Gillian Bridge is a lecturer, researcher, therapist and brain expert. Northern born, Southern bred: cross referencing of influences and ideas comes naturally to her. Language is her medium, neuroscience her fascination, and she longs to understand what makes us humans human. She is a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. From left-handed relatives to prisoner clients, no one escapes her fascinated delight in difference.
Sweet Distress grapples with one of the central questions of our
age: when our lives are materially more comfortable than ever, why
are we suffering an epidemic of mental ill health? In a quirky,
accessible and occasionally grating style, Gillian Bridge attacks
this issue with no holds barred. We are living in a time of extreme
narcissism, she argues, railing against our self-obsession,
self-indulgence and the agreat big emotional wankfest' of recent
decades. Her provocative suggestion is that our growing obsession
with mental health issues may not actually be helping us get
better. In fact, this tidal wave of self-pity may actually be
making the situation worse. Bridge's solution? Resilience.
Developing the inner fortitude to absorb life's travails, but also
being able to look beyond the self: strength through empathy. This
book provides a practical and uncompromising assessment of the
state we're in and how we might find our way to a tougher and less
anguished place. I didn't always agree with Bridge, but given our
ongoing epidemic of depression and anxiety, her ideas certainly
merit consideration.Josh Glancy, The Sunday Times
Sweet Distress sets out to give us a roadmap for improving the
mental health of our children a and leaves us wishing we'd read it
before we gave birth or started teaching. A bit like my first
reading of Carol Dweck's work, it leaves me wondering: is it too
late to apply the book's message with a 14- or 16-year-old? Or has
the damage already been done? Having set aside this negative and
gloomy response, there is much to commend in Gillian Bridge's work.
It helps that I had already read her previous book, The
Significance Delusion, which is longer and more research-based and
to which she makes frequent reference. Sweet Distress is lighter
and rather an easier read: short, to the point and entertaining
despite its serious subject matter. Ending each topic-focused
chapter with a section on awhat to do next' makes it a great
self-help book, although it isn't ourselves that we are being
exhorted to help, but rather the young who are in our care, whether
we are parents or teachers. Much of the advice makes a lot of
sense, and I find it hard to disagree with Bridge's key thesis: we
have bred a generation of navel-gazers who believe the world
revolves around them because their parents, carers and teachers
have, on the whole, led them to believe this. References to
peer-reviewed and reputable research findings underpin our faith in
what Bridge is saying. As adults, if we model desired behaviour
with calm and balanced responses to our own problems, young people
will understand how not to overreact. Bridge addresses something I
have spoken about in several assemblies in recent years: the
pressure in Western societies to feel happy is itself making us
less happy. And helpfully she gives examples of ways in which we
can reduce the stress involved in trying to be happy! Perhaps aa
sense of perspective' is the strongest message I take from the
book, because it is a message that I repeat regularly to parents,
students and teachers alike. Not all sadness is mental illness;
most of it is the normal swings of hormones or a completely natural
response to a genuinely sad situation. Most of it does not need the
intervention of professionals, just the common-sense support of
parents and teachers. Encouraging a distracting activity instead of
indulging in a long conversation about how they are feeling, is
usually a better response for anyone, not just for children. You
could be forgiven for thinking there's nothing new here. Maybe
there isn't, but how many of us really believe the messages?
Gillian presents them in a way which is persuasive and compelling
and I hope this gives them more traction. We certainly need
something to turn the tide on mental health messaging. The book is
funny and witty (and even uses rude words!), so it is easy to pick
up and follow. The best compliment I can pay Gillian is that, while
reading it, I wanted to write in the margins, make notes to myself
and stick them up around my office so that I can remember to do
that thing the next time I'm in front of a class or giving an
assembly.Heather Hanbury, Head Mistress, Lady Eleanor Holles
School
I love this book. The honesty and transparency with which Gillian
approaches the topic of mental health is very refreshing. It's well
backed up by research, and her narrative about using amental
capital' to explore and make meaning is very poignant. I have
thoroughly enjoyed reading Sweet Distress. aGilda Scarfe, CEO and
founder, Positive-Ed
Writing in her hard-hitting, witty and conversational style,
Gillian Bridge says it like it is in Sweet Distress a making it
very clear that society's overemphasis on mental health is bad for
us on so many levels. Controversial, but true. She makes a very
strong case for the need for us to build personal resilience,
explaining how this is the ultimate antidote to mental ill health
and to the culture of us being encouraged to talk about our
emotional suffering far too often. We are also given brilliant
examples of those who exhibit true grit and who have the ability to
roll with life's punches a a thing which Bridge believes we should
all be able to do. She tears ferociously into the media, which has
fuelled the current mental health frenzy, as well as the
celebrities and universities, who she claims have been doing the
same lamentable thing. She takes no prisoners. An outspoken critic
of asafe spaces' and atrigger warnings', the author is an advocate
of challenging experiences and of us moving out of our comfort
zones. To sum it up, Bridge would rather we tell our child that
aGrandma is dead' than ashe has gone on holiday'. She does not
mince her words, and backs up her opinions with references to
scientific research to pre-empt the naysayers who will inevitably
hate this excellent, much-needed book. And when it comes to our
current obsession with anxiety, which Bridge explores extensively,
she is refreshingly scathing about the whole business. Instead of
dwelling on our mental ill health, she wants us to be mentally and
physically strong. Sweet Distress shows us how to achieve that end.
Importantly, the author doesn't simply criticise the current
culture around mental health and how we make it worse by focusing
on it a she also provides us with practical, evidence-based
solutions to help us pursue a happier, healthier life. This
enjoyable, pacey masterpiece needs to be read by everyone, and we
must all act upon its wisdom.Mike Fairclough, Head Teacher, West
Rise Junior School, and author of Playing with Fire: Embracing risk
and danger in schools
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