Blogs
Blaming others for their anxiety might be common, but it shouldn't be. Here's how I learned that lesson.
Depression makes me feel ashamed because it has a way of blurring the distinction between our symptoms and our character. When I get irritated by a comment, is the depression making me oversensitive or did I just not like the comment? When I decide to stay home instead of going out, is it the depression causing me to isolate myself, or do I just feel like staying home? And regardless of whether or not it is the depression, why do I feel so ashamed?
What is it like to hear voices in dissociative identity disorder (DID)? Hearing voices, sometimes known as auditory hallucinations, and having DID does not mean one is psychotic or delusional. Hearing voices is actually common with the disorder, but it is also a complicated topic for which a one-size-fits-all answer does not work. However, we can still understand the phenomenon of hearing voices when we examine how our alters influence us.
Finding a quiet space inside of you is important because anxiety is loud. It screams incessantly, warning us against threats seen and unseen, imminent and anticipatory, real and imagined. Our thoughts race noisily through our mind, and when they rev up to become obsessions and ruminations, they can turn our mind into a place more earsplitting than a Nascar track. No wonder anxiety causes symptoms like headaches, trembling, irritability, and, for me, the urge to curl into a ball with my hands over my ears screaming, "Shut up!" Believe it or not, you can turn off the race cars (slow and quiet your anxious, negative thoughts), and enjoy much-needed quiet in your mind. When anxiety is loud, find and cultivate the quiet space within you.
My name is Krystle Vermes, and I am extremely excited to become an author of the Dissociative Living blog. As an individual living with dissociative identity disorder (DID), I feel like I can make a difference by sharing my personal experiences and knowledge on everything the condition encompasses.
Going with the flow seems to stand in contrast with reaching your goals. Whether you want to advance in your career, live healthier, or find stability, keeping to a schedule can help you move forward. However, some of life’s best experiences are completely unexpected. By going with the flow, you can open yourself up to a world of possibilities you may never have imagined like attending a Hare Krishna ceremony in Cali, Colombia.
I feel like there's never enough time, so I don’t understand how anyone ever feels bored. By definition, being bored suggests you don’t have any idea how to spend your time. I feel literally the exact opposite: on most days, I feel like I never have enough time to do even a fraction of what I’d like to do.
My name is Nicola Spendlove and I am very excited to be joining the HealthyPlace team as a new author on the "Mental Illness in the Family" blog. I'm going to be writing about my brother's experiences with depression and anxiety and how it has impacted us all.
In an interview, Lady Gaga recently talked about taking antipsychotics and her experience with psychosis. This is amazing. Few people with the eminence of Lady Gaga are willing to talk about these subjects -- let alone admit to direct, personal experience. If Lady Gaga takes antipsychotics and talks about her own psychotic break, are we finally okay with psychosis?
One of the biggest challenges I faced when I was in graduate school was trying to manage my time effectively. At the time, I was a full-time student, employee, mother, and wife. Juggling multiple roles was extremely difficult, and it often felt as though there were not enough hours available in the day. As someone who struggles with anxiety, you can imagine that this made my anxiety symptoms worse. I frequently experienced panic attacks, irritability, and constant worry. I was often sick and had a hard time staying focused. Eventually, I worked on ways to manage my day, and this is something I continue to work on.
I believe she will only be able to rid herself of her demons, and hopefully her BPD as well, when she's ready to confront the abuse of her father. If she can put the blame where it belongs, she may stop projecting that victim/perpetrator cycle on the present men in her life. These demons are a metaphor for the purgatory she has created for herself. That reality has consequences in the real world, but it need not be real in the tangible sense. Exorcising her demons will require the expenditure of real physical energy and probably the destruction of aspects of her personality. If this ever happens, and it's possible but not probable, then these demons will evaporate. They are only as real as one's personality is real. In short, reality is not the question, it's what you make of the things you feel to be real.