Well written, non-preachy book about mental health. Honest and completely relatable to my anxiety-riddled brain. Full of humour, facts and organisations/charities that can help whatever your situation.

Instead, it felt like a sub-standad 'how to deal with poor mental health' tool kit book but with nothing we haven't heard before. Meditate. Sleep well. Question negative thoughts. You know the jazz. It maybe isn't as ground breaking as her other books but Gordon writes with insight about coping with intrusive thoughts, addiction and how to seek help. She has certainly done her research as she asks top mental health providers how to access the help people need as well as the best way to breathe to calm down. She combines this with her own personal battles and mantras she has used. She always manages to add her unique humour to such a taboo subject. I love how she calls her illness Jareth and liked the way she compares us to boilers and how we all need to keep the auto pilot light on which is our self-esteem. This book won’t be for everybody - I don’t think I would have even liked it at all 18 months ago. But, for people who struggle with depression or anxiety, well, I think you will like it.

PRODUCTS FOR CHANGE

One of the greatest things about all of Bryony’s writing is she is just so damn honest, making her books so relatable to the average reader. She tells her story without any filter, airs or graces. Her support and advice throughout this book makes this so much more than just a “self help” book, it becomes a companion. A comforter. Gray believes that focusing on and celebrating the strengths of neurodivergent people - rather than the challenges - is one of the missing pieces of the puzzle. " The diagnostic criteria for these conditions is based on a deficit model. It looks at what people can’t do – not at what they can. My daughter Inez has the most incredible brain, she sees things in a way most people don’t. But none of her many diagnoses reflects that”. Organisations such as the UK’s National Autistic Society also have guides for employers on making their company more accommodating to people with the condition. This is not just of benefit to individuals – people with autism often have many strengths that would be an asset for companies, if only those strengths were better recognised and allowed to flourish. These may seem like academic disputes. Ultimately, many people with conditions like autism find that the term neurodiversity (and its contrast, neurotypical) is a useful and positive way of self-defining their identity and their community. There’s certainly a need to reduce the stigma. If there is just one book that you read this year about Mental Health, please make it this one! I can not recommend this enough to absolutely everybody...those who live with mental health struggles or for those who just want to educate themselves more about the subject.

Other experts are more positive about the terms. “I think that the term neurotypical is a good one and is an improvement over the term normal,” says Thomas Armstrong, author and executive director of the American Institute of Learning. “It doesn't necessarily define what is ideal, as an abstract concept, but it says this is what's typical.” That makes it preferable to something like “normal”, in his eyes.Mad Girl was full of engaging and sometimes witty extracts about dealing with poor mental health, and made for a relatable read as someone who somerimes suffer with poor mental health. OCD is largely thought of as an aversion to germs and excessive hand washing, but it’s far more complicated than that. Obsessive thoughts can be around almost anything, and the compulsive behaviour that accompanies it can be debilitating for the individual and their whānau. By recognising those biases, we can then change the environment to cater for people’s different needs. Some progress is being made – UK supermarket chain Morrisons have introduced a weekly “quiet hour”, for instance, for autistic shoppers who struggle with music and noise. A number of other big supermarket chains are now trialling similar initiatives.

Mixed feelings about this. Initially I liked it: the almost conversational tone, the references to the early days of the pandemic, but the more I got through it, the actual style of writing became annoying (quotations that desperately wanted to sound profound, bullet point lists so long they lost their impact). As Armstrong argues, we should try to question our assumptions about different behaviours and the value judgements we place on them. He points out that when he is delivering lectures, some people with autism will walk around the room. Clearly, that is not the way that most of the stationary audience are behaving. “But why is it ‘abnormal’ to want to move and learn at the same time?” As Harmer suggests: “I think there's lots of differences between people when it comes to brains and the psychological systems and behaviour that the brain is in charge of. It is like saying what makes a normal face.” but she also gets that insomnia is far more than ‘drinking a cup of cocoa’ (as I have, literally, had friends suggest - although she worded it more along the lines of being awake in the middle of the night, reading articles about insomnia on Google - and how they explicitly instruct NOT to read such articles while suffering insomnia. She questions if the people who wrote these articles ever really struggled with insomnia - which, I think, anybody who has ever really struggled with depression/insomnia has DEFINITELY questioned about ‘professionals’ AND friends, who give well-meaning advice). She understands that ‘meditation/mindfulness’ - though a common suggestion from well-intentioned friends, is useless when you are really struggling. She talks about meditation/mindfulness being great for maintaining well-being... but, really, if you are struggling to live another day, it’s more harm than good. She just gets it. Far more than I do.The method involves a wireless EEG system that measures the electrical activity in the brain. EEG is a harmless and objective method which can provide crucial information on how these amazing brains process reading material. This will enable the development of a strengths-based reading support strategy specific for autistic learners. She emphasises that we still need to understand the causes and consequences of these differences. “I would move away from the judgment of it being normal or abnormal, and think about if there’s an impediment that might be treatable,” she says. Megan’s proudest personal accomplishments are as a wife and mother. Megan, along with her husband Jake, are raising their two sons in Nashville, TN. Jake is a professional musician and when either of them travel, the entire family goes along. Their sons, Bronx and Shai, are always in tow and part of everything they do. People involved in the diagnosis and discussion of these conditions often use the term “neurodiverse” to describe the differences, and “neurotypical” to describe everyone else. But these terms have a long history and their meaning is constantly evolving. Mental illness has led to some of the worst times of my life... but it has also led to some of the most brilliant. Bad things happen, but good things can come from them. And strange as it might sound, my mental health has been vastly improved by being mentally ill.'