Category Archive

mental illness

Want something better than 13 Reasons Why? Here's the show that wins in portraying mental illness

Want something better than 13 Reasons Why? Here’s the show that wins in portraying mental illness

13 Reasons Why was problematic when it came to dramatizing suicidal ideation and execution — in all it’s heavy and highly dramatized detail. I want to call out an alternative. A really good alternative and one you may have missed if you’re outside of the U.K. Here’s why My Mad Fat Diary is a much better portrayal of mental illness and suicide…

Panic attack chronicles: Don’t let your mental illness bully you

My husband drove us home in my car, sans groceries. I sobbed the whole way, shaking and panicking, and thinking “I’m such a weak fucking loser. I wonder if he’ll leave me. I hope he does — he’d be better off.”

But having panic attacks/mental illness doesn’t make you unlovable, or a bad partner, as long as you are being proactive about caring for your mental health…

I’m a father and I want to talk about parenting with depression

I’m sure other parents have gone through this, and it’s not a topic we talk about a lot. Postpartum depression has gotten a lot of press in recent years (as it should), but depression impacts dads as well. As men, we tend to avoid these kinds of topics by and large; which is foolish, but that doesn’t make it any less the case.

So let’s talk about parenting with depression…

I have a mother with a personality disorder

I know many people can relate to the guilt, anger and destroyed self-esteem that can resulted from a parents’ manipulative behaviors through-out childhood, without me even having to rant about the exact ways my mother’s personality disorder attempted to destroy her kids. There are as many ways to deal with someone like my mom as there are unhealthy relationships. I would like to share my experience with a mother with a personality disorder, in the hopes that it might resonate with someone.

Keep in mind, I am not an expert. But here is how a bruised kid somehow grew into a happy, confident adult…

I’m grieving for the kids that we now can’t have. How do I cope?

We’ve discovered that my mental health isn’t anywhere near as stable as I thought it was. And we had to make the difficult decision to stop trying to get pregnant. I know that this is the right choice to make, for my sanity if nothing else. But I feel like I’m grieving for the life we planned, and the kids that won’t be a part of it. Any advice?

How my silicone wedding ring represents marriage as a whole

After being diagnosed and struggling with Bipolar Disorder, I thanked my husband for all he had done, and I gave him a new wedding ring.

This one is silicone, and I have one to match. I still have my original gold wedding band, but my silicone ring now seems so much more of a real representation of marriage to me…

How do you decide when to tell your kid about your personality disorder(s)?

My fiance and I are planning on having children in the near future. He has ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Dissociative Identity Disorder — multiple personalities if you will. Right now, it’s just me, him, and my sister who know. We’re wondering: how do we tell our future kids?

What an overstimulated mom, empathetic toddler, and the Care Bears have it common

I get overstimulated easily. It sucks, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. Usually I just need to take breaks from whatever we’re doing and have some quiet time, then I can return refreshed and ready to tolerate some more chaos. Sometime though, I get stimulated past my breaking point and I freak out. The big freakouts luckily only happen a few times a year, but I had one recently.