Talking Back to Herbert, My Mental Illness, Improved My Mental Health
I realized what my sickness was versus what was truth.
Trying to Handle My Unhelpful Thoughts
“She’s annoyed with you, and no wonder. You hardly do anything to help,” he said to me, many times.
“He’s probably not interested in you anymore because you share too much,” he’s also said to me, many times.
These words come not from another person, but from the thoughts in my head. These words come from Herbert, my depression and anxiety voice.
I’ve heard before that separating your voice from your mental illness’s voice can be helpful in recovery. By separating these two voices, you can more easily listen to the healthy parts of your mind and realize you are more than your mental illness. I’ve always loved Youtuber and therapist Kati Morton’s video on how to do this.
Going to therapy and learning tools such as these really changed my perspective. I’d heard plenty of similar suggestions— like “watch your unhelpful thoughts float down a river like a leaf” — but those never worked for me. As someone who’s highly emotional and sensitive, I couldn’t get myself to think in that way. I felt too emotionally charged to slow down and engage in that type of…
