Self-esteem affects mental health and low self-esteem often results from having a mental illness. I struggle with depression and anxiety, and I'm constantly battling negative thoughts that say I'm not good enough. I judge myself and compare myself to others. I'm afraid to put myself out there.

It's hard to forgive yourself when you have depression. Depression often causes you to be harsh and mean to yourself. When you make a mistake or don't follow through on something, the automatic response is negative self-talk. You begin to tell yourself that no one else would have made that mistake or that you're stupid for not having completed that task sooner. Why is it so hard to forgive yourself when you have depression?

Making new habits to cope with anxiety is an important part of anxiety self-help. By establishing routines, we can take on more in our lives without feeling overwhelmed. However, attempting to change too much at once can end in disappointment. Working on making new habits too quickly can fuel anxiety rather than help it.

Self-love and depression don't naturally go together because when you have depression, it’s hard to love yourself. Being constantly bombarded with negative thoughts about how you’re not good enough or how you’ll never amount to anything doesn’t exactly help your self-esteem. You get inside your own head and tell yourself that you are not worthy of love.

Obsessive thoughts are a kind of anxiety. Anxiety about a situation can set off obsessive thoughts, causing you to assume the worst outcome. It can make you feel like you've made the most horrible mistake in the world, even if it was something minor. There have been many times that my anxiety about something has grown into an obsession. Obsessive thoughts from anxiety cause many problems for me.

I know all about perfectionism and procrastination because I am a perfectionist. And I know perfectionism makes it hard to get anything done. When you first think about it, that concept doesn’t really make sense. As a perfectionist, shouldn’t I be able to get everything done perfectly? Rather than fueling my desire to accomplish everything, perfectionism discourages me from wanting to finish anything I start out to do. Perfectionism causes procrastination, and that negatively affects my mental health.

When we think of social media and mental health, it tends to be a negative association. There are countless studies and stories about people developing depression or anxiety because of their time spent on social media. However, there’s another side to the story of mental health and social media.

There are many borderline personality triggers, but my biggest is canceled plans. With canceled plans comes that common borderline feeling of abandonment all over again (Borderline Personality Disorder Symptoms, Diagnosis). Let's talk about how much consistency, communication and changes in plans can all lead to a borderline personality trigger for me.

Feeling helpless during the worst of my depression made me doubt myself. It seemed like everyone around me was doing just fine on their own and I was constantly asking for help or not following through with things that I needed to do. That’s when I started questioning myself. Am I really depressed or am I just being lazy and trying to get out of something? Am I just afraid to take responsibility? Am I just fooling myself? But did you know that feeling helpless is a depression symptom?

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) and new relationships create a challenge. We all know borderline personalities have an issue with relationships, but is there a way to make it start out more healthy--can we learn to take it slow? Let's look at the importance of taking it slow with BPD and new relationships, and how borderline can make it difficult to not get caught up in the moment.