The eleventh revolution

[Distress and wellness come from the same place; distress as story; change; process; the process of change]

“If you are in distress, you are being human. You are reacting to circumstances in a totally human way. You don’t need to be treated as though there is something wrong with you.”
Natalie Rogers

The ingredients that make up distress and wellness all come from the same pots. How different parts of ourselves interact with other parts of ourselves, interact with our relationships, interact with our internal world and the external world will all determine whether we are well or unwell. Breaking ourselves down into smaller constructs, we can see that all of the following aspects can shape and determine the quality of our lives.

Our self-identity, self-worth, sense of belonging, experiences, values, beliefs, standards, our body, our needs, our urges, our desires, etc.
Our relationship with ourselves, with others, with things, with the environment, with cultural norms, etc.
Our thoughts, thinking, mental state, memory, feelings, emotions, mood, actions, behaviour, hopes, fears, etc.

For any pain and suffering to become problematic, it’s likely to have become stuck or trapped somewhere within our brains and/or our bodies. Stubbing your toe is painful, but the pain subsides. Distress lingers because, without help and healing, it doesn’t have anywhere to go. Coping strategies may help you through your day-to-day existence, but they don’t dislodge psychological pain.

Through language, psychological pain and suffering can always be broken down into smaller parts, making them less overwhelming and more manageable for both the sufferer and the helper. It’s hard for someone who’s depressed, stressed or anxious to move on until they find the words to express more about their own unique set of circumstances. So, in this sense, distress is a story that needs to be told, heard and understood (by both the teller and the receiver).

Change: a change for the better; a change within one’s control
• to make or become different
• to use something else instead
• an act or process after which something is different
• to form a new opinion
• to make a new decision
• to give up or get rid of something
• to exchange something for something else

The wider route out of pain and suffering is always the same: it requires a process; a process of change; a journey from A to B; a way of shifting distress from one part of the brain to another, or of shifting distress from inside the body to outside the body.

This can be achieved in a whole host of ways: through talking, drawing, moving and dancing, through relationships, through somatic or neuroscience work, and so on and so forth. The process that is required to overcome suffering tends to be the same whatever intervention is being used: (i) the suffering will need to be recalled from the back of the brain to the forefront of the brain (ii) at this point the intervention takes place, so that the suffering – now in focus – can be processed/dissipated to point where the body no longer needs to keep hold of it (iii) the business is now complete. A change has taken place.

For anyone struggling with any kind of trauma, abuse, adversity, etc., we trust that you can take comfort and hope from knowing that people do recover if they’re able to find a process that works for them.