In my last video blog post, I explained how and why anxiety can lead to self-injury; how many people who suffer from anxiety often engage in self-harming behaviors in order to cope with their anxiety symptoms. In this video, I focus on natural vitamins and supplements you can use to combat your anxiety, and therefore lessen your urge to self-injure when triggered by anxiety and panic.

A blog, from me, that is actually a bit positive in its desire to promote mental health? Well, yes, this is. If you read enough of my blogs (say two or three) you probably gather that I mix in a healthy amount of sarcasm--alongside with the recovering from mental illness bit. If you read this blog often enough it's clear I've had a rough time the past few months. Honestly, it feels like years and maybe it has been, but this fall and winter hit me hard. I'm sort of back on my feet again--albeit tottering--and so this blog is less sarcastic than most. Perhaps it is even verging on positive?

Lunar Does Not Mean Lunatic For years I’ve heard that wild things happen when the moon is full. More violence. More chaos. More mood swings. “They” say it is because our bodies are made of so much water that the moon acting on our bodies like it does the ocean tides causes people to act wonky. What do you think?

When I wrote the article ‘Eliminating the Word Schizophrenic’ I stated that schizophrenia was the most stigmatized of all the mental illnesses. Somehow, I forgot to consider dementia as the stigma that it bears runs much deeper than schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression combined.

Last time, I wrote about the terrors of getting on new bipolar medication. Many people identified with this, including one commenter who said: Sounds all too familiar. I’ve been drug free for several years and seriously doubt that I will ever put myself through that trial and error program again . . . at least for me, that relief is not to be found at the bottom of an orange vial with a childproof cap. I hope you find something to relieve the pain. I also hope you consider the notion that you’re likely stronger and more resourceful than you think you are. Now, I’m not calling out this commenter for doing anything wrong. I have no problem with his comment, nor with him. However, I find this comment insulting. Not because the commenter meant it to be, but because it suggests that people who don’t take medication for bipolar disorder are “stronger and more resourceful” than those who do.

After trauma and struggling with PTSD we all want two things: safety and control. How do we get them? Sometimes by rather maladaptive coping techniques!

I have been on every bipolar medication you can name and likely a few you could not. I have been on more medication combinations than I can remember. I have spent years dealing with medication side effects. There is very little medication pain that I cannot tolerate. I have taken medications that have made me feel amazingly well and bipolar medications that have made me feel intolerably ill. I’ve seen treatment miracles and treatment devastations. And still, I feel nothing but terror when I think of taking new bipolar medication.

When you are diagnosed with a mental illness--chronic or not--feelings of resentment are normal. They are even healthy, in small or medium doses, depending on your frame of mind.

Or, “What Lance Armstrong Has to Do With My Eating Disorder Recovery.” I was listening to NPR last weekend and they were, of course, talking about the Lance Armstrong interviews with Oprah, in which he admits to doping during the time which he won his seven Tour de France titles. (I wish I could find the link to this report, but after many hours of searching the NPR archives I couldn’t find it.) At one point during the segment, they quoted a psychologist whose point, in short, was that Lance Armstrong probably thought he was doing the best thing by lying about doping.

Insecurity comes from the media, our culture, and our inner feelings. Learn how insecurity and the media's provocative images are related and how self-esteem can be built.