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Finding mental illness support by creating a group of friends who will support you can make your journey easier. Even if you’ve consciously chosen your inner circle and they've accepted the invitation to support you, however, your work likely isn’t done. Often, friends and family can offer what they think is supportive behavior but it isn’t really supportive for you. Sometimes these people are unintentionally harmful.
I have dealt with many different types of eating disorders. I have flipped from binging, to restricting, to purging and repeated the cycle again. Just because we stay abstinent from one behavior, doesn't mean we are not picking up another in the process. The deep rooted issues that were precursors to our eating disorders need to be dealt with in order to truly move on and find recovery from our illness.
Many think of the bond between human and animal as a simple pet-owner or predator-prey relationship. For others, the connection is greater as service and support animals offer physical and mental assistance to humans. Yet, while many gaze upon service animals with respect, support animals are stigmatized as fake despite the help they offer people.
Today is the Fourth of July, American Independence Day. After celebrating the holiday with a nap (self-care is always the priority, even on a day filled with barbecues and friends), I turned on the news. I could not have made a worse mistake. The news is always negative and, worse than that, is always triggering for me. After quickly changing the channel to a baseball game I asked myself what I can do to make myself less upset at all of the negativity going on in the world around me.
Yesterday, I forced myself to drive in the rain. My schizoaffective anxiety makes me afraid to drive in the rain. I know a lot of people don't like driving in bad weather. But, for me, the dislike is a lot more intense. I didn't have a problem with it until my schizoaffective anxiety got really bad. And then, yesterday, I made myself drive in the rain. Here's what came of that.
While it can be difficult, there are times when we should talk about depression. We may feel embarrassed or ashamed to admit our depressed feelings to ourselves or others, but there are times when talking about depression is urgent, critical, and needed.
Paying attention to signs that you may have an anxiety disorder can be helpful. Anxiety is miserable. Also miserable is not quite knowing if you have anxiety, something else, or nothing at all. This state of unknowing is in itself a sign of anxiety (bringing our list to 10). To help yourself solve the puzzle of what you're experiencing, read on to see if you have any of these nine signs you may have an anxiety disorder.
Here's my self-care example: The time has come for me to honor my self-care and say farewell to Trauma! A PTSD Blog. It's an honor to write for HealthyPlace, and I will miss it. However, my posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms tend to flare-up when I place too many expectations on myself, and that is where I find myself today. So, I'll leave you with a healthy self-care example of honoring a need to cut back on obligations.
Why is it so difficult to feel sympathy for people with mental illness? Some of you may have heard the story I'm about to talk about – it gained a fair amount of traction online a few weeks ago. Regardless, I feel the need to share it again, because it so perfectly embodies our broken attitudes and inability to feel sympathy regarding mental health.
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...