Quick summary: Cassandra Brandt sustained a complete spinal cord injury at 32 and has spent the years since building a deliberate, tool-based practice to protect her mental health. She outlines six approaches, including stopping catastrophic thinking, breathwork, grounding meditation, and self-compassion, that she has used to manage depression and anxiety as a quadriplegic. Her account makes clear that psychological resilience under severe physical constraint is not a passive state but an active and daily effort.
I say it all the time: When your body doesn’t work you just want your mind to step up. I sustained a complete spinal cord injury at the age of 32. I have come a long way in the last decade but the last year has been particularly hard. When you’re trapped in your body, trapped in your room, in
your bed, for months on end because you’re a quadriplegic with all this health stuff going on, depression and anxiety seem inevitable.
Working hard on my brain to avoid these states had to become a consistent effort. I had to listen to my therapists and try out the tools they gave me even if they didn’t work at first. Being intentional about my mental health paid off. It pays off every day.
1. Stop the spiral
Catastrophising happens when we let our minds take us on a journey to the worst case scenarios. We suffer far more than is necessary by dreading potential catastrophes. I stop and ask myself how valid my worries really are. Even if they are legitimate, it is important to avoid stress about issues that are outside my control. It’s a conscious effort of choosing another thought.
2. Visualise peace
My neuropsychologist and I discuss mirror neurons and how to use them. I close my eyes and visualise. I take myself to the places that bring me peace. The Redwood Forest. The sea. I conjure the presence of my power animal. She’s a bright and sparkling pink cheetah. Don’t judge me; she’s fierce but soft when needed. I climb onto her back and we prance into the void. I pile her muscular back with my worries and she doesn’t flinch as she takes them off mine when the load is too heavy to carry.
3. Give yourself grace
I’ve always had this neurotic guilt left over from my authoritarian religious upbringing. It manifests like relentless perfectionism. Since my injury, the limitations and the suffering I experience often leave me irritable. After lashing out at others I really beat myself up. My therapist teaches the importance and value of self-love. She helps me crush this internalised self hate I’ve got going on, these pervasive worries about opinions of others, this negative view of myself.
4. Calm your heart
I took my first breath 42 years ago but I have only recently learned to breathe. Breathwork is real. It can lower blood pressure and heart rate. It can offer soothing peace. I do “the continuous breath” where you don’t pause between inhale and exhale and remain very mindful of not doing so. Sometimes I also practise deep breathing where you inhale through the nose and make your exhale through the mouth as long as possible.
5 Ground yourself
How did I ever get through panic attacks and blood pressure spikes without beautiful voices speaking serene words to soothe me? Guided grounding meditations connect me to a sort of spiritual peace I’ve never known. Combining them with breathwork brings my mind out of states of panic. I enjoy grounding meditations that provide me with beautiful and calming visualization, description of physical sensation, and warm, empathetic connection. I meet with my ancestors. I meet with the universe itself. I meet with mother Earth. I float in the sea and dig my toes in the dirt and feel the sun on my face. Sometimes I turn my body itself into a tree with roots that wrap around the earth itself.
6. Believe in yourself
When I started therapy two years ago my self-esteem was very low. I’ve also got this sort of imposter syndrome going on. I feel like I’m an idiot even where I’m knowledgeable. My therapists validate me. They encourage me to look at my own work through the lens of a reader and voice its worth. To be proud of my work I have to put effort into it. Spending my time at productive projects feels validating. When I dare to share my opinions, ideas and acquired knowledge I am always relieved at the validation provided then too. I am not an impostor. I have wisdom to impart and love to give.
My mind is healing. It’s a journey no one can take for me. It’s an effort I have to put in, and if I miss a day it shows. But I’ve only got one brain. I’ve only got one life. I’m willing to put in the work.
Cassandra Brandt is a sociologist, author, and religious trauma therapist whose work centres on mental health and psychological well-being. She lives with permanent disability and brings a deeply personal commitment to the subject she writes about most.