A nurse that I used to work with developed an addiction a number of years back. When it came out, in order to have any hope of getting his job and his nursing license back, he was required to see an addictions specialist and adhere to the treatment plan that was set out. One of […]
Should People with Addictions Be Forced to Attend AA? Read More »
I recently commented on another blogger’s post and mentioned that depression makes me hard to love. From their response, it seemed like they misinterpreted where I was going with that, so I thought it was worth doing a post about. I’ve written before about how I used to conceptualize separate well and ill selves. My
Does Mental Illness Make You Hard to Love? Read More »
In my 15 years working as a mental health nurse, I had never come across the concept of spoon theory; I only learned about it once I started blogging. More recently, I came across fork theory, which we’ll look at in this post. I’ve gotta say, I’m loving the cutlery metaphors to represent mental illness
Fork Theory: How the Anti-Spoons Affect Mental Illness Read More »
The basic idea of positive psychology is a good one. Who doesn’t want to feel happier and the other positive emotions that go along with that? The essentials of positive psychology According to PositivePsychology.com, positive psychology focuses on the positive aspects of life, including: “Positive experiences (like happiness, joy, inspiration, and love)” “Positive states and
How Well Does Positive Psychology Apply to Mental Illness? Read More »
Getting a mental illness diagnosis can be hard, but getting the wrong diagnosis or going undiagnosed can be even harder. Unfortunately, that’s something that a lot of people struggling with their mental health end up going through at one point or another. Here are a few excerpts from my book Making Sense of Psychiatric Diagnosis
What It’s Like to Go Undiagnosed or Misdiagnosed Read More »
Black feminist researcher Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw first proposed the concept of intersectionality in 1989 to represent the many different layers of social stratification that can combine to disadvantage people. This includes factors like race, sexual orientation, social class, age, disability, and gender. Expanding on this concept, sociologist Patricia Hill Collins described the intersectional points as the matrix
Intersectionality and What it Means for Mental Health Read More »
Cannabis—it’s a plant that’s well known for getting people high, but it’s also become increasingly accepted for medicinal purposes, particularly for pain and nausea. But what do we know about the interaction between cannabis and mental illness? There’s been a clearly established link between cannabis use and triggering the onset of psychotic illness in people
Cannabis & Mental Illness: What Does the Research Say? Read More »
People often talk about stress and feeling stressed out. The combination of multiple work, family, and other commitments can start to feel like they’re crushing us. So what exactly is stress? It occurs when strain is placed on the body in a way that disrupts its normal balance and functioning. The source can be internal
How Stress Affects the Mind & Body Read More »
While there is debate over the roles of biological susceptibility and psychosocial factors in triggering the onset of mental illness, it’s also worth giving some thought to how the illness experience is shaped by social factors vs. biologically-based symptoms. Once we are ill, we experience symptoms that are influenced by neurophysiological processes, regardless of whether
Social Factors in Mental Illness Read More »
Living alone, I have to do all my own grocery shopping. It’s been that way for years, so no big deal, right? Well, what used to be a simple task has become a bit more of a production with mental illness tagging along. It turns out grocery shopping with mental illness isn’t a great combination.
Mental Illness Goes Grocery Shopping Read More »
