Blogs
The best of Breaking Bipolar 2015 shows what you were talking about and reading about this year with regards to bipolar disorder. Topics range from difficulty in decision-making (a symptom of depression) to what it's really like to stay in a mental hospital. Here, I count down the top five articles and the best of Breaking Bipolar 2015.
There are three lessons the Bill Cosby case can teach us. Unless you've been living under a rock this past year, you've heard of the Bill Cosby rape allegations. As a sexual assault survivor, any time a high-profile rape case occurs, I want to speak out. I've watched this case with interest, and have learned three lessons the Bill Cosby case can teach us.
Who doesn't want to maximize productivity and gain confidence? At some point, everyone has struggled with feeling unproductive and likely noticed the impact that it has on one's confidence. Putting off tasks, goals or daily activities can make one more depressed, anxious and insecure (How Procrastination Hurts Your Confidence). Whether you are trying to achieve a goal, break a bad habit or make the most of each day, it’s important to try and take advantage of the time you’ve got.
Having a mentally healthy perspective is important. It's a new year, and that lends itself to reflection. Whether 2015 was kind, brutal, or somewhere in between depends largely on your perspective (Putting Mental Illness In Perspective). So having a healthy perspective is important. So how do we have a mentally healthy perspective?
As 2015 winds down, let me start by wishing all of you a Happy New Year in 2016 from the Treating Anxiety Blog. 2015 was difficult for me, and I can't say I'm sorry to see it go. But, I also end it on a hopeful note due to all I've learned about myself, living with anxiety, and simply being human. Which, sadly, leads me to my second wish. I also wish you all a fond farewell. This will be my last post from Treating Anxiety.
I am a big fan of setting New Year's goals that lead you to happiness. Over the years I’ve found methods that have helped me be successful in setting realistic new year’s resolutions. And reaching healthy goals is a great way to enhance genuine happiness. Achieving goals is also a great way to build confidence, so this year, let your New Year's goals lead you to happiness.
Learning how to revisit painful memories can improve your sobriety by cleaning up negative emotions that no longer serve you. Recalling old wounds may seem scary, traumatizing, and unnecessary to some, but my experience has been overwhelmingly positive. While difficult and unpleasant at the time, the discomfort was outweighed by the relief I felt afterward (Unwanted Trauma Memories - How Do You Get Rid Of Them?). It's important to take certain steps during this process to ensure it has a positive outcome. Here are some tips on how to process painful memories to improve your sobriety in 2016.
Many high-functioning people with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder have jobs and schizophrenia in the workplace is a real issue. Jobs that they get up and go to and where they work alongside other people. You might work alongside a person with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and not even know it. Don’t worry, we don’t bite (Are People With Mental Illness More Violent?).
It's common for everyone, whether you have binge eating disorder or not, to make New Year's resolutions. But what makes a good resolution and what makes one that will set you up for failure? Although a lot of people don't take resolutions seriously, they can be a starting point for you to make changes in your life and leave harmful habits behind (New Year's Resolutions: You Gotta Want It). Binge eating disorder New Year's resolutions can be helpful.
Anxiety and overthinking tend to be evil partners. One of the horrible hallmarks of any type of anxiety disorder is the tendency to overthink everything. The anxious brain is hypervigilant, always on the lookout for anything it perceives to be dangerous or worrisome. I've been accused of making problems where there aren't any. To me, though, there are, indeed, problems. Why? Because anxiety causes me to overthink everything. Anxiety makes us overthink everything in many different ways, and the result of this overthinking isn't helpful at all. Fortunately, anxiety and overthinking everything doesn't have to be a permanent part of our existence.
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.