Sunday, August 12, 2012

Can't Afford Treatment/Want To Further Research ?


Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What You Can Do:
Options include: free online CBT,studies,free/low-cost workshops,peer counselling,support groups,surveys,books,websites and self-care.


You can participate in studies
Some useful links:

FAQs(Frequently Asked Questions) about participating in research http://psychcentral.com/clinicaltrials/

Protection of Research Volunteers http://www.nami.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Inform_Yourself/About_Research/Protection_of_Research_Volunteers.htm

Mixture of various disorders including eating disorders & for various age groupshttp://www.psychiatry.umn.edu/research/arc/currstudies/home.html


Borderline Research Studies by Country


Map of the world for all Mental Disorder Research Studies 

Free Online CBT(Cognitive Behaviour Therapy)

Sites like E-Couch teach free CBT and help researchers to see how effective it is in various areas...
Some free programs for Mood Charting help with research & so do sites like patientslikeme which covers mental & other disorders(treatments,medications...),please see the post Symptom & Mood Chartingfor more details.

Although most surveys/studies & other sites listed will do their best to keep you anonymous & your information confidential,I cannot guarantee anything as each survey/site has different conditions which should be read carefully beforehand.


Free/Low Cost Workshops
Organizations like NAMI(National Alliance on Mental Illness) sponsor workshops and sometimes put some parts up on YouTube and have transcripts/mp3 files.The courses provide information on various severe mental illnesses such as panic disorder,bipolar disorder (manic depressive disorder), depression, panic disorder, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, borderline personality disorder or PTSD.The workshops are usually about medications, side effects, the recovery process,communication skills and setting limits.NAMI Family to Family Workshops by state/province
NAMI Metropolis workshop for family members(Sept 9th 2012)

Sept. 10th 2012 .6:30 to 9 p.m. NAMI South Dakota is sponsoring a 12-week education course for families of people with serious mental illnesses.For more information or to register, contact Phyllis Arends at 271-1871 by Thursday.

On Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012 at Deacon Compean Hall, 2475 Lincoln Boulevard, Venice, CA, 90291 author Randi Kreger will teach skills to family members of people with BPD in an interactive workshop. The workshop, will be part of the Clearview Women’s Center Consumer Lecture Series, is a free event open to the public.

NAMI Shasta County will hold a 12-week, free Family to Family course.
October 9th to December 18th 2012 .6:30 to 9 p.m on Tuesdays at 1615 Continental St.Redding.To sign up, contact NAMI Shasta County at 605-1647 or namisc@namisc.us , please put Family to Family in the subject line.

Melbourne, Florida -- A Dialectical Behavior Therapy Group for adults who attend individual therapy for the diagnosis of  BPD is  meeting Wednesdays from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm,Participants may join at any time,presented by the Community Psychological Services (CPS) of Florida Institute of Technology. The cost is $10 a month. For more information, call Community Psychological Services at (321) 674-8106, extension 2.

Isle of Wight free "New Beginnings' "course for mental Health Conditions  Northwood House, Cowes.The course will look at a number of areas including problem solving and goal setting, confidence building, anxiety and depression management, trigger and relapse symptom awareness, positive thinking, relaxation techniques, lifestyle, communication skills and planning for the future.
It starts next Wednesday 17th October.  For more information or to register, call 0800 988 5560, email get.info@eppcic.co.uk or visit www.expertpatients.co.uk

One way to know about these free workshops is to set a google alert that will be sent to your email.For example in the search query you could include;the mental illness(es) of your choice,the country and city/state you live in and the words workshop and family member...

http://bpdvideo.com/ is a site where you can rent a video package on Borderline Personality Disorder (2010)
Free videos by topic from NEABPD

Free DBT Skills Handbook
https://docs.google.com/file/d/1cyanUui4ZlpL0suxvBoGhgsBQwM5aAsHXKl4U2vdQ7eRPMqcwe-jPuTxqgl2/edit?pli=1#

Peer Counselling
(Also known as reevaluation counselling or co-counselling) this is where two people who know and trust each other meet for about an hour,for 30 minutes the focus is on one person and the next 30mins on the other person.During the 30mins one person gets to discuss almost anything (within reason & politely) while their partner focuses on them giving positive support and advice.Learning and practicing validation will be very helpful here.Margarita Tartakovsky, M.S. has a very good explanation of what validation is:
Q: You suggest using a technique called validation to help defuse a loved one’s intense emotions. What is validation, and how is it different from simply agreeing with what someone says? 
Validation is a way of acknowledging some small piece of what the person says as understandable, sensible, “valid.” An important piece of validation that people miss is that we don’t validate the invalid. For example, if your loved one is 5’7,” weighs 80 pounds and says “I’m fat,” you wouldn’t validate that by saying, “Yes, you are fat.” That would be validating the invalid.
You can validate some part of what she is saying by saying “I know you feel fat (or bloated, or full)”, whatever is appropriate to the context of what she is saying. Try to find some small kernel of validity. Remember that tone and manner can be invalidating when words are validating. “I know you FEEL fat” can be invalidating because it communicates that the feeling is wrong.

More on validation.
Try out a few sessions of peer counselling and see how it goes.



Practice Self-Care

By doing things such as relaxation,exercising regularly,eating correctly  & socializing you will be helping your physical and mental health.You can also learn how to improve your relationships .I've built a page with resources & easy to understand  information  that are on this topic : Self Care for Mental Health
Many books (see previews and reviews on Amazon & Google Books) and blogs on Psychology Today and Psych Central have great advice and new information on recently published studies...

Finding it difficult to get a job because of your mental illness(es)?
The Red Cross Employment Services might be able to help you.


Research Surveys You can Fill Out (most of them are for over 18s)
Image: 
FreeDigitalPhotos.net  
Self Injury  https://periwinkle.ts.odu.edu/cgi-bin/qwebcorporate.dll?YMRGHS

BPD https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FKXR2SD

Being Emotionally Sensitive https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GNXRB75

Parent of a BPD child http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=85qwclnkqhPALWoaZqVKTA_3d_3d

Romantic Partner of a BPDhttp://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stop-walking-eggshells/201207/take-survey-people-borderline-partners

Friend/Family of a BPD http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/familyexperiences2012

Treatment Availability for BPD http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QD9WMLB

Caring for an anorexic child https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6QPPY8M

Pro-eating disorders & professional recovery websites surveyhttp://www.deakin.edu.au/psychology/research/giuseppinapompei/

Intimate relationships and eating disorders (with no Axis2 disorders) https://novisurvey.net/TakeSurveyPage.aspx?s=7b81e28cd81445f1954658d8b44a7077&tsid=e074cf4d42a448748eaf189e2d5397c6&c=en-US

Mother of an anorexic child (age 10-21) receiving treatment https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6QPPY8M

OCD http://www.fahs.surrey.ac.uk/survey/OCDresearch/

Quality of life in adults with OCD http://hsccm2.hsc.usf.edu/checkbox/Survey.aspx?surveyid=4690

Agoraphobia http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8CBJQ8B

Anxiety & Depression in Young Adults(Australia) http://medusa.ballarat.edu.au/limesurvey/index.php?sid=69951&lang=en

Accuracy of Bipolar Self-Test http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/public/bipolardisorder/self-test.cfm

Bipolar Relapse After Child Birth https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/YGQBL5G

Sources:
The Depression Workbook: A Guide for Living With Depression and Manic Depression
Mary Ellen Copeland;Matthew McKay

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