Webchat with Ruby Wax, Wednesday 6 January, 9-10pm

[RachelMumsnet]

Ruby Wax will be joining us on Wednesday 6 January between 9 and 10pm for a webchat.

She last joined us back in 2011 when she chatted about her experience with mental illness and her show theatre show 'Losing It'. Since then she's written two books; In Sane New World she popularised the idea of mindfulness as a means to finding calm. Her latest book Frazzled (published this week) Ruby takes us on the next step by providing a comprehensive guide to the technique of mindfulness. With specific advice for relationships, for parents, for children and teenagers, and a six week course based on her studies of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy with Mark Williams at Oxford University.

Ruby will be online to answer your questions and hopefully offer up some tips to help us become less frazzled in 2016. Join us on Wednesday at 9pm or post up your Qs for Ruby here in advance.

Ruby, I read that you want to see walk-in centres for people suffering from stress and anxiety.

It's a fantastic idea - who is going to fund it?

Ruby- i love you and wish there were more like you helping mental health

Hi Ruby, do you have any advice on how to use mindfulness to help with parenting? I find I am very anxious about my son & keeping him safe - I want to protect him & worry about something happening to him which can feel overwhelming. Thanks

Hello Ruby. My question is, what makes you happy? I know the question is not focused specifically on mindfulness but it is only the small things for me. It's always lovely to hear what small things make people happy, it gives me new ideas of things to look out for and take the time to appreciate. Thanks :)

Hi Ruby,

I loved your book 'Sane new world' as an introduction to mindfulness. It gave me hope during a pretty bleak time in my life that I might be able to change the way I think. I have never managed to master it though! My mind wanders constantly.

My question is, do you think that some people are just unsuited to mindfulness? Do you think it's possible to master mindfulness on your own or do you think going on the 8 week course is important?

My real problem is anxiety, esp health anxiety. Even though I'm in an ok mindset at the minute-with the help of medication- I feel like it would never take much to set me off down that path again. I'd love to think that mindfulness could help me take control.

Sorry for the waffling!

Hi Ruby, simple question from me..... does mindfulness actually make a difference or is it just another thing to try to learn and fit in, when your head seems full of stuff anyway?

I've had umpteen people tell me I should learn mindfulness but if I don't really believe in it is it worth trying?

Thanks Ruby x

Hi Ruby

I have been a fan of yours since the 80's. I love how open and honest you have been wrt mental health conditions. I have ocd depression and other DX but wasn't diagnosed. Until my 30's however in hindsight I think I have probably been anxious and depressed since my teens. My daughter is unfortunately showing similar signs and I am trying to persuade her to see the Dr but she is afraid of the stigma, people knowing especially at school. Have you any advice? Do you think contrary to popular opinion (in the media at least) that mh is over diagnosed its actually under diagnosed/diagnosed late?

Looking forward to the webchat.

Hi,

I've read what you've written about walk-in centres for mental health and wondered what you thought of the Safe Haven cafés which are being partially funded by an NHS trust covering Surrey and parts of Hampshire? There have been a couple of news articles about them and the one in Aldershot has been very successful according to the figures. (Links in next post.)

Guardian article

BBC video

(There's also a picture of you with a quote about mental health stuck in the front window of the Aldershot centre )

Firstly Ruby, I have loved you since Girls on Top which shaped my sense of humour from a young age for sure! I also read Sane New World in a day and found the illustrations really useful with trying to understand the way our minds work.

I suffer from anxiety and am very familiar with mindfulness techniques. However, I have recently spent time with my partners family over Xmas and New Years Eve, and experienced two episodes of auditory hallucinations where I was convinced sisters and brother in laws were talking about me "why is she here? she doesn't love him, she is stupid" etc etc.

I have attempted to try and justify why these people would talk about me in this manner, so openly when it is obvious I would overhear. But as much as I try, I do believe it happened, twice.

My question is - is hearing conversations a symptom of anxiety and should I just let it go? If I were to confront one of the family, and it is not true, I would come across as paranoid, which would then give them something to really talk about.

I am 43 soon and really want this year to be the one where I don't worry about what others think of me and to try and get a grip on my anxiety once and for all.

Thank you Ruby for taking the time to read this, and I wish you well.

Hi I have an austitic child who can be very negative , he tires hard and puts a lot of effort into everything he does but never seems to repe the rewards for all his efforts . When he attends meeting in school , he tends to hear and focus on the negative , he has to attend these due to his age and discussing his future , he has also been badly bullied and even assaulted in the past .
How do I get him to become more positive and leave the bad stuff in the past and move forward . He also suffers from anxiety and has been seen by Camhs ( who where unless) and private physiologist ( didn't know if making any difference) and he refused to go back after a break .

Will we be able to access the webinar afterwards? It's very late!!!

Hi,

I try to practice mindfulness, but need to make more time for it. I hear that there are lots of benefits for children to also practice mindfulness, but I have a 7 year old with ASD and a 3 year old with a global developmental delay, neither of whom have particularly long attention spans.

What should my aims be with introducing my children to mindfulness? I also have ASD and BPD, so struggle to "go with the flow" and my emotions are all over the place; I've therefore been to scared to try it with them.

Good morning Ruby,
Do you find fellow celebrities are sympathetic to you & your past problems ? Have you felt apart from their ways of life? Do you prefer mixing with every day folk ?
Thank you for giving your time to MN & helping others.

Hi Ruby, I watched your Dutch college talk on YouTube and I was as mesmerised as you were by the guy who read his question as a poem. The one about death? He was clearly the most beautiful and fragile soul and I'd love to know if you did indeed meet him after the show and if you're friends.
Basically, what happened to him I can't stop thinking about him!

Here's the poem:

How do you want to be remembered?
When finally your soul is tempered
When rest and peace fall onto thee
Then what will be or not to be
When there's nothing left to see
And we cry rivers into seas
Coz the mists of Autumn trees and humming summer bees
Your spirit lifts so magically
Salt of earth be born in thee
But if death takes you ruthlessly
And your soul is finally tempered
How do you want to be remembered?

Anyway, I think you're brilliant. Thank you for being so genuine and fearless. I'm coming to see you in Worthing in April I can't wait!
Emma xx

Have I missed Ruby ? School run over, & I can not find her answers.

@flatbellyfella

Have I missed Ruby ? School run over, & I can not find her answers.

Hi there, the webchat is this evening at 9pm! Hope to see you there.

@Reiltin

Will we be able to access the webinar afterwards? It's very late!!!

Yes - the answers will remain on the site and we will also summarise the webchat so you can see the questions and answers together. This will be accessible from tomorrow morning. We tend to run evening webchats from 9pm as this seems to work if you have to get the kids to bed. Do feel free to post a question in advance if you can't make it at that time though.

Hi all! Just to let you know, we're giving away 10 free copies of Ruby Wax's guide to mindfulness, Frazzled here to coincide with this webchat.

See you all later!

thanks just filled out the form, fingers crossed, I'd love that book. I seen Ruby on loose woman, she was great.

Hi Ruby

I greatly enjoyed Sane New World which I read with my book club a year or so ago. It prompted me to buy a more detailed guide to practicing mindfulness - which has unfortunately sat beside my bed ever since then. I never seem to get beyond halfway through, and can't actually find the time to do the exercises.

What does your new book do that is different? And as an insomniac menopausal woman how can it help me? Or would HRT be better instead!?

Thank you.

Humour, is it a way of masking depression? Likewise can my boys ASD (ADHD +) mask their possibly comorbid mental health issues? We only recently suspected one may be having struggling with Anxiety. Could mindfulness prevent their potential mental health issues starting?

rainbowsaretoobeautiful.blogspot.com/2015/11/disasterous-at-decision-making.html

Newly to all of this after progressively struggling more with anxiety I was taken to hospital at the weekend with a panic attack, along with the breathing exercises I have been told to identify my triggers to then be able to deal with them better, how do you identify a trigger when there seems no rhyme or reason to when the attacks occur? Interested to purchase a copy this is all very new and frightening to me right now..

How best to introduce teenagers to mindfulness?
They both (age 19 and 17) said that their is the generation of big worriers.
They worry much more than I ever did as a teenager.
How to help them?