Pokemon Go has taught me many things about mental health coping skills. Coping skills are vital to recovery--they're the bricks and mortar of building a new foundation for your life (Coping Skills for Mental Health and Wellbeing). Coping skills vary by person, and one of mine is playing Pokemon Go (I have the weight loss, buff legs, and sunburn to prove it). Here is what Pokemon Go taught me about mental health coping skills.

Pokemon Go can help with mental illness recovery. Unless you've been living under a Kabuto the past few weeks, you're aware that Pokemon Go has gone viral (How a Video Game Gave Me My Life Back). But did you know Pokemon Go can help with mental illness recovery? Here are three ways Pokemon Go can help with mental illness recovery.

Is Alcoholics Anonymous (A.A.) the only way to recover from alcoholism? Like many survivors of spiritual abuse, I have a problem with a Higher Power. While A.A. literature says one's Higher Power is "God as we understand him," the chapter to the agnostic basically argues for the existence of a God. So where does that leave those of us who have some problems with God? The good news is A.A. is not the only way to recover from alcoholism. There are several other organizations that, while not as well known, are just as effective as A.A. Here are three.

Should incarceration include mental health treatment? My youngest brother scared his wife half to death once. He texted her from work, "We are all okay, but we just got robbed." His budget cell phone deleted the first part of that message, so she spent several hours trying to find out that a man walked into the Petco without a mask, demanded money (no weapon), and left plenty of fingerprints and a superb profile on the CCTV. He got away with $100. We later learned drugs and mental illness were involved (Treating Criminal Justice-Involved Drug Abusers and Addicts). He committed the crime because he was sick. That raises the question, "Should incarceration include mental health treatment?"

Self-injury can be addictive but you can recover from self-harm using the 12 steps, among other ways. Because self-harm helps us feel better, even if it is a negative coping skill, it can become a habit. We can become powerless over self-injury. But, like any addiction, a 12-step program can be useful in fighting self-harm behavior and aid self-harm recovery.

There are many myths about child sexual abuse but I'm going to focus on three (What Is Child Sexual Abuse?). Three myths about child sexual abuse are that all abused children tell someone, all victims of childhood sexual abuse have physical trauma, and all victims of childhood sexual abuse will grow up to become sex offenders. Let's take a closer look at these child sexual abuse myths.

Fireworks and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are a problem July 4th. I enlisted in the Army during the height of the Iraq War and was high on the list to go. Long story short, a health condition forced my discharge, but not before I watched people suffer nervous breakdowns and try to piece themselves back together in a hostile psychiatric system (What Is Combat PTSD?). That's one thing that weighs heavily on my heart as the Fourth of July approaches--the number of veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder who will be triggered by fireworks.

There are three myths some religious people believe about depression. Recently, I was on a panel discussing mental illness at a church. One individual said that we could get over depression because, "some people make their own depression" and, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." It brought back several memories of how this kind of thinking nearly destroyed my life. The best way to fight these depression and mental health myths is through education, so here are three myths some religious people believe about depression.

There are three things few people know about self-harm, also known as self-injury. Self-injury is rarely discussed in our society. Mental illness is rarely discussed, and self-injury is even more stigmatized. Virtually every website that discusses self-injury has the word "secret" in it, as do movies about it and books about it. Here are three things few people know about self-injury.

There are many things doctors won't tell you about psychiatric medications, but I'm going to focus on three. Recently, one of my readers left a comment detailing lies about psychiatric medications that resonated with me. She highlighted that psychiatric medications have many side effects, have withdrawal symptoms, and reminded me that psychiatric medications are expensive. So here are three things doctors won't tell you about psychiatric medications.