Building mental wellness on a foundation of strength
My last hospitalization for depression happened after a suicide attempt. My primary nurse kept asked me what I was angry about, saying that I must have been angry about something to have tried to kill myself. She seemed rather annoyed when I assured her that no, I wasn't angry, and anger had nothing to do… Continue reading Is Depression Anger Turned Inward?
The emerging blogger series is aimed at community building through giving mental health bloggers who are early in their blogging evolution the opportunity to have their work seen by a wider audience. It's also a way to introduce you as a reader to some newer members of our community. This post is by LaDonna of… Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: LaDonna (Perspective on Trauma)
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is stoicism. Stoicism came up in a review I did recently of the book You Got This, and I thought it was worth finding out a little bit more about what exactly it is. It means taking a… Continue reading What Is… Stoicism
This was originally posted in 2018 in the early months of this blog. I've decided to pull a few posts out of the archives where they were gathering dust, give them an overhaul, and bring them back to life. It's a bit of an experiment, and here's the first one. "Happiness is a choice." It's… Continue reading Happiness Is a Choice, My Ass
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is alexithymia. Alexithymia involves an inability to identify and describe emotions. It's considered a personality trait that can be present to varying degrees and is relatively stable over time. It's been associated with a number of DSM diagnoses… Continue reading What is… Alexithymia
Toxic positivity is essentially the idea that happy and positive is the only right way to be, and therefore, people need to cheer up, look on the bright side, think positive, choose happiness, allow good vibes only, etc., etc. It also shows up in the "it could be worse" guilt trip mentality. You're not in… Continue reading You Don’t Need to Be Positive
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence involves the ability to recognize emotions in both the self and others, and then make decisions that take into account those emotions. The first noted use of the term dates back to 1964. … Continue reading What is… Emotional Intelligence
I got thinking about this because I've seen a number of people write about anger recently, and it's not an emotion I've ever been comfortable with. Anger is a basic human emotion. We all experience it sometimes, and it has an associated facial expression that is universally recognized across cultures. Yet anger is far from… Continue reading How Childhood Affected My Relationship with Anger
It's interesting (and not in a good way) how strong social pressures are not to cry in public. Someone who does so might be called a "crybaby", or if they're male their masculinity may be questioned. In general, public crying is seen as a sign of weakness. I say that's a total load of BS. … Continue reading Getting My Cry on in Public
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's terms are jealousy and envy. The terms jealousy and envy are often used synonymously, but they actually refer to two separate, although related, concepts. Envy Envy comes from a sense of personal lacking compared to another person's abilities, achievements,… Continue reading What is… Jealousy & Envy