7 hours ago, Catbird said:

I felt a surge of anger and stated verbalising about my current state of feeling trapped by psych meds.  It felt so good. I'm looking forward to more anger being released. I think I'm only just starting to feel some of my emotions return.

Thanks for sharing, @Catbird. I can relate very much to this. I needed a lot of therapy to find some of my anger. When I started withdrawal, I had surges of rage, which were absolutely foreign to me (and to my poor husband, who was sometimes at the receiving end of it). In hindsight, I could recognize that it was also a release of emotions that have been suppressed first by trauma and then additionally by 10 years of antidepressants.

I think the question whether one should work on acceptance or give way to rage and anger is very situational and individual. When anger gets constant and turns into bitterness, this is not a good sign.
When on the other hand emotions get suppressed to the point that the body reacts or that they feel scary and not allowed, this is also not a good sign. 

I am happy you found a place to express some anger these days, catbird! You’re always an inspiration for me 💙

 

@NBJ71 Nick,  I am impressed by your lovely friend. How wonderful when we do not have to go this journey from anger to acceptance alone. You have lost a lot, but obviously not the love of your friends.
You are probably a wonderful friend, too. 

Great discussion, thanks everybody.

 

15 hours ago, Nemina said:

I think the question whether one should work on acceptance or give way to rage and anger is very situational and individual.

@Nemina to me they're 2 sides of the one coin. Acceptance is yielding/surrendering to whatever is there be it physical, psychological or emotional. 

If you hurt or project your feelings on to others it's generally not intentional. The important things are to acknowledge and allow what you're feeling and apologising to anyone you may have hurt. You'll learn from that and explore different ways to respond to intense emotions. 🤗🧡

Hi @Chippy I'm surprised there's not much recent activity on this thread. I'm wondering if this can somehow be merged or be closer to the "Why acceptance seems impossible", maybe under some new heading. There's some really good resources on both. I come across so many people on here in distress, who think they are way to bad to be able to practise acceptance and they're right they are not in the right headspace at the time, but I think acceptance, allowing and acknowledging do not need to take the form formal practice, they can be tried in the moment, even if that moment is only a few seconds. It's about being present even if only for a few seconds.  

 

When I first tried it was scary and easy to write off; I tried every now and then. Then one day I had a panic attack I was able to step back and observe what the sensations were like and how they moved around my body. I felt the intensity rise up and then it diminished. It was a profound experience and I have been using it since then.  Originally I could only practise in the safety of my home where I could control the environment. Months later I tried it when out shopping and I've found it helps over time. It's all about getting in touch with my interoception. It's definitely not a fix, but it does somehow help short circuit spirals. It's easier and harder in different situations. I've found if I accept the situation/symptoms/emotions they don't escalate to the same degree.

 

It's very difficult to write about acceptance because it's so individual and it will be a different journey for each and every one of us. So I hope this makes sense. I'd just like to the conversation continue, because these softer skills are often overlooked and/or dismissed - or sometimes people are just not able to consider in the moment.

11 hours ago, Catbird said:

Hi @Chippy I'm surprised there's not much recent activity on this thread. I'm wondering if this can somehow be merged or be closer to the "Why acceptance seems impossible", maybe under some new heading. There's some really good resources on both. I come across so many people on here in distress, who think they are way to bad to be able to practise acceptance and they're right they are not in the right headspace at the time, but I think acceptance, allowing and acknowledging do not need to take the form formal practice, they can be tried in the moment, even if that moment is only a few seconds. It's about being present even if only for a few seconds.  

 

When I first tried it was scary and easy to write off; I tried every now and then. Then one day I had a panic attack I was able to step back and observe what the sensations were like and how they moved around my body. I felt the intensity rise up and then it diminished. It was a profound experience and I have been using it since then.  Originally I could only practise in the safety of my home where I could control the environment. Months later I tried it when out shopping and I've found it helps over time. It's all about getting in touch with my interoception. It's definitely not a fix, but it does somehow help short circuit spirals. It's easier and harder in different situations. I've found if I accept the situation/symptoms/emotions they don't escalate to the same degree.

 

It's very difficult to write about acceptance because it's so individual and it will be a different journey for each and every one of us. So I hope this makes sense. I'd just like to the conversation continue, because these softer skills are often overlooked and/or dismissed - or sometimes people are just not able to consider in the moment.

Hey @Catbird Yes it all makes perfect sense. I have been thinking the same tbh! I agree both threads seem to be starting to look like a good resource and frankly I also agree acceptance is hugely important. I have merged the two topics so it is all together now. It’s a great idea. 🙂 

 

Chippy

Thanks for merging @Chippy, I had the same thought!

 

@Catbird posted a very good video somewhere else and I wanted to put it down here for people to find it. It’s not directly about acceptance, but indirectly - it teaches a lot about healing and of course acceptance has a big part in it. I really like the idea of not concentrating on the symptoms and measuring progress  not by how the symptoms change, but how much you are able to get involved in life. And there are other very good thoughts in this video. Thanks for finding it, @Catbird!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQiAvruuUU

 

 

2 hours ago, Nemina said:

Thanks for merging @Chippy, I had the same thought!

 

@Catbird posted a very good video somewhere else and I wanted to put it down here for people to find it. It’s not directly about acceptance, but indirectly - it teaches a lot about healing and of course acceptance has a big part in it. I really like the idea of not concentrating on the symptoms and measuring progress  not by how the symptoms change, but how much you are able to get involved in life. And there are other very good thoughts in this video. Thanks for finding it, @Catbird!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POQiAvruuUU

 

 

@Nemina I'm impressed by how quickly you've adopted the move from focussing on symptoms to measuring progress by how much better you are at living your life. I'm having one of those days where I feel completely drained, I've got neck spasms and headache and I'm scared.  I know this will pass as the last few weeks I've seen significant improvements in energy, less fatigue and getting outside in nature.  One or two bad days don't take away from the overall improvement I'm making — they do slow me down though and that might be just what I need to let my body and brain adapt and rebuild. Perspective is so important. sometimes I get pessimistic but focussing on the improvements changes that. Take care 💕🤗

19 hours ago, Catbird said:

One or two bad days don't take away from the overall improvement I'm making — they do slow me down though and that might be just what I need to let my body and brain adapt and rebuild. Perspective is so important. sometimes I get pessimistic but focussing on the improvements changes that.

That is very wise, @Catbird. Love your perspective. I am happy to hear about your improvements! Have a restful day, I hope you will be able to reload your batteries. 

By the way I want to clarify somethings.

I talk a lot about acceptance, but it's really hard for me as well, it's easy to give up to the emotions and then cry and be miserable on your life, but you will suffer more.

I have days with lots of sadness and difficult symptoms, accepting it makes it the least bad.

I had right now discussion with people that think drugs are helpful and think that psychiatrists know how to stop the drugs (when we all know they don't)

We always have to accept reality, to achieve a closer state to peace, even if it's hard, even if it's a nightmare sometimes, this is the only way your time will pass fast, if you don't accept, your life will be much harder.

 

It's okay to sometimes fail to accept your symptoms, it's okay to sometimes have anger and letting it out, I have those times too, but you just have to let your emotions out and then go back to acceptance, with letting your bodies flow the emotions as it needs.

 

Copied this from my post

I agree @Lighty we need to accept our situations and also allow our emotions, whether we choose to act on them is up to us 🤗