial into Peer-Supported Open Dialogue.

Rai Waddingham hears voices and sees visions. She is an 'independent trainer specialising in innovative ways of supporting people who struggle with extreme states (including ‘psychosis’, ‘dissociation’ and post traumatic reactions).' This video from her channel focuses on her experiences of hearing voices.

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Laura Delano, an American who also features on the Crazywise channel, has her own independent channel where she vlogs regularly about her own experiences of psychiatry and the psychiatric system. She describes herself as an ‘ex-"Bipolar" patient, (and) discusses life after psychiatric labels and psychotropic drugs’.

Another Laura, Laura Nuttall, vlogs about her experiences in psychiatric hospital with real insight given to the actual experience of being on a mental health ward in the UK.

LikeKristen is a young American vlogger with a very watchable style. Her videos include all kinds of mental health topics, ranging from experiences of self harm, to stigma and practical suggestions to help recovery. Here is a link to her journaling video. 

Fixers is a UK organisation featured previously on our blog. Sarah Harmon, who lives in Powys, talked for Fixers about her experience of mental health issues and the work she does in schools to help combat stigma. Fixers is a project of the Public Service Broadcasting Trust, and uses short film and other media to enable young people have their voices heard and help make positive change. Check out the Fixers website to watch videos relating to mental health and young people in Wales.

Kati Morton is an American therapist who provides information about “conditions” and “treatments” that are very easy to follow. As the National Health Service in the UK uses much of the same terminology it can be helpful to watch these if you want to find out more about treatments such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) that are available to people here too.

And finally, the Spiritual Crisis Network has some excellent videos on its website, including a 5 minute animated film called "Compassion for Voices: a tale of courage and hope", produced by King’s College, London.

We hope you enjoy watching some of these videos and vlogs, and would love to hear about others that you recommend. Let us know in the comments box below.

All the best for 2016 from the mental health team at PAVO – Angharad, Anne, Glynis, Jane and Jackie.

Dementia - who is blogging about it?

For the past couple of years we have greeted the New Year here on the blog with a round-up of some award winning mental health blogs. Some of these bloggers, such as Mental Health Cop, are well-known and have attracted large numbers of readers. The more niche the topic, often the more useful the information/comment provided by these blog authors.

This year, however, we have decided to focus on dementia blogs. With the growing success of dementia friendly communities around Powys, and an increasing awareness around dementia with schemes such as Dementia Friends, it seemed not just appropriate but high time!

So here are some of our favourite dementia blogs, written by people with dementia, those close to them, and others who are working to support them – whether in the statutory, voluntary or private sectors.

We hope you enjoy dipping into their blog pages, and if you know of others you would like to recommend just add a comment below. We would really like to hear from you.

1. Adventures with dementia

“My wife has dementia. She first attended a memory clinic in 2000, aged 52, and suffered a marked decline in the autumn of 2011. Since then there have been some improvements, despite the fact that she has now (after 12 years investigation) been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.
We try to follow the advice of our Guru: 'Live a Good Life'. It's not easy but there doesn't seem to be any better advice around.
I found myself saying to a friend that I would find my wife's condition very interesting if I wasn't so involved. I've realised now that I do find it, and the issues it raises, interesting.”

This blog was started in 2011 and is packed full of useful information. The latest posts focus on A visit to the dentist, Paying GPs £55 for diagnosing dementia, and Disability Living Centres.

2. (Dementia just Ain’t) Sexy

“No photos of wizened hands here! Not a daily care blog or advice site, this is a place to share thoughts about the impact of dementia on those who live with it – who could be any of us.”

3. What I’d have done differently if I’d known my Mother had dementia

“I thought I didn’t know much about dementia until I read a research proposal on unusual experiences of people living with severe dementia – such as confusion, hallucinations and delusions. Suddenly an old and squeaky door opened and I found myself looking into a dark and scary room in broad daylight for the first time.”

A post on the Changing Minds, Changing Lives mental health and learning disability website that has provoked some interesting comments too.

4. Living in the shadow of Alzheimer’s

“This blog is about life with my husband who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Frontal Lobe Dementia in 2008. He was 64 at the time although now, knowing more about the disease, Alzheimer's was present many, many years ago, which is why early detection is so important. As you read the blog "Al" represents the way that Alzheimer's is invading our daily lives.”

Daily updates on living with Alzheimer’s from across the Atlantic, but so many of the day-to-day issues are relevant too here in Wales.

5. A dementia voice

“You can still live a life with dementia” is the strapline of this community of bloggers from across the UK, some of them living in remote parts of the Scottish Highlands. Several are members of the Scottish Dementia Working Group.

6. Dementia Journeys

“We aim to share dementia related news and information from around the world as well as sharing your Dementia Journey stories.”

Dipping into recent blog posts we find articles on Activities and stories to share with adults with dementia, Hospices and their ethos of care, and raising awareness of dementia with The Purple Angel – a new symbol emerging from Dementia Action Alliances in Devon.

7. Pippa Kelly

“I write every day about one thing or another, mostly about the elderly, their care and its funding, and about dementia, which stole my mum from her family in a drawn-out 10-year raid.”

Pippa originally wrote an article which appeared in a Sunday newspaper called Dementia: the longest, cruellest goodbye.

In 2014 she received an Older People in the Media Award from John Sargeant.

8. Young Dementia

This site has links to numerous blogs, some written by people with young onset dementia, and others written by the family members of those with this diagnosis.

So, that’s a lot of reading to dip into! We hope you find a blog that can help, inform, interest or inspire you – but if there are others out there you want to let us know about, please comment below.

And if you would like to write about your experience of dementia, especially if you are based in Powys or have a family member or friend who is, please get in touch.

Top mental health blogs 2013

First off - a Happy New Year to all our readers! We've really enjoyed blogging through 2013, and are always thrilled when people comment and engage with the debate or give us more information or even disagree with us! So, please keep reading and telling us what you think.

Last year I posted the top blogs of 2012 according to The World of the Mentalists (TWIM) online mental health magazine. Well, TWIM has now changed its name to Mentally Wealthy, but the awards continue. There do seem to be some new categories though, and the first "vlog" or video blog  features too. As it proved a popular post last year, it seemed only right to start 2014 with links to some of the best blogs out there.

So, here is a list of the winners and their corresponding categories:

• Lived experience - 2 joint winners: My Crazy Bipolar Blog and My Travels with Depression
• Recovery - Happy Mental - Onwards and Upwards
• Campaigning - Fementalists
• Informative - Broken Light: A Photography Collective
• Carer - A Carer's Eyes
• Student/Academic - Psychodiagnosticator
• Helpful - Doc Ready
• Humour - 2 joint winners: Hyperbole and a Half and Therapy Tales
• Vlog - Jonny Benjamin
• Best new blog - Bipolar Nana
• Wildcard blog - BPD FFS Sue Sibbald

You can read more on Mentally Wealthy about why these particular blogs won. What do you think? Do you have favourite blogs you'd like to tell us about? Are you writing one of your own? Let us know.

As always, some of our favourite blogs are listed in the right hand column of this blog.

Happy reading!

No to diets

Notodiets is a new blog about eating disorders which I found out about recently. Its creator, Leanne, wrote to me about her experiences and explained why she decided to start the blog:

"Well, it’s about time I started my own blog I thought – having no idea about how to set one up. None the less, off I went on a rather steep ‘blogging’ learning curve and have produced my first ever blog!

Obviously anyone setting up a blog needs to have a focus, a passion for example. Well, this bit of the process is easy for me because I am absolutely, emphatically passionate about raising awareness that ‘diets don’t work’!

I suffered from Bulimia for 15 years mainly through my late teens and twenties. During this time I didn’t talk to anyone about it – which I now really wish I had. I also wish I knew then what I now know about diets!

As a teenager I overate a lot and consequently I gained a lot of weight, not only did this bring taunts from my peers but my self confidence was severely affected. I turned to diets, the type of commercial diets we see advertised everywhere and all the time today.

They maybe worked for a little while then I would give up (which of course is what the dieting industry want us to do, so that we go back for more! It’s all about money). The weight would then go back on and plus some!

I then turned to Bulimia with the false hope that not only would I lose weight but everything would seem ‘better’. But, it wasn’t – I lost and gained, lost and mostly gained in a damaging cycle that dangerously affected my physical and mental health. I became so scared of the impact Bulimia was having on my physical health, I managed to begin recovery 4 years ago and have been Bulimia free for those 4 years.

I have always had a sense that something is not quite ‘right’ with the dieting industry and its approach to weight loss. I wondered more about why we eat the way we eat for example, but this was rarely talked about. This is what started my interest in eating disorders and I began working professionally with people suffering from eating disorders in late 2007.

It has been my own struggle with weight, others’ stories and the government’s drive to ‘tackle obesity’ that has prompted me to begin research into other, alternative ways to weight loss and becoming a healthier person for the individual. This search has taken me into a world of like minded people including renowned professionals conducting research into this area. The basic assertion is that ‘diets don’t work’ and that overeating / compulsive eating is linked to our emotions and therefore a psychological approach is important when attempting to lose and maintain weigh loss.

However, there is much more work that needs to be done in raising this awareness to the government, policy makers, the diet industry and the general public and I hope that my blog, and campaigning amongst all the many other people fighting for this recognition, might help to raise this awareness.

I really hope you enjoy reading the blog – I will be regularly updating it with posts, book reviews, articles, links and discussions.

Please comment / email me via my blog and share with others to help raise awareness."

Top mental health blogs 2012

All around me, in the office, down on the street outside the window, I can hear people greeting each other - "Happy New Year!"

So, whilst we're still in the mood, here's another of my New Year resolutions - to start reading more of other people's blogs! What better place to start than the best of the bunch as just judged by This Week in Mentalists, aka TWIM. This UK based website showcases a weekly selection of blogs from across the "Madosphere, our affectionate name for the mental health blogosphere." I like Madosphere - must keep that in mind... The selection is published each Saturday or Sunday on the The World of Mentalists website - an e-zine of news, commentary and blog digests in the arena of mental health.

Anyway, TWIM has just announced the 2012 TWIM Awards for the best blogs in the following categories:

• Mood disorder blog - Purple Persuasion.
• Psychosis blog - A Path With Heart.
• Eating disorder blog - Giant Fossilized Armadillo.
• Personality disorder blog -  Beauty from Pain.
• Anxiety, stress or trauma blog - Conversations with my  Head.
• Autistic spectrum disorder blog - Aspergers and the Alien.
• Psychiatry, psychology or psychotherapy blog - Mind Hacks.
• Nursing, social work, or professions allied to medicine blog - The Masked AMHP.
• Student or academic blog - World of Oid.
• Mental health not otherwise specified blog - MentalHealthCop.
• The Mental Health wildcard award - Chaos and Control.

If you have a favourite blog of your own, then please let us know and we can link to it from here.