Dear Mrs. Martin: I was insecure when entering your College Prep English class in the year of 1989. I worked really hard and earned an “A” each quarter. You fostered my love of writing, one that I never had nurtured.We had a huge research paper due the final quarter, the one where I analyzed Anne Frank’s work. During that...
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The Aftermath of a Crisis
July 25, 2018
By: Lori Lane Murphy
Summer started with a bang for me the first of June.My husband and best friend had a stroke. He’s ok. No lasting physical damage, but there are certainly some psychological ones we are both trying to manage.If I’m honest, it’s mostly me that’s dealing with the psychological aftermath and he’s dealing with how my dealing is not being dealt with...
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Money Does Not Equal Recovery: Bourdain, Spade, Cobain, and the Culture of Celebrity Suicide
July 19, 2018
By: Conor Bezane
Common people do not have a monopoly on feeling hopeless and suicidal. It can happen to anyone, including celebrities.When a depressed Sinéad O’Connor sequestered herself in a New Jersey motel room in 2015, crying out for help in a 12-minute YouTube video, it was out of desperation. But the reactions from people on the internet were extreme....
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By: Courtney Davey, MA, MFT
When you care for someone who lives with Bipolar Disorder, there can be a variety of questions around how to handle discussions that involve their symptoms or their behaviors. Wanting to be sensitive and not overstep is common, and sometimes it may be necessary to bring something up, regardless of that feeling. Here are a few suggestions on how to...
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A Hug and a Whisper
July 16, 2018
By: Laura Sanscartier
In the battle against Bipolar Disorder, one often feels alone. This is nothing new. The disease is such that we are left feeling powerless. No one will ever feel the way that we feel, will never know the highs and lows, will never know the agony of suicidal ideation when things get so bad it seems there is no other way out. I have felt this way...
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LAUGHING THERAPY
July 13, 2018
by The Secret Psychiatrist
When we think of therapy, what pops into our head? Before becoming a psychiatrist, I would think of a stereotypical image of an American Freudian counselor analysing a patient lying on a couch. Of course, this does indeed still happen, and I myself perform psychotherapy. I used to think of it as something for those suffering mental health or those...
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The Secret Psychiatrist
July 13, 2018
The Secret Psychiatrist is a female doctor and psychiatrist working currently in London. She has a degree in medicine and philosophy, as well as co-founding her own charity abroad in Romania helping children with learning disabilities.She enjoys sharing tales of her journey throughout medicine into the land of asylums across the world. When not at...
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By: Liz Wilson
When I did my training to become a Peer Support Specialist, I also took 20 hours of Wellness Recovery Action Plan (WRAP) Training. The idea behind a WRAP is to create a deeper understanding of when and how to help you. The key is YOU. Your normalcy, your manias, your depressions…WRAP is a written snapshot of how you look and act in...
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By: Tosha Maaks
I am what I consider a true manic these days. For me, I teeter more towards mania than depression more often than I use too. It is still a constant balancing act and I still have rough days where I have depression. However, it is not the suicidal depression that once accompanied my bipolar disorder and that is thanks to medication.At one point...
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Exhausted Isn’t Bad Enough, Is It?
July 6, 2018
By: Carissa Martos
The first time I really contemplated suicide, I was a teenager, and there were two feelings, and only two feelings.The first was an inexorable exhaustion, one that had been dogging me for months, had finally grabbed hold of me, and I felt I couldn’t escape it. No amount of coffee, sleep, friendship, or excitement for the future could break into...
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