Challenging Depression & Despair: A Medication-Free, Self-Help Programme That Will Change Your Life (16 page)

In the 1960s there was a surge of scientific interest in sensory deprivation. Volunteers were put in soundproof cubicles with no light and no other stimuli, to see how long they could last without any sensory input at all. Inside each SD room there was a panic button, and a lot of people used it. Their brains began to malfunction. They became terrified of nothing, even delusional.

From brains that are starved of stimuli, the feedback is confusion, insecurity and fear. This is why sensory deprivation has been used by ruthless regimes to brainwash solitary prisoners. It reduces them to cowering acceptance of any novel idea that might be presented to them by their captors, so hungry are their brains for a morsel of experience.

The motto is therefore:

Don’t starve your brain or it may start acting peculiar.  
It could even turn on you and give you a fright!
Feed it, exercise it regularly and you will keep it healthy and happy.

NOTE

1
. Susan Jeffers,
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.
Arrow edition, 1991.

12

Meet the advisory panel

To assist me on this book, I have chosen a panel of ten ‘expert advisers’:
people who either describe themselves right now as ‘depressed’ or who suffer periodically from despair. So meet my Team (I’ve changed their names to protect their identities).

THE TEAM

Maggie

I was in a psychiatric hospital for four months, and underwent psychotherapy and drug treatment. I still suffer from bouts of severe depression and I still take antidepressants, but I am willing to try some of the challenges, so long as you don’t get on my case! I’m not very mobile.

Vaz

Losing my job in a leading broker’s office robbed me of all my savings and self-esteem. I rowed with everybody. I have trouble staying awake in the daytime as I play the chat rooms and computer games, sometimes till daylight. We recently lost our nice house as I couldn’t keep up the payments so we’re in rented, a big comedown. I’m on benefit now and pretty much retired. How old am I? I’m 33.

Terry

This is all a bit artificial, but OK here goes: I lost my partner two years ago, after she had a miscarriage. I felt guilty as I wasn’t that supportive, and it all fell apart, then I started getting down on myself. Like a lot of people I resorted to the bottle, but found it made me behave like a twat and I kept getting emotional, so now I avoid company. OK, I’ll go for a challenge – nothing to lose.

Charlotte

I have various health problems, but I was diagnosed with body dysmorphia at a London clinic. I feel depressed because I just hate the way I look, and have been through 
anorexic episodes. If I could afford plastic surgery I think that would raise my self-confidence. I doubt very much that anything else will.

Katey

I have never had a proper job. I originally went for a singing career as I do have quite a good voice but got nowhere. My boyfriend left me because he says I am negative all the time and wouldn’t do the gigs, but I got stressed out. I have had antidepressants including Prozac and before that Seroxat prescribed by my doctor, and I have tried counselling but didn’t find that worked for me. Right, I’ve got nothing to lose by trying some challenges.

Philip

My main problem is apathy. I don’t sleep much so I get up in the night to read or listen to local radio. Not one night – every night. I used to go to work with no sleep at all. I am usually tired anyway, but I feel defeated, as if I’ve had all the blood drained out of me. Some mornings I can’t be bothered to get up at all, and the Job Centre have threatened to stop my benefit. That should scare me but it doesn’t.

Susanna

I put on a lot of weight when I was looking after my Mum. I bought treats for her and when she wouldn’t eat, I ate them myself. When Mum passed away I just went on eating. I feel like an old walrus, to be honest. Life has passed me by. Drugs? Yes, I have sertraline. Counselling? No, as I couldn’t get on an NHS list.

George

I was made redundant after 25 years with the same firm. I’ve tried finding another job but the reaction you get is: oh – we’re looking for someone young. That’s if they bother to reply to your e-mails or letters at all. I feel as though I’m walking about invisible. Most of my friends were work-related and I don’t see them as I can’t afford to buy a round. I did part of the Restart course and found it helpful so would like to have a go at this.

Adrian

I’ve been what you’re calling ‘in despair’ since I was at university, though I’ve been diagnosed as bi-polar. Yes, I’ve had counselling, also tranquillisers, antidepressants, you name it. No, I wasn’t cured. I have wild manic episodes when I’m very creative and periods when I can’t think as far as the next sentence. I am a philosophy tutor, and that makes you pry into the meaning of life, which is particularly not good if there isn’t any.

Barbara

I divorced my husband after he had an affair with another woman. He was very undermining to me, criticising my dress, my hair, even the way I ate. On one occasion he left me at night in a supermarket car park and just drove off. I feel very down most of the time. I walk the dog, otherwise I don’t go out.

I hope you can see where these people are coming from and can relate to at least some of their problems. They are all good sports and have been asked to try out the first nine Challenges (the tenth may take a while longer to complete), then choose the ones they found most beneficial and give us their feedback. As a couple of them have pointed out, they’ve really got nothing to lose by the exercise as they’ve tried practically everything else. One or two of them have already encountered the Heartless Bitch through training classes and know what to expect. For the rest, good luck, but you won’t need it. Fortune really
does
favour the brave.

Part 2

Beating despair: the challenges

Now that you have been shown the theoretical basis of my psychological skills training we are going to turn to practicalities. During the following ten chapters I am going to set you ten challenges to vanquish despair. They are:

 
1
The Unblocker (and warm-up)

 
2
The Fitness Challenge

 
3
The Task Challenge

 
4
The Social Challenge

 
5
The Mood Change Challenge

 
6
The Nature Challenge

 
7
The Performance Challenge

 
8
The Creative Challenge

 
9
The Fear Challenge

10
The Life Challenge

All of the challenges are based on my Colchester Restart training course for the long-term unemployed, which had not only the best record in the region, but a better outcomes record than all the other training providers combined. With the help of a wonderful recruitment boss in Jo Moore, whose company it was, the Mojo course got people back to work who had never worked in their lives, who had languished on the dole since coming out of school or prison, and who had serious social and psychological problems including depression, Asperger’s syndrome, claustrophobia, resignation, helplessness, severe social handicaps, homelessness, violence, debt, bereavement, divorce and rock-bottom confidence.

Each module of the course consisted of a seven-hour training day. The training offered practical advice and evidence-based techniques for improving emotional skills, tackling mental barriers, changing negative attitudes and addressing fears. Each one was carefully devised under supervision as it had to be proven to be of practical use to the long-term unemployed and help them with their hang-ups and mental health issues. It was funded by the government through the Employment Service.

The training covered a wide spectrum of psychological skills, from simple but effective problem-solving techniques to overcoming rejection, from understanding ‘nerves’ to motivation, and from improvisation to brain power techniques. The training placed great emphasis on creativity, on inspiration, on identifying and using latent talents. And it explored and explained the nature of peak experiences and the arousal curve, e motional competence in crises and brilliance.

The following challenge programme has been designed to support and encourage – that is ‘to give courage to’ – the depressed or helpless reader who would like to get back into the driving seat and take command of life. It does not mollycoddle and some of the challenges may appear quite daunting, at least initially. But each is carefully explained in detail beforehand, and each is based on sound research and common sense.

The tasks recommended may be tackled by anyone of any age and are designed to be taken at your own pace. You may wish to involve friends and colleagues, but the challenge programme is ultimately something you must undertake yourself. It is not enough for a self-help book like this to explain the thinking and the research behind a life-changing programme. In order to be of any real use to someone in despair, it must also provide a practical stairway out of hell. This is that stairway. Take the ten steps and you will reach a better place.