finding common ground

The other day I experienced what I think of as ‘a wobble’ – that is, a tide of nerves and trepidation which coalesces into a minor hum of low-grade anxiety. Thankfully a night’s sleep put this to rest. I know that many people experience anxiety as a constant layer of their mental and emotional lives, to the point that it interferes with their daily wellbeing.

One can question whether or not anxiety is a classifiable disorder, and could argue that it is an unsurprising response to a stressful and threatening world. Whatever it is, it can be overwhelming, disabling and misery-inducing. Even mild anxiety feels incredibly uncomfortable.

This particular wobble arose because I witnessed a conflict in a group to which I belong. I won’t go into detail; suffice to say that the group was splintered by the unwillingness of one person to compromise. I then made the mistake of looking at the news headlines. Oh boy. Our society is blemished by an inordinate amount of conflict, discord and intractable polarisation. What did I expect by turning my attention to this? Wobble, wobble, wobble.

So I look with relief to an upcoming event: the ISPSUK annual conference, whose theme this year is Beyond Them and Us: Finding Common Ground. I am a trustee of ISPSUK (which stands for International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis) and I will be speaking at this conference which takes place on Wednesday 14th May, in Manchester.

One of the strengths of ISPSUK is its diverse membership, made up of the various stakeholders where psychosis is concerned: people with lived experience, their family and friends, and workers in the mental health system. These three groups bring very different perspectives to the table, which sometimes leads to conflicting views and adversarial positions.

In this event we will explore ways that we might reach across these divides, and find our common purpose. It is a worthy aspiration, one which steadies my wobbles and gives me hope. Please do consider joining us at the conference in May: details and registration here.

photo by Lina Trochez on Unsplash