Opening up to someone else helped each of us feel less alone.
Hypomania, according to the Harvard Mental Health Letter, is usually described as a mood state or energy level that is elevated above normal, but not so extreme as to cause impairment — the most important characteristic distinguishing it from mania.
Aside from my writing, I don’t make a habit of telling people about my neurodivergence. I like familiarizing others with my personal experiences, especially when so much media gets bipolar wrong. But I also want to protect myself.
I don’t want people in my day-to-day to look at me differently if they already got in their heads that bipolar people…
Taking a look at how our brains respond to trauma
In my early twenties, I didn’t know that what I was experiencing were triggers. I often found myself in emotional flashbacks or in situations where my body responded by fawning or ready to flee. Things such as a clipped tone could send my anxiety spiking through the roof.
These things were connected to my childhood, but the how often evaded me. I knew my father used angry tones, often going into verbally abusive cycles, but at the time I couldn’t see how my mother fit into my triggers. …
Such an addiction alters the order of life; how to restore it.
Just a glimpse into our lives:
When I first decided two years ago to write about my son’s heroin addiction, his girlfriend’s addicted pregnancy, and my first grandson, Charlie, who has suffered the consequences of their lifestyles, I was afraid of relaying both too much information and, more importantly, not sharing enough.
I wanted to reach out to others going through the same and similar things and I desperately hoped doing so would help our situation, as well. …
This is how I am learning, the hard way
“Unhealthy boundaries are often characterized by a weak sense of your own identity and your own feelings of disempowerment in decision making in your own life.” -Stephanie Camins, MA, LPC
I had never felt in control of my own life. In abusive environments, I learned to accommodate everyone else to barter for love, and I became stuck there when I was told that setting boundaries or claiming what was best for me was selfish.
So I sacrificed my identity and removed all boundaries, attempting to avoid rejection, abandonment, and hurtful retaliation.
Feeling responsible for meeting everyone else’s needs prompted me…
Tips for keeping up your mental health after a year of lockdown.
I have been writing about mental health since 2019, when I opened up a Google Form with the open-ended question of “I have bipolar, ask me anything.” The questions and subsequent answers led me to start writing in a forum that would be visible to many more than just my limited friend group.
I’ve published a lot of articles about depression, suicide, anxiety, and self-care, among other things. Many people have been helped by those articles, based on the reactions I’ve received. …
I was recently forced to confront everything I had been suppressing when my fury frightened a loved one
If acquaintances outside my family heard I had an anger problem, they would probably be surprised. In my normal state, I am known as a calm and stable person. Well, I suffer from intense clinical depression and mood swings, so maybe stable is a stretch. But the calm part is true.
That does not mean I never get angry. To the contrary, I am one of the angriest people I know. I simply internalize a lot of it. Channel it through the novels I write or the paintings I make sometimes. Ninety percent of it goes unexpressed. …
Thoughts on autistic masking and how we can stop
The very first inkling I had that I might be autistic was… Well, actually, I had no inkling whatsoever until a Special Educational Needs teacher asked me: “have you ever considered that you might be autistic?”
In the recent past, global mental health has faced multiple macro challenges. Could a changing climate now add to this threat?
The human mind is probably the biggest wonder of the known universe. While humanity today understands the mind and its numerous complexities much better than any other time in the past, there is still a lot that we do not yet understand.
However, what has increasingly become clear are the numerous changes in our world over the last few decades have been causing deterioration in the mental well-being of people around the world.
Technology, for instance, while connecting the world like never before, has also caused mental strain to a number of people. Similarly, terrorism and growing global inequality are…
No, codependency is not just “being clingy”.
Many of us associate codependency with clinginess, but it’s something much deeper than that. In fact, I used to be codependent and I was the exact opposite of clingy.
You can be codependent and appear to be a confident individual who has it all figured out when, deep down, you struggle with trusting yourself, loving yourself, and attracting healthy, uplifting relationships.
This is because codependency is a pattern you absorb unconsciously, not a trait you consciously have. It conditions you in every sphere of your life.
Codependency stems from growing up in enmeshed families where our individuality is not valued…
New medications have a big impact on my anxiety
When I arrived at the Wilmington Air Park mass vaccination center in Wilmington, Ohio, my heart rate was up before I was out of the car. As I waited in line, my anxiety was palpable.
After a quiet old woman wordlessly jabbed me in the deltoid muscle, I sat with my husband for the obligatory 15-minute period to make sure we didn’t have a horrible reaction.
I paid attention to my body. My breathing, my pulse, any pain I felt. At the same time, I also talked to my partner as a way to distract myself. To avoid paying too…
Invisible Illness
We don't talk enough about mental health.
