A safe place to talk openly about mental health & illness
The idea of acceptance in the context of mental illness has been bubbling around in my head for a while now, and not long ago I wrote about non-acceptance and suffering in the context of mental illness. What prompted me to start this post was reading a post by Sarah of Hope Whispers about accepting… Continue reading What Acceptance Is Not (And What It Is)
Wednesday is normally book review day here on MH@H, but the current batch of books I'm reading to review aren't being released until October, so I thought I'd bring you some quotes instead of a review this week. Acceptance is something I've worked a lot on in terms of my mental illness life, so here… Continue reading Some Quotes on Acceptance
A while back, a post about choosing to be positive came up in my WP Reader feed. The blogger mentioned that "our mind is something we do and can have control over." While they weren't making reference to mental illness at all, I don't think control over one's own mind is quite so cut and… Continue reading How Much Control Do You Have Over Your Mind?
Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is really big on using metaphors to convey key concepts. This post will take a look at a few of them. Self-as-context metaphors Chessboard A core message of ACT is that our self is the context for what happens inside out head, not the content of it. One metaphor for… Continue reading Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Metaphors
My friends at WeDIDitPTSD recently brought up Jack Kornfield's approach to RAIN, a mindfulness meditation for dealing with overwhelm, and I thought I'd explore that further in a post. RAIN, which is based on Buddhist teachings, was first described by Insight Meditation Society teacher Michele McDonald. Rain acronym R: Recognition The R is about exploring… Continue reading It’s RAIN-ing Mindfulness
Winter Dragonflies wrote quite a while back about creating your peace. It made me think about the relationship between non-acceptance and suffering in the context of mental illness, and I started this draft that I've finally gotten around to writing. Mental illness isn't fun, that much is clear. How we relate to illness, wellness, and… Continue reading Non-Acceptance, Suffering, and Mental Illness
Calm the F*ck Down by Sarah Knight is part of her series of No Fucks Given Guides. I've previously reviewed her book F*ck No, and she was one of the earlier adopters of swearing in book titles. The book begins with a note on the title, saying it's meant to be motivational rather than being… Continue reading Book Review: Calm the F*ck Down
The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD by Jon Hershfield and Tom Corboy has just been released in its second edition. I was curious what a mindful approach to OCD would look like, but, as the subtitle says, this is a mindfulness and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in combination book; it's not a pull up a cushion… Continue reading Book Review: The Mindfulness Workbook for OCD
Being perfect is an ideal that some people may strive for or feel that they are required to attain, but how realistic is the notion of perfection? One of the biggest problems with perfect is that a lot of things in this world are subjective. When it comes to things that are subjective, everyone has… Continue reading The Problem with Perfect
Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life by Steven C. Hayes explains how concepts from acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can get you unstuck from your thoughts so you're free to actually start living. The book takes a brief look at relational frame theory, on which ACT is based, but doesn't get bogged… Continue reading Book Review: Get Out of Your Mind & Into Your Life