SouthwindTherapies

26/06/2024

This statistic showcases the remarkable and powerful ways in which autistic individuals perceive and interpret the world. This exceptional capacity for processing information can be overwhelming as the brain works hard to take in and make sense of multiple stimuli all at once. This is why better understanding of the autistic experience is so important, so we can create environments that are inclusive and respectful of the unique way in which autistic individuals experience the world.

26/06/2024

26/06/2024

Are you thinking about su***de?

Although it may feel like a difficult question to ask, it could provide just the right amount of relief for that individual for you to help save a life.

There are some key things to remember when asking the question:

1. Ensure the environment is private.
2. Listen without judgement
3. Safe plan: Discuss positive next steps
4. Signpost relevant services, which include:

• Samaritans are available 24/7 on 116123

• have men’s talking groups in over 190 locations around the UK

• Youth (between 10-24’s) call 988 Su***de & Crises Lifeline

•Papyrus HOPELINEUK 0800 068 41 41
07860039967 (text) [email protected]
papyrus-uk.org For under-35s at risk of su***de and others who are concerned about them

• Text Shout UK on 85258

•Maytree Su***de Respite Centre 020 7263 7070 maytree.org.uk. Offers free respite stays for people in suicidal crisis.

👉🏼 If you feel the person is in immediate danger then always contact 999

21/05/2024

Understand trauma. Don’t enable it. This is about compassion paired with boundaries. Be the human who heals.

20/05/2024

ADHD across the Menstrual Cycle
“Studies showed that in every episode of hormonal changes, women with ADHD suffered from a 2-3 fold increase in frequency and severity of mood changes.” (doi:10.1192/j.eurpsy.2023.92). Understanding the menstrual cycle’s impact on ADHD and medication response is essential for optimising treatment strategies. Here’s how each phase of the menstrual cycle may influence ADHD symptoms and the effectiveness of treatments:

Menstrual Phase:
During this time, when oestrogen and progesterone are at their lowest, neurotransmitter activity is lowered, which can increase ADHD symptoms, emotional dysregulation and decrease effectiveness of ADHD medication. This phase may also exacerbate comorbid conditions, making ADHD medications less effective due to heightened brain fog and impulsivity.

Follicular Phase:
As oestrogen levels rise and progesterone remains low, many women report improvements in ADHD symptoms. This phase may enhance the sensitivity to ADHD medications, increasing their effectiveness but also risk of side effects. The increased neurotransmitter activity could also improve mood, focus and overall wellbeing.

Ovulatory Phase:
This phase sees a peak in oestrogen, leading to the most effective symptom management. However, the sharp fall in estrogen coupled with rising progesterone post-ovulation can disrupt this, affecting both the symptoms and the efficacy of stimulant medications.

Luteal Phase:
With a decline in oestrogen and an increase in progesterone, this phase can be the most challenging phase for women with ADHD. Progesterone’s mood-altering effects can interact negatively with stimulants and oestrogen, potentially necessitating a different therapeutic approach or adjustment in treatment. Women with ADHD are more at risk of severe PMS symptoms, including Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD).

Recognising these patterns and considering such hormonal influences are crucial for understanding and obtaining the necessary interventions.

28/04/2024

Safety isn’t only a cognitive experience, it’s a physiological one. In fact, safety begins as an emotion in the nervous system and the body. It’s experienced in a textured, social and dynamic way.

The absence of safety could arise from a number of places: Systems and dynamics: If the systems and dynamics around us do not make us FEEL seen, heard, validated and champion our sovereignty, we will feel unsafe… even if we are told that we are safe. Words that are not supported dynamically are meaningless, and can often make us feel more unsafe than ever.
Nervous system dysregulation: If our nervous system is dysregulated either due to a) overload/burnout b) unresolved trauma or c) neurodivergence, we may find it very difficult to feel safe, even if there is no direct threat around us.

So, when people tell us we are safe, we will not be able to feel it. This may make us feel gaslit, confused, or even angry. In turn, we will move further away from safety.

When someone is urging us towards expressing or experiencing safety, with an agenda of their own at play, we may feel coerced, resistant or even reactive. Unfortunately we live in a world where concepts like ‘psychological safety’ are being weaponised with the agenda of forced vulnerability/transparency.

Agendas (especially when unexpressed) may breed fear and suspicion… the opposite of safety. Healing asks us to learn that our experience of safety is ours to claim or reject. Sovereignty is fundamental to safety. Healing also asks us to understand that what inspires safety for one person may incite fear in another. Safety is not prescriptive. When we stop telling each other that we are safe or ‘in a safe space’ we give each other the opportunity to find authenticity. There is no safety without authenticity.

The more honest and responsive we are with and for each other, the more safety will naturally emerge.

Safety is co-created and evolutionary.

As we seek to build more safe spaces inside and around us, we can begin with inquiry: ‘what would help me/you feel a little bit safer right now?’

Safety is a process and a purpose. What do you think?

11/10/2022

On transgenerational and intergenerational trauma. Let’s raise children who won’t have to recover from their childhood.

Building resilience through open and loving communication between generations is one of the best ways to loosen generational trauma's grip. Healing happens when family members speak up and work through any hurt, pain, or abuse from the past.

If you are a parent, mental health experts suggest that you seek your own support and share your trauma openly with your children and possibly your grandchildren too. Tell them your story and whatever you know about what happened to your parents and your grandparents.

If you are an adult child of parents or grandparents who may have trauma, ask them about their experiences. Find out as much as you can about your ancestry. Notice any automatic patterns, beliefs, or narratives from your family that you continue to portray. Talk through them with a trusted friend, family member, or therapist and consider new ways of being and communicating. Start creating a future for yourself without the pain of inherited trauma.

Innovative and integrative therapies can be very helpful in resolving generational trauma. For example, psychodynamic therapy fully explores early experiences and how our responses could be fear based; somatic therapy is a type of trauma therapy that involves paying close attention to your inner body sensations as a way to regulate emotions. Also, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy can be a very powerful treatment for people who have been emotionally traumatised. It uses eye movements or other alternate hemisphere stimulation to remove the emotional charges of traumatic memories.