Rockford Day 9 Treatment Summary

 7/31/2024


Day 9 summary at Rockford at the Orchards:

- Good morning with a short episode of racing thoughts but able to shut them down quickly. Definitely see a significant difference in my response to this type of thing since treatment started.

-Girls got their walk & ride. Connie had been a bit resistant to walking yesterday but seemed excited to get out today.
-Normal arrival time. No one at the desk to buzz me in so I have to wait a few seconds at the inside door.

-First order of business before the start of the session was to determine if I would need an extension of the 10-day program & to process/finalize work related FMLA paperwork. My initial thoughts were that I needed to get back into the real world to demonstrate I can incorporate what I've been taught when faced by the things that trigger me. As I explained to the facilitator, I love the program and see an opportunity for me to participate forever but I don't want it to become a crutch preventing me from ever taking the next steps. The facilitator stated that she has noticed significant improvement in my behavior since walking through the door 9 days prior but thought I could benefit from a few more days of treatment. Me, wanting to be the best me I can be when I walk out of that facility for the last time was agreeable to the suggestion. Paperwork was updated with the new discharge date and submitted to my place of business.

-9:30 Session started with exactly 10 people in the room and the alternate facilitator, Noelle as the morning lead.

- A.M check in process/goal review:
  1. Current state-Stable
  2. Status of yesterday's goal.  Read past summaries to refresh my memory on coping mechanisms and recall how many I've used in the last 8 days.  I spent an hour last night (8-9 p.m.) writing/reading summaries.  

-Lesson 1 focused on anxiety. What is it and how does it affect the body & mind and what might you do to manage it.

-Anxiety is a natural human response when we feel that we are under threat. It can be experienced through our thoughts, feeling and physical sensations.
  • For me, anxiety feels as if everyone in the world is waiting for me to trip up so that they can laugh at me.

-Anxiety can become a mental health problem if it impacts your ability to live your life as fully as you want to. 

-9 anxiety disorders

  1. Generalized anxiety disorder-regular, uncontrollable worries.
  2. Social anxiety disorder-experience extreme fear or anxiety triggered by social situations.
  3. Panic disorder-frequent attacks without a clear cause or trigger.
  4. Phobias-extreme fear, anxiety triggered by a particular situation or object. 
  5. PTSD-developed anxiety problems after going through something you found traumatic. 
  6. Obsessive Compulsive disorder-anxiety problems involve having repetitive thoughts, behaviors or urges. 
  7. Health anxiety--worrying about become sick. 
  8. Body dysmorphic disorder-experience obsessions and compulsions related to your physical appearance.
  9. Perinatal anxiety OCD-anxiety problems experienced during pregnancy or after the first year after giving birth.


-Health effects of anxiety

    • Churning in the stomach
    • Feeling light headed
    • Headaches
    • Faster breathing
    • Irregular heartbeat
    • Grinding your teeth
    • Tense
    • Sense of dread
    • Rumination
    • Depersonalization
      • Disassociation where you feel disconnected from your mind or body.  I used this coping method in high school to escape the terror inflicted upon me by classmates because of me acting out my compulsions in class. 

 

-Other effects of anxiety

    • Looking after yourself
    • Holding down a job
    • Forming or maintaining relationships
    • Trying new things
    • Simply enjoying your leisure time. 
 

-One last interesting fact is that having a close relative with anxiety problems may increase your chances of experiencing anxiety problems yourself.  Plenty of people in my family have displayed symptoms of anxiety. 


-Available treatments
  • Self-help
  • Therapy
  • Medication 
 
-Lesson 2 Setting boundaries

-Examples of boundaries.
  • A river-if it's boundary is breached flooding occurs, possibly killing life in the surrounding area.
  • Your home-You only allow people you trust/love to enter into you place of dwelling.
  • Your own body-blood vessels, nervous system, digestive system, muscles, etc.  Each compartment contains only those things that allow it to do itis job.  
 
 -We need to understand why boundaries are so challenging.
  1. Attachment style-your behaviors as an adult are based in how your primary caregivers responded to you as an infant.  
  2. Modelling from primary caregivers-if the people who raised you didn't know how to det good boundaries, likely you don't know how either. 
  3. Psychological development and personal identity-we all progress through standard stages of psychological development, learning to see ourselves as autonomous.
  4. Your unique personality-traits, thoughts, patterns and behaviors that are unique to you.  
  5. culture-family, religious, national. 


-What does it look like to have insufficient boundaries. 

  • Oversharing with someone whose trust you haven't verified.
  • Saying yes by default.
  • Later wishing you hadn't said yes.
  • Resentment
  • Anger
  • Anxiety
  • Poor sleep
  • Feeling as though everyone is taking advantage of you
  • Being irritable.
  • Letting your priorities go. 

 

Key takeaway
Setting boundaries is a healthy practice.

Most impactful moment
When someone in the audience made the statement " I made a mistake, but I am not a mistake"

Day 9 Goal
List the people in my life to whom I'm the closest and state why you trust those individuals. Bring completed worksheet to class tomorrow.  

Concerns:
Diet-meeting with the doctor tomorrow.
Left knee pain unrelated to treatment.
Good news is my right foot gout flare healed on its own.

Response
45 total hours of therapy and 11 doses of Abilify.  Keeping it simple by saying mood has stabilized and I feel great.



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