In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week's term: paranoia Kind of like anxiety and depression, the word paranoia often gets tossed around fairly loosely in common parlance, but in a psychological/psychiatric sense it has far more significance. Google Dictionary defines paranoia as: "a mental condition characterized by … Continue reading What is… paranoia
People tend to fear the unknown. Psychosis is arguably the group of symptoms that the average person finds the most frightening when it comes to mental health problems. There is stigma associated with many/most/all mental health conditions, but psychosis kicks it up a notch. As a quick explanation, psychosis refers to a cluster of symptoms … Continue reading Why psychosis scares people
Alien Boy: The Life and Death of James Chasse is a documentary, available on Amazon Prime, about a man with schizophrenia who was killed by police in Portland, Oregon. This film was funded by The Mental Health Association of Portland and over 1500 individual supporters, which I thought was pretty impressive. It's an extremely disturbing example … Continue reading Alienation and brutality
Here are a few great TED Talks I've found on a variety of topics related to mental health and illness. Eleanor Longden: The Voices in My Head https://embed.ted.com/talks/eleanor_longden_the_voices_in_my_head A psychiatrist once told Eleanor Longden that she would be better off having cancer than a psychotic illness, because it would be more curable. Having the … Continue reading TED Talks: Mental Health & Illness
I first heard of this amazing book in a post by A Journey With You, and immediately after finishing the post I put a hold on the book at my local library, eager to get started on it. No One Cares About Crazy People is Pulitzer Prize-winning and New York Times bestselling author Ron Powers’ … Continue reading Book review: No One Cares About Crazy People
