Blogs
Jess Weiner: " Did Loving My Body Almost Kill Me?"
That is the headline splashed across an article in September's Glamour magazine and online site. Weiner, a well-known author and speaker, has stressed for years that women of all weights and sizes can live happy and fulfilling lives right now. She lived her words, and created a successful career and life while being a size 18. That alone sounds radical in today's society that worships thinness and works hard to make women feel unsuccessful and unworthy if we dare to take up more space than a will-o'-wisp.
Then Weiner went to her physician, and that is all it took to take her down the familiar weight loss path of dieting and excessive exercise.
I went to see my own psychiatrist this week for my biannual "how's it going" visit. I said what I had to say. He pretended to listen and asked me questions I'd already answered. Then he said, "I don't think we need to change anything right now. I think you're just demoralized with everything you've got going on." Then he handed me the same prescription he's handed me for the past year.
I was relieved, in a way--even though I'm reasonably certain other things have come into play in my head, I've been concerned about changing up my medication, afraid he may introduce something new that would render me even more of a trainwreck than I've been lately. And at this stage of the game, I can't afford to be any less functional.
There is a popular misconception that depression is the same thing as sadness. I understand why you might think this if you don't have experience with depression. Depression is sad; it's true. But depression is a lot of other things as well. It's a whole new echelon of sadness. It's sadness 2.0.
This morning is a good example - I woke up depressed and the experience is nothing like sadness.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Armand DiMele, for his radio show on WBAI in NYC, which airs Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1 PM.
We talked about many things, using my book Ben Behind His Voices: One Family's Journey from the Chaos of Schizophrenia to Hope as a launching pad for advice for families.
What Armand most wanted to cover was the need for early detection (when does "my child is a little bit off" become "this is a possible mental illness"?), the experience of other family members (siblings, spouses, children as well as parents of those with a mental illness), and the need for communication skills and self-care in dealing with our loved ones. He rightly saw our family story as a platform for introducing others in similar situations to the need for things like education (such as NAMI, and of course HealthyPlace.com), support, advocacy, respect and self-care.
I took off a week off blogging, and after a mini breakdown of anxiety and panic attacks, I wanted to discuss in detail the importance of self care, and healthy coping skills not only in early sobriety, but in life as well. I will be on vacation next week and feel really passionate about this topic so I did two vlogs to talk about struggles, healthy coping skills, self care, and how it is important to take care of ourselves before we can help anyone else. I hope you enjoy and look forward to coming back in two weeks refreshed from my vacation off all media, internet and lounging by the pool in palm springs! If you want a funny puppy story definitely watch the second video :)
My coworker Ricky is a photographer, and I asked him to take some pictures for my personal blog. Upon hearing its name he said, “You’re bipolar? Cool." Ricky is the kind of person who appreciates perceived shortcomings as character building. And he likes people with a lot of character.
If you are a verbal abuse sufferer, your abuser tells you how selfish you are on a regular basis. You listen to your abuser's opinion on this matter with bated breath, waiting to hear how you are acting selfishly so you can stop doing it...right now! The backwards thing about it is that you martyred yourself for the relationship by sacrificing so many of your own "selfish" desires that you are now creating a confined, tiny life full of limitless impossibilities.
When I picked up Bob from a week-long visit with his father last weekend, I knew it was going to be a tough day. It always is when he comes back from these visits. I never know what exactly to expect, just that conflict will arise.
This time, the conflict was within me.
My name is Natalie Jeanne Champagne and welcome to my blog, Recovering from Mental Illness. I am twenty-six years old and am a freelance writer among other things. (People are, of course, much more than their chosen profession!) I have spent the last couple of years working to lessen the stereotype of mental health issues and this blog will reflect that.
I have published a book, "The Third Sunrise: A Memoir of Madness" on my experience with bipolar disorder and addiction. You can learn more about it on my website @ www.thethirdsunrise.com
I have already laid out some ideas on procrastination. This time, I want to speak about delaying paperwork, especially invoicing for the self-employed and expense reports for those employed.
Thank you for your comment. I'm sorry you're in that situation. I know how hard it is for parents to watch a child with mental illness struggle. Know this: you are not alone. Many parents are in this untenable situation.
Your options are very limited for the reasons you have listed. Your son is an adult and get to make his own decisions -- even when those decisions are heavily influenced by an illness. And while some might disagree, the US tends to fall on the side of personal rights, regardless of illness.
If your son is a risk to himself or others, you can see about getting him treated without his consent. (In some States, this is also possible when a person is at a grave threat of decompensation [getting sicker].) I know this is a hard thing to do, but sometimes the only thing that will help someone is the treatment they refuse.
I recommend you check out the Treatment Advocacy Center. They have a hotline and a lot of information online about serious mental illness and treatment of those illnesses: https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/
I also wrote this piece about the situation when help is refused (not associated with HealthyPlace) and it lists some additional resources: https://natashatracy.com/bipolar-blog/person-mental-illness-accept-illness/?swcfpc=1
Finally, I recommend you reach out to other parents in the same situation. You may be able to find these people through groups like NAMI (just Google them). Knowing others facing the same issues can help.
I hope your son is able to get help.
-- Natasha Tracy