Though I mention in my “About” page that I would write personal posts from time to time, this is the first time I’ve taken a chance on one.
You see, I am a very private person and do not like to air my struggles in public. And I feel that the things that I have been writing about here are far more important to my readers than the details of my personal battles.
This blog was started for two reasons: to give back to the community for all the help I have had over the years, and as therapy for my own self. I have studied bipolar disorder and the Anxiety Disorders deeply over the years, and believe I have something to give others. But that does not mean that I have completely conquered my own fears, or that I am personally “cured.”
As many of you know, I have bipolar disorder with ultra-radian cycling, Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia, and some symptoms of Social Phobia. My psychologist and psychiatrist decided that getting control of the bipolar disorder was the most important thing to do first, so that’s been the focus of my therapy for the past five years.
I’m happy to say that I am now feeling better bipolar-wise than I have in years. I am in the first “normal” (what is that?) phase in a decade, untroubled by either depression or mania. Knock on wood.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Anxiety Disorder,
Panic Attacks,
Panic Disorder,
Personal,
SAD - Social Phobia
This is not a political blog. But you probably know that!
However, the 2008 Presidential election is probably the most important election we have had in decades. The candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, have very different views of how they will lead the country and the direction they will take it.
Nowhere is this difference more pronounced than in the candidates’ views on health care and in particular, mental health care. Whatever candidate wins in November, we will see radical changes in the way health care is paid for in America and who is covered.
This post lays out each candidate’s mental health care plan along with their general health care plan. It is not done in a partisan manner, so that you can be free to choose which plan you consider the best. [Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Congress,
Elections,
House of Representatives,
McCain,
Mental Health,
Obama,
President,
Senate
Living with Health, Wellness and Wholeness is the tag line for this blog.
But what exactly do mental health, wellness and wholeness mean? When you think about it, it’s hard to pin down exact definitions for these terms.
And the definitions are continually changing for every individual because they are a process, a movement, and not static. In a way, we make our own definitions of what mental health, wellness and wholeness means for each of us.
To me, these are more than pretty words. They are the very underpinnings of this blog. So I’m going to take the plunge and describe what, in my view, mental health, wellness and wholeness really are.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Mental Health,
Mental Wellness,
Mental Wholeness
Up to 20 percent of the American public suffer from Anxiety, but only a small fraction seek treatment. That’s 60 million people in pain needlessly!
Why do so many people avoid treatment?
A man will think nothing about asking his doctor for a prescription for Viagra, but will often turn to alcohol or denial to deal with his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
A woman will go in for her annual pap smear to guard against cancer, but refuses to acknowledge that her Social Anxiety Disorder is gradually shrinking her life into utter misery.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Agoraphobia,
Anxiety,
Denial,
GAD - General Anxiety Disorder,
Medical Health Professionals,
Panic Disorder,
PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder,
SAD - Social Phobia
You’ve heard all the hurtful words before — words like “psycho,” “wacko,” and “schizo.”
Then there are the offhand descriptions of someone’s behavior as “OCD” or “having a panic attack.”
Advertisements regularly use mental illness symptoms to show how miserable life is without their products. And you’ve seen the jokes about mental health on television referring to “loony bins” and characters in straitjackets.
Mental health conditions are the butt of jokes in popular culture. While there are taboos against making discriminatory remarks about many groups of people, it seems that it’s open season on those with mental illnesses.
Negative portrayals of people with mental illnesses fuel fear and mistrust and reinforce distorted perceptions. They marginalize the mentally ill, making them feel that they are not useful members of society.
But if you or a loved one has a mental illness or has been diagnosed with a mental health disorder, you know that these words and gimmicks and attitudes aren’t just harmless fun. They perpetuate the stigma attached to mental health conditions. Stigma and scapegoating makes you angry and upset, and it causes the public to misunderstand mental illnesses.
Though the stigma and scapegoating of a mental health disorder can be painful and shaming, you can find ways to cope with it and even combat it.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Advertisements,
Jokes,
OCD,
Panic Attack,
Scapegoat,
Scapegoating,
Stigma
Do any of these attitudes seem familiar?
- Nearly 6 out of 10 people describe a person with a mental illness as “someone who has to be kept in a psychiatric or mental hospital”
- One third of people think that those with mental health problems should not have the same rights to a job as everyone else
- Only 31 percent of people think that mental hospitals are an outdated means of treating the mentally ill
- 1 in 8 people would not want to live next door to a person with a mental illness
- 5 out of 10 people believe that the mentally ill are violent and a threat to society
These findings are from a poll released by the U.K.’s Department of Health in May, 2008. There is ample evidence to show that the same stigma attached to mental illness in the U.K. is just as operative in the United States.
Other research has found that nearly 9 of 10 people with mental health problems have been affected by scapegoating, stigma and discrimination. Two thirds of the mentally ill say they have stopped doing things because of the stigma they face.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Mental Health,
Mental Illness,
Scapegoat,
Stigma
Just type “anxiety cure” into Google – you will come up with 343,000 hits. Typing in “panic attack cure” gets you 782,000 hits. The top of Google’s search results and the sidebar will be filled with advertisements for “cures” for Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks.
These “cures” claim to make Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks go away for good in much in the same way they might offer to cure hookworm. A cure by definition is an elimination of a disease and its symptoms. These companys’ advertisements imply that the sufferer is never going to have symptoms again, that once they have gone through their regimen, Anxiety Disorder and panic attacks will be gone permanently.
Anxiety and panic attack sufferers are desperate people, and I fear that too many of them are taken in by such dangerous claims.
These highly-advertised “cures” reek of snake oil to me.
[Read the entire article...]
Tagged as:
Advertisements,
Anxiety Disorder,
Mental Health,
Mental Health Professionals,
Panic Attacks
