Stories of Hope: An Interview with Cara Lisette
This is part of a series featuring individuals who share their life experiences with mental health issues. Recently, I asked blogger and advocate Cara Lisette about her journey. Here’s our interview:
DS: Tell us about when you first started becoming aware of concerns related to your mental health. How did these issues continue to affect you before you sought treatment?
CL: I started struggling with my body image and weighing myself in primary school at around the age of 8 or 9. By the time I was about 12 I started to show symptoms of depression and an eating disorder (ED). I was diagnosed the following year when I starting seeing the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
I think it was very difficult for my parents and my friends because they didn’t know how best to support me. I also went from being a very high-achieving student to becoming disruptive and challenging at school, and my grades suffered as a result.
DS: What was the turning point that led you to decide to seek help?
CL: I think it was my parents who initially started the process when they discovered that I was self-harming and struggling with my eating, but I don’t remember exactly how it all came about.
As an adult there have been several turning points. With regards to my eating, I usually reach a point where I feel like I have completely lost control and it starts impacting other areas of my life and my physical health.
I start to withdraw from social events and find there are lots of anorexic behaviours that are getting in the way of me living my day to day life properly.
With regards to my mood, I find that I am either starting to get very low, unmotivated and isolative, or I am getting irritable, unable to sleep and paranoid.
In all these situations I visit my GP (general practitioner) who then refers me onto either the Eating Disorders Service, the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) or the Crisis Team, depending on which feels appropriate at the time.
DS: What has your treatment consisted of, and what have you found that has worked well for you?
CL: I spent five years being seen weekly by CAMHS in the community. I also had a six-month inpatient admission when I was 15, once it was felt that the risks I was presenting to myself both through self-harm and my eating disorder weren’t able to be safely managed in the community anymore.
I had CBT-E (enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy) for anorexia at the ED Service when I was 21 which I didn’t find helpful, as I didn’t get along with my therapist. Then I had a course of psychodynamic psychotherapy with them when I was 22.
When I was 27, I was referred back to them but was offered a group intervention which I wasn’t able to do. Last year when I was 29, I was referred back again after quite a rapid anorexia relapse.
By this point I wasn’t well enough to go straight into therapy so I spent seven months in a day hospital programme. I’ve been receiving CBT-E again for the last 8 months and have a great relationship with my therapist, so I’ve really benefitted from it this time around.
I was also diagnosed with bipolar disorder when I was 25 and have spent time under the CMHT for a course of integrative therapy and under the Crisis Team when I’ve been manic and needed more emergency support.
I have been taking medication to manage my mental health for around 17 years and have taken a variety of antidepressants and antipsychotics. I currently take a mood stabiliser and an antipsychotic and have been on the same medication for two years now, which has really helped to keep my bipolar symptoms in remission.
DS: How are things going for you now? What challenges are you still facing? What have you learned that has helped you stay positive and healthy?
CL: With regards to my mood, I am quite stable. However I am currently really struggling with my anxiety levels, both in relation to my eating and to the world in general.
I am still receiving treatment from the ED Service but I am due to be discharged early next year. I still find eating and managing the anorexic behaviours very challenging but I am managing to fight them most days.
I have learnt so much about myself in therapy, not just about how to challenge the symptoms I experience but also why I developed them in the first place. I feel like I know myself and my illnesses better than I ever have and I’m very grateful to mental health services for helping me to reach this point.
DS: You’ve been very involved in mental health advocacy. Please tell us a little about your advocacy efforts.
CL: A few years ago I started working for the UK’s leading anti-stigma campaign, by delivering talks across the county to children and the professionals working with them about mental health misconceptions and my own personal story. I also started writing blogs for charities anonymously.
When I became more active on social media I found a whole community of people who were open and honest about their mental health and I felt very passionately about being part of a movement that could challenge stigma and discrimination.
I started sharing parts of my story across X (formerly Twitter) then eventually started my own blog in 2017, where I talk all about mental health, relapse and recovery. I am also now very active on Instagram.
I still do public speaking independently and have been featured in various national news outlets, both in writing and on television, and I enjoy taking part in podcasts.
All my public appearances and articles I have been featured in or commissioned for can be found on my blog, Cara’s Corner.
DS: What would you like to say to encourage others who are still working on their journey of recovery?
CL: To not give up. There are times where things have felt so, so impossible to me and situations I didn’t think I would survive, but I am still here and fighting every day to have a better life for myself.
Recovery is not a straight line and it looks different for everybody, and it’s important not to compare your own journey to other people’s.
I also think, although not impossible, it is much harder to recover alone, so I am a huge advocate for reaching out to others and asking for support.
About Cara
Cara Lisette is a blogger and mental health campaigner from the south of England. She speaks candidly across social media about her experiences of mental illness and the ups and downs that come with it, and hopes that by doing this she can encourage others to reach out and get the support they need. She is active across X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and her own blog, and has an Etsy store with products designed to help people struggling with their mental health.
Thanks so much to Cara for sharing her inspiring story of hope!
Would you like to share your story of hope? I plan to feature more personal accounts like this from time to time on my blog. If you are interested in sharing your story, please notify me via my contact page. Also, please subscribe to my blog and feel free to follow me on X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram, “like” my Facebook page, or connect on LinkedIn. Finally, if you enjoyed this post, please share it with a friend. Thanks!