Ashley’s family sadly wishes to inform her readers that she passed away on October 9th. She could no longer bear the suffering she was experiencing and finally succumbed to her severe depression. Her obituary can be found at: dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/vancouver-bc/ashley-peterson-10985838## Thank you for supporting her blog as we know it was very important to her and …
I was recently browsing the blog of Pete Earley, the author of the book Crazy: A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, and I came across a post on a recent Manhattan Institute report criticizing Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). The Manhattan Institute is a conservative think tank, and I’ve previously taken issue with …
I wanted to share with you a new podcast created by my friend Mike Edward called Living with Chronic Mental Illness. It’s about his own journey with chronic schizoaffective disorder. As the host says, “It’s the story of challenging moments, of failures, of successes, of love, of loss, and of hope. This is the story …
Review: Living with Chronic Mental Illness Podcast Read More »
I got thinking about this recently while reading The Happiness Trap. In it, Russ Harris pointed out that the comfort zone often isn’t actually comfortable. It may involve a heck of a lot more misery than comfort. So why are we so pulled to hang out there? When the comfort zone is good If things …
I consider myself a mental health advocate, but what does that actually mean? It probably means different things to different people, but let’s chat about it. What a mental health advocate is Before we get to my definition, here’s what a couple of other sources have to say. “Mental health advocates are heroes — individuals …
Thanks to everyone who filled out the survey last week on mental illness and hygiene. Now it’s time for the results! In order to protect privacy, I’m being somewhat vague in reporting some of the responses. I won’t say exactly how many people responded, but I think it was enough to make the results meaningful. …
How Mental Illness Affects Hygiene: Survey Results Read More »
Sometimes, hospitalization for mental illness happens involuntarily and isn’t under our control. Other times, though, an inpatient stay is something we have to ponder and weigh the pros and cons of. So, what are some of the factors to consider in making that decision? This post will look at a few of them. Suicidality There …
Is it Time for a Psych Inpatient Stay? Things to Consider Read More »
Delusions are a type of abnormal thought content that involve false beliefs that are firmly held despite evidence to the contrary. They are idiosyncratic and can’t be accounted for by a person’s culture, religion, or level of education. They’re considered a type of psychotic symptom, which can occur in the context of various illnesses, including …
Journalling is a fantastic tool for working through thoughts and feelings. It’s great to get the raw stuff out, but it’s not always pretty. So how does it feel when you go back and look at old journal entries? I find it helpful to re-read recent journal entries, as in from the last week or …
How Do You Feel Looking Back at Old Journal Entries? Read More »
In March of this year, the American Psychiatric Association came out with the DSM-5-TR, the text revision of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Text revisions have changes that are less significant than the changes between editions, and the DSM-IV was also followed by the DSM-IV-TR. So, what do …
