Blogs
How do you know if you're addicted to your phone? Phones and tablet devices are rapidly becoming the most addictive substances in Western culture (What Is Addiction? Addiction Definition). The extent to which we use and rely upon our phones is staggering. We are rapidly becoming a society full of cell phone and social media addicts, thanks to fantastic developments in cell phone technology intended to improve our lives. The first step to abating the rise of phone addiction is to spread awareness about what it means to be addicted to your phone.
There is a stigma around suicide that says suicide is selfish. Despite all the conversations everyone has started about mental illness, despite any awareness campaigns and openness from people who have struggled, suicide is still a touchy subject (#SU4MH). It’s avoided and it’s looked down upon. Most commonly, suicide is called selfish. How can someone kill themselves and not think about the people left behind? How can someone only think of their own pain? But the idea that suicide is selfish is a product of stigma.
Occasionally, people tell me they're too busy to eat, even with binge eating disorder. But self-care is not about having extra time in your day to care for yourself, it's about designating time in your day to make sure you do the basic tasks you need in order to be healthy (Practicing Self-Care Is Hard But Vital For Mental Health). In this day and age we're all busy people, but eating regular meals is not a luxury. It's a necessity. Even if you're "too busy" you need to eat with binge eating disorder.
To focus on anxiety is not typically people want to do. To focus on anxiety is not typically advised to people who want to overcome anxiety. Of course, to successfully overcome anxiety and find inner peace, it's wise to focus on anything but anxiety. Ignoring anxiety -- paying attention to what anxiety isn't -- is a powerful way to train the brain to think about other things. However, there are times when it's actually helpful to focus on your anxiety; seriously.
Multiple studies link generosity to happiness. So, if you want to use an evidence-based approach to finding bliss, be generous and get happy.
For those living with dissociative identity disorder (DID), self-care -- even the most basic physiological and safety needs -- can feel like impossible tasks to fulfill, especially during times when self-care is most needed. If basic needs are unmet, this can hinder the healing process and make living with DID a little more challenging. You must meet your basic needs with DID self-care.
Mental illness and addiction runs through my family alongside codependency. Mental illness is hereditary, flowing through families, from parent to child, from uncle to nephew. Where there is mental illness in a family there is a heightened instance of addiction (Substance Abuse and Mental Illness). But we don't acknowledge enough that where there is mental illness and addiction in families, codependency is often passed down as well.
There are three things mental health professionals don't know about their clients because of stigma. Sometimes we're lucky and get a mental health professional who understands us, but many times we get a mental health professional who believes myths about mental illness or about mental health consumers. I've met many mental health professionals, and I would like for them all to understand three things: one, we're not children, two, we have an illness and not a character fault, and three, each case is unique.
How do you go about mourning a therapy pet in a healthy way? On Wednesday, my precious therapy rat Annabelle was diagnosed with pneumonia and abscessed lungs. I made the heartbreaking decision to put her to sleep. Now I am mourning the loss of a therapy pet (Coping With Loss: Bereavement and Grief). The loss of a pet can be just as painful as the loss of a human. In this video, I talk about what to do to mourn the loss of a therapy pet in a healthy way.
We all need to heal the shame associated with trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder. Trauma survivors and those of us with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often have a heavy feeling of shame attached to our trauma. Shame related to trauma is especially common in survivors of domestic violence, physical and sexual abuse, and rape. I have experienced shame related to the trauma that led to my PTSD, and it has been difficult to make sense of. It is something that I continue to work on in my PTSD recovery even now. Fortunately, there are some effective ways to deal with the shame that accompanies trauma and PTSD.
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...