Diabetes and Mental Health at #DX2Melbourne
On Monday evening, the attendees at #DX2Melbourne took part in a live webcast discussing the emotional, psychological and mental elements of living with diabetes. The panel was joined by psychologist Lisa Robins, who has experience in diabetes clinical psychology. I was actually thrilled for the opportunity to address this topic at an event of this scale.
Again, I am only relaying what I heard and talked about as honestly as I can recall…
It was quite interesting to hear one member of the panel comment that during earlier times he thought he was doing okay, but looking back on his journey today he has second thoughts. I actually feel the same way. I never thought that it was okay not to be okay, or to consider the impact that type 1 diabetes can have on my mental and emotional wellbeing. Today, I have no hesitation in saying that I felt isolated, emotional, not very well supported and in hiding from my condition.
Who was offered psychological support when they were diagnosed? A quick show of hands from the panel indicated two or three out of eleven. I shared with the panel that I was visited by a social worker in hospital. At the time, I felt relieved to feel normal and energetic once again. I felt that she was pressing for something that wasn’t there. However, how great would it have been if she had:
- Taken my word that I was fine.
- Highlighted some of the symptoms that I might expect further down the road.
- Pointed me to what other people with diabetes are doing to feel well with diabetes – weekly OzDOC chats, Twitter accounts, closed Facebook groups, forums, in person meet ups and peer support.
- Left me her card if I did feel that I needed that professional support.
17 year old me would likely have still ignored it, but I digress…
How do we best approach the issue of mental health? It’s something many of us prefer to stay silent about, and treated like its something to be ashamed of. A lot of us like to prove that we are stronger than diabetes, and in doing so we might ignore our vulnerabilities.
The consensus from the panel was that our healthcare professionals don’t take the time to simply ask “how are you going?” in reference to emotional health. The panel suggested that we need to normalise psychological support within diabetes, building it into our annual checklist with our eyes and bloodwork and feet. I’d also add changing the word ‘health’ in mental health to ‘wellbeing’ or ‘wellness.’
I was also thrilled to hear other panel members praising informal peer support. One panel member shared that in the absence of psychological support, it was peer support that had aided her mental wellbeing for so long.
Personally, online communities were the first form of connection I had to anyone else with diabetes. There is so much knowledge out there that helped me to become better engaged in my diabetes management. Those communities were my bridge to finding in person peer support, both of which help me to maintain relatively good emotional wellbeing today.
Touching on the stigma from healthcare professionals associated with online communities, panel members commented that it was more accessible, and no different from going to a coffee shop. One gem was that online communities complement, rather than replace psychological support.
Diabetes burnout was the next topic, and the panel pondered ways of how we identify those triggers that might suggest we need to take a step further.
I did ask Lisa how well she thought our healthcare professionals would be able to pick up those triggers and refer to adequate support. She was very confident, especially in reference to a GP. My personal view is that the right healthcare professional would be able to identify those triggers, so it’s definitely important to shop around and have healthcare professionals on your team that are meeting your needs.
Instead of trying to fix everything, one gem from a panel member was to instead focus on one element that you can fix. When I’m feeling burned out I might turn off my phone for 12 hours, go outside to ease my mind or go to bed early so that I feel more rested. Take small steps.
Another panel member talked about diabetes as extra years thanks to modern medicine, and all of the wonderful things she’s been around to experience.
Without a doubt, this was the highlight of my time at DX2Melbourne, and a topic that really did need to be discussed. The live webcast will be available on demand in a couple of days, once the camera crew (yes, there was a crew filming us) processes it all together. I will keep you posted.
If you’re in Perth and would like to connect with other type 1s and learn more about mental health in a supportive environment, then I highly recommend that you come along to this event on Thursday, August 24.
Disclosures: Abbott covered my travel expenses from Perth to attend #DX2Melbourne. I was put up at The Blackman Hotel on Monday evening, and was fed and watered across the duration of the event. There was a lovely goodie bag with a FreeStyle Libre reader, two sensors and some branded stationery. There was no expectation that I would participate in this webcast if I did not wish to, nor was there any expectation that I would blog about the event at all!