- Anxiety, Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, PTSD, Recovery, Schizoaffective Disorder, Schizophrenia
What do I want when I need support?
What do I want when I’m not okay? How can you help me when I’m coming unraveled on the floor? What are you expected to do when my nerves are on fire and I can’t handle it? What are you supposed to say when I’m telling you I’m seeing something that you can’t see? How are you supposed to know what to do? Well, you aren’t. I spent years wanting someone to just know what I wanted and how to help me without me having to explain. But over the years I realized that I couldn’t expect others to know. Why would you know? Why would you know how to…
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When my PTSD is Triggered
Trigger Warning: Mention of self harm, suicidal thoughts, and rape A little over a week ago, I found out that the person at the source of my trauma, my ex-boyfriend, now lives in my apartment building. I’d imagined countless ways we might come face to face, but this was a nightmare I never even considered. Here’s what post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is like for me. What does my PTSD look like? It looks like me, smiling at people as I walk down the hall. Meanwhile, panic has me by the throat every time I walk into an area where I might run into him. It’s me answering the phone at…
- Anxiety, Depression, Eating Disorders, Medication, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, PTSD, Recovery, Schizoaffective Disorder, Schizophrenia
Preparedness for people with mental illnesses
It can be hard to feel prepared for anything when you’ve got a mental health disorder. Below is a list of things that I’ve done to prepare myself for events ranging from forgetting the details of my medications to the possibility of being unable to make decisions for myself. Keep a list of medications with important personal information I take many medications for both mental and physical issues daily, but it was hard to keep track of them. To make that easier, I started carrying a list with me in my wallet. This way, when doctors asked about my medication, I could just give them the list. It turned out…
- Anxiety, Depression, Eating Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, PTSD, Recovery, Schizoaffective Disorder, Schizophrenia
What does recovery mean?
What does recovery mean in terms of mental health? And what does it mean to be recovered from a mental illness? Are there still meds involved? Are you free and clear? Will it last forever? Throughout my time in mental health advocacy, I’ve heard a lot of people talk about recovery, and, while I do feel like the way the term “full recovery” is used is sometimes misleading, what I’ve learned is that recovery is very personal in both the process and the meaning. I hadn’t really thought about it before When I attended training at the Chicago chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness to be a Crisis…
- Anxiety, Depression, Eating Disorders, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, PTSD, Schizoaffective Disorder, Schizophrenia
Mental illness isn’t one size fits all
Any time you interact with someone with a mental health condition, there’s one very important thing to remember – as the stereotypes you know from movies and media start creeping into your view of them, remember that everyone is different and mental illness isn’t one size fits all. You know how some people are tall and some people are short? Or how some people have blonde hair and others have brown? Guess what – mental illness is the same way! Sure, some people have those stereotypical symptoms, but a lot of people don’t, and that doesn’t mean they aren’t truly experiencing it or don’t fall under the same class of…