UKC

With such a diverse set of conflicting emotional experiences, climbing caters for a variety of individual preferences, combining physical and emotional exercise with the added bonus of an outdoor environment. Due to its mentally engaging nature, climbing seemed like a unique pursuit to focus on when considering the impact of physical activity on mental health.

Natalie Berry interviews a variety of people affected by different mental health issues. The one thing they each have in common is a love for climbing and the outdoors - as well as a strong appreciation of the benefits it has reaped for their mental wellbeing.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=7264

In reply to UKC Articles:

This is a fantastic article. Thank you.

I was reading an academic paper about 10-15 years ago by a Japanese professor who was claiming that out of all sports, climbing was the most beneficial to good mental health. As I recall, this was due to climbing requiring you to use your body in many of the same ways humans were thousands of years ago (think cave men etc) which stimulated genetic hard wiring and promoted natural movement without internal conflict. Sounded fair enough to me!

Graham

In reply to UKC Articles:

Well done UKC for opening up this subject and beginning the conversation. I would like to ad my personal point of view to this. Ive struggled with depression for years, and yes climbing does help me as its one of the facets of my life that i feel defines who i am. Having seen a family member confront his depression and treat it with regular exercise and the help of antidepressants for a few months. I had a chat with my doctor about the same course of action. All i can say is that it works for me, i take vitamins everyday, brush my teeth every day, have three or more coffees every day and take a small white pill every day. I wish i could climb everyday to, but at this point the balance i have in my life works. Don't be put off finding a balance by the stigma of issues like discussing depression. Greater still the stigma that one should be able to heal oneself with bracing walks and organic porridge and not medication. Climbing has always been an emotional barometer for me - if I'm balanced and relaxed i climb great. if I'm stress/depressed i have no self confidence or self belief and just cant climb. Going climbing doesn't cure my depression but its one of the many ways i keep it in check. 'Sunbathing in the rain' is a great book as is 'The curse of the strong' by Tim Cantopher. Thanks again for a brilliant article.

In reply to hugo glover:


I find it useful to separate performance climbing from fun climbing. If life's getting me down (or I'm simply feeling knackered), I go fun climbing and forget about grades, climbing well, etc. I place no expectations on myself, just enjoy things as much as possible.

Maybe give it a go?

Mick

In reply to UKC Articles:

Thanks Natalie for a really helpful article that avoids simplistic conclusions. And particular thanks to Bethan, Katy, Jake,  Stefan and Hannah for sharing the wisdom of their very human experiences , and to Rebecca for her insight. Jake and the Climb Out community have shown great leadership in promoting these sort of discussions about mental wellbeing and climbing, and it's great to see the BMC taking this forward as a major issue.
For me it's not just one in four. Or them and us. It's all of us. All of have days, weeks or months when fear, or sadness, or alienation, or shame, or anger, or self hatred, or some other mental pain makes it  brutally hard or impossible  to meet the challenges of the day.  Whether those challenges are a big route, a hard lead, a difficult conversation , or going to the shops to buy the milk. I know I do. None of us have full mental fitness every day. The struggle varies, some people have it much, much harder than others, and some are luckier. But we all need help at times, different things help different people, and sometimes climbing and climbers can be that help. 

In reply to UKC Articles:

For me, climbing provides an arena in which I can confront irrational fear and doubt, and also learn to distinguish in the first instance between what is rational or irrational fear and doubt, without the ordinary pressure of the day to day. I sometimes go through periods of extreme anxiety, particularly social anxiety, and sometimes even mild paranoia, but climbing has helped me to learn when such fears are misplaced. It gives me something to compare my experiences with. It also gives me the opportunity to accomplish something even when I'm shaking with fear, and shows me that I can often do something even when I think I cant. Climbing isn't everything, but it provides a valuable metaphor for the psychological battles we go through in our daily lives.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Brilliant article. Well Done.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Great article. Thank you.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Nice article.

I think most of the climbing community is ahead of the majority when it comes to mental health awareness. I know that last time I felt myself falling back towards depression, UKC helped me. Climbing does help because of the total here and now of it.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Climbing has definitely helped give me focus. I've suffered from depression quite badly in the past, including substance abuse and self harm. I took up climbing nearly five years ago when I was still getting through the worst of it. I was in a relationship for about a year with another climber; when we broke up I felt completely lost and worried that my depression might return. But I just used the internet to meet other climbers and climb with new people instead of with her, and it helped me through the break up. Depression is horrible but you find ways of dealing with it. On a good day I'll push myself hard and the buzz of climbing at my limit, even if my limit is someone else's warm up, makes me appreciate how good life can be when I see what I'm capable of.

In reply to UKC Articles:
Hi All,

I wrote this some 3 years ago.....it's crap.....but self-explanatory....it shows that for me mental health and climbing are inextricably linked.....climbing saved my life....


"I suddenly realized I’d been stood stock still for nearly two hours. The digital figures of the central heating timing clock in the kitchen told me that. I was stuck, not knowing what to do next, like being on some desperately difficult rock climb. Only, I’d been stuck for three years. Or rather, I’d been stuck for 30 years, forever perplexed by an apparently impossible series of crux moves on some distant soaring crag.



The word “stuck” is probably wrong actually. It implies being stationary…and I hadn’t been. I’d been going down, sliding down the inside of a black funnel. Stood in the kitchen that day I realised I had reached the funnel neck – you know, that bit where it gets narrow and heads straight down. I wondered, quite dispassionately and with increasing curiosity, what it would be like when I shot down the tube and the light went out….



As I have since realized whilst lost in the kitchen, the last residual vestige of my inner voice spoke. A connection with some apparently unrelated occurrence the previous day, someone from thirty years ago had made an electronic communication. I can’t remember who, probably a friend, once told me that an alcoholic heeds to reach the bottom in order to move forward. I was no alcoholic but I’d hit the bottom. I was dizzy as if I was drunk, but it was accompanied by tears. I needed to ask someone for help. Neurons connected with electronics.



Texts, emails, and finally tearful ‘phone calls opened my ears to myself, to my inner voice. Two ostensibly simple questions opened the floodgates…who was I born to be ?…..what is the life I was born to lead ? Finding the answers within, (now I was listening!), revealed what I had always known but was afraid to admit for thirty years, to either myself or those around me. Massive anger ensued on an unimaginable scale, occupying every conscious moment. How could I have just wasted all that time? What was the point in changing things at nearly fifty years of age, it was too late anyway? Anger, massive anger, directed at everyone and everything, but principally me.



I wake up in the mornings now, three months later, and look forward to every day, glad to be alive….literally. I am being me and gradually, step by step, beginning to live again the life I was born to lead. It’s not been easy, far from it. Deeply upsetting at times, the overwhelming anger was at one time consuming me. I still have the odd bad moment even now, but it is only a moment and they are increasingly few in number. Oh yes, and I’m increasingly happy again after thirty years of, at most, periods of contentment.



So how did I manage to change? How did I manage to get to the great place I am now in? If I were to sum it up in in one word, it would be “belief”. Belief that it’s OK to be me and not what others wanted me to be or what I thought others wanted me to be. Belief that who I was born to be and the life I was born to lead were as valuable as any other life and just as good. Belief that everything would be OK. Belief that I could and should be happy, not for anyone else, but for me.



And where did I find my belief? It was within me, always was. I just needed help (don’t we all?) to crank up the volume on my inner voice to enable me to hear it again. My Guide, (rather like a mountain guide), She has seen me over and through the crux moves on the rock climb. I hear my own inner guide now as I head for the top – I will get there. Belief is everything. And happiness. The journey is worth it – do it…..do it now….."


If it's of any help to others, I'm happy to share.

ANdy

In reply to Mick Ward:

Hi Mick,
As you know mate, the best mountaineers are the ones having the most fun !
Take care,
ANdy

In reply to UKC Articles:

Great article, thank you.

As someone who has suffered from mental health issues (Depression and PTSD post Iraq/Afghanistan service), climbing has helped me immensely.

I used to really miss having an adrenaline rush and a sense of adventure however climbing has provided that to myself and a number of ex forces friends and for that I will always be grateful to it and the people who introduced me to climbing in the first place.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Great article. Very insightful.
Interesting to here the "stats" confirm what I have often thought.

In reply to UKC Articles:

A great article, thank you.

In reply to UKC Articles: fantastic article helping to remove the stigma around mental health I was recently diagnosed with metal health problems.

In the past I have always enjoyed sport but around the age of 18 I just stopped caring and never left the house ( I know know that I had service depression and anxiety) I tried to get back into cycling 5 years ago but realised I had lost all my fitness and could now only managed 3/4 miles a ride compared to the 30/40 miles I used to smash out after scho as a kid. This for me more depressed (I really don't know why but that's how depression works silly little things take you to the brink of Suicide. Any way around this time I opened my self up to my partner of 10 years and a few weeks later during a panic attack brought on during a very very mild domestic I attempted to take my life

Any way back to climbing

I was diagnosed with savvier depression and given medication it was also around this time I finally gave in to my sons 3 years of pestering to go climbing and I joined in with him well any way 2 years on I am having my medication reduced I'm getting fitter and enjoying spending time with my family ( before hand I must admit the depression made me hate everybody)

In short climbing has saved my life thank you for allowing me to be part of your community 😄

In reply to UKC Articles:

Excellent article, thank you very much. One thing that wasn't discussed was the potential of climbing to help those with loved ones who suffer from depression. As someone in this position, I have found climbing fantastic in providing me with friends and space to help cope with the stress of living with a depressed partner.

In reply to Andrew Mallinson:



Not crap at all! Thanks for posting... from someone who's been spending far too much time near the funnel neck recently ;-(

In reply to UKC Articles:

Thank you for sharing this. These conditions affect us all in one way or another, sooner or later. Important to talk about it, and if climbing has a role to play in helping, then even better.