Blogs
How do you explain mental illness? How do you explain a brain disorder to a person who has no experience with psychiatric disorders? What can you say to make other people understand that mental illness is just that--an illness that affects the mind? Here are my tips on how to explain mental illness.
When people think of depression, they think about a character like Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh -- someone who's a bit gloomy and sad, perhaps, prone to moping about. Some even think depression is a bit hip and edgy -- an affliction of creative types like artists and writers. But the truth is, I'm afraid, a lot less romantic.
Time after time I told myself I was going to change. Today was the day. All I had to do was make different choices. Choose to be normal. Choose to fit in. Choose to be strong. It was as simple and easy as making the right choice. But I couldn’t do it. Did having a mental illness make me weak?
When it comes to living a blissful life, you have to be present to win. Being present can be difficult when technology gives us so many opportunities to escape. Here are three truths to show you why it’s best to be present.
It’s not easy being married to someone with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Just ask my husband, though, he wouldn’t admit it to you and certainly not to me. But for almost seven years now, he’s gotten me through crisis after crisis caused by my schizoaffective disorder. And he’s been very patient. Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder and marriage can sure be challenging.
Singing is a powerful way to boost your self-esteem. It doesn’t matter how good or talented you are, the process of singing has a range of benefits. As well as helping to boost self-esteem, singing has many benefits to other areas of your life. As someone who experienced low self-esteem for a long time, singing has, personally, made a huge difference to my life. The benefits are enormous and you, too, can use singing to boost your self-esteem.
There are three lies rape victims believe, and these lies are common. One in six American women and one in 33 American men will be sexually assaulted at some point in their lives, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). That's just the ones who reported the rape, and RAINN estimates that 68 percent of rapes go unreported. I've heard that if you factor in unreported rapes, it's one in four American women and one in 10 American men. This raises the questions "Why not report it?" The simple answer is usually one of three lies that rape victims believe.
The workplace can be a stressful and triggering environment for self-harmers. First, we have to make the decision of hiding our scars or not. If we don't, we face questions, scrutiny, and gossip from our coworkers and bosses. Secondly, we may, and probably will, be triggered to self-harm at some point. We can't control what others say and do, or what is asked of us while we're working. Thus, it is essential for us to find ways to minimize stress and stay on the course of recovery from self-harm in a triggering environment like the workplace.
People wondering how to recover from emotional trauma really want to know how long recovery will take. Unfortunately, there is no solid time frame for recovering from emotional trauma. But, if we can slow down a minute and understand how to recover from emotional trauma, then the how long will it take part will handle itself.
There are several tools you can use to combat negative self-talk that keeps us from happiness. The video below teaches a tool called “Catch it. Check it. Change it.” It will help you combat negative self-talk and improve your self-esteem.
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.