Blogs
"Anxiety is the interest paid on trouble before it is due."
~ William Inge
In order to cope with ongoing anxiety and panic attacks, anybody trapped in the anxiety cycle will naturally keep using what seems to work. If you're using coping mechanisms that are detrimental to your long-term mental and physical health, here's an idea. After the panic has faded, assess how much of the time anxiety is in charge, and what it's costing you.
Bipolar disorder is episodic. This means that a person with bipolar disorder will experience episodes of depression and mania (or hypomania). And even when a person is relatively stable, thanks to successful bipolar treatment or just plain luck, it is likely they will still experience a depressive episode at some point in the future.
But how do you know if you’re heading into a depression?
Monday's blog focused on the role physiological and psychological sensitivity played for me in developing dissociative identity disorder. Today we tackle denial. The second of my four categories of causation, The Denial Factor, postulates that the chronic refusal to acknowledge trauma has a direct dissociative effect on the malleable identity of a child. I believe that for me and countless others, denial was a harbinger of dissociative amnesia and a potent force in the journey from trauma to DID.
To Do lists are often the only way I can remember all the various things I'm supposed to get done. Yet when ADHD fueled boredom settles in, managing and maintaining To Do lists is the very last thing on earth I want to do. Here's a tip I have found to keep To Do lists effective over time.
I’ve long been a fan of the Rudyard Kipling poem, “If.”
If you can keep your head when all about you
are losing theirs and blaming it on you…
I can relate to this verse. I’m sure all parents of mentally ill children can. Often the greatest challenge we face is not going stark raving mad ourselves.
We often focus so much on romantic relationships that we tend to overlook those other folks in our life—our friends. Unlike the family we are born into, we get to choose who we want to be friends with. And sometimes we need to take a closer look at the people we surround ourselves with to see if they are enriching our lives or bringing us down.
Amanda_HP
Guess what? Women apparently aren't the only ones going through menopause (Male Menopause: Men and Depression). Our guest on this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show, psychologist and author, Dr. Jed Diamond says male menopause is something every middle-aged man goes through, it's just a matter of degree. For the men who have a rough time of it, Dr. Diamond has coined the term Irritable Male Syndrome to describe a set of difficult-to-deal-with symptoms associated with male menopause.
The days leading up to the first day of school can be more nerve-wracking for parents of mentally ill children than trying to decipher your health insurance coverage. So how did school go for me and my bipolar child? Find out in my video post!
Last week I talked about the double edged sword of ADHD intensity. It could bring you to great creative heights, but also be hard on the people below. Ofttimes, however, that intensity is unintentionally released like an elemental force upon our loved ones when we are emotionally upset.
Last July, Bob’s psychiatrist handed me prescriptions for lithium, Seroquel, Clonidine, and Focalin.
We had discussed this before. Using lithium to treat childhood bipolar disorder was his "last resort", something he waited to prescribe until nothing else worked for Bob.
Lithium? Had it come to that? What if even lithium didn’t work?
my instagram is @chikinntenders or you can email me @ carolinelijia@gmail.com
Just know that you're not alone, and just because you feel like you should be happy doesn't mean you necessarily are. Sending love <3
Thank you for reading and leaving that comment. I wrote this piece because I know what it's like to beat yourself for not being able to do what the world says we should be able to. I want us all to stop doing that.
I'm honored to help where I can.
-- Natasha Tracy