Last week I read Elemental: The universal art of mental health by Paul Reed.
Paul Reed considers himself an "expert by experience" and in Elemental he aims to share this expertise gained through 20 years spent fighting mental illness and studying martial arts. This is Paul's second book; he wrote a novel entitled "The One" shortly after leaving The Royal Edinburgh hospital.
The book starts in the vein of many self help books: you hold the key to your destiny, you control your own luck, you can do anything you want to do if you decide that you can. Now anyone who has read my diary for a while will know I'm not a big fan of the self help genre, and I'm sure all the self -help gurus would tell me that the reason why I don't think that people can do literally anything they put their minds to, is due to my lack of faith. However, I do agree wholeheartedly when he says that we can't just go to a doctor and expect him/her to fix us, we have to attempt to meet the doctor or psychiatrist half way. "We are responsible for our own wellbeing more than anyone". We must learn self reliance.
The book is a synergy of experiences, ideas and exercises that aim to help people do just that. It would be of use not only to sufferers of mental health problems and to their families but also to anyone who occasionally finds that life gets on top of them a bit. There are exercises to help with relaxation, with channelling the emotions and to "quiet the mind", something I could certainly do with practising. A lot of the exercises are drawn from martial arts practise.
Some aspects of mental illness such as anxiety, depression, anger and hearing voices and their causes and effects are discussed in the book as well as some suggestions for dealing with them.
The book is scattered with quotes from sources as diverse as Eastern philosophy, various bands including Oasis, Travis and Moby, from Highlander and from more expected sources such as Nietzsche. Elemental is clearly drawn not only from the authors own opinions and experiences, some of which he shares with us in a brief autobiographical section, but also from a wide study, an enjoyment of music and of martial arts.
I don't totally buy into all the spiritual aspects of the book nor the idea of serendipity: each to their own, but I still found a lot in it that was very helpful most particularly the passages on anxiety and the reminder that we should take the time to be happy for what we have and for the beauty that surrounds us. I shall have to make serious efforts to practise some of the relaxation exercises.
>View more on Paul Reed and his new book - Elemental
Week commencing27/11/06
Medication: None.
Exercise: 3 – not nearly enough.
Alcohol: 8
Anxiety: Low
Anxiety Level (0-10): 1
Number of Panic Attacks: 0
Severity of Panic Attack (0-5): NA
Depression: Fine.
Depression Level (0-5): 0
Mania: Fine
Mania Level (0-5): 0
Summary
I really need to get a handle on the exercise thing, as the weather has been atrocious lately so I haven’t been able to get out. Therefore, I’m getting some exercise equipment for the flat for the short term. I’ll probably start back to the gym soon.
