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In 2022, the potential for overstimulation is real, from phones to smartwatches and everything in between. Even now, as I type away on my laptop, I can't help but ponder the previous eight hours I spent staring at an almost identical screen. I'm not naive. I know that technology--and the no doubt plethora of benefits we reap from it--is an integral part of our daily lives. I'm no technology shunner; I'm simply a mental health enthusiast.
I've been writing for HealthyPlace for about six months now. I've written numerous articles about dealing with low self-esteem and how to improve it. However, I've been thinking about my process and realized that while I may be able to identify low self-esteem, that doesn't mean everyone can. Today, I'd like to take a different approach to identifying low self-esteem. I'll write this post from my viewpoint as I figure out my self-esteem.
I have permission to enjoy food. As obvious as this sounds, it's one of the most impactful realizations I've come to learn in eating disorder recovery. In the darkest seasons of my illness, I believed that showing a preference for any food at all was a sign of weakness. I would not allow myself to acknowledge pleasure in the flavors or textures of anything I ate. Food was purely utilitarian back then—I consumed just enough to stay alive and placate the concerns of those around me. But the more I heal, the more I learn that food is a source of nourishment and enjoyment. So I can grant myself permission to experience both.
Last summer, my boyfriend and I enjoyed celebrating our birthdays and the Fourth of July together for the first time. But after our relationship ended in late July, I felt like a mess. This past year since the breakup, every holiday and milestone was very difficult for me. Now that nearly a year has passed since the breakup, I have learned how to continue my single life. Here are five coping methods that have helped me.
When I have racing thoughts, feel overwhelmed, and feel like things are out of control, it becomes a major struggle to feel a sense of calm. Calmness, when you're anxious, becomes difficult to achieve, at least at the moment, because it's so hard to quiet all of the other thoughts and resulting symptoms that accompany anxiety, especially when you experience a panic attack. So, then I try to pull myself away from being overstimulated. 
In my experience, adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) creates strong impulsivity. For me, that means buying unnecessary items, diving into uncertain situations without proper consideration, and being a poor conversationalist.
Each summer, I am greeted by a familiar experience. I shake my routines and try to squeeze in being outside and seeing people I haven't seen in a while. Summer draws out my restless, ambitious side. I've realized in previous summers that this frenzy of activity affects the routine that keeps me in recovery from binge eating disorder (BED). This summer, I am reminding myself what I need to do to savor the summer months while not engaging in eating disorder behavior.
Saying goodbye is never easy, but it is crucial because everything ends. After writing for three years for "Work and Bipolar or Depression," my journey has taken a bittersweet turn. This is my last post about work and depression, and I want to express my gratitude to team HealthyPlace and my readers.
When I first began experiencing the onset of depression, I was confused and terrified. Although vague and patchy, at the time, I did have a basic understanding of how the disease typically presented itself in individuals. I was adamant that what I felt was not synonymous with someone who was depressed. The emotions I was experiencing didn't align with the accounts of other individuals who had experienced depression. Not only was I confused and terrified, but I also felt like an outcast in the community that theoretically should have provided me with solace.
Verbal abuse can rear its ugly head anywhere to anyone, including children in a school setting. Unfortunately, it can be more than a child's peers who use name-calling or teasing to get the attention they want. In some situations, the trusted adults in the classroom who receive payment to guide our children and help them learn are the ones throwing around insults and demeaning kids. Verbal abuse can happen at school.

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Natasha Tracy
Hi Thalia,

I can't tell anyone what to do with their bipolar. One thing I can tell you, though, is the more episodes you have and the worse they are, the harder they become to treat. Your prognosis gets worse. The idea is to keep a person at baseline on medication so that doesn't happen.

Here is one study that talks about that: https://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0213-61632006000100003

Here is another: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4733595/

Best of luck. I hope you stay at baseline.

-- Natasha Tracy
Sarah
Hi, I'm just wondering... Did your husband know about your mental health and the challenges that do happen sometimes daily in every day life? Was he interested in learning more about it at all or did he just say basically that it's ok, he can handle it and he doesn't judge? I've been married for over 21 years now, and really hope to find answers to a lot of questions I wish someone would have asked me...
T S
I'm a single mother three children ages 20, 18 and 14. My daughter the oldest, moved in with my sister when she was 15 because of his appointments Etc and behavior was already just all about him. He is the youngest one 14 now. My 18-year-old son moved out and moved in with his girlfriend 2 years ago because of the same thing. I am a single mother, there's no one that wants to deal with him and his outwards he's been having them since he's about three and of course they've gotten worse and worse over the years. None of my family will help me I have lost pretty much all my friends now. I can't work because you can only leave so many times to pick up your kid before you get fired. I've lost everything because I can't support us anymore. He has like 4 hours of school a week and for the library if that, Forever on services and other things have done no good he is been seeing doctors and in the services since he was in preschool now he refuses to go and he's too big for me to make him. So now he's not on any meds anymore and I am under constant barragement and I have talked to every school every therapist I have made phone calls I have called every mental health place in a 1500 mile radius and no one seems to ever be able to do anything. I've always been open about it and asked anyone I met or seen anyone if they remotely had any idea or name and places anything that could help no matter how much would give me anything. I have did all the things have been supposed to do all these years and then nothing works after a few years and I kind of give up and then I somehow try again and I'm at the end of my rope I don't even know where my rope is anymore. It's caused us to be homeless no no vehicles and he doesn't seem to care he's not suicidal so the acute care places won't take him anymore. When we were going all the time he was in the wraparound program and seeing therapist no home-based person all these things and that kept saying he needed to be in a residential and I've had four psychiatrists tell me that he was going to run me into the ground if something wasn't done. Yet, here we are nothing was done and now I have nothing he has nothing everyone has failed him and in turn me. My other kids won't even talk to me because that's all I talk about they want to talk about happy stuff but that's my life is I don't know what to do anymore. I called DCs on myself once, but apparently, you have to be on drugs for them to help. Trust me they we're incredibly surprised when I passed the test and they even asked me to take another one at the office the next day which I did. They think that I passed it somehow because I look terrible. I explained to them that's what has happened to me I've slowly deteriorated into whatever this is I am now. I need help. Last time I brought into the ER, which has been a while because previously mentioned reasons, I was told that the places didn't want to take him because he wasn't suicidal and I and cried and told them what about me what about me I'm suicidal please help me. They called security and gave me his release papers and had us escorted out. So no help there either. I've done this to the school his therapist psychiatrist pretty much anybody that will listen. This is the first time I've done this though. I don't know what to do anymore I guess I'm just
Neo
This issue is that this is basically just saying to change your perspective on things, but it doesn't say how. I literally cry when I answer a question wrong, even if it's something we're actively learning. I can't just unlearn it like that. How??
Ellen
I have PTSD from Intimate partner abuse and I was divorced in 2006. I spent 15 yrs alone before marrying by present husband. Before we married I told him about my issues and that I needed quiet surroundings. He said he understood. But 3 mos. after we married he started making loud annoying noises and talking loudly to himself among many other irritating noises all day every day and my anxiety level causes my stomach to hurt and triggers migraines.
I mention that his noise drive me crazy and he does nothing to change. He has also started sucking his teeth.....