W.R.A.P

[[Le...]]

I use to teach the Wellness Recovery Action Plan aka. WRAP.  I believe in it. It helps a great deal. I wanted to suggest it here.  It's usually offered for free at more progressive mental health centers. I maxed out on medications and this program helped me get and continue to keep my life on track.  look it up online.  WRAP is not written by doctors but patients who have recovered.  If you are depressed remember it is not who you really are there is a well you inside.  Try to remember the last window or time you were very happy or just okay even if it was as a child or a year ago.  Your wellness is stilthnlere inside you YOU just got to find your real self again. But I promise you it's in there.  Even if you can only close your eyes and pretend to see yourself happy.  That counts as a start to getting better. That means it's possible. So Hang in there.  YOu are not alone.  I know it hurts so bad sometimes it feels like someone took your sun out of the sky and buried it but it's still there...I'm typing this and looking out of the window at the same sky you are sitting under...I will hold your hope today for you(-: It gets better. Please feel free to ask me any qu

[[Ga...]]

hi Leigh thanks, I looked it up but there isnt one near here. Sonds like a good program.

[[Fl...]]

Can you teach it to us here?  Or give us the basics?  Sometimes I feel like I have always been depressed.  I know it is not true and that there have been good times but overall when I look at the big picture that is my life it is full of sadness and wishing the present moment away. 

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[[Kl...]]

Hi,

 

Mary Ellen Copeland is the person who developed the WRAP (Wellness Recovery Action Plan).  She has a great book. You can find out more about her and this self-help program at: http://www.mentalhealthrecovery.com/

 

Hugs, Klonkers

[[Fl...]]

Thanks Klonkers

[[Kl...]]

Thanks Klonkers

 

My pleasure! 

 

When I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, my then therapist had me work out of Mary Ellen Copeland's WRAP workbook.  I think this book is great for those who may require medication, have diagnoses which impact their life, but I see little value, if any, for those who are facing or have faced getting off of benzos. 

 

Many hugs, Klonkers

[[Fl...]]

Oh, good to know.  I didnt know that.  I had been diganosed wiht depression in the past and put on an AD (which I am not on now); but now I know most if not all the stuff I was going through was tolerance withdrawal.  thanks again Klonkers (Love your name by the way)

[[...]]

thanks leigh, flutter butterfly and klonkers - i am with you guys on this.  long hist of depression and so afraid now that i am finally off all med's for almost 9 months.

i have alway s known of "the voices of depression"  - the lies it tells me about me and my life and i just keep hitting delete to my thoughts

will do more imagery leigh.  having the jitters so bad makes me sad too i guess.  feel so weary of the process..wonder if i am in self pity.  but the crying is so real.  crying is a s/x for me; anyone else?

thanks so much for being there.

being on here today is all i can do so far xoxo

[[Fl...]]

Pan, my heart goes out to you.  There can be so many reasons for depression.  Hormones; trauma; genetics; medication; thyroid to name just a few.  I am predisposed to it from genetics and childhood trauma but I am determined to reprogram my brain and the voices from the past that like to replay them selves. ( not voices as in mental illness but negative ;harsh things that were said to me growing up).  I just read somewhere that the negative stuff we hear or heard sticks more and actually replays itself more than positive stuff.  So we need to actually hear and experience if possible way more positive stuff to outweigh the negative.  I am using audio books and programs and just playing them when ever I can to try to reprogram my brain.  I don't have to pay full attention to it.  I will play it whilst doing other tasks as I think it gets in still like listening to a song on the radio while driving.  I love your hit delete idea.  Can you add a postive thought right after you hit delete?  I know this is hard work as I am going through it myself.  You are so sweet Pan.  The benzos magnifies everything.  You will come out the other side soon.  I am here for you if you need me, you can pm me also dear one.

[[Le...]]

I have done both of the workbooks mentioned above before, during , and after withdrawal. I think when you are going through benzo withdrawal you really cannot do to much behavioral type therapy as your central nervous systems won't soak it up, however, the part of the W.R.A.P program that helped me COPE were things like the Daily Maintenance list: You make a list of things that you do everyday no matter how bad you feel. But first you have to list the things that you do when you feel well. Now the idea isn't to beat yourself up for not completing everything on the list but it's an anchor or away to stay grounded.  Somethings from the WRAP that helped me were: repeating affirmations 30 times a day like: I am a good person. I am training my mind to select my thoughts in a positive way so as to be the source of my own tranquility and selfsame. I am very pleased with me for making this very wise choice of thought. OR when I get unbearable anxiety I count BACKWARDS starting from 500. OR pacing up and down the stairs when I was too scared to leave the house.OR I pull out my list of contacts to call when I feel suicidal these are pre-agreed relationships that I have with people to help me when I can't even leave the house(it was usually someone else who was going through depression). OR I wrote a list of every complaint and wrote something in a different color ink next to it that was positive. I make little poster of self-help talk and post them on my wall like, "Hard times don't Last", And "It takes time to heal, and you must be patient even though it feels like watching water freeze into icebergs. Lay the concrete day by day and let it set." Learning positive self-talk is like learning a foreign language. In the beginning it is HARD but slowly your brain begans to recognize the gibberish as something that  has meaning. So if you got to the end of this-Also remember that the healed part of you is already inside of you. You have to peel back the layers and reveal it. Right now I am so depressed but I still did my daily maintenance whereas just last year this time I was in a psych ward and I could not even get out of the bed for literally days- So remember there is no quick cure to many mental disabilities but if you TRY something New that's a start. I say negative stuff to myself in my head I wouldn't repeat to my worse enemy and I did not know it until I started reading it back from journals. Awareness is the start. And nobody gets better over night it comes in waves and windows recognize your windows of hope and love bask in it's sun when you get those moments. Also Mary Ellen Copeland has given her work to organizations such as RICA (Recovery Innovations of California) who have condensed her work into manageable booklets and classes that are easier to get through then her published manuals. Thanks for those who are reading and commenting. Cheers!

[[Kl...]]

I have done both of the workbooks mentioned above before, during , and after withdrawal. I think when you are going through benzo withdrawal you really cannot do to much behavioral type therapy as your central nervous systems won't soak it up, however, the part of the W.R.A.P program that helped me COPE were things like the Daily Maintenance list: You make a list of things that you do everyday no matter how bad you feel. But first you have to list the things that you do when you feel well. Now the idea isn't to beat yourself up for not completing everything on the list but it's an anchor or away to stay grounded.  Somethings from the WRAP that helped me were: repeating affirmations 30 times a day like: I am a good person. I am training my mind to select my thoughts in a positive way so as to be the source of my own tranquility and selfsame. I am very pleased with me for making this very wise choice of thought. OR when I get unbearable anxiety I count BACKWARDS starting from 500. OR pacing up and down the stairs when I was too scared to leave the house.OR I pull out my list of contacts to call when I feel suicidal these are pre-agreed relationships that I have with people to help me when I can't even leave the house(it was usually someone else who was going through depression). OR I wrote a list of every complaint and wrote something in a different color ink next to it that was positive. I make little poster of self-help talk and post them on my wall like, "Hard times don't Last", And "It takes time to heal, and you must be patient even though it feels like watching water freeze into icebergs. Lay the concrete day by day and let it set." Learning positive self-talk is like learning a foreign language. In the beginning it is HARD but slowly your brain begans to recognize the gibberish as something that  has meaning. So if you got to the end of this-Also remember that the healed part of you is already inside of you. You have to peel back the layers and reveal it. Right now I am so depressed but I still did my daily maintenance whereas just last year this time I was in a psych ward and I could not even get out of the bed for literally days- So remember there is no quick cure to many mental disabilities but if you TRY something New that's a start. I say negative stuff to myself in my head I wouldn't repeat to my worse enemy and I did not know it until I started reading it back from journals. Awareness is the start. And nobody gets better over night it comes in waves and windows recognize your windows of hope and love bask in it's sun when you get those moments. Also Mary Ellen Copeland has given her work to organizations such as RICA (Recovery Innovations of California) who have condensed her work into manageable booklets and classes that are easier to get through then her published manuals. Thanks for those who are reading and commenting. Cheers!

 

Dear Leigh,

 

I am bookmarking this thread and am going to print out this post. This is really great, proactive stuff!!

 

I love how proactive you are in your recovery!  This is great stuff!  I particularly like the Daily Maintenance List and the fact that positive thinking can be like speaking a foreign language! 

 

You are an incredible source of inspiration and hope! 

Many Hugs, Klonkers

 

 

 

[[Fl...]]

Leigh, thank you so much for writing this!  I also think the positve ;take action steps can be very helpful to everyone.  I am reading everything I can about this including some light neuro science material ( audio books) so I can maybe understand how the brain works.  It is actually fascinating.  I am listening to audio books as much as I can to reprogram my brain so to speak.  So I love these exercises you speak of.  I am sorry you are still going through depression but also am happy for you that you are coping better.  That is what we all need no matter where we are is coping skills.  It would be great if it were taught in schools.  I also am going to copy /paste this and print it out.  Is there a way to get one of these booklets?  I agree with you about it taking time to lay down a new foundation in our brain especially if it had many years of hearing negative stuff as in my case.  (Traumatic childhood).  thank you again!

[[Ca...]]

I came on the forum this morning to get me through this morning. I don't really have any useful or insightful comment to make. Like always, just being on here and reading about others going through what I'm going through, is in itself a therapy.

I've just read this thread and passed the author of WRAP's name on to my husband. He has been my soul/sole support throughout this ordeal.

Every morning the depression is so heavy but at least now it usually lifts later in the day. I use that thought to get me through until then.

WRAP sounds like cognitive behaviour therapy. Is that so?

Now that I am no longer a vegetable I have actually been able to do CBT. Some of the things that help, are as simple as substituting my negative thought with a positive. (when I'm full of depression and despair like this morning)

Today when I felt that there will be no end to this, I then said to myself.

 

I can feel bad about where I am right now, or I can feel good about where I am right now. It all depends on if I'm looking at the depths that I have come out of, or looking at how well and healthy I used to be. It is all perspective.

 

I'm choosing to be thankful that I am no longer the total vegetable that I was last year. Just like Leigh. I was a non person who couldn't even get out of bed.

Thank you for being there everyone. Sometimes just rambling on here knowing I'm not alone helps a lot.

You are all my family.

Carol

 

 

 

[[Fl...]]

Carol, I have also been in the dark bottomless pit and am so grateful to have found this site.  I went for many years not knowing what was wrong with me and going from Dr. to Dr. to no avail.  I am glad you are doing better and are on your way.  Keep the faith.  It is nice to meet you,

blessings,

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[[...]]

thanks so much

the honesty on this site is so heartwarming

xoxo