*trigger warning - self-harm* I thought only teenagers did it. But here I was sitting on the floor of my room at 38-years-old with a scissor in my hands. A grown adult. The first time I drew blood was this past January. I was ashamed right after I performed the act. How could I do [...]
~Exit Signs In Blood Lines~ *Author’s note, self-harm is a long and hard recovery road, please ask yourself if you are in a place to read about someone else’s self-harm experience before reading on. If you need to talk to someone here are some options. I love you, Warriors. Keep. Going: National Suicide Prevention Lifeline [...]
There is so much stigma and misinformation around the topic of self-harm, commonly, it's associated with young female teens and often seen as a trend or as a way to get attention. Let me tell you that if someone is hurting their self; they need your attention. Nobody hurts themselves without reason. That person with [...]
I’ve struggled with depression since I was 11 though I’m pretty sure I’ve had it most of my life. I was sexually abused and raped by a caregiver when I was 7. My parents didn’t know about the rape until I was an adult and in therapy. They didn’t put me in treatment until I [...]
I have been dealing with my mental health for at least 3 decades, since I was about 12 ( maybe even younger), but it actually never occurred to me that I had any mental health" illness" or "disorder" or whatever people like to call it, until I was first put on a 5150 (involuntary 72 [...]
Eating Disorders have a higher mortality rate when compared with other mental illnesses. And yet it continues to be stigmatized and not talked about enough. Diet culture is pervasive and clever, and the selling of “health” as a product we can consume affects all our choices, whether we are conscious of it or not. It [...]
I have had an eating disorder for longer than I have not had an eating disorder. It shocks me how little people still know and understand about them. When new studies come out about eating disorders, they have never discovered anything that I haven't already known for years. I don't know what they are studying [...]
Usually, I do best with a steep learning curve, logical facts to wrestle, and practical plans to make. So when I found myself pregnant again (mostly accidentally) when my oldest was 22 months, I settled in to figure out a way to deal with what was crippling post-partum depression the last time around. It was [...]
When I was in my early 30s, I had to go to a state facility hospital. After my release, I went to another hospital to stay for a while. At that time, they told me I was schizoaffective - I had no idea what that meant, and I felt like I was the only one. [...]
Reflecting back on the last almost decade and a half of my bipolar diagnosis, I’ve noticed my perspective has shifted when it comes to considering the most difficult part. At first, it was the mania. Not exactly being in the middle of an episode, but the aftermath of what to do with purchases, or bank [...]
