Blogs
How does complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) interact with making new year resolutions? Society pressures us to make grand commitments for the new year related to how we will improve, maybe even completely change, our lives. Now don’t get me wrong, I think improving your life is a great thing, but the problem is, when you have complex PTSD, failing to commit to a New Year’s resolution can result in your year beginning with shame and depression.
Will your new year resolutions cause self-stigma? With the new year comes new resolutions. Many times those resolutions center around health and wellbeing, so it's no surprise people are making resolutions to overcome mental health struggles. But can new years resolutions create mental health self-stigma?
Most of us know a little bit about the midlife crisis, but have you heard about the quarter-life crisis? LinkedIn career expert Blair Decembrele describes the quarter-life crisis as "a period of insecurity and doubt that many people in their mid 20s to early 30s go through surrounding their career, relationships, and finances."1 A quarter-life crisis can be debilitating. To learn more about the quarter-life crisis and its effects on mental health, read this article.
As we start the New Year, I thought it would be a good time to address some of the things that active addiction steals from your life. Addiction is a thief of many things, and it is a horrible, ugly place to be. I know, because I have been there. It's a place filled with darkness, hopelessness, and despair, and given enough time, addiction will steal everything from you. During my drinking days, addiction stole so many things that little by little, my life became devoid of everything that I cared about.
Cold abuse, verbal abuse delivered without emotion, is familiar to many abuse victims. The film "I, Tonya," depicts the physically and verbally abusive home life of notorious Olympic skater Tonya Harding. Harding is best known for the scandal that took place in 1994 in which her husband, Jeff, carried out a plot to maim Nancy Kerrigan, her skating rival, prior to the winter Olympics that year. There is a scene in the film in which the teenaged Harding sits at the dining room table eating breakfast with her mother. She has a black eye, given to her by Jeff, her boyfriend at the time.
The intensity of my anxiety has me on a roller coaster. After a flare-up of my schizoaffective anxiety in September and October, my symptoms became really manageable again in November. I felt great. But then, when December came around, I started reeling in anxiety again. I’m not sure why I felt so good in November, or why my schizoaffective anxiety flared up again just in time for the holidays. But I have some ideas about why the intensity of my anxiety keeps changing.
Imagine being able to use anxiety-reducing phrases and feeling empowered to live your best life. Can words really have such influence? As anyone who lives or has lived with anxiety knows painfully well, anxiety is controlling and overpowering. It can shut down anybody, no matter who they are, how they live, or the hopes and dreams they hold dear. Despite this, there are many things we can all do to reduce anxiety and move forward. One such anxiety-reducing method is to adopt some empowering phrases, such as the ones below.
Sometimes you can't see a future with bipolar disorder. I get this. I really do. I have looked into the future with bipolar and it has felt like looking into an endless, black well. But recently, it occurred to me that you can see a future with bipolar disorder, and that future doesn't have to look completely bleak.
Could there be a good New Year resolution for the anxious mind? This isn’t a post about my specific New Year’s resolutions – those are personal. Rather, this is about New Year’s resolutions in general, and how they can be invaluable for someone with an anxious mind.
There are benefits to anxiety although my anxiety is debilitating at times. It prevents me from doing the things I want and should do. Some days it takes a lot of courage just to leave the house. Anxiety is a huge part of my life, and it's really difficult to think there could be anything positive about it. However, there are a few benefits to anxiety, and I hope this article can shed just a tiny bit of light in the darkness of those who struggle with it.
Where do we go from here? Most of the family thinks just to let her hit bottom and then if she reaches out to help any we can. Some want to just keep paying her bills and just let her sit in the house with no responsibilities. Never been on medication and impossible to get to her when she refuses to talk to ANYONE.
Help.
On the day we agreed to videochat to make things less awkward IRL she woke up with a migraine so we rescheduled to the day after, I made sure to assure her that it was okay and to take her time. Later that day, in the late evening we had a nice chat but suddenly she stopped replying, even though nothing had happened. The day after I texted her good morning and said I hope she was feeling a little better. she wouldn't open my texts.
A couple days after I sent her a longer text saying that even though I had only known her for a short time I care a lot for her and would like to know how she are doing, telling her I'm there for her, assuring her I'm not going anywhere even though things might not be very easy. She wouldn't open it.
A week later I sent a text saying not to feel bad about not answering and that I will be there when she is able to answer again. It's been two weeks since this and she still hasn't opened my texts. She hasn't been active at all.
I don't know what else I can do. I assumed she might have fallen into a depression. I have tried to just not think about it anymore, and I haven't that much but when I do it sort of kills me inside...