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Thanks to my attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), I often started exercise routines, hobbies, and projects before abandoning them shortly afterward. I used to rue missed opportunities to achieve proficiency in different disciplines, so I vowed to pick a hobby and stay the course. I picked exercise three years ago, and three years later, I'm happy to report I've stayed the course.
Something I've learned about my anxiety is that sometimes, instead of being consumed by worries about the future, it is possible to be overwhelmed by the past to the point that my memories trigger anxiety symptoms.
Last weekend I was able to spend a special day with someone I love. We went to town, snacked on sweet corn empanadas, and ended the day with dinner and drinks. The next day, I decided to bake all afternoon for fun. It was a weekend of enjoyment and indulgence. That's when I noticed that something had changed in the way I feel about food, and myself since I started my recovery from binge eating disorder (BED). I was able to settle into the moment and allow myself to enjoy and savor instead of feeling guilty about indulging.
Bipolar can bring thoughts to your brain that are so negative and destructive, they can seem impossible to deal with, but you can work to reframe bipolar thoughts to fight back. Reframing thoughts won't fix the issue, per se, but can allow you to stand up for yourself against the bipolar disorder. This is incredibly important. Learn more about reframing bipolar thoughts here.
Disclosing a schizophrenia diagnosis can be a daunting decision to make. At work, it can be helpful or harmful. In your personal life, it can be scary. But, disclosing schizophrenia at work can be a necessity. In the workplace, it can be the difference between getting the proper accommodations or not. The Americans with Disabilities Act will protect you at work. Disclosing will give you the rights you need to receive accommodations. It can be a weight off your shoulders. You can even be a resource for others with disabilities. Living with schizophrenia can help others to connect with you by allowing them to share their stories with you.
Not everyone will understand your experience with abuse or your process when you begin to heal. Of course, there will constantly be varying sides, but learning how to live with being okay with their opinions can be challenging. For example, not everyone agreed with my healing process or how I began to talk about my past trauma and my journey for better wellbeing. These opposing sides have been extremely difficult for me to deal with and accept over the last few years.
Self-injury can seem like the most accessible path to relief when other doors have been shut in your face, but self-harming to self-soothe creates a vicious cycle from which it can be difficult to disengage. Recognizing that there are other, healthier ways to feel better—ways that are still open to you—is vital to recovery.
My name is Desiree Brown, I live with borderline personality disorder (BPD), and I am the new author of "More than Borderline" here at HealthyPlace. The first time I tasted those words, they disgusted me. Was I supposed to be in order? Would that then make me out of order? Like a common public toilet?
I've been on antianxiety medication since 2001 when I was first diagnosed with anxiety and depression. Out of some odd compulsion or perhaps, shame from having to take drugs to manage my mental illness, I weaned off my anxiety medications three times since I began. The first two times, it ended badly. The last time, it ended in disaster.
Almost every day, I tell myself I'm going to start work at 9:00 a.m. and be productive. Almost every day, I'm disappointed with myself. In my head, I'm a person with a million ideas, a million goals, and a million ways of making things happen. In practice, I'm easily distracted by, well, basically everything. It's frustrating. I want to push myself. I want to do amazing things, but I regularly find myself lying on the couch watching YouTube videos and barely paying attention. I struggle to be motivated.
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...