Self help can take many forms, from knowing your rights to accepting the need to embrace responsibility for your own wellbeing.  We are mostly brought up on the ‘medical model’ where you see an ‘expert’ and they provide you with at a minimum - guidance and at best - prescriptive advice/medical interventions. 

 

However, the medical model is slow to recognize that you are one system and that all parts of you affect the others.  If your mind is unwell, your body and emotions are affected.  If your body is unwell, your mind and emotions are affected.  If you’re emotionally distressed, your body and mind are affected.

 

To be proactive in your own wellbeing you need to embrace a holistic approach to your own healing and take the time to address issues with your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.  The following are suggestions in way you can help yourself to understand yourself and improve outcomes: -

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Your Right to Choose

Since 2018 if you live in England you have had the right to choose your mental health provider., with certain specified exceptions.  This means that often, when your GP refers you on for specialist support, you have the legal right to choose the consultant, hospital, or service you would like to be referred to.  The NHS has a website page that gives full information here: -

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/your-choices-in-the-nhs/

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This page also includes links to pages where you can compare information about consultants and hospitals, such as waiting times, outcomes, and parking.  You also have the right to ask for a new provider if your waiting time is longer than that specified for your treatment.

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Your Right To Choose & ADHD Assessment

If you would like an ADHD assessment you can find a list of private ADHD assessment providers to the NHS at the following address, with some providers offering video link assessments:

https://adhduk.co.uk/right-to-choose/

 

Your Right To Make A Complaint

If you feel your wellbeing had not be handled as well as it should you have the right to make a complaint.  For guidance on making a complaint about your health and social care, follow the link to Mind.org.uk

https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/legal-rights/complaining-about-health-and-social-care/overview/

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Keep A Diary

Keeping a diary is probably the most annoying advice you can be given as it’s time-consuming and requires a high degree of commitment.  However, it can be your best friend as far as seeking help is concerned.  Keeping a diary shows your commitment, it provides an overview of your health and wellbeing, and very importantly in therapy, it can flag up patterns of behaviour, of distress, of low mood, of anger, of triggers in your environment and relationships, and perhaps most importantly it can help you to become more self-reflective.  Your diary might be what you eat, where you went, who you saw, when you felt low, good days and bad days,

 

Buy one, download a template, or create your own design in a way that works for you, but most of all do what you can and be super impressed with yourself when you manage to remember to complete entries and super kind to yourself when you forget, which you will because there are surveys that show even when you tell someone they will go blind if they forget to take their pills.  They forget its part of being human.

 

Have a ‘Medication Management Plan’ and Don’t Self-medicate

Someone within your medication prescribers should help you create a Medication Management Plan which should state: -

• What the medication has been prescribed for and intended outcomes.

• The starting does and intervals between adjustments.

• How long the medication will take to work, and expected duration for taking

• The length of time covered by each prescription

• Risks associated with overdosing

• Review plans and timing

 

If you’re taking SSRI’s (Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors) or SNRI’s Selective Noradrenaline Reuptake Inhibitors) be aware that they take between 2-4 weeks to work and most medical advice is to continue taking them for 6 months after you feel well and that if you stop taking them, and though they are not addictive, if you decide to stop taking them without consulting your medical adviser you can still suffer withdrawal symptoms.  Also note that these inhibitors do not mean that you have chemical imbalance of Serotonin or Noradrenaline in your brain, merely that keeping more of it in your brain, for some people, improves their mood and ability to cope. These medications do not work for everyone and can have some very unpleasant side effects, please discuss these carefully before you agree to a prescription.

 

Exercise

Exercise releases endorphins that help improve your mood.  Exercise improves physical health and when done as pleasure, helps to reduce stress and promote feelings of calm whilst strengthening inner resilience. Exercise does not have to be of gym standard – gardening, walking, playing golf, riding, swimming, sailing etc. are all forms of exercise.