Meeting Mental Breakdown Mindfully Meeting Mental Breakdown Mindfully introduces the Comprehend, Cope and Connect (CCC) approach, developed and evaluated within mental health ser- vices, to a wider audience who need to understand mental health issues, whe- ther for themselves or to support others. The book deconstructs and normalizes mental breakdown, starting from the individual’s inner experience, leading to practical ways of helping people out of distressandimpairedfunctioning,towardstherealizationoftheirwholepotential. It is based on an understanding of connections in the brain founded in cognitive science, which explains how human functioning can easily go astray. CCC pro- vides a compelling rationale for putting mindfulness at the heart of the solution, along with other ways of coping with emotions and changing behaviour. The approachis broughttolifethroughthreeillustrativecasehistories,givinga repre- sentative and realistic insight into both the experience of the individual and the workingsofthesystem. Meeting Mental Breakdown Mindfully will help mental health professionals and thoseinrelatedfieldsidentifymoreaccuratelywhatpeopleintheirorganizationor undertheircarearegoingthrough. Isabel Clarke is a consultant clinical psychologist with over 25 years’ experi- ence as a therapist in the NHS for people with complex problems. Her inno- vative approach to mental health that side-steps diagnosis is applied widely in Acute Services and is adapted for IAPT and cross-cultural application. Meeting Mental Breakdown Mindfully How to Help the Comprehend, Cope and Connect Way Isabel Clarke Firstpublished2022 byRoutledge 2ParkSquare,MiltonPark,Abingdon,OxonOX144RN andbyRoutledge 605ThirdAvenue,NewYork,NY10158 RoutledgeisanimprintoftheTaylor&FrancisGroup,aninformabusiness ©2022IsabelClarke TherightofIsabelClarketobeidentifiedasauthorofthisworkhasbeen assertedbyherinaccordancewithsections77and78oftheCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereprintedorreproducedor utilisedinanyformorbyanyelectronic,mechanical,orothermeans,now knownorhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orin anyinformationstorageorretrievalsystem,withoutpermissioninwriting fromthepublishers. Trademarknotice:Productorcorporatenamesmaybetrademarksorregistered trademarks,andareusedonlyforidentificationandexplanationwithout intenttoinfringe. BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Acatalogrecordhasbeenrequestedforthisbook ISBN:978-0-367-53367-0(hbk) ISBN:978-0-367-53366-3(pbk) ISBN:978-1-003-08161-6(ebk) DOI:9781003081616/9781003081616 TypesetinBembo byTaylor&FrancisBooks To Chris Clarke. 22.02.1946–16.04.2019. Wecontinuetogetherinjusticework.Thereisnotimeinthe Implicational. Death belongs to time. Love does not. Contents List of figures ix Preface x Acknowledgements xi Abbreviations xii SECTION I Foundations 1 1 Being human and why it is difficult – a rethink 3 2 Why the conventional wisdom about mental health needs challenging 11 3 Turning therapy inside out 18 4 Falling between the cracks: Self, relationship, spirituality and mental health 26 5 Trauma and mental breakdown 34 SECTION II Opportunity, emotions and the elusive self 41 6 Emotion as problem, emotion as solution 43 7 The elusive self: Compassion and potential 51 8 Beyond consensual reality 58 9 Reconfiguring mental health 67 viii Contents SECTION III How to help: Comprehend and Cope 77 10 Meeting someone from the inside and getting the mind in gear 79 11 Comprehend: Introducing the spiky diagram 86 12 Coping skills: The basics 95 13 Harnessing motivation and a new role for emotions: From problem to solution 102 SECTION IV Forging new relationships: Connect 109 14 Healing the relationship with the self 111 15 Relationships with other people: Unravelling the tangles 117 16 Aspects of self and putting the past in the past 125 17 Beyond the self, beyond the consensus 132 SECTION V Wrapping up and wider horizons 141 18 The end is the beginning: Therapy as toolkit 143 19 CCC in the wider world 151 20 Conclusion and further implications 160 References 164 Index 171 Figures 1.1 Different Circuits in the Brain (Adapted from DBT) 7 4.1 Web of Relationships 31 5.1 Formulation 37 8.1 Shared and Unshared Reality 61 11.1 Kath’s Diagram 88 11.2 Tasha’s Diagram 89 15.1 The Relationship Triangle 123 16.1 Tasha’s Aspects 129