Stoppaddling on the web...
Memetics for mental healthHere you can find out about Roger Smith's extraordinary book Stop Paddling / Start Sailing and learn a little about memes & memetics |
Bipolar awareness and recoveryFreelance trainer: Roger Smith Mental awareness workshops Recovery from mood swings Mental health recovery |
What the Stop Paddling / Start Sailing book could do for you...
People have found the book inspirational as it is a true story of recovery from severe mental illness without going into morbid details and technicalities. There is a gentle introduction to memetics as a different way of looking at how we think and behave. This may or may not be an essential to our mental health recovery but many are finding the ideas a useful additional tool for staying well.
Mood swings
I had been experiencing rapid changes in energy levels all my life although this apparent moodiness was never referred to as mood swings. When I suffered from what was described as an anxiety disorder in 1980, I had several hospital stays and was on medication for about a year. Once I recovered from that I was able to achieve many things for many years but still had greater variations in energy levels than just about anyone I knew. In 1997 I suffered a second undiagnosed stress related illness. The same happened in 1998. This time it was diagnosed. Despite taking the prescribed medication I was in hospital again in 1999.
I, at last, realised that medication alone could not be the answer and started to learn all I could about stress and how it affects our health. I have been studying and putting my learnings into practice ever since. Stop Paddling/ Start Sailing was published in 2004. I changed my career path in 2006 to focus on mental health recovery and most recently to become a freelance trainer.
Memes
I was amazed in 1999 to learn of the emerging science of memetics and more amazed to find that no one seemed to be considering memetics as a tool for improving mental health. In particular anxiety and depression seem to be largely caused by memes and for me were both largely resolved simply by the realisation that memes were at the route of my problems. My psychiatrist at the time laughed at the idea. Now, having gone nearly 8 years without needing to see any traditional mental health specialists I know this approach works for me. Stop Paddling / Start Sailing gently introduces the idea that we can benefit from learning a little about memetics.
Stop Paddling / Start Sailing Reviews
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"Chapters 1-3 made me laugh; the analogues/metaphors of MD being interwoven with a memetic interpretation was great. Your experience seems to have many points of similarity with my own” Nick Hewling, Recovery Devon (Partnerships for Mental Health) “LOVED it" Rosanna Tarsiero, Italy "I thought your book was brilliant!" Chris Radford, RETHINK "Jane and I enjoyed your book. It's got a great tone and I think would be a comfort to anyone crawling from the wreckage of a first time mental crash or even people who have been coping for a while. I liked the sailing metaphors a lot. Bravo and well done. Jeremy Thomas, Author of "You Don't have to be Famous to have Manic Depression" and "Taking Leave" |
I am grateful those who made this book possible and to everyone who has read it and sent in their encouraging comments. Roger
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