Blogs
Achieving bliss during times of stress and anxiety can be difficult, but it’s not impossible. I recently discovered some tools that helped me relieve my stress and anxiety. Using these techniques even during stressful situations I have achieved bliss.
Faking confidence when you’re not confident helps to build self-esteem. There’s a lot of truth to the saying "fake it ’til you make it." Faking confidence does not mean being a phoney, being overly confident or being arrogant. However, it does mean learning to be confident in a healthy way. By faking confidence you can learn how to become more confident and also build self-esteem.
Schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder are scary words to a lot of people but knowing that psychotic episode is like might help alleviate that.. They assume that those of us who have these illnesses are violent and that the voices we hear tell us to kill people. This isn’t the case as my own experience with psychosis will show you. People do not need to fear people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder or their psychotic episodes.
What are three reasons the mental health system suffers? Recently, a reporter from the Indianapolis Star contacted me about my time in the state hospital system. I answered her questions as best I could, ranging from how frequently the elevators broke down and patients with food allergies or diabetes getting the wrong food, to a psychiatrist's criminal record, a rape, and avoidable patient deaths. As we talked, she asked me what I thought caused the problems I detailed. This made me think of three reasons the mental health system suffers.
A year ago I made a one-year commitment to writing Life with Bob about parenting a child with mental illness. My year is up and I am ready to say goodbye to Life with Bob. Its time to redirect my attention to my son whose name is Jack, not Bob.
There are four symptom types of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) but are the symptoms of PTSD missing from the fifth edition of the DSM (DSM-5)? Two 2015 studies seem to think so. One study calls for a seven symptom-type model while another calls for a six symptom-type model. Both studies indicated these models were more valid than the current four symptom-type model. So are there symptoms of PTSD missing from the DSM-5?
You can use journal prompts to improve self-esteem and get to know yourself on a deeper level. When you journal, you tap into different states of mind that help you become clearer about your desires and the person you want to become. The more often you journal to improve self-esteem, the better your relationship with yourself will be.
No matter who you are, whether you have binge eating disorder or not, you have witnessed or been the victim of body shaming. When you have binge eating disorder, however, body shaming can become internalized and a deeply-seated part of your illness. Body shame is everywhere in society and generally accepted when it comes to discussing larger bodies. But all hope is not lost.
There are a lot of things I wish insurance companies knew about eating disorders, but the reality is, the people who are deciding whether or not to pay for our eating disorder treatment are not always our doctors. They can be case managers, or people whose first priority is to make the company money. If the insurance company can reasonably deny your claim, they will.
And this makes me unbelievably angry. Here's what I wish insurance companies knew about eating disorders.
Are you facing change that's increasing feelings of stress and anxiety? Anxiety can be related to adjustment disorder. We humans often dislike change; sometimes we even fear change. When change creates such stress that it interferes in the ability to fully function in life (work, school, interpersonal relationships, etc.), a diagnosis of adjustment disorder by a primary care physician, therapist, or other health care provider is sometimes in order. If you're facing change and experiencing difficulties, know that you're not alone. Anxiety can be related to adjustment disorder, and treating both anxiety and adjustment disorder is possible.