Building mental wellness on a foundation of strength
Here's the text rather than graphic version of Not by Erin Hanson. You are not your age, Nor the size of clothes you wear, You are not a weight, Or the colour of your hair. You are not your name, Or the dimples in your cheeks, You are all the books you read, And all… Continue reading You’re Not Defined By What You’re Not
I got thinking about this recently because my best friend is a normalizer, and it really doesn't feel very good sometimes. But there are other times when normalizing aspects of mental illness can be helpful. So what's the difference? The invalidating way A little while back, I told my best friend that I was heading… Continue reading Normalizing Mental Illness Symptoms – the Good Way and the Bad Way
Skinny Hobbit from Growing Into Myself recently did a post that contained this Youtube video. The video is about supporting someone who is grieving, but it's a powerful message about validation in general, which is what inspired this post. Many of us have chosen to blog because there are difficult experiences that we're dealing with. … Continue reading The Power of Validation
The idea of labelling people as attention-seeking is not unique to mental illness, but it's certainly something that seems to come up an awful lot. The labellers might be friends and family, but unfortunately, they may also be health care providers. Physical manifestations of mental distress I work as a nurse at a mental health… Continue reading The “Attention-Seeking” Label and the Attitude it Reflects
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychological terms. This week's term is invalidation. According to Psychology Today, validation involves conveying acceptance, and recognizing that the person's thoughts/feelings/reactions are understandable. It also serves to communicate that the relationship is important. It doesn't necessarily mean agreeing or approving, something I think… Continue reading What Is… Invalidation