What are some of the ‘safety nets’ people put in place so that others may be able to help recognise signs of a relapse?
I’d always thought ‘my partner will know somethings up’. However, we’ve recently separated and I now feel like that ‘safety net’ is gone. With living alone and working from home often, I sometimes worry that there wouldn’t be any one who sees me often/consistently enough to pick up on changes. Also, many people don’t know what I went through, so might brush of what could be a red flag in my situation as just a weird, unusual or out of character moment.
Would love recommendations. Given it’s a high stress time I’m continuing to see a clinical psych fortnightly who’d supported me through the PP. She’s got my GPs number and my permission to call her should she have any concerns or want my GP to keep an eye on me. I’m also checking in regularly with my sisters who have agreed that if they notice something and wanted advice could contact my psych to discuss their concerns. I’ve also told my manager who I trust to never use it againest me. He’s a former social worker and when I got PP four years ago he actually called my partner to check on my mental health after my lack of responses to colleagues congrats messages made him feel I was acting out of character to the point he was really worried (how amazing is that, and more so that he picked up it was outside of normal sleep deprivation changes before the Drs did) He’s agreed he’ll speak up if he’s worried about anything and is supportive of helping me manage my workload during this stressful time.
Hopefully between all of that I’m covered. I’m keep well mental health, but if PP taught me anything, it’s never to take that for granted!
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LizzieLizzieLou
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Hi LizzieLizzieLou, it sounds like you have a good safety net and you have involved people from both personal and work aspects of your life. I think it is useful to keep in mind what are your early warning signs, at the beginning it will feel almost like a checklist exercise, but I promise it gets more intuitive as time goes on.
This is a tricky time and it is really sensible that you involved your manager in case you need to take some time to yourself or just reduce your load. Remember that your health is the most important.
Thanks Maria- I’m glad you reminded me about the ‘early warning signs’. I’ve kept well for a while now so needed the reminder that I did this exercise and listed them all a few years ago. I’ll def go back and review this.
Hi LizzieLizzieLou, yes, every now and then I go back to my psychology one to one notes or my care plan. I forget about them and then I realise a technique there can help me with this particular challenge. Take good care and hope you keep on doing so well
It sounds like you've got things fairly well organised there. It's lovely that you're keeping in touch with your sisters and that you have such an understanding manager. Your psychiatrist and GP sound good too.Maybe you could mention your mental health history to any very close friends that you trust. No need to give detail, just that you have had poor mental health.
I told my husband that I had a "breakdown*" at age 20 (before I met him). When I became ill* again at age 37, that earlier tip off was enough for him to get help. So surprisingly people don't necessarily need experience of your condition, but just the knowledge that you had a mental health condition in the past.
It sounds to me like you’ve got a great system of support already set up, far more than I ever had. The only thing I might add is that you make yourself a checklist of behaviors you think would be warning signs, and then just check in honestly with yourself a few times a week, or maybe every day at bedtime or something, and say How was my day? If you start noticing the things on that checklist, ask others. One of the biggies for me was excessive worry or being emotional out of proportion to the situation. I still check in with myself over that one to this day.
My husband is a good man and has always been supportive. But he’s relatively unobservant about the state of my mental health and often never noticed I was struggling until I told him myself. I think you’ll be able to take care of yourself.
Hi. I’m sorry to hear you and your partner have separated. I hope you are coping. Prior to discharge from mental health services I created ‘a safety plan’, eg:risk assessment of myself. It is extremely detailed and leaves no room for error. I was given a diagnosis of bipolar and tbh it focuses on that not psychosis but I’m sure you could do the same thing. It specifically sets out what I’m like when normal, high and low as well as the indicators that I’m transitioning between these, eg: phrases I may say, certain behaviours, eating habits, appearance, etc. It states what to do about it, what to say to me, who to contact, etc. It’s a 1 page detailed document which I gave to my children’s school, my family and close friends. My psychiatrist and psychologist said they had never seen such a detailed relapse plan. I do need to write one for psychosis as I’m going through the menopause and with that I’m at risk of psychosis relapse. I am on medication but still scared. We could maybe help each other with writing a plan. Maybe Jenny can tell us how to connect via email peer support, if you’d like that
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