Living day-to-day with dissociative identity disorder is tough. People sometimes think that they can tell if a person has a mental illness like dissociative identity disorder (DID) just from observing their behaviors (Is Mental Illness Really an Invisible Disability?). But that's just not true. Statistically speaking, one out of every 100 people has DID.* Do you think you could pick that person out of a crowd? I doubt it because living day-to-day with DID isn't what you think.

When a marriage contains a mental illness, you should make a wellness contract to create boundaries.With a 90 percent divorce rate for couples in which one spouse has bipolar disorder, I realize how blessed Jack and I are to still be married. But our marriage has not survived for 16 years just because we love each other. Our marriage has survived because we made a straightforward contract after my bipolar 1 disorder diagnosis, and both of us have kept to it. He promised to stay with me for better or worse, and I promised to be med-compliant and to attend therapy in an effort to become as well as possible. Our wellness contract is helping our marriage and my mental illness.

Hello, I am Whitney Hawkins. I am both excited and anxious to be writing for Treating Anxiety. If I’m being honest, this is the first time I have publicly admitted that I have struggled with anxiety. After years of panic attacks, some therapy, and a lot of breathing into paper bags, I am here to set the record straight about mental illness stigma and deliver my own anxiety management strategies and techniques.

Engaging in creative activities can relieve depression because the process can be relaxing, engaging and enjoyable (Exploring The Link Between Creativity and Mental Illness). The end result is often satisfying, too. We often forget to make time to be creative, but our we can find depression relief with creative activities.

Kindness can help you to improve your self-esteem, and that includes being kind to others as well as yourself. Kindness may be in the form of a smile, friendly words or thoughts, a random act on the street, volunteering, helping a neighbour or reaching out to a friend. Be kind to others as well as yourself and improve self esteem. 

You can live a healthy lifestyle and improve your body image even with anxiety. I’m currently trying to lose weight through joining a local slimmers support group. I won’t lie, it’s been an uphill battle with hurdles all the way. I’ll reach a much longed for milestone one week and the next I’ll find myself feeling as though I’ve tumbled, bruised and defeated, back down the mountain. I’m a sufferer of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and so ever since I’ve stopped growing up, I’ve been steadily growing out in such a way that I often feel as if I have lost agency over my own body. Moreover, I have an overly emotional attachment to food. But, even with anxiety, I am trying for a healthy lifestyle while improving my body image, too.

You're in college and you have binge eating disorder. You might be wondering how you can take care of yourself when stress can play a huge part in your eating disorder. College is a fun and exciting time which can also be incredibly difficult and challenging. Amid the demands of school work, how do you find the time to practice binge eating disorder self care and eat on a regular schedule?

In order to have healthy self-esteem, it's important to be kind to yourself. Many of us neglect our emotional self-care. It's easier to be nice to others rather than ourselves sometimes. This doesn't have to be a time-consuming assignment. You can be nice to yourself in small increments each day. Being kind to yourself is self-care, and it improves you overall self-esteem and mood.

Research has shown the therapeutic value of animals. We've all seen service animals, but did you know that some states recognize psychiatric service animals or therapy animals? Some states, like Florida, allow psychiatric service dogs. And my state, Indiana, allows therapy animals. What legal protection they have depends on the state you're in, but it brings up the issue of the therapeutic value of animals.

If you’ve read some of the comments here, you know what some other people think of bipolar disorder. Some people think that those with bipolar are manipulative, angry, abusive and some even say we’re downright evil. And it’s easy to internalize what others think of bipolar disorder. It’s easy to believe we are these things. But you are worth more than a single, negative descriptor. You are not what other people think of bipolar disorder.