Blogs
I've seen quite a few doctors and I've talked to quite a few people who've seen quite a few doctors and one thing that constantly comes up - and decreases patient care - is a negative relationship between patients and doctors / psychiatrists. There are many reasons people have a poor relationship with their doctor, but one of them is that people are intimidated by their doctor. And doctors never seem to understand, or compensate, for that. So, quite simply, we have to.
Scientists say that our thoughts control our feelings.
So does that mean that our negative thoughts can actually spiral out of control into full-blown depression? Dr. David Burns says so in his book,”Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy.” I found out about this book from my psychiatrist, who “prescribed” it to me for depression. They call it “bibliotherapy.”
The purpose of gaslighting is to destroy your sanity, and thereby gain control over your ability to perceive the truth. Your abuser does not want you to believe your perceptions. They want you to believe their version of reality. Gaslighting is the art of making someone else believe ridiculous lies; gaslighting is designed to destroy your sanity. And it works.
Accepting the diagnosis of mental illness can seem impossible. It hurts. It can shatter the sense of self you have acquired throughout your life. Pre-diagnosis, you might have felt that your personality was acquired, hard fought. You don't want to be anyone but you. Accepting you have a mental illness is initially terrifying.
When I heard the coroner’s report on Amy Winehouse’s death being linked to alcohol poisoning, I wasn’t shocked but I was indeed saddened all over again. Amy Winehouse was, no doubt, abusing and struggled with an addiction to both alcohol and drugs. Considering this, I think it's important to address binge drinking, alcohol poisoning, and how tolerance to alcohol plays a role in being at risk for addiction, as well as a reason for continuing to drink despite consequences.
The Mystery
Schizophrenia has been an enigma throughout the ages. I have experienced firsthand the alternate realities and monsters that lie deep within the bowels of psychosis. Through a multifaceted approach of medication, the treatment of a sleep disorder and lifestyle changes I have, at least temporarily, been able to ward off the terrifying demons of one of medical science's most feared and misunderstood illnesses. This brings me here, to try to explain the mystery that has eluded so many throughout the ages.
I can always stand to lose a few pounds. I love food and may easily drift into an increasingly sedentary lifestyle without realizing it until my body aches with disuse and my jeans are too tight. Lately I’ve been practicing what I now recognize as a kind of Health at Every Size (HAES) approach.
"Everything happens for a reason; often it’s a very bad reason." Taz Mopula
Lord Chumley Frampton, Dean of Statistical Analysis at Basingstoke University, stunned the mental health community recently by announcing that his team of researchers had located a quantifiable connection between mental illness and bad luck. While a relationship has been suspected for decades, Lord Frampton is the first to isolate it.
Sure, it's not the story you usually get in the media: Someone with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective actually has a life. This person loves, works, contributes, has useful skills - and is an active participant in his/her own treatment.
But in the NY Times this week, Benedict Carey's article is there on the front page: Lives Restored:A High-Profile Executive Job as Defense Against Mental Ills.1 Keris Myrick, 50, the chief executive of a nonprofit organization, has found ways to manage her illness - and thrive.
Will this happen for my son, Ben? I don't know - but I can hope. I can't expect, but I will dream. For, right now, there is progress in his life that I hadn't dared to dream about even one year ago.
Many people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have experienced traumatic events. Recently, my therapist and I decided to work on some of the trauma I've faced in my life. Short version: it didn't go well. I began having horrific flashbacks, strong urges to self-injure, and was irritable. We agreed that we should stop talking about the trauma for a while and focus on mastering coping skills.
It took me a while to realize it's not a failure on my part. Sometimes, the healing process can do more harm than good.
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...