Welcome to the #MadCovid Blog! Here we post our #MadCovidDiaries and any other madness and COVID related blogs!
Trying not to think about death
Content warning: death, suicidal ideation ‘I’m worried you’re planning your own death’ my care coordinator says, looking up from the piece of paper she has balanced on her knees. She’s been scribbling on it for the last half an hour, stopping occasionally to ask me questions. We’re sat in a strange half-finished room in the…
What is it like to attend BIGSPD as a personality disorder activist?
This is the second blog in our series about the British and Irish Group for the Study of Personality Disorder (BIGSPD) conference. While the first was a perspective from the outside, this will tell the view from the inside. In 2017, the survivor activist group Personality Disorder in the Bin (PD in the Bin) was…
Actions speak louder than words: what are BIGSPD’s values?
Content note: suicide, child abuse, iatrogenic trauma The British and Irish Group for the Study of Personality Disorder (BIGSPD) are an organisation formed in 1999 to provide a forum for networking in the field of personality disorder. They run a popular conference annually that aims to feature new research, service developments and user involvement. The…
Therapy in the ‘New Normal’
Content note: childhood abuse By Katy Evans As we approach the ‘new normal’ following Covid, it concerns me that many therapists plan to continue working online and claim it’s no different to working in-person. Whilst some people find online therapy easier, for me as a survivor and disabled person, this could not be further from the truth. When Covid began I…
PIP is described by the government as ‘extra money to help you with everyday life if you have an illness, disability or mental health condition’. For disabled people, that now means ‘PIP can help you with the extortionate costs of having a shower’
PIP is described by the government as ‘extra money to help you with everyday life if you have an illness, disability or mental health condition’. For disabled people, that now means ‘PIP can help you with the extortionate costs of having a shower’
Thorn In The Flesh: Absolutely A Diagnosis of Exclusion
Mad Covid College will be presenting an exciting new course on personality disorders this summer. Relying heavily on bigotry and contempt, the course will take an uncompromising approach to guide psychiatrists on managing these difficult, manipulative and demanding patients. The thorn in your flesh* no longer has to be the bane of your professional life!…
Sometimes I want to be unreasonable
I’m writing an email to my care-coordinator. I’ve spent the last hour on it. I am writing and rewriting, going over every word as carefully as I can. I question whether I am coming off as too demanding and try to be careful to get the tone just right: considered, measured and unemotional. I am…
Derren Brown vs the Coronavirus #7 – Omicron is Coming
I lie in bed listening to a seagull shriek outside, a short shrill scream that tears across the still dark morning. I woke up agitated, turning over gently so as not to put pressure on my tender arm, still aching from yesterday’s vaccination injection. Two bus trips from my house, I sat in a cold…
I am not your continuing professional development
I love the community that exists on #MadTwitter. I follow both service users and mental health professionals, several who follow me back. I enjoy our conversations and am genuinely heartened by these mental health professionals allyship when it comes to divisive issues in the mental health system, particularly around how those of us with a…
Homeless in the UK
Trigger warning: mentions of abuse, rape, miscarriage and medical mistreatment Yesterday I was made homeless. I had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. Four months ago, when our landlord told us he was selling the house, I had been sure we’d find somewhere to live. I spent months registering with letting agents and refreshing RightMove…
Derren Brown is Making Me Fit.
By @miserysquid Content warning: references to self-injury and sexual abuse. Delusions and non-epileptic seizures. Derren Brown is making me fit. Tic, tic, tic, my head twitches, there’s a woozy feeling, a quickening pulse in my neck. Mostly I fall slowly, more of a crumpling, landing softly on my thighs and the tops of my arms, easing into it. If there’s…
Who Cares for the Carers?
I’ve been a carer since I was 14. This was 30 years ago. Firstly, I was caring for my mother until she passed away in 2009. Back in those days as a young carer there was no support offered to me and as I didn’t have siblings, I just got on with it and took…
Why We Don’t Disclose
TW rape – strong and frequent references throughout I woke up from the party on the floor. The man was gone. My tights were ripped, my underwear pulled down. Bruises on my inner thighs. My whole body felt numb. I could feel pain but I couldn’t tell where it came from. There was blood from…
“I never want to stop being angry, because knowing I deserved better isn’t a feeling I’ve often felt. I treasure it. My anger is my self-respect.”
By Rosie Smith, @rosiefolksongs Looking back in Anger When I was diagnosed with bipolar, I was shocked by the fact I didn’t feel angry. I was confused at finally being able to call myself that, to describe my own experiences for what they were. But I wasn’t angry. I figured it would come with time.…
“Is mad activism a queer issue?”
By Rosie Smith, @rosiefolksongs STRONG Trigger Warnings: Sexual abuse, transphobia Wheesht Its strange seeing Scots (a language in its own right) being used outwith its normal bounds; namely a few eccentric academics and working class grannies. I doubt the promoters of the latest transphobic hashtag would appreciate much if I gave them a stirring rendition…
We are not all left standing
Rachel Rowan Olive CW: suicide, iatrogenic abuse and neglect There is a poem by Clint Smith which opens: When people say “we have made it through worse before” / all I hear is the wind slapping against the gravestones / of those who did not make it. I think about it a lot. Sometimes the…
Brave New World? #31
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiaries 14.5.2021 Tony adds his 31st instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his trips under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. Tony has an exhibition opening on May 17th to June the 27th at the Peak District Museum, Matlock, Bath…
EMDR and Xena, Warrior Princess.
Heather’s #MadCovidDiaries 25.04.2021, CW: trauma, suicidal & self harm thoughts. I haven’t written a Madcovid diary for a little while now because I have been focusing on my weekly EMDR therapy sessions. I suppose I felt as though writing about therapy might jinx my chances of it working out. I’ve also been conscious that many…
Putting my needs first has been something that I constantly have to consider…
Sunitha‘s #MadCovidDiaries 25.04.2021 TW: Suicide, death, bereavement. I’m feeling really anxious again, not sure why but I feel like I have so much on my mind and so much that I need to do. All I feel like I do at the moment is focus on getting through the day but it feels like there’s…
“Criminalising people has somehow become acceptable mental health care. This approach strikes me as the latest evolution of the deserving/undeserving narrative… that is culturally embedded in mainstream services.”
An Anonymous #MadCovidDiaries 21.02.2021 TW: Police, self-harm, suicide As a mental health charity worker I frequently cross paths with other organisations who support people coming out of prison. The messages are clear – prison often has a devastating effect on people’s physical and mental health and future prospects. Adapting back to life in the community…
“The DWP’s human rights abuses we are experiencing will be written into history along with our protests and descent. From one person on benefits to another, you are valuable.”
TW: DWP Darren’s #MadCovidDiaries 31.03.2021 Had me PIP benefits stopped this week. Which also took away part of my ESA. An act of violence by the DWP, and the government which dictates. I’ve said for a long time that survival is the best you can do on benefits, because survival for me is about managing…
No room at the inn: it’s not as simple as just asking for help
@Outdoorperscrip #MadCovidDiaries – 11th of April 2021 TW: Eating disorders, suicide, suicide methods It’s taken me around 4 months since I left hospital to feel able to write this. Part of me was desperate for the involved services that treated me to acknowledge how their treatment wasn’t helpful and put me at risk. I made…
“I’m back… it’s been a while since I’ve been able to write. I do love writing in this way and… after being inspired by a fellow diarist saying they’d written this week, I felt that now was as good a time as any.”
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 09.04.2021 I’m back…So it’s been a while since I’ve been able to write and part of that has been because I feel as if I have been busy with so many things and part of it is just lack of motivation. I do love writing in this way and have seen the benefits…
Brave New World? #30
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiarIES 11.4.2021 Tony adds his 30th instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his trips under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. Tony has an exhibition opening on May 17th to June the 27th at the Peak District Museum, Matlock, Bath…
My word against theirs
As psychiatric patients, we are so often disbelieved or not listened to in the first place. Our accounts of poor treatment and trauma are dismissed as an overreaction; we reach out for help only to be deemed attention seeking; even our interpretation of the world is pathologised and declared as symptomatic of our madness.
‘We don’t fuck about, do we?’: MadCovid, 1 year on
On this day last year – 17 March 2020 – the Hardship Solidarity Fund GoFundMe page was set up for donations after Bethan and Jo had been in conversation about it since early March. Around the same time, Bethan set up the MadCovid WordPress site to publish Mad people’s diaries, with the aim of documenting…
“My experience this week of trying to get urgent mental health support has been a groundhog week I’ve repeated many times in the past. …you have to start at the beginning again, and your knowledge of yourself counts for nothing.”
An Anonymous #MadCovidDiaries 12.02.2021 TW: Suicidal thoughts, Self-harm. There are so many ways I could have started this blog… With the time on Wednesday when I gave up trying to get hold of a GP as I couldn’t get through the receptionist questions. With the time on Tuesday when my partner said why is it…
“I am feeling incredibly raw at the moment, perhaps it’s because there is nothing to look forward to, perhaps it’s because I know that this mess of a pandemic and lockdown is an ongoing matter and I find it hard to escape from this feeling..”
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 15.02.2020 So I am struggling to finish writing so this is kind of another split post across two weeks, funny the patterns we fall into to survive… You know, I forget that when I tell other people that I am “mad”, that maybe they don’t react as receptively as I would hope. Admittedly, I…
Brave New World? #29
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiary 11.2.2020 Tony adds his 29th instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his trips under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. ‘Only the Lonely’ – how the pandemic added an extra dimension to Tony Fisher’s loneliness project | Showcase |…
“My psychiatrist and care coordinator have admitted that the CMHT is overwhelmed with new referrals, who are suffering mentally as a result of the pandemic. How do they make room for this coronavirus influx? By getting rid of their long-termers.”
@lucywriter’s #MadCovidDiaries 05.02.2021 TW: Suicide, Self-Harm ‘It was a pleasure talking to you, Lucy,’ he says on the phone. ‘I hope not to see you again.’ And just like that, after seven years, my psychiatrist has discharged me from secondary mental health services in one 20-minute phone call. I knew it was coming; it was…
“The isolation from the pandemic almost makes me miss sleeping on the streets.”
An Anonymous #MadCovidDiaries 29.01.2021 (Content warning: mentions CSA, rape, homelessness, suicide attempts, self-harm). The isolation from the pandemic almost makes me miss sleeping on the streets – I know that is something most people will find really hard to understand. I think I’ve felt lonely for my whole life. As a child I was withdrawn,…
“I want to remind any health professional that the most difficult situations, at least for me, arose from being treated like I had no understanding or agency over my life and decisions.”
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 2.02.2020 TW: Bereavement So I have been struggling to dedicate time the last few weeks. I wrote this a few weeks ago and I wanted to share this first to set the context of where my head has been… This week has made me worry that I am overdoing everything. It feels almost…
“My regulatory body emailed to tell me that I had been reported by one of the AMHP’s who assessed me during the summer as unfit to do my job because of my mental health. An AMHP who had met me once.”
@RelapseRover’s #MadCovidDiaries 29.01.2021 Working and being Mad in Covid times Early 2020 I was admitted to hospital for the 8th time in 3 years. I was discharged a week before Covid hit. I was off work for 5 months but my return went well. My lovely colleagues had decorated my desk and bought me gifts…
“I accept that the things that make me seem mad are also the things that make me incredibly productive, a loyal friend and someone with buckets full of empathy.”
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 12.01.2020 TW: Suicidal thoughts Everything feels overwhelming but not in the way that you would expect; I actually feel like my life is slowly coming together. If you’d told me two weeks ago that I would have managed to sleep before midnight for a week as well as waking up before 7am, I…
Prison was the most soul-destroying experience of my life. The harshness of my surroundings ground away at my soul daily until one day, I had no coping beans left.
@Asteroid_Caller’s #MadCovidDiaries 26.01.2020 Solitary Prison was the most soul-destroying experience of my life. While psychotic, I coped. While psychotic, prison was a simulation created by my friends. I trusted that they would not make it harder than my capacity to endure. When I came around I realised where I was. The harshness of my surroundings…
I think knitting does my mental health good. It allows me to put the many flickering tabs my brain has open into stasis whilst my hands take over with a restful muscle memory.
Heather’s #MadCovidDiaries 24.01.2020 In, over through and out! That was my mantra when I had my first psychotic break. My mum placed a pair of knitting needles in my hands and she explained that knitting had been what kept her going through 3 months of pregnancy bedrest. Her mother in law had handed her a…
Grieving for an imaginary baby – the loneliness of psychosis
@MiserySquid’s #MadCovidDiaries 23.01.2021 Trigger warning: psychosis, suicidal ideation, self-injury, miscarriage, infanticide. I was 21 years old when I had my first psychosis. I was picked up by the police in the middle of the night, wandering the streets barefoot, clicking and whistling, tapping and clapping imaginary codes at the cameras in the streetlights. I…
“If you can move through life without psychiatric medication, that is a privilege. If you can enjoy and celebrate your emancipation from psychiatry’s ugly clutches, that is a privilege”
David Mordecai’s #MadCovidDiaries – January 2021 TW: Mania, Advanced Dementia I am tired (but cannot sleep). I am angry. I am frustrated. I am deeply disappointed. And I am grieving. Apologies in advance that this will be more disjointed than my past MadCovid Diaries entries. My father is at the end of a journey my…
“My therapist emailed to say she would no longer be seeing me face to face due to the new Covid strain / lock-down. The previous lock-down was horrific without face-to-face support. It’s not an experience I would ever want to repeat.”
@Chlowinfield1’s #MadCovidDiaries 15.1.2021 TW: Suicide and Self-harm Last week my therapist emailed me to say she would no longer be seeing me face to face due to the new Covid strain/lock-down and me not being able to wear a mask (I have an exemption and can wear it for short periods e.g. on the bus…
“I was finally diagnosed as autistic, via a long awaited assessment. It was done virtually… I’m in my mid thirties, and I feel grief that I went so long without this understanding of myself.”
Human Bean’s #MadCovidDiaries 13.12.2020 The good side of my personal circumstances at the moment: my partner is able to teach from home for a little while, my kids are off school and nursery. We can hunker down for a while and be relatively safe. I’m really grateful for that, and for this time together. I’m…
“It feels like we are back to where we were in April. I miss my parents in ways that I can’t comprehend, which leaves me unable to communicate with them because I feel like it creates too much internal pain”.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 4.01.2020 TW: Suicidal thoughts Wow, I didn’t realise until I am writing now that I took such a long break from this. Last week was a complete disaster as apparently taking a break from everything was not the reset that I hoped for leading to strange sleeping schedules (5am – 5pm), no showering,…
The expectation is this: under these unusual circumstances, one should suffer more with their mental health. Years of adversity and intense emotional crisis gives me resilience; I move parallel to these restrictions.
Amanda’s #MadCovidDiaries 25.12.2020 Flow with It. The expectation is this: under these unusual circumstances, one should suffer more with their mental health. Although that is true for many, on the contrary, I grow deeper into my art and discover resonance for my personal mission. Years of adversity and intense emotional crisis gives me resilience; I…
Brave New World? #28
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiary 11.12.2020 Tony adds his 28th instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his trips under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. No longer the “ happy to chat bench” Happy to slap a fine bench Don’t sit here Not for…
Tamar’s Lived Experience Practitioner’s (LXP) #DriscriminationDiaries
Tamar’s #MadCovidDiaries 10.01.2020 Over the last month Tamar has been documenting the discrimination she has experienced as a Lived Experience Practitioner using video diaries or vlogs. You can catch up on them all here, or you can scroll down and watch a few select diaries. If you are able to assist Tamar on legal matters…
I wish the medical bodies, mental health charities and those who hold power would use it in an honourable way instead of capitulating to a corrupt system.
Heather’s #MadCovidDiaries 24.12.2020 2020: the year the other shoe dropped. To wrap up this year, I decided to choose four lessons I learned. None of them are cheerful but they are real hard won lessons. I even name check ginger crooner Mick Hucknall, and ever disapproving DBT wizard Marsha Linehan, two great minds of our…
“Praise is something that I have learnt to accept, but I don’t think I will ever accept praise from myself. Writing in this blog has allowed me to put myself out there but I never expected anybody to care about what I have to say.”
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 14.12.2020 Last week has been a rollercoaster of really good moments and really weird feelings of being overwhelmed with the anxiety of life. Let’s start with the terrible stuff because well, I’m feeling a lot of anxiety still. Since Friday, I have been feeling debilitating anxiety, worrying about every little thing possible and before…
Mad Makers : Episode 4, with @stitching_4_change
Cross-stitching! This month’s episode saw us creating our first ever Mad Makers packs and posting them off to crafty folk across the UK – and we were pleasantly surprised how quickly they were snapped up! It was also the first time that someone approached us about recording an episode. @stitching_4_change first encountered Mad Covid at…
“The blitz spirit of lockdown 1 has vanished. We’re no longer all in this together; we’re pitted against each other.”
@lucywriter’s #MadCovidDiaries 22.12.2020 Back in March, when we first locked down, I couldn’t even countenance that we’d still be in the grips of the pandemic by Christmas. I fully expected the virus to burn itself out by the summer, and the headlines saying social distancing could be needed for the rest of the year seemed…
“I thought I’d just check the headlines and there was something absurd about the government having to use military planes for the vaccine because of Brexit and I wanted to laugh to stop myself from crying.”
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 07.12.2020 As always, I seem to have a habit of leaving things until the last minute, which is what has happened with writing today. That said, I don’t think I really took much time out to relax today as it’s been ongoing. When I left work, I caught up with a friend who…
Brave New World? #27 Christmas Special!
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiary 21.12.2020 Tony adds his 27th and Christmas instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his daily short walks under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. Tony would like to dedicate this Christmas Special and his poem to Fiona Marks. Tony’s…
“If there are good things that come out of the loss from COVID-19, I hope that it will include being kinder towards people who experience discrimination and vulnerability.”
Tamar’s #MadCovidDiaries 13.12.2020 Entry 1 – Introduction Hi, I’m Tamar. I’ve been wanting to be part of the Mad Covid Diaries since I first saw the project, I even wrote a bit of stuff! Obviously, I did sod all with it. I thought it all needed to be perfect, finished. So, I didn’t submit anything,…
“This year with the rules about Christmas bubbles it feels even harder to please everyone. My needs always come last and it is killing me”
Human Bean’s #MadCovidDiaries 13.12.2020 How am I feeling? Sad and angry. And anxious. So many people around me are just carrying on like there’s no pandemic – I have tried and failed to let go of my anger about this. I’m plagued with health anxiety. I think I need to start doing regular worry time…
“My life has always been about surviving rather than thriving”
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 02.12.2020 TW: Bereavement My week has been intense and I’m struggling to figure out when the intensity will stop. I wish that it would be over and I could truly rest but I feel like this is an ongoing struggle and I need to carve out some time for myself. Even sleep doesn’t…
How can I speak up when you can hold me down? Restrictive practice on an acute ward – an inpatient perspective.
@MiserySquid’s #MadCovidDiaries 09.12.2020 Trigger warning: contains references to self-injury and ligature, detainment and coercive practice. There is a purple handprint on my left shoulder blade. I twist my neck in the mirror to get a good look at it. Four clear fingers, a thumb and a round violet palm mark. It’s possible that it…
Snagging anger. “If you could see anger, what would it look like?”
Heather’s #MadCovidDiaries 06.12.2020 TW: Abuse Snagging anger. Therapist asks me ‘If you could see anger, what would it look like?’ I know what therapist is getting at but I can only summon up anger as a little rocky boundary kicked over until it becomes useless rubble. The grown ups used to tell me ‘there is no…
I overheard a group of people walking past me questioning how terrible 2020 has been for them. Yet I realised that compared to 2019, for me, 2020 has been so much better.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 24.11.2020 TW: Self-harm, Bereavement This week has been so crazily busy for me, but one thing that I did manage to do was have Saturday where I took a break from screens (tv, laptop and phone), which for me felt completely different from anything that I’d experienced in a while. Whilst I was…
Michelle’s #MadCovidDiaries @DyslxicRant
Michelle’s @DyslxicRant’s #MadCovidDiaries Michelle has been busy and has some art on sale at the moment – check her work out at @DyslxicRant. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. We ask that you seek our permission before you use any of our material – this includes researchers who want…
The pandemic is still affecting my mental health, causing me to feel anxious and overwhelmed. I made a decision a few days ago to disconnect from online news, but weirdly, it’s given me a sense of emptiness.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 16.11.2020 TW: It’s been a challenging week, where I felt like I reached breaking point on multiple occasions. However, I think whilst I experienced elements of burn out, I have found that I have been able to recharge over the weekend. The most important part that I have been able to recognise is…
Mad Makers : Episode 3
Mail Art! Welcome back makers! This month we’re creating some mad mail art. It’s a bit of a change from the previous episodes because mail art can be interpreted in so many different ways – but that’s sort of why we think it suits Mad Makers! You can use almost anything you have around you,…
Mad Covid Launches COVID-19 Recommendations for Mental Health Services
Mad Covid have created a series of broad recommendations for mental health services during the COVID-19 pandemic. They focus specifically on services for people with pre-existing mental health conditions who have moderate, severe or long-term needs. Read the recommendations in full here. You can use the #MadCovidRecommends to discuss the recommendations on social media. Our…
My week has mostly consisted of watching a lot of CNN, though hilariously, when the election was finally called for Biden, I only found out by the excited texts from my friends and family.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 10.11.2020 TW: Bereavement My week has mostly consisted of watching a lot of CNN and their ‘Key Race alerts’, though hilariously, when the election was finally called for Biden, I only found out by the excited texts from my friends and family. Although the whole situation has given me a lot of anxiety…
Brave New World? #26
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiary 27.11.2020 Tony adds his 26th instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his daily short walks under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. We ask that you seek…
I am sat in my bedroom, my therapist is sat in their home study and we’re talking via a laptop. Sometimes the picture lags behind the sound, as if my therapists face is a simply pirated DVD film.
Heather’s #MadCovidDiaries 20.11.2020 TW: Sexual abuse I’m sat in a wood with David Attenborough. We first got to know each other when I was 5 years old. David ended one of his dinosaur programmes by concluding sadly that we’d never know what colour the dinosaurs were. I didn’t want David to be sad and since…
They’re off-rolling us. To make room for people who are likely to be a quick fix, who’ll show that the service gets results.
@lucywriter’s #MadCovidDiaries 19.11.2020 They’re off-rolling us. To make room for people who are likely to be a quick fix, who’ll show that the service gets results. How long does it take from the point of crisis to being considered stable enough to be discharged from community mental health services? According to my psychiatrist, it’s six…
As someone with lived experience, who has fed back into the system, I have never really felt like my voice has ever been heard. For the first time, I realised I was hearing the voices of people who needed to be heard.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 2.11.2020 TW: Bereavement It’s been about a week since the funeral of my uncle and today, in particular, I have been feeling very disconnected from his loss. In some ways, it’s similar to how I felt after the death of my other uncle last year – in that time away from them, softened…
The Second ‘Wave’: Mad COVID’s Symposium / #MadMeetUp – 28.10.2020
TW: Suicide Mad COVID held a #MadMeetUp / Symposium on the 28.10.2020, to discuss the impact COVID19 has had on the mad community. As well as looking back, we also explored what mental health services and others can do to support us during the impending second ‘wave’ and any further lockdowns. It was an incredibly…
“I haven’t left this desk since March. This week has really got to me – the amount of people being systematically failed.”
Lauren’s #MadCovidDiaries 1.11.2020 If you’ve enjoyed this vlog, please consider donating to our Hardship Fund for people with a mental health condition who are in financial need during COVID19. Mad Covid is an entirely unfunded group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. We ask that you seek our permission…
When we speak about the arts, music and culture, it’s so important we acknowledge the freedom that it gives us in our lives. The ability to step back from reality, even if it’s for an hour or in some cases, the whole night.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 26.10.2020 TW: Bereavement What a long week, which has brought a whole host of challenges that I could not have predicted a week ago. My partner went into complete shutdown, barely interacting with me; my mum has been staying with us; I have barely been able to sleep, let alone function in a…
Mental health services in general aren’t interested in our suffering. Not because individuals in the system don’t care. But resources are so thin that risk will win every time.
@BipolarBlogger’s #MadCovidDiaries 4.11.2020 TW: Suicide and Suicidal thoughts Risk versus suffering Recently I was in crisis. I went through a period of low mood, which was followed by a period of semi-psychotic persecutory thoughts, and then into a terrible phase of being unable to stop obsessing about running away from home and taking my own…
‘Here comes lockdown two, and at least four more weeks of social isolation. And I feel… fine.’
@lucywriter’s #MadCovidDiaries 4.11.2020 I remember March, the month the world changed. I was in crisis as lockdown began. And just as I was trying to get my head around the idea, there was a new headline on BBC News: ‘Social distancing may be needed for rest of year.’ ‘I can’t bear this,’ I posted in…
I communicate with my Care-Coordinator on the telephone or videoconference. I can hear the other people in her office talking, and once heard a pigeon falling down her chimney when she was working from home.
@RelapseRover’s #MadCovidDiaries 29.10.2020 Navigating mental health support in a pandemic I have only ever met my care coordinator (CCO) once in person, after I was discharged from a two-month hospital admission in March. It was a week before lockdown. I haven’t ‘seen’ her since and barely spoke to anyone in person apart from shopkeepers and…
In this pandemic, we might suddenly realise that the conditions we live in cause people to experience mental health illnesses
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 19.10.2020 TW: Bereavement This week has been pretty difficult – my uncle died on Saturday. He’d been in hospital and it wasn’t the first time that we’d been waiting to see how his recovery would proceed after he’d been in hospital. In some ways, I’m grateful as the pandemic protected me from seeing…
Brave New World? #25
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiary 28.10.2020 Tony adds his 25th instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his daily short walks under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. We ask that you seek…
Mad Makers : Episode 2
Flower pressing & making cards Welcome back, makers! This is month we’re breaking things up into an easy-going 2 parter. Flower pressing, which takes 5-10 minutes (and about 2 weeks left alone to press), and making cards, which take about 5 minutes each. Thank you so much to everyone who engaged with our last episode,…
The news is driving me crazy, our government seems to have decided PR is more important than people’s lives and their livelihood.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 12.10.2020 I’m angry. I want to throw something. I feel like in spite of all the work I have done on myself in the past year, I am getting dragged back into the dysfunctional drama that causes me so much anxiety. I feel the increase in the emotional claustrophobia that threatens my existence, that…
My motivation for volunteering during lockdown was almost completely selfish. That’s fine.
This blog is a reblog from Jo’s personal blog! I am intensely interested in other people. This was even the case when I was sectioned on back in early 2017. Why were the other people on the ward there? What diagnoses did they have? What was their home situation? Did they get visitors? Who were…
Mad Covid’s Alternative Christmas Gift List: Supporting MadArts and Crafters
By Robyn Timoclea Let’s face it, 2020 hasn’t been kind to any of us. There’s been a lot of talk about the impact on the nation’s mental health but those of us who have been mad for a long time will know that talk doesn’t mean anything. With another impending recession and increasing unemployment on…
If I’m supposed to survive the impending feeling of doom that has been created by the pandemic, I am going to have to find things to look forward to doing.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 6.10.2020 The last few days have been a real strain on my sense of being. The way I visualise it is a tug of war inside my head between all my different needs. A great example is that on one hand, I am still doing basic functions like eating and on the other…
Brave New World? #24
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiary 15.10.2020 Tony adds his 24th instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his daily short walks under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. This fortnight, Tony’s work featured in Amateur Photographer! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives…
It’s incredibly infuriating that young people, who have been through so much already with the A Level fiasco, are now having to go through university lockdowns
Jo’s #MadCovidDiaries 10.10.2020 Jo’s vlog is out now! If you’ve enjoyed this vlog, please consider donating to our Hardship Fund for people with a mental health condition who are in financial need during COVID19. Mad Covid is an entirely unfunded group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. We ask…
Zoom WRAP: “Despite being alone in our living rooms, we bonded.”
Heather’s #MadCovidDiaries – 6th of October 2020 Whole ass-ing a Wellness Recovery Action Plan. I’ve spent the last 5 years facilitating Wellness Recovery Action Plan Groups. I’m going to preface this entry by explaining why many peoples shoulders go up around their ears at the mention of Wellness Recovery Action Planning. It’s understandable. Wellness Recovery…
Mad Covid Symposium (Mad meet-up) 28.10.2020
Winter is coming and with the looming second ‘wave’, Mad Covid are holding a mad meet up! We have 20 tickets left from 100, so if you’re interested in joining us, get your ticket quick here! We have assembled a survivor / lived experience panel to discuss the impact COVID19 has had on the mad…
I only now realise that my whole life has been this internal struggle between the person that society wants me to be and the person that I am.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries 28.9.2020 On the way to work today, I had some idea about what I wanted to write about but right now, sitting here in the semi dark, I am struggling to recall or function when all I am able to think about is how much I want to sleep. Last week was really…
I feel the fear of this never going away. I feel the fear of the impact of the actions of others on us all.
@Outdoorperscrip #MadCovidDiaries – 6th of October 2020 Content warning: Why do I find it so difficult when people break rules? I know it’s something I’ve always struggled with. It’s made me unpopular in work settings when I’ve pulled people up on not doing things properly or rule breaking. I’ve often worked in settings where the…
“What are you so happy about? People like you don’t get to be happy in life.’
Heather’s #MadCovidDiaries – 5th of October 2020 Content warning: Abuse One day in my teenage years, I came home excited. I’d been at work experience and I returned brimming full of stories of this new world of work. In this world, people joked and turned the radio up and wore cool shoes, just like my…
Brave New World? #23
Tony’s Photographic #MadCovidDiary 05.10.2020 Tony adds his 23rd instalment of photos to the collection ‘Brave New World?’. He takes photos on his daily short walks under lockdown in the UK. You can read more about his work here. This week Tony has an article in the Derbyshire Times! This work is licensed under a Creative…
As a daughter of parents’ who have themselves inherited so much trauma from their parents, was I always going to be this way? All I do know is the concept of who I am is constantly moving and adapting.
As a daughter of parents’ who have themselves inherited so much trauma from their parents, was I always going to be this way? All I do know is the concept of who I am is constantly moving and adapting.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries
I am a girly swot for rehabilitation, I just want to get the treatment done and get a gold star for it too.
Sunitha’s #MadCovidDiaries – 8 September 2020 I embrace the fact that I am having a terrible week but that all I can do is survive. Survive to maybe have the possibility of living again.
Heather’s #MadCovidDiaries
We’ve reached a critical point. A decision needs to be made about moving teaching online at universities.
Jo’s #MadCovidDiaries 27.9.2020 Jo’s vlog is out now! If you’ve enjoyed this vlog, please consider donating to our Hardship Fund for people with a mental health condition who are in financial need during COVID19. Mad Covid is an entirely unfunded group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. We ask…
Mad Makers: Episode 1
Matchbox Shrines! Welcome to our first episode of Mad Makers! This tutorial is for making matchbox shrines. It takes roughly 20-30 minutes, although you can make it at whatever pace you’re comfortable with. Below is a kit list, a link to the video tutorial, and finally a few pictures for reference. We hope you enjoy…
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