Category: Anxiety

Breaking Free From the Cage of Productivity

Breaking Free From the Cage of Productivity

Author: D.O Vo   During my time in university, having to combat the suffocating experience of bipolar depression truly felt like I was drowning. I was trapped in this never-ending cycle of being unable to complete my school work because I struggled with...

Why I Choose to Abstain from Alcohol as a Woman with Bipolar Disorder

Why I Choose to Abstain from Alcohol as a Woman with Bipolar Disorder

By: Cassandra Stout As a social lubricant, alcohol takes top billing. But if you have a mental illness like bipolar disorder, alcohol and other substances tend to tank your mental health. I’m not going to lie: alcohol temporarily helps decrease the suffering that...

My Bipolar Life: Depression and Psychosis

My Bipolar Life: Depression and Psychosis

Screen print art is used with permission of Conor Martin   Part III of V: dealing with depression and psychosis After resigning from command of NDU, I spiraled then crashed into a depression that was increasingly characterized by diminished energy, hopelessness,...

How to Make a Dopamenu to Give Your Brain the Stimulation it Desperately Needs

How to Make a Dopamenu to Give Your Brain the Stimulation it Desperately Needs

How to Make a Dopamenu to Give Your Brain the Stimulation it Needs Have you ever found yourself doom scrolling the internet, desperately seeking stimulation for your depressed brain but being too tired to think of a healthy way to do that? When we’re depressed, our...

I wish that my mother would have had a therapist

I wish that my mother would have had a therapist

Author: Margaret Fitzgerald I wish that my Mother would have sought out therapy when I was a child. I know that this may have been somewhat unheard of in the 1970s. In recent years, we have learned that my Mother experiences post-traumatic stress disorder. I have...

A Haiku For the New Year

A Haiku For the New Year

“For those traversing, through darkness, may the light be strengthened from within.”   – Sophia Falco     Blogger Bio Sophia Falco Sophia Falco is a faithful poet since she finds poetry essential to her understanding of the universe. She is...

Toxic Work Environment = Neurological Assault

Toxic Work Environment = Neurological Assault

Author: Sasha Kildare   What if every Monday through Friday you were trapped in a room for eight hours with only 10 minutes in which to escape it? Unfortunately, I got to experience this particular brand of misery.   I just left the worst job I have ever...

Crystal Clear

Crystal Clear

Author: Melinda Goedeke Contingency plans rule my world because I see the glass as half empty. My kids used to sarcastically call me the beam of optimism because I was always preparing for the impending disaster. It’s one of those special gifts I learned in...

A Warrior in Sheep’s Clothing

A Warrior in Sheep’s Clothing

Author: Bryson Hays How far away I feel… From everything. From family and friends, from doctors and patients, from myself and I. Every day feels the same, I wake up, take my doses of medication to keep the demons at bay, and continue to live my life. But what if...

Bipolar Disorder and Coping During COVID-19

Bipolar Disorder and Coping During COVID-19

Author: Stanley Clark The COVID-19 pandemic still causes fear and uncertainty worldwide. Although the lockdown measures may help slow the disease’s spread, it may also cause greater mental stress. People with bipolar disorder may have a more challenging time coping...

Living with Comorbid Diagnosis’

Living with Comorbid Diagnosis’

Author: Lauren Meredith I was diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) when I was 21 years old. I was a senior in college.  I had testing problems and lo and behold it was due to testing anxiety which was also manifested in various other aspects of my life.  My...

Navigating Work Relationships and Mental Illness

Navigating Work Relationships and Mental Illness

Author: Violette Kay There are many reasons one might choose not to disclose their mental illness at work such as the fear of being judged and seen as a liability or the fear of losing your job. But you might not want to disclose it because you feel it is on a...

Do You Have Bipolar Disorder? You Can Still Thrive This Holiday Season

Do You Have Bipolar Disorder? You Can Still Thrive This Holiday Season

By: Cassandra Stout The holidays strike fear into many hearts, especially those of us with mental illness. But they don’t have to. People with mental health conditions, including bipolar disorder, can thrive during the holiday season. Don’t Neglect Basic...

October 21st: National Check Your Meds Day

October 21st: National Check Your Meds Day

By: Cassandra Stout Medication interactions are serious business. You could take two medications which counteract each other, which could make you sick enough to end up in the emergency room, or even die. October 21st is National Check Your Meds Day in the US. Making...

Hyde & Hyde…. no Jekkyll

Hyde & Hyde…. no Jekkyll

By: Laura Sanscartier From the time I was a little girl, I have always had horrible thoughts. Thoughts of hurting people, thoughts of people dying. Thoughts of car crashes and horrible accidents around the house. I always thought that I was just a strange person, and...

Lay Our Burden Down

Lay Our Burden Down

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?...

Hello Panic, Still Surprising After All These Years

Hello Panic, Still Surprising After All These Years

By: Lori Lane-Murphy Halloween is long over. Tell that to the demon climbing up my ribcage. I’m not sure even the Exorcist himself stood a chance against the terror that clutched at me last night with determined fingers and the express purpose to bring me down. I...

International Day Of Persons With Disability

International Day Of Persons With Disability

By: Liz Wilson “International Day of Persons with Disabilities (December 3) is an international observance promoted by the United Nations since 1992. It has been celebrated with varying degrees of success around the planet. The observance of the Day aims to promote an...

Finding Solace In Art Therapy

By: Emily McGuigan “If I could say it in words there would be no reason to paint.” ~ Edward Hopper As an artist with Generalized Anxiety Disorder(GAD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), I have primarily used drawing and painting to help me cope with and explain...

Hiding In Plain Sight

By: Aubrey Good I am an intern at the International Bipolar Foundation. I spend a few hours a week at the office finding articles, writers, resources, etc. that I believe are beneficial to educating the public on bipolar disorder and also offer hope and understanding....

Guys: 5 Reasons Why We Are Selling Ourselves Short

By special guest: Chris Worfolk of Worfolk Anxiety Management Embed Video: Special guest, Chris Worfolk from Worfolk Anxiety Management, shares 5 suggestions for overcoming mental health stigma and taking care of mental health. For more information and resources on...

What Happens If You Let Anxiety Get The Best Of You?

What Happens If You Let Anxiety Get The Best Of You?

By Melanie Luxenberg You don’t want anxiety to win, but let’s face it; sometimes it happens. I say don’t be hard on yourself when it does. Anxiety and bipolar disorder seem to really like each other- a lot. Or at least that’s what my experience has been. Anxiety...

Three Concentric Circles

Three Concentric Circles

By: Karen Meadows In retrospect, during my daughter’s battle with mental illness, I wasted a lot of energy worrying about things I couldn’t control. When I learned about a framework called Three Concentric Circles at work, I realized this was a powerful approach I...

#DearTeenageMe, Mental Illness Can Have Physical Symptoms, Don’t Ignore Them

#DearTeenageMe, Mental Illness Can Have Physical Symptoms, Don’t Ignore Them

My experience with bipolar disorder had two long difficult periods of extreme symptoms separated by many years of only dealing with depression. The following story is about how I decided to go back to treatment after many years away. I was first diagnosed at 17 after...

Facing Trials By Embracing Optimism

Facing Trials By Embracing Optimism

These past few years have been a season of waiting and stress for our family. My husband has struggled to find a permanent job, which has left us with no real sense of where we will settle down and start to build a life. The uncertainty of the situation has produced...

Carrying the Weight

Carrying the Weight

Prior to my diagnosis and starting my treatment, I spent countless hours each day stuck in a cycle of worry and panic. I would ruminate, the worst moments of my life and every single mistake I’ve ever made surfacing in my mind and stuck in an infinite replay....

30 Things Not To Say To Those With Bipolar Disorder

30 Things Not To Say To Those With Bipolar Disorder

I always enjoy reading “listicles” about “what not to say” and “what to say” to someone with a mental illness. I read them and nod my head in agreement, as I can relate all too well. There are sayings or comments that may seem helpful, but aren’t in reality because...

Life in the Cycle of Anxiety

Life in the Cycle of Anxiety

Have you ever been so afraid of tripping that you couldn’t take a flight of stairs, even though something like that would never happen? This is the stage setting for my anxiety disorder. I have written about my bipolar disorder a lot of times, but my...

Inside the Mind of Someone with Social Anxiety

Inside the Mind of Someone with Social Anxiety

I have been dealing with social anxiety since around the time I was diagnosed with Bipolar. That’s 8 long years dealing with both Bipolar and social anxiety. I used to keep myself at arms-length from people for fear of being rejected, since my social anxiety causes...

Happy Birthday to a Brilliant Father From Your #1 Fan

Happy Birthday to a Brilliant Father From Your #1 Fan

Dear Dad,  On your birthday, and on every day, you should know how appreciated and loved you are. I am your daughter that was shy, was afraid of strangers, had separation anxiety from Mom (from what I hear), and was afraid of my own shadow. I played it safe...

Thank You for Showing Me True Friendship

Thank You for Showing Me True Friendship

Dear Friend (On Your Birthday), We met almost 17 years ago, we dated in Grade 10, we had fun while it lasted (all of 6 or 7 months), and went through the “awkward” phase were we couldn’t be friends because “exes” weren’t friends in high school. But, that didn’t...

My Path to Mental Health Advocacy

My Path to Mental Health Advocacy

Until I was 16, I thought that my uncle had died of cancer rather than suicide. There was always a dark joke in the family that we have a history of mental illness in our lineage. There is the distant cousin who lived in a tiger cage because, well, he thought he was a...

Moving Forward

Moving Forward

I have had quite a bit going on lately. I would like to share with you some of the things that have been keeping me so busy. As summer wound down last year, I went back to work. Why is this important – because I have been on disability since April of 2011. Things had...

Easing Gift Giving Anxiety

Easing Gift Giving Anxiety

In my family, as odd as it is, we have a tradition of on holidays attempting to make one person cry with the most sincere gift. Birthdays and Christmas are the times we do this the most, mainly because those are the two biggest gift giving days. It’s an odd tradition...

The Many Faces of Anxiety

The Many Faces of Anxiety

Everyone deals with anxiety at some point in their lives. When you’re getting ready to argue or fight, it is that exact emotion that causes your hands to shake. It can cause you to start to feel warm or even for you to start sweating a little. Those are our bodies’...

Dealing with My Anxiety

Dealing with My Anxiety

I have bipolar disorder, but I also have an anxiety disorder. I really dislike feeling anxious so there are various things that I do to fight it. The first thing I do is try to see if there is anything to be anxious about. If there is then I see if I...

Another Diagnosis

Another Diagnosis

A month ago it was just another Tuesday morning: wake up, shower and dress, drink some coffee, then leave my husband and puppy at home to drive 45min to my doctor’s appointment. It felt like the same as before: go in for 45 min, talk, get refill prescriptions if I...

I Tackled One of My Triggers: Chewing Sounds

I Tackled One of My Triggers: Chewing Sounds

So, as you know if you read my other blog, I am triggered very harshly by the sounds of chewing (even if it’s quiet)! My fiancé and I turn on the television when we eat together to drown out the chewing noises so I don’t become manic. Today, the...

Mania: Everything That Makes Sense, Until It Doesn’t

Mania: Everything That Makes Sense, Until It Doesn’t

Practicing self-care when it comes to Bipolar Disorder means that not only do I take my meds and see my doctor regularly, but also over the years I’ve learned a few “tricks” to help get me by. These are simple things that make my life, and the lives...

Not a Problem for Today

Not a Problem for Today

I’m not sure where I learned this string of 5 words but it has been a mighty big help in my life! For example:  Today I was working on my Facebook page and for promotional purposes I wanted to view the people who had “liked” my page. I...

Rescued by a Dog

Rescued by a Dog

I own a psychiatric service dog. He’s similar to a dog that would assist a blind person, but he’s trained differently. He’s not a therapy or emotional assistance dog, he’s a certified service dog and is allowed anywhere that a dog for the blind would be allowed to...

Therapy and Becoming Who I’m Meant to Be

Therapy and Becoming Who I’m Meant to Be

Talk therapy is a big part of my treatment plan.  I can’t go without it.  I know medication is a necessity for me, but I need my therapist.  I need cognitive behavioral techniques, and I need coping skills.  It’s a struggle for me to simply...

The Two Villains of Anxiety

The Two Villains of Anxiety

.and then unexpectedly there’s calm, all I thought I knew about myself and the World becomes the fleeting thoughts of Man under siege from his own mind. The storm has passed for now. I have spent the better part of 3 years researching aspects of my...

Mantra and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

I read a study once that stated the incidence of obsessive-compulsive disorder was 10-fold greater in bipolar patients than the general population (see more at: http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/bipolar-disorder/anxious-bipolar-patient#sthash.RRY1nBjh.dpuf). This made...

My Emotional Roller Coaster

I have been on an emotional roller coaster lately.  I was feeling really anxious and depressed, so my psychiatrist upped my meds.  I then felt worse.  Crying every day.  Crying for no reason.  My parents came over one day while I was crying,...

Bipolar Worries

Bipolar Worries

At my last appointment with my psychiatrist, she told me I have too much anxiety about having bipolar disorder. No kidding? I mean what’s there to be anxious about? Being stuck in complete darkness with unspeakable pain that only those who have depression can...

Guilt

Guilt

I’m here to talk to you about guilt. This is something that I felt for several years after I got help for my disorder. I couldn’t believe the things that I had said and done to both my husband and mother. I was beyond devastated. I was apologizing...

Co-existing Disease

As you may have noticed I haven’t been keeping up with my blog. Unfortunately I’ve been dealing with multiple hospitalizations for my bipolar disorder as well as my eating disorder. I was at John Hopkins from June-September 2013, and was at the Princeton Eating...

Anxiety – Which Disorder is it, anyway?

It starts with a feeling of restlessness. I can’t sit still in one place too long. I try to listen to music. Read. Surf the Internet. Nothing catches my interest. The restlessness grows.Am I hungry?Am I thirsty?I try satiating both. Nothing helps.Now, I’m getting...

Postpartum OCD – Yes, OCD

To be clear, I don’t agree with the victim mentality and it’s not my standard default. When I blame others for my troubles, I’m not taking responsibility for my life and my choices. I always look for my part in any negative, or what I perceive as a negative,...

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