ABSTRACT

Meeting Mental Breakdown Mindfully introduces the Comprehend, Cope and Connect (CCC) approach, developed and evaluated within mental health services, to a wider audience who need to understand mental health issues, whether for themselves or to support others.

The book deconstructs and normalizes mental breakdown, starting from the individual’s inner experience, leading to practical ways of helping people out of distress and impaired functioning, towards the realization of their whole potential. It is based on an understanding of connections in the brain founded in cognitive science, which explains how human functioning can easily go astray. CCC provides a compelling rationale for putting mindfulness at the heart of the solution, along with other ways of coping with emotions and changing behaviour. The approach is brought to life through three illustrative case histories, giving a representative and realistic insight into both the experience of the individual and the workings of the system.

Meeting Mental Breakdown Mindfully will help mental health professionals and those in related fields identify more accurately what people in their organization or under their care are going through.

section I|40 pages

Foundations

chapter 3|8 pages

Turning therapy inside out

chapter 4|8 pages

Falling between the cracks

Self, relationship, spirituality and mental health

chapter 5|7 pages

Trauma and mental breakdown

section II|35 pages

Opportunity, emotions and the elusive self

chapter 6|8 pages

Emotion as problem, emotion as solution

chapter 7|7 pages

The elusive self

Compassion and potential

chapter 8|9 pages

Beyond consensual reality

chapter 9|9 pages

Reconfiguring mental health

section III|32 pages

How to help: Comprehend and Cope

chapter 11|9 pages

Comprehend

Introducing the spiky diagram

chapter 12|7 pages

Coping skills

The basics

chapter 13|7 pages

Harnessing motivation and a new role for emotions

From problem to solution

section IV|32 pages

Forging new relationships: Connect

chapter 14|6 pages

Healing the relationship with the self

chapter 15|8 pages

Relationships with other people

Unravelling the tangles

chapter 17|9 pages

Beyond the self, beyond the consensus

section V|23 pages

Wrapping up and wider horizons

chapter 18|8 pages

The end is the beginning

Therapy as toolkit

chapter 19|9 pages

CCC in the wider world

chapter 20|4 pages

Conclusion and further implications