Distraction Therapy

Distraction Therapy was first mentioned to me by an Occupational Therapist after my surgery but when I asked her for ideas (expecting her to have loads up her trained professional and experienced sleeve) she basically shrugged at me and googled ‘meditation’

So it is worth sharing snippets and suggestions amongst ourselves, methinks.

I find that sometimes, especially during a flare up of my FM, when the pain pills aren’t quite enough, sleep isn’t happening, and I am either too ‘foggy’ or bored or just plain restless for other things to occupy me – there is something I sometimes turn to as a distraction.

I have actually ummed and ahh’d a bit over posting about this, because I imagine there are people out there who might find this amusing, silly perhaps. But I saw another post about it the other week and decided Stuff it!! I will write about it.

Well over a year ago now, when I was hunting in a shop for items to do with this, the shop assistant I asked for help from admitted she does this too as a way to wind down before sleep 😀

I used to use this with my 16-21 yr old learners who had ADHD as a way to calm them and as a break from “learning”, and it worked like a charm. Peace and tranquility would descend in the previously noisy room; they would become absolutely focussed on what they were doing, even the lads, and there would only be an occasional quiet exchange of words and smiles.

So, what am I talking about? You might have guessed from the photo that WP sticks at the top of the post in the Reader. But if not, I am talking about colouring. Yep, with pencils, crayons or in my case Spectrum Noir craft pens and Promarkers, and one of the many colouring books or ‘doodle design’ books around, you can successfully lose yourself for however long you want or need.

There is a definite calming effect, so it’s helpful when you are tense, and it is a brilliant distraction from pain. And if, like me, you can’t draw for toffee, it still allows you to be creative with pen and paper in a way that is otherwise just not possible. (I am rubbish at things like card making – put a combination of paper and glue in my hands and I produce something worthy of a toddler :p )

The pic below is the result of one of my distraction sessions taken from a book designed especially for adults.

I used the set of Promarkers I got for Xmas to do this one

The only drawback is that you need to place a piece of card behind the page you are working on, otherwise the pens leak through, and you can’t use both sides, despite there being designs on every page. But many of the designs are repeated.

I think the book was about £4.00. You can also find ones that are made to look like stained glass windows, with black outlining around transparent paper that you colour onto.

From the same book

See – it even says for Grown-ups on the front LOL