It's Ok to Not Be Ok by Kim Lamontagne is a collection of stories written by 11 contributing authors about their personal experience with mental health struggles. I heard about this book from Cat Davis, who blogs at High Risk Cat. She contributed the Story "Looked Up", which is the first story in the book. In … Continue reading Book Review: It’s Ok to Not Be Ok
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 Eilidh of … Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: Eilidh
While it would be great if recovery from mental illness meant that the illness would disappear and never return, for many of us living with mental illness the reality is that it's just not going to go away. That means adapting the concept of recovery to fit with our own individual realities (or chucking aside … Continue reading Finding Recovery in Spite of Mental Illness
The A to Z of Eating Disorders by Emma Woolf is an A to Z encyclopedia of terms and concepts related to eating disorders. Some terms, like body mass index, are covered in a couple of paragraphs, while others have lengthier explanations. The book includes some terms not directly to do with eating disorders, such as … Continue reading Book Review: The A to Z of Eating disorders
Writing to Heal the Pain: Stories & Poems by Mateja Klaric is a collection of mostly essays and some poems. It takes the reader along on the author's attempts to find healing after having her career stolen away from her in a way that left her with anxiety and PTSD. The author explains that writing … Continue reading Book Review: Writing to Heal the Pain
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 Kim of … Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: Kim
The Bipolar Addict: Drinks, Drugs, Delirium, & Why Sober Is the New Cool by Conor Bezane shares the author's experiences, as well as the experiences of others, living with bipolar disorder and co-occurring addictions. I went into his book with high expectations, because concurrent disorders need to be included more often into the conversation about … Continue reading Book review: The Bipolar Addict
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 Juan of … Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: Juan
Shattered by the Darkness: Putting the Pieces Back Together After Child Abuse by Gregory Williams is a heart-wrenching account of childhood sexual abuse perpetrated by the author's father over many years. The book contains detailed descriptions of sexual abuse, sometimes with multiple abusers. There is nothing gratuitously graphic in the descriptions, but readers who have … Continue reading Book Review: Shattered by the Darkness
Ghosts Within: Journeying Through PTSD is written by former war zone journalist Garry Leech, who developed post-traumatic stress disorder in response to the horrors to which he'd been exposed through his work. The book does describe some of the traumatic events the author experienced. This took a few forms: as descriptions of flashbacks, as part … Continue reading Book review: Ghosts Within
It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while I'll have a bit of time where my mood is fairly neutral. When I consciously notice that, it sets off a whole crazy train of thoughts. One thought is that I'm not sure I can believe that it's actually real. I'm suspicious that it's … Continue reading Does Feeling Better Mean That I’m Faking it?
Battered, Tattered, But Not Shattered: Finding The Strength In What Remains is a memoir by Marie Abanga. This is part of a series of memoir accounts, and focuses on her abusive marriage and how she rebuilt her life afterwards. I always enjoy Marie's unique way with words, like this gem: "I know I have the guts … Continue reading Book review: Battered, Tattered, But Not Shattered
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week's term: Recovery The word recovery can have various connotations depending on the context. It began to gain popularity in the context of mental health in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when it was used by the ex-patient/psychiatric survivor movement. … Continue reading What is… Recovery?
Recovery means different things for different people. Here's what my recovery from depression would look like: confidence the ability to feel joy/pleasure resilience hope a sense of purpose and meaning feeling strong having a sense of control over my life being able to smile and laugh, and mean it looking forward to things being able … Continue reading What would recovery look like?
In the Profiles in Tremendousness series, I borrow an idea from the Daily Show with Trevor Noah to celebrate the best of the worst in mental health care. In this edition, I'll take a look at some of the weird shit that's gone on in places where I've worked, proving yet again that common sense … Continue reading Profiles in tremendousness: The uncommon sense edition