Blogs
Many times binge eating and binge eating disorder (BED) is coupled with intense loneliness and people wonder if they are the only one who binge eats. It is time we who suffer realize we are not alone. There are millions of others who are right here, going through the same thing. If we can create a community and engage in conversation around our binge eating behaviors, we can start to free ourselves from the burden of shame along with our feeling of loneliness associated with BED.
It may feel challenging but you can stay confident during stressful times. Many people give into old habits and negative thinking patterns when they are under a lot of stress. This leads to succumbing to unhealthy behaviors that can lower your self-esteem. You can combat stress and stay confident, it just takes some awareness and practice.
I don't know how many times I have asked myself about fatigue and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) since being diagnosed. There are times I feel extremely exhausted when I haven't done anything to cause it. Naps during the day have gone from being a luxury to being a necessity at times. Feeling this way isn't unusual for someone with PTSD; there are both psychological and physical factors that cause us to feel so tired. Fortunately, I have found some things that help me to deal with the PTSD and fatigue and still be productive.
Worrying about mistakes goes hand-in-hand with anxiety (Worry: How Much is Too Much?) and we need to learn to stop worrying over spilt milk. As irksome as they can be, mistakes are simply events, incidents in our lives, but they don’t need to become our lives, taking over our wellbeing. How we react to mistakes affects our mental health. To reduce anxiety, including generalized anxiety disorder, it's important to stop worrying about mistakes.
We need to discuss mental illness and suicide with college students as every college student needs to be educated about these things. In a society where we educate our teenagers on birth control, alcohol and drug abuse, along with religious, racial, and gender preference awareness, we are failing to educate our college-bound teenagers on mental health issues. For their own wellbeing, we must educate every college student on mental illness and suicide.
When I came forward about my diagnosis of bipolar II, I saw that, in spite of stigma, young adults talk about mental health. This is not an easy task for people of any age (Coming Out of the Mental Illness Closet). I was told revealing my diagnosis and opening up about mental health would diminish a lot of opportunities for potential careers and relationships in the future. As young adults, we are striving to be independent, find stability and happiness. It is a vulnerable period in life. The pressure of completing our education, finding jobs, and maintaining relationships is stressful and impacts our mental health. Talking about mental health is difficult in spite of stigma. However, many young adults are utilizing social media platforms to open the conversation about mental health and stigma.
How you respond to anxiety and frustration will impact your sense of happiness and bliss. Anxiety and frustration make a stressful situation worse, so bliss is affected by how you respond to anxiety.
Suicide risk in dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a significant concern (Facts About Suicide). People with DID have one of the highest risks for suicide. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), more than 70% of outpatients with DID have attempted suicide, and multiple suicide attempts are common. What causes this increased suicide risk in DID, and can it be prevented?
There is a such thing as recovery from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have had posttraumatic stress disorder since college. At one point, my symptoms were so severe I was involuntarily committed to the state hospital system. That was eight years ago. Now I'm living on my own and running a small freelance writing business and I recently published a Bible study for sexual assault survivors. My symptoms are usually manageable. Recovery from PTSD is possible, and here are three things that helped me.
Some people don't realize it, but mental health stigma can affect those in school or career training. This stigma, which affects people with mental health issues from elementary to post-secondary training, not only hurts the person involved when it happens, it can create barriers that keep the person from finding the right job, making a living, and having what he or she deserves--a full and productive life. Mental health stigma is almost always unfounded; for example, when people think of schizophrenia as having links to violent crime, and it is also extremely unfair to the person who is being stigmatised in the classroom. Don't let mental health stigma stop your career training or schooling.
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.