Relationships & communication are difficult (if you dont feel this way, lucky you). The point isnt to get it right all the time. But to notice when there's discomfort & to make some effort to come together & hear each other out. Being able to speak & get back on track is part of a good relationship.
Old tweet from @shelfcomedy: me: god, why must you give me your hardest battles god: i don't. you are my weakest soldier and these battles are so easy. it's an email why are you crying
The morning so far
Here’s a quick reminder that our livestream #WhatTheFuck will be broadcast this evening on YouTube between 8 and 9pm this evening
We’ll be talking about the potentially rich vein of co-creation between punters & professionals
Thoughts happily embraced
www.youtube.com/@SquarePegsUK
I welcome a shift away from pathologising/medicating distress to something based more on understanding/normalising a human response to distressing experiences.
But help shouldn't be medication or nothing.
This shift needs a whole different kind of support infrastructure that needs investing in.
A picture of a microphone on a yellow background with black lettering advertising the ‘What The Fuck’ livestream that goes out tonight at 8pm UK time on X, Twitch, Facebook, YouTube and Substack. Sadly, not on Bluesky
Live this evening evening on #WhatTheFuck we’ll be speaking with Michael bsky.app/profile/ment... and Tony @asifamph (on x) an approved mental health social worker. What should we ask them?
Are you a #psychiatrist, a #psychologist an #occupationaltherapist. A #mentalhealthnurse or a #socialworker who thinks of people labelled with #AntisocialPersonalityDisorder as #Untreatable?
It’s time to think again
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
This Monday in PD², psychiatrist Jessica tells us about her work with people labelled with #AntisocialPersonalityDisorder
Turns out treating people humanely with compassion and respect reaps rewards for everyone.
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
There are cliques of people who pull the strings in healthcare. Small networks of powerful people who can let others in, or not. I don't doubt these are good, skilled people, but it's not inclusive. There's talk of valuing diversity & participation, but it's only on terms set by those in power.
@danwarrender.bsky.social 2 episodes of PD² are out today
#PersonalityDisorder
#DatabaseOfTestimony
#PrejudiceAndDiscrimination
podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...
Like so many people I'm increasingly anxious about Reform.
I see posts basically saying why you'd have to be stupid to vote for them, what idiots they are, mocking people.
This makes me more anxious tbh. It was the same approach with brexit, with Tr*mp. It doesnt work, it just strengthens support.
One of the things I'm most looking forward to this year, is having been selected to deliver the annual Skellern Lecture. I plan on discussing how MH nursing may be constrained by ideas of 'nursing', and the relationship with psychiatry. Learn more: www.skellern.info
I saw an ad for a role that I reckon a few yrs ago I would have felt compelled to apply for. I'd have thought what an amazing opportunity to have a positive influence, to be right at the heart of system change.
My reaction today was "why would ANYONE take on that role? How could anyone survive it?"
🎬 New 'personality disorders' video series alert!
Starting today, we're sharing 6 videos from @bigspd.bsky.social's 2025 conference in Liverpool - one every Thursday morning.
First up: Why does this community matter?
buff.ly/O28Ji4Q
When people diagnosed with 'borderline personality disorder' are told they are "too unstable for therapy", this harms their self-concept, and also seems to rather bizarrely demand that people get well before they are treated. Explore further, open access: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
When you hear the reality of living with a chronic health condition & anxiety about the future... this isnt the time for clever psychological strategies. It's more real to acknowledge how shit it sounds, & how I think I'd be worried sick too. How it makes sense to feel that way, please tell me more.
Aberdeenshire in the snow.
It's a very good thing that staff experience, burnout etc gets talked about more these days.
But... we're still way off in terms of meaningfully intervening.
Still far too much emphasis on individual coping & patching up (easier interventions), rather than making work conditions better (trickier).
Whilst I'm always a little disappointed that fellowship never seems to mean I get to band together with mythical peoples to take a mysterious ring to Mount Doom, I am pleased to have been successful in my application to become a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Speaking with someone who's in pain is very hard. You long for something to do or say that'll lessen the pain. Feels so wrong to not 'DO SOMETHING', & it's easy to get drawn into problem-solving. Takes a lot of gentle strength to 'be with', to sit alongside, to seek to understand 'what is it like?'.
I leave Malta this morning, having been welcomed by mental health nursing colleagues as I opened their annual conference with a keynote, and delivered some teaching around 'personality disorder' and mentalization to hospital staff. Interesting that challenges for MH nursing are similar.
Enjoyed connecting with international colleagues at the mental health nursing leaders summit in Barcelona. The plan is to establish an international council for mental health nursing, and my heart is fully behind this project, but my head wonders how it will work and what impact it can have.
The 40th anniversary of 'Commando' (1985), shown in Dundee, for 2 quid, with proceeds going to charity, and a facilitated discussion on men's mental health following the film?
30th November 12pm, all of your dreams come true.
www.citizenticket.com/events/scott...
Me too Charlie. I've a girl and a boy, and I think the world can send them a variety of different messages around who they are or should be. I'll try to equip them with a critical mind that can reject and ignore stories about themselves which are misplaced. We're all vulnerable to it!
Hello my friend! I like to be all encompassing, so broad as people like to be with that conversation title. I tend to think about societal expectations of strength, fearlessness and success, whereas many men in the world feel just as lost as everyone else. I always looked at Arnie, and felt inferior
The 40th anniversary of 'Commando' (1985), shown in Dundee, for 2 quid, with proceeds going to charity, and a facilitated discussion on men's mental health following the film? 30th November 12pm, all of your dreams come true. www.citizenticket.com/events/scott...
Important all UK nurses feedback. As a mental health nurse, I feel the NMC has no vision for the field, and would be happy to let it silently die. It is difficult for me to donate to a cause which I do not believe supports the work I do #MHDeservesBetter
www.nmc.org.uk/about-us/con...
The 'conceptual black hole of borderline personality disorder': how can BPD be not real mental illness but too unstable for therapy, described as not personality disorder but treated as only personality disorder, and also, borderline of what? Open access: doi.org/10.1080/0161...
"We intervene to prevent suicide, yet in doing so might restrict an individual's valued freedoms in some very complex ways. These consequences need to be considered as risks in themselves". A short comment piece to provoke thought and attention on relationships, not just risk.
Looking forward to this. Delighted to be invited by peers in Malta.
