BUDGET BLOGMAS | DAY FOUR: TEN CHRISTMASSY DRINKS | IN COLLABORATION WITH PRETTY PERFECT PRODUCTS

Hello and welcome to I’m NOT Disordered’s Budget Blogmas!

So, I’ve been working on Blogmas since July, but I’ve put a lot of thought into just how socially acceptable it is to be so festive this early in December. And with Christmas parties/gatherings no doubt coming up, I thought that I’d do a post on Christmassy drinks that are perfect for a whole range of budgets…

Christmas Pudding Vodka: cinnamon, mixed spice, lemon, orange, currants, sugar, and vodka

MENTAL HEALTH & ALCOHOL | IN COLLABORATION WITH TIGER GIN | AD

*this post contains gifted products: Ruby Tiger Gin and Tiger Gin*

This, for me, is quite an exciting little collaboration because it’s a bit different to anything I’ve worked on before; but you know me – always pushing the boundaries of creativity in my blog posts…

When Tiger Gin contacted me on Twitter, I pretty much knew straight away how our collaboration would work; in terms of knowing what I’d like from them, and having an idea in mind as to how I would make the collaboration relevant to I’m NOT Disordered. And in all honesty, I’m actually surprised with myself that this is a topic I’ve never really touched on before in blog posts because it’s something that has been very relevant to my life and my mental health in particular...

BEHIND THE SCENES: CHRISTMAS ON A PSYCHIATRIC WARD

Even with the startling statistic that one in four people in the UK will experience mental ill health at some point in their lives, the chance that someone will be in a psychiatric hospital at Christmas, is minimal and I’d like to think that my blog is largely about providing insight into aspects of mental health that lots of people might not really comprehend. I hope that in doing so, it will help people to be a lot more understanding for those of us who do have these experiences. So, I thought it might be interesting to give readers an insight into what it’s actually like to spend Christmastime in a psychiatric hospital…

For new readers and to give a bit of background… 


Two years after being abused from 2006 until 2007, I began hallucinating and within ten days I became suicidal and took an overdose. I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act and spent the following three years in and out of hospitals – both medical and psychiatric. Finally, a Psychiatrist recommended that I be admitted to a long-term, specialist hospital and I began undergoing assessments with some such hospitals. The first two hospitals weren’t secure and wouldn’t accept my flight risk but when I heard that the third operated on timetabled day with intensive therapy, I refused to go. Then, in July 2012, I attempted suicide again and refused to have the lifesaving antidote to the overdose I’d taken so I was detained under the Mental Capacity Act and sedated to be put on life support for the duration of the treatment. When I woke up, the first thing I was told was that I’d be going to the psychiatric hospital I’d refused to go to, over 100 miles from home.

When I was sectioned under the Mental Health Act (1983) within twenty-four hours of being in the hospital, I realized that there was little chance of me being discharged before Christmas. Then, in November 2012, when I was recovering from an overdose I’d taken after going AWOL, I realized that there was equally as little chance of me managing to kill myself before Christmas too. So, I began preparing for my first Christmas away from home.