A safe place to talk openly about mental health & illness
The Anxiety Book for Trans People by Freiya Benson aims to support trans and other non-cis identities in dealing with anxiety. Benson has previously published Trans Love, an anthology of trans and non-binary voices. The book focuses on experiences of anxiety, and in particular anxiety related to having non-cis identities, rather specifically on anxiety disorders.… Continue reading Book Review: The Anxiety Book for Trans People
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is avoidant personality disorder. Avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) falls within the DSM-5's cluster C of anxious/fearful personality disorders. It's characterized by intense feelings of inadequacy and fear of social rejection, and avoidance is relied upon as a coping… Continue reading What Is… Avoidant Personality Disorder
Redface by Russell Norris is a memoir of living with social anxiety disorder—with a twist. The redface of the title comes from a condition the author has called idiopathic craniofacial erythema, which produces intense and often unprovoked facial blushing. He also developed erythrophobia, where blushing itself becomes a source of fear. It sounds like any… Continue reading Book Review: Redface by Russell Norris
This post is by Matthew of Matt's Mishaps. Image by silviarita from Pixabay How college bested me and my anxiety Prior to attending postsecondary school, I was completely clueless as to what being a college student was, or what going to a university for four years entailed for my future. Living away from home, taking… Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: Matthew (Matt’s Mishaps)
Social phobia, also known as social anxiety disorder, can be a crippling condition that makes it extremely difficult to be around people. It affects around 13% of the population at some point during their lifetime. A key element of the condition is a fear of doing something that will result in humiliation. That's not me. … Continue reading Why Depression Makes It Hard For Me To Be Around People
This post is by Sadie Hall of Your Social Anxiety Bestie. Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels How Social Anxiety Therapy Helps Me Survive as a Mom, Human, and Camel (wait, what?) Mental health journeys are meandering things. I’ve had my share of stumbles on my path to recovery from social anxiety, depression, and perfectionism. Becoming a mother 5… Continue reading Emerging Blogger: Sadie Hall (Your Social Anxiety Bestie)
This post is by Sophie from Girl vs. World. TheDigitalArtist on Pixabay The Reality of Social Anxiety You’re waiting to board the plane. All the adrenaline has been building up for days now. You know deep down you’ll be fine as you’re in the safest hands possible, but something in the back of your mind… Continue reading Emerging Blogger Series: Sophie (Girl vs. World)
Introversion, shyness, and social anxiety can sometimes get mixed up, but they're actually three distinct concepts. In this post, we'll look at some of the similarities and differences. Introversion is a personality trait, and it appears in the Myers-Briggs personality typology. The opposite is extroversion, and individuals may fall at different points along the continuum… Continue reading Introversion, Shyness & Social Anxiety: What’s the Difference?
3dman_eu on Pixabay In this post I'll take a look at some of the available guidelines for evidence-based treatment of anxiety disorders. While psychotherapies are extremely important in the management of anxiety disorders, this post will focus only on anti-anxiety medications. The treatment guidelines I refer to come from the British Association for Psychopharmacology and… Continue reading Evidence-Based Treatment of Anxiety
Mental illness stigma comes from many places and in many forms. Stigma often invalidates the experience of those of us with mental illness. One way this can happen is by pathologizing normal experience. By this, I mean inflating the significance of "normal" emotions and minimizing the significance of mental illness to make it seems as… Continue reading Mental Illness Stigma and Pathologizing Normalcy
