What The World Needs for Mental Health Advocacy Has Changed: A 6 Years Retrospective
This World Mental Health Day marks the 6 year anniversary of starting Mxiety as a blog with live streams dedicated to advocating for openness in mental health. Inevitably, this means nostalgia, introspection, and thoughts about the future have made home in my mind for the time being. Here they are laid out to make sense from
Why We Need Multiple Avenues of Care For Mental Health Beyond Therapy
I honestly never would have thought I would write this piece because for so long, I held therapy as a panacea for mental health problems.
Tips to Reduce Airplane and Travel Anxiety
“You just need to get out more,” is not a solution to mental illness. That is not how our minds work. Unbalanced chemicals and similar issues will remain with you, no matter where you are. Yes, getting out there helps your mind reach new spaces, and for some, might even be the long-needed jolt, but that is by far, not the case for all.
Let's Stop Mental Health Gatekeeping
I never fancied myself a doctor, not without earning it through years of intense schooling. I never pretended to know more than I do. I was ready to discount everything I knew from experience. How could it matter if an accredited university hadn’t double checked all of my work at some point?
Cover Photo by: by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
4 Things You Do After Growing Up With Narcissistic Parents
Narcissism Personality Disorder is a mental health issue which does not have to be synonymous with being mean or vindictive or even a bad parent. But when all those qualities align we, as children, are forced to learn bad habits in order to survive our toxic environment. Here’s a list that may help identify negative coping behaviors we may have picked up through our shared experiences as children of narcissists.
7 Common Signs It’s Time to Actually See a Therapist
Not only is there still a lot of stigma surrounding mental health, but the nature of some illnesses is that it’s easy enough to assume you have it under control, that you’re fine or insert your excuse here. That's why it's hard to argue with someone if they believe they are truly ok.
Anxiety Relief Kit Part III
Alright, I’ve made a few posts (See Part One and Two ) about my Anti-Anxiety Kit at this point. It’s a summarized list of things (physical and emotional) I have used over the years to help cope with my symptoms as they happened. When I started running, I would lose breath after a 100 yards and fall to my knees, dizzy without oxygen. I got upset and cried because I just wanted to jog. Running was supposed to help me learn how to breathe and make my anxiety better, but instead, it felt like it broke me.
Cover Photo by Emma Simpson on Unsplash
Anxiety Relief Kit Part I
To manage, somewhere in the back of brain, I have been putting together an Anxiety Kit. It’s a combination of things that I have used to help soothe the bad moments, to distract my mind from itself and avoid the grand finale—a panic attack. It’s a combination of coping mechanisms I have found in workbooks, heard from my therapist, or brought to me by friends. In hopes that it will help you too, I wrote them all down.
No, You Can't Just Suck It Up When You're Depressed
When I am depressed, I tend to avoid reading about other people’s symptoms, because it is usually too painful or hits too close to home. Even though I know so many of us feel the same way, when I am down, I often just want to unplug and not think about the stigma, the pain, and all the other problems that come along with mental illness. However, as if on cue, I will come across stuff like this:
What a Flashback Feels Like
Imagine a big storage case, with a ton of clips sitting inside and when you recall one, your brain works like a vending machine to dispense it to your consciousness.
With flashbacks, or in my case, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the vending machine is broken and releases too many clips out at once, or starts dispensing them without someone placing an order, at the wrong time. Anything I have lived through can be easily accessed at any moment. Good or bad memories—the brain is dispensing without regard.
How to End the Mental Health Stigma Club
With 6.9% of Americans reporting to have suffered a depressive episode in 2012 alone, we shouldn’t be saying things like, “what now all millennials are depressed” or “you just need to think positively more”. Instead, maybe we can research the problems and find a way to help those who need it, become comfortable receiving help. Not doing so, leaves people waiting longer to get better. And for those of us who do get help, it feels like you’ve joined a club so secret, even its members don’t know who’s in the club with them.