Marijuana makes me paranoid. Irritable. I can’t leave the house if I am high or I will panic. I used to smoke it mostly at home (there’s delivery service in New York) and occasionally at parties. I did enjoy it for a time, but I have concluded that weed is not compatible with my bipolar brain. In fact, I believe it is one of the worst things I can...
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Bipolar Depression vs. Situational Depression
April 19, 2019
By: Allan G. Cooper
If you have 2 broken legs, climbing a hill would be extremely difficult. Even if you were a motivated person with an exceptional level of discipline, the physical damage to your legs would prevent you from making any progress.Bipolar Depressive Episodes are similar because are bodies our physically unable to function properly when they occur....
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Becoming a Psychologist with Bipolar II Disorder
April 10, 2019
By: Lauren Yang
Springtime tends to make me reflective on the transitions I’ve had in life. I’ll notice how time has passed when I see high school graduation photos and hear about acceptances into graduate or professional school programs. While friends were moving onto the next chapter in their lives in spring of 2013, I fell into my most severe depression....
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Lauren Yang
April 10, 2019
Lauren Yang is a doctoral student studying clinical psychology in New York, NY. Born and raised in California, Lauren began her mental health journey at the end of her senior year in college when she experienced her first hypomanic episode. Since then, it has been an ongoing process for her to accept her condition. It is this journey that has...
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How Managing My Nutrition Improved my Mental health
April 1, 2019
By: Sydney Batt
After three months of my diagnosis of having Bipolar II disorder I decided to join a group therapy that was specifically for people that have mood disorders. In the first session of this therapy we learned the importance of nutrition and diet.I was confused about the relevance of nutrition and why we were taking the time to learn about it instead...
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World Sleep Day
March 13, 2019
By: Brandy Higgins, RN,BSN
National Sleep Awareness Week is March 10-16, 2019 this year! I love to sleep. Unfortunately, I have battled all of my life to sleep normally. My mental illnesses make it really hard for me to sleep like an average person. I have insomnia. When I’m depressed, I will have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep. When I do finally fall...
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Brandy Higgins, RN, BSN
March 13, 2019
Brandy Higgins, RN, BSN is the writer of Live Mentally Well - Better Living Thru Mental Wellness. Lifelong mental health survivor and former mental health nurse. Live Mentally Well is impacting our community and the world by empowering, encouraging, and educating one person at a time to end stigma for good. She writes about Mood...
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Life After Psychosis
March 11, 2019
By: Allan G. Cooper
Do you know what it feels like to help NASA calculate the speed of light? Or, maybe you know what it's like to find a formula that makes nuclear fusion possible. How about being the sole person responsible for averting a disaster that would crash the entire internet. Do you know what that's like? I do. Well, I know what it's like to believe I am...
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Allan G. Cooper
March 11, 2019
In 1995, Allan was teaching English in Japan enveloped by a culture he adored and well on his way to achieving his dream of being a completely fluent Japanese speaker.His carefully laid out plans were derailed at the tail end of the year when he experienced his first psychotic manic episode at the age of twenty-five. His family had to travel to...
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Lay Our Burden Down
February 26, 2019
By: Jayson Blair
When I first went to a therapist office, a little more than 15 years ago, there was an intake form that included a long list of conditions under a question about family medical history. Diabetes? Check. Heart disease? Check. Auto-immune diseases? Check. Cancer? Check.When I reached the section on mental health disorders – depression, bipolar,...
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