Rockford Day 11 Treatment Summary

  8/5/2024


Day 11 summary at Rockford at the Orchards:

-Girls got their walk, ride, and treats.

-Morning was calm until I locked myself out of the house after walking dog #1. I have a fallback break in method that I've used in the past to enter that worked again today.
-After some uneasiness the drive to the facility was non-eventful.

-Arrived early at 9:15 but needed the time to do the beginning of the week paperwork. Basically an inventory of how we are doing with the treatment plan.

-A large crowd checked in this morning with 75% of the participants being new to the group.

-Started off the session a little different than normal today. Went around the room and each person answered the following questions:
  • How are you feeling? For me the answer was calm.
  • Any updates or changes to your condition. Condition remains stable. (in a good way)
  • What is your treatment goal for today?  Learn a new coping mechanism to add to my "tool box"

-Thought for the day: Teaching an old dog new tricks.

  • Which of this list of ten traits that dogs can sometimes display better than humans is something you recognize as an area of improvement for you?

  1. Loyalty
  2. Forgiveness
  3. Enthusiasm
  4. Joy
  5. Optimism
  6. Selflessness
  7. Warmth
  8. Welcoming
  9. Affection
  10. Unconditional love 

-I chose to speak on warmth but could have had a case for either enthusiasm or joy. As it relates to family, I do not do well when it comes to expressing warmth.  This is a symptom of me being inflexible and rigid.  A goal for today and the week coming is to better display this trait by becoming less rigid in my thoughts and ideals. Shout out to Griffen for pointing this out to me on day 1 of the program.   

- Weekend review:
  • List your primary weekend stressor. Going to keep this one to myself but let's just say it was a challenging but welcome in my life.
  • List emotions attached to that stressor? Anxiety, happiness, hope
  • List mechanisms used to cope with triggers? Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) Thoughts & feelings generate behaviors, used TIPP method specifically the I (intense exercise) and P (paced breathing), used the STOPP method (stop, take a breath, observe, proceed), worked with in my safe space or my window of tolerance, and stayed within the moment and did not try to predict the future.
  • What did you learn about yourself. I am equipped with the necessary tools to better control my behavior and use the logical side of my brain instead of being overly emotional and explosive.
-Met with the doctor just about mid-morning. No changes type of medicine or dosage.

-The first and only exercise of the day did not start until after lunch at which time we worked on the ABC's of coping skills.  This was a breakout session of two groups who worked together to create/list a coping skill for each letter of the alphabet.  

-It was a fun exercise that forced us to think of skills that we can use when triggered or overly anxious.  

Key takeaway today
My BP was 125/57 with the 57 being significantly low for me. The doctor suggested that I do a better job of staying hydrated.

Most impactful moment
Met a new participant who has experiences as a victim of some of my bad habits. She taught me the importance of being emotionally supportive to a parent, spouse, child, or friend. It should never be implied that one individual love another but instead expressed. Definitely a good conversation and a long overdue wake-up call.

Goal for tonight
Be patient, stay engaged but not overbearing. Drink more water.

Concerns:
Experienced a couple of moments over the weekend where I dizzy, weak, and disoriented. Doctor thinks this is related to being dehydrated and not as a result of the medication. Going to work on increasing the amount of water I drink and see if the problem goes away.

Response
55 total hours of therapy and 15 doses of Abilify.  Mood continues to be stable, but anxiety is through the roof. Stabilization of the mood is an indicator that Ability is work. May need to either adjust dosage of Citalopram or try a new medication to better control the anxiety. Will work on this at my next external psychiatrist appointment later this month.




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