[Merlin]

I am sorry to cancel at the last moment, but I have a migraine. I have included the outline from this week and past weeks here:

A Wellness Toolbox is a list of the tools, strategies and skills that you need to use on a daily basis to keep yourself well, along with those you use frequently or occasionally to help yourself feel better and to relieve troubling symptoms.

It also includes things that you have done in the past, things that you have heard of and thought you might like to try, and things that have been recommended to you by health care providers.

Tools, strategies and skills can often be found in one or more of five categories.

Category One - Activities - What activities have you used successfully to keep yourself well, or help yourself feel better?
e.g. exercise, listening to music, journal writing

What activities would you like to avoid?

Category Two - Support - What kinds of support have been helpful to you in keeping yourself well, or helping yourself feel better?
e.g. talking to a therapist or counselor, spending time with good friends, going to a support group

What kinds of support would you like to avoid?

Category Three - Attitude - What attitudes have you developed to keep yourself well, or help yourself feel better?
e.g. changing negative thought patterns to positive ones, being good to myself, laughter

What attitudes would you like to avoid?

Category Four - Management - What management strategies have you found for keeping yourself well, or helping yourself feel better?
e.g. medication, full-spectrum light, forcing yourself to go to work

What management strategies would you like to avoid?

Category Five - Spirituality - What spiritual practices have helped to keep yourself well, or helped yourself feel better?
e.g. prayer, meditation

There are certain things you need to do everyday to maintain your wellness and recovery. A Daily Maintenance Plan help you recognize those things you need to do to remain healthy.

What are the things you know you need to do for yourself everyday to keep yourself feeling alright.

What are the things you might need to do?
e.g. house work, or groceries

Triggers are external events or circumstances that, if they happen, may produce signs or symptoms that make you feel uncomfortable, like you are getting ill or that things are getting out of control.

These are normal reactions to stressful events in your life, but if you don’t respond to them and deal with them in some positive way, they may cause you to get ill or relapse.

What are external events or circumstances that, if they happened, would be upsetting to you and that might cause you to feel worse?
e.g. traumatic news events, work stress, physical illness

What are things you could do to keep yourself from feeling worse if a trigger occurs? This is called a Triggers Action Plan.

Early Warning Signs are subtle signs of change that indicate you may need to take further action. They are internal and may be unrelated to stressful situations or identifiable triggers.

Identifying your warning signs helps you to be more aware of when you need to take action to avoid worsening symptoms or an episode of depression or mania.

What are the early indications of depression that you have noted?
e.g. withdrawal, not wanting to do anything, negative attitude

What can you do to relieve these early warning signs before they worsen?

What are early warning signs of mania for you?
e.g. insomnia, making lots of plans, increased sociability

What can you do to relieve these early warning signs before they worsen?

Despite your best efforts in avoiding an episode of depression and mania, you may notice that you are Feeling Much Worse. However you are still able to take action to feel better and prevent a crisis.

What are signs that tell you that things have deteriorated leaving you feeling much worse?

e.g. irrational responses to events and the actions of others, sleeping all the time, suicidal thoughts

What do you think will help you feel better when you are feeling much worse? (This needs to be specific, with few choices and clear instructions)

e.g. Call my doctor; ask for and follow their instructions, make sure you are doing everything on your Daily Maintenance Plan, arrange and take time off from your responsibilities

Feel free to discuss the topic on your own.

[roses4me]

can you tell me if there is a depression chat (or anxiety chat) scheduled in the future (May 2011)
thanks
roses