coping
Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.
Daily Habits That Will Help You Manage Your Mental Health
While many of us are very in tune with our physical health and spend time every day to keep our bodies in shape, we don’t necessarily take the same time to manage our mental health. Our mind and body are both equally important. To reduce stress, boost our immune system, and reduce anxiety and depression, we must commit time every day to improving our mental health as well as our physical health. It’s essential to feel good in mind, body, and soul. Starting today, take a pledge to manage your mental health better by using these simple daily habits.
By Morgan E. Westling6 years ago in Psyche
Running to Save My Life
For many years I have battled depression unknowingly, or maybe I knew and just did not understand. I simply believed I was just having a bad day, or a bad week, a bad year. But I realized something was actually wrong when I would be watching TV and start crying while watching any show where someone was succeeding. I remember watching The Voice one time and started crying uncontrollably at someone being eliminated, watching a serious commercial and tears would start to roll. My children would look at me with concern but just joke about it, because I would get so defensive if they questioned me about my tears.
By Christopher Paterson6 years ago in Psyche
Stepping Out of Hurt (Part 2)
I walked out the front door and into a misty rain that wet the ground and steamed in pools of moisture off the hot pavement. It smelled like sadness. The morning was grave and unsettling; Dad drove us to TriStar medical in the hopes that a man with a PhD could have some answers.
By Carly Norman6 years ago in Psyche
Breaking Away
Depression, a very complicated mental disorder nobody understands. The average American shows it through emotion or through actions. Although I suffer from this exhausting, complex issue I try to hide behind smiles and trying to stay strong like nothing bothers me. But on the inside I'm dying. I'm crying out please help me escape this horrific world. Nobody hears it because I'm so quiet and tucked away in my room majority of the time. Last time I spoke my feelings and asked for help I was called sick, childish and was told I need help because something is wrong with me. These words are so hurtful and these complex ppl don't see it because they're so stuck up their own ass. I'm asking and crying for help from you but you bash me and through your hatred towards me. You make me not want to reach out to any other individual for help because I'm afraid of being judged. I run to my room and lock my door and I'm yelled at for abandoning my responsibilities because this disease has taken over my mind and body and you're tearing me to shreds with your negativity. I thought you loved me enough to help save me instead of breaking me down every chance you get. This isn't love. This is what you do. You break me down so that you can walk over me and manipulate my mind so you can get your way. There's no escaping your realm. I'm stuck here until I'm able to get better and pull my life together. Instead of uplifting me, you have made my downfall worse than anything imaginable besides death itself. Where can I go for help from this world I'm living in?! I feel like I'm in another universe suffering from a lack of oxygen. I'm yelling and screaming but my calls are unanswered, the tears are falling down my face. Please, please I pray asking for it to be taken away. Still no answer. They say patience is a virtue, but I don't think my time will last here much longer. So if someone finds this please help me. I'm drowning... (takes a deep breath)
By Cierra Smith6 years ago in Psyche
My Crazy
I'm different. Not just quirky, not just funny, but severely different. The kind of different that would get me called crazy if I weren't on meds. I'm diagnosed with delusionoid schizophrenia, erotomania, agitative depression, uneven serotonin levels, borderline personality disorder. I agree on the borderline, the depression, and the uneven serotonin, but I disagree on the schizophrenia and erotomania. If I have erotomania, then every girl that's sexting does too. I know the ones I yell at aren't there. They're in my past and I regret what I didn't get to say to them.
By Alexandra F6 years ago in Psyche
The Shackled Monster
I remember the first time I was made aware of my own insecurities. I was 12 years old—young, quirky, frizzy-haired and eager. I was no beauty queen, but I told good stories and made people laugh. Middle school was never friendly toward me, to say the least. More than anything, I wanted to be liked. So, naturally, I tried out for the cheerleading squad. After all, those girls with their straight blonde hair and thin legs squeezed into elastic uniforms were the true stars of the show. I wanted in.
By Carly Norman6 years ago in Psyche
Good Enough? - The Metaphorical Mountain
I. The Metaphorical Mountain When we are young, we lack the life experiences we will later acquire. As teenagers we have only lived less than a quarter of our lives. Therefore we do not have much to hold in comparison, and it is difficult to gain perspective. So as teenagers all problems and all joys seem to be—and feel to us—a very big deal. I think this is why as youngsters we always have big reactions, where everything is part of this huge drama called life. We don’t yet have the life experience to compare our current circumstances against anything and say, "Well at least it’s not as bad as that one time when…." Or "This is up there with the best days of my life, along with …. and …."
By Ruth Esca Bowmer6 years ago in Psyche
Personal Essay: Brain on Repeat
“Our ability to handle life's challenges is a measure of our strength of character”—Les Brown. I can barely remember my life without the number nine coming up on a daily basis like there was a tape recorder on repeat in my brain. I was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder early in 2014. I would wash my hands nine times and a nightly and morning routine that needed to be repeated nine times. It wasn’t until the Christmas holidays in late December, however, when things really became unbearable. That was when I started having the disconcerting feeling that nothing was real. Everything was in my head. I felt like I could reach through my stomach and feel my intestines through my skin. In my head, my parents, my friends, my life wasn’t real. I thought that strange occurrence was just a one-time thing, but it wasn’t the end; it was merely just the beginning. Months later, I would be diagnosed with a “derealization disorder.” It was bearable until it wasn’t. Once I felt I had completely lost control, I realized the longest journey I would ever travel would be within myself. So the journey began.
By Nikola Roumeliotis6 years ago in Psyche
Tourette's: Growing up with the Disorder I Never Knew I Had
In the third grade, my class and I were eating lunch in the cafeteria. One of my classmates, John, sat at the table and brought out a large bag of Airheads: The holy grail of candies to a bunch of nine-year-olds. The craziest part is that he was giving pieces of them away to everyone at the table.
By Jonathan Miciano6 years ago in Psyche
I'm Done With My Shame Complex
I realize that I’m done with my shame issues. Here I have felt like I need to hide still, away from average people, hiding out my whole life. While because of 22q I have minor anatomical differences, I realize I’m good-looking. Feeling shame leads to feeling angry. Source. I’ve decided not to be as self-destructive anymore as I used to be with my alcoholism and caffeine addiction. I’m done feeling ashamed of myself, just because I think I need a therapist, which I have found, so don’t worry about that.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez6 years ago in Psyche
Singing the Pain Away
Although I only started learning how to play an instrument less than a year ago, I’ve been trying to write songs for years. It was something that I aspired to. Musicians don’t make much, lonely musicians make even less. But poetry and tune came naturally even when I didn’t know how to make them sound quite good. I still struggle with this, but I’m improving slowly.
By Will Jackson6 years ago in Psyche