coping
Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.
Saying I'm Fine When I'M Not
I try to educate most people around me into understanding that I have a mental illness, because I do not want to have to pretend I'm fine when I'm not. This was something people did in the 1990s, when saying you took medication was not as common as it is in the present. The thing is, many expect a lie to be told. I believe that this gets to ridiculous levels since nobody mentally ill wants to be felt sorry for so we try to hide our feelings around you normal people who manage to sleep by just shutting your brain off, although for some reason, you guys seriously drink a lot of coffee.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez6 years ago in Psyche
How Criticizing My Emotions in Childhood Created an 'Emotional Storm' Inside Me
When I was growing up, I was labeled as a “shy” and “sensitive” child. I would cry often, and I would be criticized for it, which contributed to my quiet demeanor. Whenever I would express anger, I was told I wasn’t allowed to be mad, or that being angry was wrong. I learned that sadness and anger were “bad” emotions, and whenever I experienced either emotion, I felt ashamed as though something was wrong with me for feeling them. Throughout my life, I learned to internalize my sadness and anger, which has led to chronic self-harm and digestion issues. Soon into adolescence, the inability to express sadness or anger led me to lose the ability to express any emotion properly — even feelings such as happiness. In my life, I have also experienced relationships where my feelings were invalidated and gaslighting was a factor, which only contributed to my internalization of emotions and my distrust of my emotional experience.
By Ashley Nestler, MSW6 years ago in Psyche
Pretty & Motivated
I am a 15 year old girl who suffers from post tramatic stress disorder among a few other mental illnesses and this a piece of my long story. When PTSD comes up people think about military dads that come home changed, broken, but it can be so much more than that. In my short life I have lived I’ve made it through being molested and raped, physically and verbally abused by the people who I called my parents. Watched drug deals and angry people. Heard sirens and called the rescue teams to help save the ones who were supposed to keep me safe. Parents aren’t supposed to tear you down and scare you, but sometimes kids can be placed in the wrong hands but I can tell you right now there is not one stuggle in your life that you can’t find a healthy solution to without enough knowledge. Knowledge you can gain from reading and researching, become familiar with your demons and tame them. This disorder isn’t always easy to cope with, it’s hard to focas on school and boys and making it out of high school with the rest of my graduating class to be a role model to the 4 younger of my 5 siblings despite not knowing where I’ll come up with the money to pay for drivers ed. or college afterword. But that’s just a part of life and we can’t just sit in self pity because you will get stuck there. I try to breathe when I start shaking in class trying to forget a scary thought that pops into my head when I see a guy with a hat or a pair of purple pajama pants some girl is wearing or even just a soothing lamp in the guidence counsilors office that brings me back to these horrible times and almost sufficates me in the memories. How am I supposed to read about World War I when I got World War III’s beginning on my mind?
By Arianna Rose6 years ago in Psyche
A Decade To Remember
I’m not sure why I ever stopped writing. As a child you couldn’t tear the notebook from my hands. I’d fill up one after the other, using the moonlight to scribble whatever came to mind in the comfort of my bed, afraid if I turned the light on my parents would know I was up way past my bedtime. I could never concentrate on anything in daily life except the stories in my head. I dreamed of becoming an author one day. I wish I could say that they trampled on my dreams and forced me to get a “real” career because that would make me feel better about having failed up to this point, but instead it was quite the opposite.
By CJ Morrell6 years ago in Psyche
Compassion: Mental Health's Best Friend
Mental illness is too much of a taboo topic. Don’t talk about it. It’ll go away. Those with mental illness are scary. Mental illness only happens to criminals, murderers, and crazy people. These thoughts leave those attempting to accept and deal with their health feeling alone and unwanted. The worst part about it is that we already feel alone and unwanted. We already feel unwanted. We believe we must have been bad to be this way. None of this is true. We need compassion and understanding.
By Fire Dragon Lit6 years ago in Psyche
The Highly Sensitive Person
I have read the Elaine Aron books, I've managed to buy other books such as The Highly Sensitive Person Survival Guide by Ted Zeff. I am reading about how to give myself more buffers. These days, I have plenty more compared to what I had in my after college years. By 2010, I had quit drinking and realized that my sensitivity could be managed differently. As a sensitive person, I'm realizing just how fragile my hernia is making me. I'm trying to sleep well at night, but I was low at 9, high at 1:00 a.m., and then high in the morning. The books I have offer many tips on how to deal with sensitivity.
By Iria Vasquez-Paez6 years ago in Psyche
VANTABLACK VOMIT
It felt like I needed to spew a void of darkness. It was clung, deep to my ribs, a sentient mucus that would not expel. Poisoning my heart as the panacea started to settle within my fractured brain, a tourniquet to stop the thoughts of harm spilling into the street.
By Dom Watson 6 years ago in Psyche
My Roommate Situation
I moved to San Francisco State in August 2004, and I was a transfer student at that. My roommates struck me in the immediate present as gaslighting bullies. One was messing around with her perception of race, and didn't bother to correct me as I see now she was looking for an excuse to criticize an innocent person. They did turn out to be very abusive. But at first, I tried to be the one to help them get along although the roommate I met first was the sort of person who liked messing around with people, and like I said, I imagined I had wronged her by not guessing her race right. I'm sorry, hun, I didn't know any better, and remember I was in my mid-twenties so therefore, learning new things?
By Iria Vasquez-Paez6 years ago in Psyche
My Mind and His Mental Health Issues
Days go by, boring, monotonous, chill and uneventful. These days go by and I take them for granted. I tend to forget for a few blissful moments that I am free from what really lurks in my mind. I don't focus on the fact that there are tons of ways that I could screw up my life at any moment with just a few words.
By alexandria Urrutia6 years ago in Psyche
