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Like a film of cloudiness that filters the sunlight on a hazy day, my son Ben’s schizophrenia obscures some of the qualities that make him so dear. Without schizophrenia treatment, his abilities to connect, care, feel joy and share love seem almost impossible to see. With treatment, they are closer to the surface – but the 25% of him that is still obscured is sometimes heartbreaking, no matter how grateful we are that he is functional and mostly present. The presence of these clouds is lighter then, more like a haze than the thick formations when he is fully symptomatic. Still, Ben’s best qualities often seem dulled by that haze -and I miss the open, joyful child I used to know.
But sometimes, even the haze breaks – for an amazing moment – and I get a visit from Ben’s best self. Yesterday, I got a glimpse of his empathy, one of the qualities that get obscured as a negative symptom of schizophrenia.
It happened because of a tin of lip balm and it gave me a moment of joy and hope.
Why We Must Keep Developing New Schizophrenia Treatments
There is always something that triggers the interest, want or need to self-harm. Listing self-harm triggers could go on forever, but after looking around at others who have self-harmed, as well as my own background, I found three major triggers that seem to be factors in the self-harming world. The three self-harm triggers that I noticed popped up the most were family, relationships, and bullying.
Hello, I'm Patricia Lemoine. I'm glad to be joining Jess Hudgens in writing the Surviving ED Blog. I suffered from bulimia as a teen and in my early 20s. Undiagnosed and untreated for almost a decade, my eating disorder got out of control in 2006. I now consider myself recovered from bulimia, though I sometimes suffer from anxiety, mostly related to food. I strongly believe eating disorder recovery is possible, but it’s an everyday choice since I must manage daily anxieties by not self-harming with food restriction and/or binging.
Talking with a teacher is always hard. It's about advocating for your child. It's especially hard if the teacher has already heard through the grapevine or seen your child's school record. But, what if a new teacher does not know anything about your child?
For years, advocating has been a part of my life. I've met with teachers, after-school counselors, etc. all to deal with Bob's behavioral and academic issues. That's my role as the parent. Meeting with anyone to talk about Bob should be a breeze, but it is the first time in a long time that I'll be talking with someone who has no idea of Bob's ADHD.
I thought I was done with writing about eating disorders.
I developed and started writing HealthyPlace's Surviving ED blog in 2010. Readers saw me through several relapses, struggles and many tears, and the everyday ups and downs of recovering from an eating disorder.
In December 2012, I wrote a highly optimistic good-bye post, declaring that I had found my dream job and wishing everyone well. I was done, done with anorexia and writing about it. I was moving on, to a bright and endless future.
First I found out the job wasn't such a dream after all.
Today I found out I am overweight and need to lose some pounds, putting me on par with the majority of Americans.
I can't believe it.
Learn how to talk to your children in a way that builds their self-esteem, tips to improve your communication with kids.
Let's talk about he blame game, forgiveness and guilt. Did you ever wonder why people feel guilt even though they have done nothing wrong? Humans have the psychological need for order. If something they experience is chaotic; blame is the easiest way to make order of it. Sometimes we blame ourselves and sometimes we blame others. But most of us go back and forth between the two.
Does harsh physical punishment of children have any lasting physical disease consequences? Children have been surviving childhood, irrespective of childhood trauma, for a long time. If survival were all we were interested in, we could change the subject at this point. However, we hope for more than this, so we must look more deeply at what we do with the little people in our lives.
The insanity defense has long endured contempt and disdain from the general public because it is perceived as a sleazy loophole allowing the dregs of our criminal class to fall through cracks in the judicial system which, we may all agree, is usually characterized by genteel civility and scrupulous even-handedness. One must wonder; has the mentally ill populace not suffered enough – both under the weight of maladies not of their own making – and the bitter, acidic atmosphere of stigma, discrimination, and underemployment? I say “Yes” – yes we have!
Delusions are false beliefs that are held in spite of a lack of evidence or even evidence to the contrary. For example, a delusion might be believing that the FBI is surveilling you every day or that you can predict the future. Delusions are a part of psychosis which can be present in bipolar depression or bipolar mania.
Delusions are easiest to spot when they’re exaggerated, like in the above examples, but I would suggest that delusions are much more common when we give them credit for. I would suggest that delusions are present in most cases of severe bipolar depression.
My point being, I'm right there with you. I hate the rollercoaster. I just want to live life without being in a state of constant fight or flight mode, only for his character to change and de-escalate and I fall for the person I fell for all over again.
Exhausting is a horrible word. The understatement of all understatements, if you will.
I wish there were better support groups for this kind of mental health condition.