It's important to stop negatively judging yourself to increase self-esteem. Many people are afraid of being judged negatively by others, however, they overlook the negative judgement coming from themselves. Negative self-judgement is damaging emotionally and it leads to all sorts of problems. As well as damaging your self-esteem it can be associated with anxiety or depression. It may prevent you from doing things you want, and it can isolate you from people. However, you can lead a more fulfilling life and increase your self-esteem when you stop judging yourself negatively.

Mental illness stigma may tell you that your life is over. Stigmatized individuals, even family and friends, will assume that there is no hope, no recovery, and certainly no real life to live upon the diagnosis of a mental illness. It is infuriating when this happens, and, in my opinion, the diagnosis of a mental illness may actually spell the beginning of a new life and a life worth living, especially since a debilitating mystery has finally been solved. Mental illness stigma may tell you that your life is over, but it isn't.

It is with sadness that I am saying farewell to the HealthyPlace Living A Blissful Life blog. Although my blogging stay at HealthyPlace was a short stay, it was also an extremely fulfilling and often a blissful blogging experience. 

For the longest time, I thought I was just a sensitive, moody girl who had been battered by bad luck. I didn’t think I was depressed because reasons to be sad were always around. Throughout my 20s, I experienced a handful of family tragedies, lots of death, and my fair share of broken relationships. When a psychiatrist said that I had depression and anxiety, I felt I had earned my Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnosis the way one earns a graduate degree. I had a masters in sadness. I figured I would always listen to Elliott Smith and read Virginia Woolf's novels. Depression was in my bones. Instead, not long after I began treatment for depression, I discovered that my feelings were symptoms of an illness, not personality traits. Happiness had been inside of me all along.

Are psychiatric medications to blame for mass shootings? Texas Governor Rick Perry's remarks after the recent shootings in South Carolina seems to indicate that he thinks so. So, are psychiatric medications to blame for mass shootings or is there another reason?

What kinds of summer fun can you have in sobriety now that the hot weather is here? For many people, the thought of summer also brings romanticized notions of cold beers or getting closer to nature with the help of marijuana. After eight years clean and sober, I've learned that there is nothing I did while drinking that I can't do in sobriety. Summer fun in sobriety is entirely possible.

Perfectionism and depression are common and I know this because my name’s Liz, and I’m a perfection-a-holic. I suspect that my unrelenting standards (mostly applied to myself) might be linked more than I care to admit to my long term depression. I suspect my perfectionism comes with my depression.

Assertive people have higher self-esteem. Do you know how to be assertive? This quick post will tell you how and boost your self-esteem.

This story of bipolar denial begins as all stories begin – with me thinking I was the Duchess of Windsor and seventy crates of sardines I'd forgotten I'd ordered showing up at my door. Obviously, something was wrong. I didn’t know it at the time, but I was denying bipolar disorder.

When you have binge eating disorder you always have to be careful about what medications your take due to the medication side effects and your binge eating disorder. Some medications can have an impact on your metabolism or your appetite. Some can exacerbate symptoms from comorbid disorders that you have. In the end, everyone should be careful of what pills they take and what these pills can do to their bodies. But binge eating disorder and medication side effects are even more critical to consider.