Bottled Memories by David Ritter is a short book (40 pages) of poetry capturing both active addiction and the process of recovery. While the poems relate to his own experiences, there are themes many others will relate to, including the lure of “one more,” “praying to the porcelain throne,” and doing the walk of shame. […]
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I’m definitely not a fan of the whole toxic positivity business, and no, happiness is not a choice (or at least not always). But a while back I stumbled across the Action for Happiness website, and I like their style. I was looking through my journal and came across the 8 pillars of joy I’d
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In this emerging blogger post, Burnie of Quash Stigma, Not Fat writes about persevering in eating disorder recovery. When the going gets tough in eating disorder recovery, you have to keep going. I’ve found myself doubting the recovery process many times, and when i’m in this place I return to my “why choose recovery” list.
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My Beautiful Psychosis by Emma Goude is a gripping, up close and personal look at what it’s actually like to experience psychosis. The author’s honesty and complete openness quickly shatter any stereotypes of psychosis being frightening and dangerous. The book begins with the events leading up to the author’s first episode of psychosis. When she
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“Mental illness is not a choice, but recovery is.” While this image floating around on Pinterest originated with Healthy Place, I couldn’t figure out the original source of this mental illness recovery quote (if, in fact, it is a quote from another source), but seems to have been around for a while. Anyway, I don’t
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My Heart’s Song: Emotional Musings 3 is a book of poetry by Maria Pratico, who you may know from her blog Emotional Musings. She explains in the introduction that after a messy divorce, she realized that her purpose was to use her own experiences to help others heal. She describes the poems in the book
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The wounded healer interview series features people who’ve dealt with significant mental health challenges, and who also work in a helping role to support the mental health of others. This interview is with Maria Teresa Pratico Swanson of Emotional Musings. 1) Tell us a bit about you, the helping field you’re in, and the mental
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In this emerging blogger post, Shanon of Surviving Childhood Trauma writes about living with PTSD as a result of childhood sexual abuse. I always struggle with how to begin my story, what parts to share and how exactly to word it. My abuses were so severe, my trauma so impactful that my memories are broken
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Shame Ate My Soul is Susan Walz’s personal story of rising above stigma, suicide attempts, addiction, and misdiagnosis, and eventually finding recovery. I’ve known Sue since the beginning of my blogging journey. The book opens with a heartbreaking conversation with 2 of her 3 children, as they tried to persuade her to accept help in
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Mental illness recovery can be more of a journey rather than a destination, and if you’re aiming for a destination, that can end up being a moving target. Let’s begin this discussion by looking at what recovery actually entails. An Australian National Standards for Mental Health Services document from 2010 defines recovery as: “… gaining
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