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- This Week in Mentalists (60)
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- The 1st Annual This Week in Mentalists Blog Awards
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Well, when I say “Actual Proper Award Ceremony”, I mean “a blog post”. And when I say “Actual Proper Awards” I mean kudos and praise from me. I suppose I could put something together with papier mache and spit if you lot really want me to.
So, anyway, as a result of all the TWIM posts I’ve been doing over the past year, here is my little awards post of the blogs that have impressed me the most in 2008.
Leonard Cohen Award for Best Mood Disorder Blog
By some distance the runaway winner in this category is Mentally Interesting: The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive. Both opinionated and deeply human, Seaneen has fast been setting the gold standard for mental health user blogging. She’s also recently done a sterling job of ripping a New Age quack to shreds. It’s my experience that if you get told by a 4′11″ pink-haired Irish girl, you stay told. Her demolition of Christina Sponias is an excellent case in point.
Runners Up: Aethelread the Unread, Serotonin Sister
Gillian McKeith Award for Best Eating Disorder Blog
Marine Snow continues to blog about the fine art of eating sugar-free jelly with chopsticks. We at Mental Nurse wish her well in the coming year, and the hope that the jelly may eventually come to contain sugar.
Runner up: Crazy Nurse
Leonard Nimoy Award for Best Autistic Spectrum Disorder Blog
Life With Aspergers is one of the most informative blogs I’ve ever come across, packed with detail about the intricacies of what it’s like to have Aspergers Syndrome.
Runner up: The New Republic
The Gerard Way Award for Best Adolescent User Blog
Here’s a question: if kids these days are a bunch of Hollyoaks-obsessed illiterates, why is this the strongest field out of all the awards? After much reflection, I’m forced to make this a tie between Teenage Misanthropy and Writing in the Margins of My Mind.
Runner up: Coloured Mind and Scattered Thoughts, who narrowly avoids making this a three-way tie for winner due to (a) going on hiatus and (b) graduating from CAMHS to the grown-up world of the CMHT.
The Tony Montana Award for Best Personality Disorder Blog
Life From the Sofa wins this for her irreverent, quirky blog. I’ve still got her Christmas carol stuck in my head.
The Nurse Ratched Award for Best Mental Health Professional Blog
Social worker Fighting Monsters writes some of the most thoroughly-researched posts I’ve seen on a blog.
Runners up: The Cockroach Catcher, Useless CPN
Honourable mention: Crazy Nurse, who is not actually a mental health professional, but whose blog is worth reading as it demonstrates that people who work in healthcare are not immune from mental health problems.
The Mary Seacole (who was a much better nurse than Florence Nightingale) Award for Best Carer Blog
Occasional Mental Nurse commenter The Wife of a Schizophrenic wins this. Reading her blog, not only is the quality of her writing impressive, but it really does come across how much she loves her husband.
Runner up: Schizophrenia – A Carer’s Journal documents the frustrations of having a son in long-term psychiatric care. I haven’t given this blog nearly as much exposure in This Week in Mentalists as the quality of writing deserves. I may have to remedy that in 2009.
The Richey Edwards Award for Most Sadly Missed Blog
Back in October The Shrink aka Lake Cocytus announced he was going on hiatus, as he felt that he had come across as a bit tactless and confrontational in some of the comment threads. An offence which, given some of the “vigorous discussions” that have taken place on Mental Nurse this year, could be considered roughly akin to standing in a methane factory apologising for farting. We hope that he returns soon.
Runner up: Coloured Mind and Scattered Thoughts, who went on hiatus just before Christmas.
The Max Gogarty Award for Worst Blog
By a considerable margin, this award goes to psychologist Christina Sponias’ Stop Cutting Today blog. Advice like “Start considering all sharp objects that can injure your body, like knives, as very dangerous objects that can kill you, and as objects that you must be afraid of. Stop trying to justify cutting as if it was a “form of expression” and feel terrified when you see sharp objects that can hurt your adored body and provoke pain”may not help anyone to stop harming themselves, but certainly gave me an uncontrollable urge to harm somebody else.
So, that’s what I’ve been reading in 2008. I’m looking forward to reading more excellent blog posts in 2009.
w00t, runner up! Can I make a apeech?
I’d just like to take this opportunity to, blub blub, thank all my readers and, more blub blub, …
Oh sod it, Cheers Z!
Thanks. It is only my first year blogging; and RUNNERS UP, WOW!!!
The Cockroach Catcher
This, *sniffle* is a victory for African-American women all over the United States! *cry*
Seriously, though, thanks. I’m definitely going to enjoy reading that Stop Cutting Today blog, too, I hadn’t been aware of it before.
Wow, people are surprisingly excited by the concept of being a runner up.
We’re easily pleased
I concur.
And just add a comment to second your idea to mention A Carer’s Journal a lot more.
TBH I have intermittently read that blog thru the year – but I always read from where I left off last. It is sad in many parts – but it is insightful.
It’s hard not to read it and feel like slapping the various health care staff involved – but on reflection – it does make me wonder how many times perhaps relatives left the ward I worked on feeling just that way about their loved ones.
Were I in teaching I would make it compulsory reading for my students.
Wow runner up !! I am most humbled & very easily pleased ! I ‘d like to thank my Shrink ……… my ASW ……Sertraline…….Diazepam……………!!!!
Thanks for mentionong me. Runner up twice, that makes me very happy. And I agree with you about mentioning A Carers journal more, when I found that blog, I stayed up all night to try and read all the archives, however it took me the best part of a week its been going so long. Its just such compulsive reading. Hannah X
Ooo! I say, runner up in a mentalists’ competition…
The New Republic was started at a time when I really didn’t expect to make it (if you get my drift). I wanted some sort of record, implausible as may have seemed, of what had been going on. For reasons that I won’t go into but are not difficult to fathom, the New Republic has taken a different path, and the cast of grotesques that populated it, consigned to the blogging dustbin, where they are slowly and painfully suffocating. Morituri te salutant… (one item below is entirely fictional and one partly so…clue, he didn’t actually have a gun, and Nurse Lurch is capable of (limited) speech)
“I will not tolerate this continual public humiliation”
Dr Valkyrie Gorgeous, Consultant Psychiatrist
“The is no substance to the allegation that my professional practice was informed solely by a frustrated desire for Mr Socrates to take me roughly over the table whilst telling me I’m a bad, bad girl. Furthermore, I have certainly never presented without the firmest control and significant and effective padding”
Miss Shazza Che-Venn, Social Worker
“Grrrrr!”
Ludmilla Lurch RMN
“I’m afraid we are unable to attend. Clean up your own mess”
Cambridgeshire Constabulary
“Section 4 should not be used because your doctor is hiding in the cupboard and refusing to come out”
MHAC
“… and was apparently wilful malevolence…”
An independent assessment of Mr Socrates’ treatment
“Tell us how much and we’ll send you a cheque”
The Legal Aid Board
“Oh Christ! If this gets to court, we’re stuffed.”
NHSLA
“…and while it would be inappropriate for me to comment on the substance of the letter, one does wonder why Mr Socrates felt the need to write to each and every academic holding position at the Trust…”
Professor Simply Double-Barrelled.
“My name is Dr Julio Julio-Julio-Beva – I am a Doctor”
Dr Julio Julio-Julio-Beva, a Doctor
“This is the most powerful handgun in the world. Put down the axe Mr Socrates, and we’ll talk like civilised people”
Dr Whatever Karma
“Look, it’s not a matter for debate. Delete the whole thing now, and I’ll draft an apology to the Court for you to sign”
Dr Tarquin Really-Posh QC
“It’s a two bed-roomed, semi-detached bungalow, in a rural location, backing onto open farmland, ten minutes from a 24hour Tesco Hyperstore, and 20 minutes from Old Posh, where you will find a sufficiency of Intellectual Bunniekinses, to satisfy even your clearly well developed proclivities and of course, £6000 per annum for life, to pay for posh private nursey to come give you soapy rub-downs, twice a week”
Council for the Trust.
“All’s well that end’s well”
George Normal, Nurse Consultant.
Wow.. thanks a lot for the mention. I’m really chuffed to have been recognised alongside such great blogs that I really admire!
No award for best blog overall? No nifty badges for the winning blogs to display. With extra special badges for the runners up
Excellent round up of a brilliant series Z.
Awwww thanks for the award, that made my day. I’d like to thank my Mother, My father, and my eating disorder for helping me to achieve such high levels of dysfunctional thinking. Without such thinking my blog would be non-existent, and this award would not be relevant. Sadly my ED cannot be present tonight to join the celebrations, but I will raise a glass of wine to you all. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone.
Lola x
Aha Z mentioned Leonard Cohen so this gives me an excuse to indulge my fandom.
Here’s what Leonard Cohen had to say at both legs of his tour at the O2 this year:
‘It’s been 15 years since I stood up on a stage, Fourteen, 15 years ago when I was 60 – just a young kid with a crazy dream – then I took a lot of Prozac…. Zoloft… wellbutrin… ritalin.. effexor…I studied all the religions of the world too… but somehow, cheerfulness just kept breaking through”.
Congrats to all award winners, and I’ll leave you with more Leonard Cohen:
‘Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in’
- Anthem
Thank you very much! I’m humbled, honoured and horny.
And hurrah for all the blogs and in general the wonderfully diverse mentalist blogsophere!
Second only to Lola, I’m honoured. Perhaps I’ll publish all those posts I have been hiding
Thanks for the mention.
I’d like to say something witty or profound here, but I can’t think of anything.
And thus we have a perfect demonstration of why my blog was only a runner-up… ;o)
I mentioned to Gavin (Life With Asperger’s) that he’d won a prestigious award but he hasn’t shown up to collect it. Perhaps we should all go over there to hand deliver it…
yay i won an award! (i’m life from the sofa. so special i seem to have two user names for some reason). Don’t tell those bastards at the DWP that I have a skill or they’ll reduce my dla.
Award Logos
Hopefully embedded here. If not go here and download them. There is a gold and a silver. When I say silver I mean sort of blacky grey. One for winners and runners up if you like. Images slightly too large to be used as is you will need to scale them down to whatever works for your site.
There doesn’t appear to be ones for runners up
Oh, sorry, it’s late.
Silver, I get it honest.
A link back to use would be nice, but I think everyone already links to us any, maybe a link to the specific post. Almost every links to us anyway apart from the proper mental health nursing site, look! no link.
Their site design looks like my Aunt made it in frontpage.
But you’re not at all bitter.
It makes me all bitter and twisted. Until I do a basic site comparison with some of the free services. Then I laugh at their puny page rank, their tiny inbound links and their frontpage design.
Mwa ha ha!
Not that I am taking it too seriously you understand.
Not at all.
[...] 31, 2008 by Pole to Polar: The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive Hello! Firstly, thank you to Mental Nurse for giving me the “Best Mood Disorder Blog” award! I am honoured, humble and horny. So [...]
*gasp* Oh, thank you so much for the award! Wow, how unexpected was that? Definitely the best gift I have received over the last week or two! I’m just sorry I didn’t stop by to collect it earlier.
Thank you again. Badge with link to be added very soon!
I’ll definitely make an attempt to add a badge tomorrow (and a link to this post!). My brain has been overly squidgy the past week and I’ve been attempting to take a break!
[...] on January 3, 2009 by cb Much thanks to Mental Nurse who have recognised this blog in their ‘TWIM (This Week in Mentalists)’ Annual Awards! (in the Professional [...]
Nurse Blog Of The Year
http://thejobbingdoctor.blogsp.....-2008.html
From a doctor!