Discussion Recovery Resource Project

[Ame]

Recovery Resource Project

To make a long story short, I have done a lot of therapy and over the years, I have inevitably accumulated a fat stack of notes, worksheets, and literature. I have been very fortunate to have had received such world class quality care for my conditions but I realise that not everyone is so lucky. Therapy can be prohibitively expensive and even in countries where it is covered, it may not be available in all areas or the time commitment required can leave one deciding between work and treatment. Some weeks ago, I thought about making a project out of compiling these resources and then organizing them in such a way so that they could be accessed by members in recovery. Before proceeding, I would like help in smoothing out the kinks and figuring out some of the details before diving into things.

My main areas of concern are the following:

1. The Content to be included in the Recovery Resource Package;
2. The Format of said content;
3. Dissemination of the Recovery Resource Package

I will do my best to make things clear and concise. I really hope that the final product of this modest endeavor can help others in a meaningful way. It would be a huge help if anyone reading this could weigh in on some of my questions. The questions are only a guide and you can answer however you like. You don't have to answer everything and if you think of something that I haven't addressed then please feel free to raise it in your reply.


I. The Content of the Recovery Resource Package

There are a lot of materials that I will have to go through and translate (there are a lot that are not written in English) and naturally, given time constraints and my limited energy, I have to consider the breadth and depths of the contents to be included. Please note that to avoid issues, I will be writing much of this from scratch while referring to the materials (I cannot just upload Marsha Linehan's entire DBT manual lol). For reference, here is a short list (in no particular order) of the types of psychotherapies and programmes that I have received/attended over the past few years:

1. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
2. Assertiveness Training
3. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
4. Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
5. Cognitive Remediation Therapy

These therapies addressed a variety of conditions (mood disorders, personality disorders, eating disorders, and anxiety disorders) and were often provided in conjunction with other forms of treatment (medications, rTMS, diet, sessions with occupational therapists etc). I have benefited in different ways from each of these interventions and found that some were more helpful that others. However, I would rather not filter out content based on my personal biases and risk omitting or glossing over subjects that might benefit someone else so to help guide me, here are some questions.

Questions to consider:

1. If you are comfortable sharing, which mental health conditions are you struggling with? If you have not been formally diagnosed or do not have a mental illness, which areas of your life do you struggle with and would like help for the most (ex: interpersonal relationships, self esteem, work-life balance etc)?
2. Which of the psychotherapies in the list provided, interested you the most?
3. Would you prefer a more balanced and holistic approach or would you rather the Recovery Resource Package focus more on a certain area?
4. How much detail would you like me to go into? Would you want a lot of literature and materials on psychiatry and neuroscience?
5. Would you be interested in worksheets based off exercises (ex: food journals, CBT thought records) that you could print up and fill out?

※ After hearing from a few of you with your feedback, I will post a tentative topics list/table of contents for review!!!

II. The Format of the Recovery Resource Package

I have considered making a giant PDF file or word document but I was wondering if you had any preferences. If I take that route I will make a point of making it mobile friendly and do my best to make it simple and easy on the eyes. Alternatively, depending on the final size of this resource, I could make a thread and have everything written up here. A megathread (because it would be quite loaded) would only really work if the final product ends up being relatively small. Would it be better for me to break things up by topic so that people could take what is relevant to them? I am open to your suggestions.


III. Dissemination of the Recovery Resource Package

A bit of this was covered in the previous point, but I was wondering how others would like me to make this resource available? Should I simply uploaded it to a download site with a few mirrors and drop the links here? Would it be better to restrict it to the forum? Again, any suggestions you may have would be more than welcome.

Thank you so much in advance to anyone who takes the time to read this and leave their valuable input. It tired to keep things shortish and really appreciate your efforts. This project means a lot and I really want it to bare fruit.

Please take good care everyone!

 

[Science Is Scary]

I really like your idea, Ame. Existing recovery resources on this forum seem quite limited to me, and I've wanted more scientific/evidence-based/risk-benefit materials. But I don't think I'm really a good audience to target to reach the most people, so I wouldn't necessarily listen to what I want.

You're thinking about this project from many perspectives, which seems quite smart to me.

If you don't mind me asking, have you started similar projects in the past? How did they go?

 

[Quarky00]

First, kudos.

I think DBT was the most holistic effective therapy I've experienced. It has lots of elements from CBT and Acceptance. I felt it addressed PTSD / BPD state of mind rather than just skills. I felt much was also shared with depression/anxiety. Like, everything is an issue of some trauma, despair, identity, emotions. For treatments other than the 5 you are focusing on - you could add short summary and useful link (say occupational therapy, CBT-I for insomnia, etc). Psychiatric concepts/meds/protocols are hard to summarize, not very clear, and I personally won't find it useful.

I disliked worksheets (I can make my own journal). Some people need those. I liked targeted practical exercises (do this do that), with their reasoning and goal explained. I liked it when sometimes things were briefly explained by short simple example from research (it nudged me). Neuroscience was very interesting but as further reading, later, not as part of therapy itself. I dislike things too theoretical and philosophical, or with strange acronyms / terms / titles / stages / lists... These made me give up. When in (or after) distress I needed something down to earth..

Sounds more like a recovery guide/introduction than just a list of notes and links? That would be great but also hard work. I would pick few examples/ideas, easy to relate or practice, of each therapy (as a reader giving me a taste of what it's like). I think it'd be easier as a thread, starting with basic details. That way it won't be such a big case to begin with. Content will follow questions. You can do 'content dump' once in a while (big post elaborating several issues raised - perhaps link it in the first/main post of thread - if doable?). This could be "Recovery Resource 1.0" -- later copy important posts in it to 2.0, etc. This could be compiled to a static/pinned resource page. And/or pdf. Megathreads are too crazy for me..... * purely brainstorming here, off the cuff, dunno know how things work, nor what would be easier for you

 

[Pallf]

I think this is a fantastic idea. I'm especially keen on the neuroscience angle and the abundance of info about different therapies. I wonder if the admins would ok putting this in the wiki or if it should be a stickied thread.
I think allowing the option to print out "homework" is a good idea.

 

[Science Is Scary]

Anyone else have any thoughts?

 

[Sensei]

Something I think is important to remember when compiling a guide like this, which I think is a commendable initiative, is that not all mental health conditions are the same. Some are temporary dysfunctions while others are permanent disorders. Temporary dysfunctions may not always require psychotherapy, whereas permanent disorders usually do.

Then we have a handful of notable exceptions. The most debilitating disorders with the higest suicide rates, i.e. schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder, are fundamentally genetic disorders and change the "chemical wiring" of the brain. People suffering from these disorders do not only think differently from other people in a psychological sense, but also in a biological sense. Obviously, regular psychotherapy has little to no effect on permanent chemical changes in the brain. CBT and psychoeducation can make it easier to handle symptoms, but seldom prevent episodes, and never cure the disorders.

 

[Ame]

First, I want to thank everyone who shared their valuable input so far! I'm aware that my post was bordering on "Giant Wall of Text" territory, so the fact that you managed to hack through it all and take the time to leave your thoughts here is very much appreciated. I really hope to put what you've given me to good use. Also, a special thank you to @Science Is Scary for being so kind as to bump this thread. To avoid abusing the quote function, I tried to isolate the common threads contained in your posts and address each of them individually. If you feel that I've missed anything (although there are some questions that I think would b better answered in private messages), please let me know.

1. Scientific materials and readings concerning neuroscience:
   Seeing as neuroscience was the focus of my undergraduate studies and that I used to read research papers and medical literature for fun, these are guilty pleasures of mine. I can really relate to the thirst for more material on these topics, however, because I intend for this package to be accessible to others, I am disinclined to include such materials. I want to avoid making things too technical and from using too much jargon because I must consider the background (both in terms of education and English fluency) of those reading. I might including links to papers on fun factoids that make up the rationale behind some exercises...but we will see.
   
   
2. Dissemination of the "Recovery Resource Package":
   The idea of posting this resource as a collection of Wiki articles is attractive for several reasons (the ability to edit contents not being restricted to a 24 hour window being one of them) but I don't know how it would be taken all juxtaposed to content on...you know, how to kill yourself. A Megathread would be interesting - especially if it could be kept clean somehow - and @Quarky00's "content will follow questions" really stood out to me. Being able to receive feedback (unfortunately, the wiki's discussion/talk areas seem dead) and course adjust according to people's needs is important I think. A downloadable pdf might be good so that others can access the resource for offline reading if need be. Once I've finished with the write up of the first "edition", I will probably have to contact the mods before going ahead.
   
   
3. Clarification on the objective of the project:
   I am going to preface everything with one of those generic medical disclaimers, because this project is not at all intended to act as a substitute for medical treatments. I had meant for this to act as a primer of sorts, that could be used to familiarize the reader with some treatments and introduce them to some (hopefully) helpful skills an concepts. If anything, I would like the resource to serve as a recovery spring board. Readers can look through it, see what they like and then maybe bring it up with their physician to see where they can go from there.

I think that I will wait for a few more comments before posting a proposed table of contents. I do have a better sense of where I would like to go with this and I have all of you to thank.

 

[Science Is Scary]

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[Quarky00]

- An interesting course, tad opposite to your orderly planning, is to pick on existing threads/questions here – see what people need most.

- A bit out of the scope, but maybe a quick preface to therapy and mental healthcare in general. Like what to expect from therapy, what are the healthcare professionals involved, what they do, frameworks (outpatient, weekly, monthly). Nothing elaborative, few lines, short practical introduction.. Not crucial but could be useful, idk

- You can phrase some specific simple questions as new threads, to invite a conversation, and explore what people are interested with. For example: "What do you need to recover better?", and then ask what sort of things people expect, or what they think they could benefit from.

I don't know, and most importantly – I don't want to interfere with your process, that appears very careful and meticulous :) So don't get distracted by my silly suggestions.. But hey, bump.

 

[azucaramargo]

Anyone have any other ideas?

 

[KimKevorkian]

Some PDFs of books that might be of interest and help...

 

[KimKevorkian]

Sorry. Forget that James Allen book. I didn't realize it's a bunch of religious claptrap. Couldn't figure out how to delete it, so...

 

[KimKevorkian]

Quite an interesting book on navigating difficult circumstances. Food for thought, for sure.