When I was 20, I was sexually assaulted. The details of such an incident are my own, and not anything of any use in a blog post, but they caused a condition called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD. PTSD is found in the DSM-V, and many who have lived a trauma are diagnosed with the condition.PTSD is confusing and distressing, as it feels as...
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Carissa Martos
June 22, 2018
Carissa is a teacher, mother, wife, and writer who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Now in her mid-thirties, she has lived with bipolar since she was a teen, as well as having a diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder and C-PTSD. She also lives with blinding ocular migraines and Ankylosing Spondylitis (a genetic condition that causes back pain...
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You Say "Co-Morbid" Like It Is a Bad Thing
June 22, 2018
By: Carissa Martos
When multiple diagnoses exist in the same person, and impact each other, they are known as co-morbid conditions. My bipolar diagnosis came when I was 19, but I'd struggled with the cycles of manic function and depressed inability since puberty. My PTSD diagnosis wasn't made until I was in my 30s, and I’ve never been able to pin down whether...
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My Journey with Trauma and Dual Diagnosis
June 20, 2018
By: Liz Wilson
Trauma: An incident and its physiological and psychological effects on victims and/or witnesses to the event. The DSM describes 5 types of PTSD, the label most commonly associated with trauma. I want to talk about comorbid PTSD; a diagnosis given when other diagnoses exist. In my case, Bipolar Disorder and Substance Abuse Disorder.My first memory...
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By: Tosha Maaks
When my father became sick about three years ago, I started to wake up almost nightly with night terrors. I would begin to cry and scream in my sleep to the point that my husband would wake up from a sound sleep and hold me as I tried to regain my composure and find a way to go back to sleep. Most of the time I wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep...
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My Tears Fell Because I Knew They Did Not Have To
June 18, 2018
By: Jayson Blair
I woke up late in the morning. It was a little after 7 a.m. I have been sick for the past few days so I decided to not rush into work. I made a cup of coffee in my kitchen and then walked over to the living room. Standing between the couch and my glass coffee table, I tapped each remote and turned on CNN.The Breaking News headline, in those...
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Talking with Friends about Triggers and Boundaries
June 15, 2018
By: Courtney Davey MA, MFT
Talking about Bipolar Disorder can sometimes be difficult to do with people that you care about. It can be exhausting to educate people that you care about on the way that you interact with your symptoms and the world when you experience them. It is not your job to teach every person in the world about Bipolar disorder, unless you want to be an...
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5 Expectations and How Stigma Has Impacted Me as a Man
June 11, 2018
By: John Poehler
When it comes to the topic of male stigma, I have quite the extensive experience.Right now, I am a 39 year-old male.I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder right before my 21st birthday.The BeginningThe expectations how a man is supposed to act and react in certain situations is both raw and real.I use the word “supposed” because it is an old way of...
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When Other Health Issues Impact Your Mental Health (+5 Ways I Help Take Care of Myself)
June 8, 2018
By: Danielle Workman
Earlier this year I started to suffer from chronic, painful, daily migraines. The pain is constant and intense, taking away my drive to eat at all, removing my drive to exercise, and after days on end of constant and consistent migraines, I am reminded why they are commonly called “suicide headaches”.For me, I have found stability in my mental...
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