Home Moving Tips for People With Mental Health Issues

Many mental illnesses can be eased by keeping to a structured routine, therefore big changes to our lifestyles can trigger psychological problems. This means that people with mental health problems such as bipolar disorder have to plan very carefully if they choose to move home. Here are some tips to help smooth the process.

1. Take exceptional care when choosing a new home

It seems obvious that you would chose a new home that satisfies your needs, however house hunting can take time and quickly becomes frustrating which can lead to making rash, panicked decisions. If possible take friends and family with you when viewing properties because they will help to keep you calm and sometimes notice things about a property that you might miss.

Our surroundings have a massive impact on our psychological well-being so be clear on what keeps you healthy, e.g. plenty of daylight.

2. Consult your GP/CPN/ Mental Health Coordinator

If you have a mental health worker assigned to you then talk to them about your move, they will be able to suggest ways to smooth the process and, if you move to a new area, they should be able to help find you mental health provision in your new location.

3. Don't do it alone

Accept help from friends and family. Someone once told me that asking somebody for help is the greatest gift you can give them - I'm not sure that everybody agrees, but certainly the people who love you would not want to see you get ill if they could prevent it. So let them help pack, move boxes/furniture and assist you with paperwork and admin tasks.

4. Break the move down into smaller tasks and make lists

There is so much to consider when you move home that it can seem overwhelming. However if you sit down and make a list of everything that needs doing and break daunting tasks into smaller ones, the move will seem much more manageable.

5. Don't skip meals

Regular, wholesome meals have been shown to have a huge impact on mental well-being. Make sure that even when you are at your busiest, you still find time for meals. Consider healthy ready meals or easy cook pasta if you are too busy to prepare a meal from scratch.

6. Look after your sleep

It is very easy to have late nights when you've got a lot to do, or to lie awake worrying about the move. Make sure that you get physical exercise during the day, try to avoid caffeine and alcohol, and make sure that your room is dark when you go to bed. For supper, warm milk, a low-sugar wholegrain cereal or chamomile tea, might help you to sleep well. You could also try relaxation techniques like yoga.

7. Don't forget to keep your prescriptions up to date

It can be easy, in all the chaos, to forget to pick up a repeat prescription or neglect to make sure that you have enough to last you the move. If your relocation requires you to change doctor then don't forget that it might take up to two weeks to get registered with a new doctor, so ask your existing doctor for a prescription to carry you over.

8. Get your phone line set up in advance

Communication is very important for a number of reasons, perhaps you need social contact with your friends to stop you from becoming depressed or perhaps you just need to know that there is a means of calling a crisis line is, should you need it. You can usually get a phone line set up in advance by calling service providers. If you are planning on relying on a mobile then make sure that there is a network signal at the new property or nearby.

9. Be benefits organised

If you are unfit to work and so rely on welfare benefits then make sure that you find out how to transfer your benefits before you actually move to avoid losing money. Some applications such as for Housing Benefit need to be done very early during a tenancy so plan ahead. The benefits system can be very difficult to understand and if you have problems with this area then your local Citizen's Advice Bureau will be able to help.

10. Find time to enjoy your new neighbourhood

When you move to a new home it might be very easy to get swamped in unpacking and letter writing, however make sure that you set aside time to explore and enjoy your neighbourhood. Unpacking doesn't have to be done right away, looking after your health does.

Furniture for families on low income

If you're living in the Exeter area and have any good quality furniture you don't need anymore then you could do far worse than donating it to Turntable. They collect most household items and then redistribute them to families in need.

Turntable may also be of interest to my readers with mental health problems that prevent them from working because Turntable delivers furniture to those in receipt of means-tested benefits, for a very reasonable fee.

How much do I hate "The L Word" finale?

I don't know why I'm surprised that a show that takes itself as seriously as The L Word, and frequently shifts genres to suit itself, would end its closing season with ends more loose than Shane's knickers.

Perhaps Ilene Chaiken fancies herself as the lesbian David Lynch, and if so, I think she's seriously misjudged her audience. Most L Word viewers are not there for the artistic style, we're there for the false hope the show gives us by creating a feel good universe full of successful, good-looking lesbians who mingle with other successful, good-looking lesbians.

Some of us may kid ourselves that we're interested in its occasional political storyline such as the military's policy on gay recruits or same sex adoption, but really what we want is to watch pretty women drifting in and out of love. The show handled romance so much better than it ever did anything else, even if the sex scenes were often contrived.

By failing to tie up the loose ends, and leaving many of the key characters we've grown to know and love, alone, the script writers have robbed us of the very thing we watch the show to achieve, the feel good factor.

As for the self-indulgent, surreal music video at the end? Words cannot convey how embarrassed I was when I watched it. I love to see a cast bow at the end of a performance when I'm at the theatre! There was something about Bette reaching for Jenny's hand as they all walk towards the camera in evening dresses with their hair blowing in the wind, that really cemented my suspicion that The L Word is little more than a mediocre pile of pretentious daydreams that achieved way more time in the spotlight than it actually deserved.

I am furious - Reporting bias in Deliberate Self-Harm Cases

I have never self-harmed because of a relationship break down; I am good at coping with difficult situations when I'm well. On the other hand bipolar disorder has put me in hospital at least a dozen times. Why then do I repeatedly read medical reports stating that I've self-harmed because of a break-up with "the boyfriend?" I haven't even been in a relationship with a man for over four years!

There I am in the Accident and Emergency unit, a police car or the 136 room at a psychiatric hospital, clearly having a mental catastrophe and some smart ass sees fit to focus on whatever tiny crack in my romantic life may have sent me spiralling into sickness, rather than the much stronger contributory factor, bipolar disorder.

Typically something annoying triggers a mood swing and things rapidly escalate so much so that the resulting crisis doesn't actually reflect the trigger at all. Because triggers are often of a romantic nature, professionals tend to assume from my levels of distress that a serious relationship has ended when actually the initial trigger could be something as trivial as somebody I'd been on one date with not answering their phone for 1 hour. No matter how many details they learn about the situation, "Row with boyfriend" sticks in their minds. The facts that they arrived at "row" from "didn't hug me for very long when he said goodbye" and "boyfriend" from "guy I've fancied for two weeks" don't seem to factor in their interpretation of the situation.

During my last trip to hospital I found a psychologist who listened. I admitted that I had experienced a minor disappointment with a potential love interest but that it was the sort of thing that warranted a couple of days of sulking, nothing more. I explained that the situation only represented about 10% of the problem and that bipolar disorder was the main bad guy. Afterwards I thanked her for listening rather than presuming I was deeply heartbroken.

However today I got a copy of her report. I read the opening sentence with fury,
"Difficulty accepting recent relationship break-up." It then went on to say, "The patient feels that the precipitants to this presentation to A&E are not associated with her bipolar disorder."

She actually wrote down the exact opposite of the point I laboured hard to make. Fortunately the rest of the report was very thorough, but this represents a recurrent problem with the system. How much damage is being made by hospital staff assuming that behind every self-harming young woman there is a boyfriend packing his bags?