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I hate to admit it, but when you live with a mental illness there are probably triggers to avoid--triggers that upset the stability we have fought so hard to find (Don't Wait: Prepare for Mental Health Triggers Beforehand). First, let's break it down a little bit.
I've had the privilege of meeting many wonderful people who happen to be diagnosed with mental illness and look forward to many more.
There are many stages we go through with any life change, and mental illness is no exception. Families have stages of acceptance, certainly the Person Affected by Mental Illness (PAMI) does too. *
When I talk with a PAMI who is at a stage of acceptance of his mental illness diagnosis, takes her own meds without supervision and is living a functional, productive life, I often ask if there were any particular turning points in their recovery process. In particular, I want to know: Was there a moment when it clicked? When you accepted your diagnosis as true?
Not once - not once! - has anyone said, "My mother finally convinced me I have schizophrenia."
Infamous Norwegian terrorist, Anders Breivik, who is currently being tried for mass murder was finally declared by a psychiatric board last month to be criminally “sane”. This is opposed to an earlier conclusion that he suffers from Paranoid Schizophrenia, and was undergoing psychosis during and after the attacks. The earlier conclusion had very little evidence to support it, and was possibly motivated by a legal system in which it is easier to hold someone indefinitely if they are deemed criminally “insane”.
In trying to deal with low self-esteem, focus on the positive. When doing that, we feel more positive, happier and self-assured, right? Our self-esteem is heightened when we are in a positive state of mind.
Let's consider why it's been difficult to overcome low self-esteem. The likelihood is that past events or a current trigger has left your self-esteem low, which contributes to your current state of mind, which for many of us can be negative.
The roots of your low self-esteem are not to be ignored, but for the purpose of moving into a happier mindset, let’s focus on the feelings you want to obtain today; happiness and higher self-esteem. By proactively shifting some of your negative behaviors and thoughts in the moment, you can increase your self-esteem tremendously and start to overcome low self-esteem.
"His Kindness Healed Me"
As often happens, I was brought to tears last night during a therapy session.
"When he asked me why I like him, I didn't know how to put it into words. All I could say was, 'Your kindness healed me.'"
She began to lament that she couldn't express her feelings. Her fear and self-doubt arose and she began to beat herself up at her lack of a good reply.
The name “bipolar disorder” is seemingly self-explanatory. It’s disorder involving the two poles of emotion – depression and mania or hypomania. People often think of this as the poles of “sad” and “happy.” But as any person with bipolar disorder can tell you, mania or hypomania is not necessarily happy at all.
Much of my learning comes from reading books and adapting their ideas in my real life. As a result of this process, I've found three books I recommend everyone with borderline personality disorder (BPD) read.
I am an addict. Yes, I am in recovery (24 years and counting) but that doesn’t mean that my addictive qualities do not rear their ugly heads from time to time. This is most commonly exhibited in the form of obsession and compulsion.
In my last post I talked about what it is to be an e-patient. These are the people who are engaged in their own healthcare - they are empowered patients. But if your relationship with your doctor is more passive, how do you become empowered?
When you are diagnosed with a mental illness it can feel like your entire life has collapsed. You fight to pick up the pieces only to have them slip from your hands.
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...