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Recent studies have revealed that people with eating disorders often engage in self-harm.1 Self-harm is defined as non-lethal harm done to the self. It can include minor burns, cutting the skin, or even knowingly engaging in the symptoms of the eating disorder. People with binge eating disorder might engage in self-harm.
Old, addictive behaviors can crop up, leading to a relapse. These are often traits that served us well in our addiction by enabling us to use or drink with minimal interference. By evaluating our behavior through the lens of humility, we are able to see when old, addictive behaviors resurface and if they may be leading you to a relapse.
Can anxiety disorders come from a traumatic brain injury (TBI)? Anxiety disorders can be challenging, and it’s natural to want to know what causes them. Anxiety disorders, like all mental illnesses, are disorders of the brain. The brain is an organ of the body, and it can experience disease and/or injury just like any other organ. Traumatic brain injury can cause serious damage inside the brain. Depending on what part of the brain is damaged, TBI can lead to mental illness. Anxiety disorders can, indeed, come from a traumatic brain injury (Relationship Between Head Injury and Anxiety Proven to Exist).
Many people don’t know this, but you can use meditation to cope with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). ADHD is defined as a neurological disorder which manifests itself in behavioural symptoms such as lack of concentration, impulsivity and hyperactivity. But for the people who live with the disorder, things can feel more complicated than this. It can be hard to know where personality ends and ADHD begins, and, as an “invisible illness,” people with ADHD can face judgement and accusations that they are simply making excuses for themselves. Coping with ADHD can be done through meditation, however.
Have you considered a simple mantra for eating disorder recovery? Eating disorder recovery can feel like a battle -- because it is. We choose to go against the destructive voice that was once our friend. We choose to sit with uncomfortable feelings and emotions, and not reach for our easy coping tool. We choose to live in our bodies as they shift and change and as they learn to regulate and be without the disorder. Some days it’s tough, but we have to keep in mind what we’re fighting for. We have to keep in mind our end goal. Having an eating disorder recovery mantra can help (Mantras and Recovery: Mind Over What’s The Matter).
Dating is awkward and many feel anxiety about dating. Throw some clinical anxiety into the mix and you've got a disaster on your hands. But you can minimize anxiety about dating.
Staying positive in this negative world is an important part of living a blissful life. Election seasons brings the need for this to the surface. I've learned a few ways to stay positive without letting negativity take up my time.
When mentally ill spouses shift focus onto their marriage rather than themselves, everyone benefits. Giving to your spouse is absolutely necessary to keep your marriage going, no matter how mentally ill you are (Mentally Ill Spouses: Give What You Can To Your Marriage). Before I became ill with bipolar disorder, I was an equal partner in my marriage. After my diagnosis and subsequent medication regiment, it was impossible for me to be the same partner to my husband. But as time went on, I found ways to give to my husband and have a better marriage despite my bipolar disorder diagnosis. I, the mentally ill spouse, did this by focusing on my marriage.
Fluctuations in energy levels in bipolar disorder can be a challenge to manage, at least, in my experience. What I find, is that my energy fluctuates throughout the day in unusual and very bipolar ways. These hourly energy changes require care and interrupt what I want to do. It might be due to the fact that I tend to cycle very rapidly (when I truly cycle, which is rare), but from what I can tell, bipolar causes energy level changes throughout the day.
There are three things suicidal people don't know about suicide. I recently buried yet another friend lost to suicide--this is the fourth person I've personally known who died by suicide. Having been driven to that point, I realize there are three things suicidal people don't know about suicide. They may seem cliche, but they are true--and forgotten by suicidal people who are in unbearable pain. I share these in hopes that anyone reading this who feels suicidal may realize there is always more to the situation than there appears.
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.