coping
Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.
Being Honest about Mental Health
October 10 marked World Mental Health Day. As someone who suffers from depression and anxiety, mental health is something which plays a large role in my life on a day to day basis. There are many ways in which I could write this post — from my experiences of depression to how to handle a panic attack — but I would like to talk about something which I found helped me to understand, accept and ultimately combat my depression: honesty.
By Emily White8 years ago in Psyche
Introduction to F
There isn’t much I like to discuss with friends and or family. Over the years I learned that keeping everything on the “low” is a much better way of avoiding any sort of conflict. I might even update my profile so that, on the off chance, I don’t get recognized. My friends seem to think I have grown colder and at times I feel the same, but that’s not the case. I’ve grown, I have grown older, wiser, I have learned from my past mistakes. But I am still young and have much to learn, the process will sometimes suck but I’ll learn regardless.
By Fernando Gomez8 years ago in Psyche
When the Spiral Comes
Living with Borderline Personality Disorder hasn't been easy. In reality, I should say that knowing I have BPD is a struggle. Some people have said to me before, "You're the same person you were before you found out. Nothing has changed." But if you're someone like me or live with another disorder, you know that that's simply not the case. It feels as though my entire world has changed into a strange new map in a video game. I liked the first map I was playing in. I knew what I did at that time and, though it was confusing and scary at times, I knew how to navigate. I knew the safe places to take cover from the enemy. This new map, this new chapter in my life, though the same, is a brand new world. It's full of stigma, people who don't understand, and even more questioning who I am as a person.
By Sarah LeBlanc8 years ago in Psyche
It's Mental Health Day...
It's been two years since I attempted suicide. I constantly like to reflect on where I have been since my release from the Harlem Hospital's Psych Ward. In honor of Mental Health Day, or Mental Health Week (shit, let's make that a month!) I've decided to write about where I am today.
By Aurea Gonzalez8 years ago in Psyche
Karma’s Not as Bad as You Think
Every second of every day, I fear the words that will come from your mouth. I fear whether they shall hurt only for a short while, or sting forever. I wake up smiling, only to realize I don’t have much to smile about. My life is an endless cycle of misery. Wake up, eat, fear, work, go to sleep. I do this day after day, yet I can’t seem to break it. I try so hard to change the path my life has taken, yet my feet stay planted. I’m a simple girl, and I grew up with a simple life. I don’t ask for much and I don’t expect much. I don’t trust easily, and I fall in love quickly. I have scars from many times in my life, mentally, physically, and emotionally. I have cuts from a razor blade. I have scars from bumps and scrapes. I have scars mentally, enough to put me into a depression, over and over. I have scars emotionally. I don’t smile, I don’t eat, I don’t sleep, and I’m not at peace with my life or myself.
By Amanda Lynn8 years ago in Psyche
The Girl Who Remains
Each day, a little of our yesterday fades away. A memory blurs into a forgotten moment forever lost in the past. A lock of hair clipped away, a favorite over-worn pair of sneakers we finally discard, a hand-written letter with missing words in faded ink. We keep sentimental relics but do not always realize their significance until the devastating period of retrospect requires them to remind of us a happy once-was that we can no longer conjure in the present. Every new cycle, we transform ourselves into a new us, on each new today — though time is relative. We brace ourselves for what lies ahead in each new tomorrow. Only tomorrow seems as distant as yesterday when our sadness causes time to screech to a halt.
By Amanda Karenina8 years ago in Psyche
Abyss
Sometimes when we are going through a rough patch, we don't know what it is to feel, we feel numb inside and sometimes the feeling never seems to leave the body. The pain screams in the pit of our stomach, the thoughts run all over the body making it feel colder. What will happen if we stop feeling?
By Emily Buehner8 years ago in Psyche
The Cocoon
The most vivid memories I have from grade school all have two things in common: shame, and the desperate, seizing feeling of not belonging. At this point in my life, those memories are all stills. All of the characters’ voices are mine; faces are only a flash of color. But the accompanying emotions, and how I internalized them, have not left my side.
By Elizabeth Olson8 years ago in Psyche
The Rambling Thoughts of an Insomniac
It's two o'clock in the morning and I'm still awake. The ghosts of the past as well as the stress of the present play hell with my mind, and so I don't sleep. Sleep has always been illusive to me, always just out of my reach. Every day I tell myself, "I'll sleep tonight because I'm really tired," but I rarely do. Mr. Insomnia is my best friend. I've been a pal of his all my life. You see when you are a child of abuse, in bed is a precarious place to be. You are never more helpless than when you are asleep. It ranks right up there with being naked in the tub. I need to relieve the tremendous emotional energy that is building up and spilling over robbing me of sleep and carrying me to the edge. I've been taking notes on every piece of paper I can find to get the feelings and thoughts out in some semblance of order. It’s my way of downloading, if you will, all the thoughts in my head.
By Shirley J. Davis8 years ago in Psyche
How Music Helps Me Stay Mentally Stable
I love music. In fact there is not one genre of music I don't like. I can listen to anything, party, dance, rock, pop, blues, country, and the list goes on... Music has a good impact on my mental health; however, what I choose to listen to depends on the mood I am in during the day, and if my mood changes, what I listen to does too. For example, if I am in an angry mood, then I usually listen to heavy rock. The reason why is because much of it is explosive (like my anger) and as a result, it helps me to get those angry emotions out without harming myself or others. If I am in a good mood, then it's dance and this is brilliant, because I tend to do a lot of housework, and I often end up dancing to it.
By Carol Ann Townend8 years ago in Psyche
Cracked
At the time I was introduced to Kintsugi—a Japanese art form, in which broken pottery is repaired using lacquer mixed with powdered precious metals: silver, gold, and platinum—I could truly relate to broken pottery; I felt ugly and useless, irreparably damaged. I was, for what seemed to be the hundredth time, in an outpatient treatment program for adults struggling with mental illness after yet another stay in a psychiatric hospital. I felt depressed; I felt hopeless; I felt hideous from the inside out. I honestly believed myself to be truly, irrevocably broken, and I saw no end in sight to the emotional turmoil or mental torture. I could not see any light in my life, because I was being buried wholly by the innumerable shards of my own destroyed self—the bits and pieces of my dysfunctional existence that I was clinging to for dear life, despite the pain they were causing myself and those around me. I remained stuck in this deep, dark rut of familiar pain until I was given information about Kintsugi by a counselor in this treatment program. Upon discovering this practice, I came to the realization that being cracked could be a positive in my life; because I am cracked, I have the opportunity to become the person I am meant to be, full of unique traits and beautiful imperfections, and, through those cracks, light has the potential and opportunity to infiltrate my darkness.
By Hannah Easop8 years ago in Psyche
