recovery
Your illness does not define you. It's your resolve to recover that does.
The Day Hospital and Beyond
Once upon a time, in the days before Uber, I took a cab from my glitzy corporate job where I drank designer coffee drinks and carried designer, overpriced handbags (which I still do because they are AWESOME), and was dropped off at one the premier hospitals in Chicago. I was there because my then husband called a psyche intake meeting for my botched suicide attempt.
By ToriAnne Brinsley6 years ago in Psyche
Healing
Lately, I have been having a lot of things weighing heavy on my mind. Weighing in on the scale at one million pounds is my childhood trauma. When this weight takes over, I begin to think about how life never really gave me the chance to dwell on my pain because it does what it’s good at doing, “it moved on.” I started to think about how my sisters went through a lot of traumatizing things as well, and they never got the chance to dwell on the pain, we never got to heal. After other thoughts, I began to think about how people go through so many things in their lives. Whether it’s from your childhood or adulthood, and they never get the chance to heal from it. The process of healing takes time, whether you are improving alone or with a support system. Regardless healing must happen; one of the reasons I feel like it is hard to heal is because of life. Many different versions of life happen for people; some people’s trauma is distracted by moving away, new job, new additions to the family, new friends, or even new relationships. When all these things happen, the trauma is pushed back, and the wound is still open. In my situation, after my trauma was acknowledged a big move occurred for my family and me, then at the age of 16 only two years after my ordeal ended, I was pregnant with my son. All the horrific things I had gone through were pushed back, and although it was still affecting me every day, I was so busy I was never able to bring it up again. Another reason I feel like people push back their trauma is that other people aren’t supportive of their healing. Both family and friends have a role in the healing process. Being supportive starts with communication, reaching out to someone and asking them how they’ve been doing after various situations is a start. There are adults now that have been through things as children, and they never healed from it because family members or friends weren’t supportive of their healing. Their mother, father, grandma, or uncle, etc. never talked to them about things they’ve been through, so they felt like it didn’t matter. The process is even worse when you’re an adult because you’ve been carrying the pain forever and other’s might not take what you’ve been through as traumatizing as it was then because it happened so long ago. As an adult, I can honestly say if I would’ve got the acknowledgment of what I went through in my past from a healthy support system I would be more healed at this point in my life. It is not okay to hold in the things you’ve been through because you feel like it is a waste of time talking about it or it happened so long ago that it doesn’t matter. It does matter, any pain that you’ve experienced matters when you haven’t healed from it. Whether it’s trauma from abuse, neglect, losing a job, finances, being robbed, it matters. A lot of people push their mental health to the side based on how people react to what they’ve been through.
By Maelyn Jeffers7 years ago in Psyche
Bitters & Soda
Bitters & Soda is a raw, honest and sometimes embarrassing perspective of what modern sobriety looks like outside of an organized program. This is a first hand account. It is not a step-by-step guide to getting sober nor is it a sermon on alcohol abstinence for one and for all. I am an alcoholic and this is my personal experience.
By Lalie Kavulich7 years ago in Psyche
Overcoming the Mess
I've been a hoarder for as long as I can remember. I keep useless shit, receipts from delis in Quebec, train tickets from France, the list goes on and on. I moved to a small town a little over two years ago, and never had anyone come over to my apartment because of the disaster it has always been in... I'm talking about clothes all over the floor (separate piles of clean and dirty), dishes all over the counters making it impossible for making any sort of actual food, and just mess and garbage everywhere. This is now all starting to change.
By Ginger Curls7 years ago in Psyche
“How to Stay Sane in a Crazy World”
Hi I’m Laurene Hope. In 2012 I came out of a Therapeutic community without a trace of Bpd after two years, where I learnt, how to sit with my pain and heal my childhood abuse issues with-out medication. Now if I can do it so can others. In the community I was reduced to feeling like a child again, through surrendering to the process. We had a validation bell, which you rang if and when you were triggered. The community and staff would then gather around and offer support. This would enable you to distract from your pain. The support could be a walk in the park or in my case some kind of chore to ground me. Bit by bit you were able to adjust. The community experience was a difficult one for me. I call it my own personal Holacaust as I’m Jewish. Like many others I couldn’t settle, due to my need to fight everything and everyone. I am also an ex war child who grew up in Israel.
By Lauren Ottewill7 years ago in Psyche
Blinding Darkness
I remember thinking about it.... I remember wondering what it would be like to leave. I remember wondering if I would go to hell for doing this. After all, the nun said it was a sin. I remember thinking I didn't want to burn in hell. Multiple times a week, when I was in a place I didn't want to be... having to babysit my youngest siblings who were 6 that June, while I was 14. Taking them for a walk to the corner store for popsicles, while my friends were at the park; hanging out, laughing and having fun. My middle brothers able to go out, play baseball and be with their friends. I was told it was my duty as the oldest of 5 children to help with the younger ones when my father had to work 2 jobs and my mother had to work a night job. Feeling detached from the social circle, but more than that, feeling so different and freakish at almost 6 feet at 14 years old. Maybe I didn't belong there anyway. After all, I was tall, skinny, and ugly and they were pretty. They had boys paying attention to them. No one looked or talked to me like that.
By Patricia Heitz7 years ago in Psyche
Maintaining Healthy Relationships in Recovery
The first and most important relationship in recovery must be developing a relationship with yourself. Through self-discovery in sobriety, you will begin to accept a new identity and an entirely new way of living. Addiction is a family disease and you may find many of your relationships to be in complete disarray and chaos. As you take inventory of past behaviors, resentments, and defects of character, you will begin to practice forgiveness, change, and hopefully make way for the development of healthy relationships throughout the process.
By Tricia Moceo7 years ago in Psyche
New Year, New Me—Being Healthy Doesn’t Just Mean Being Thin…
January 1, 2018 and life was good. I had just had a great night-out in Clapham with Jane, one of my best friends. We worked together at a large FMCG company, in a team consisting of predominately 40+ males, and we had bonded as 20 somethings trying to navigate our way to success in the early stages of our careers. I was loving my job, and got on well with my colleagues. My personal life was positive: I had a great relationship with my boyfriend, a vast group of friends, and a close relationship with my family, as I was still living at home.
By Obscure Flair7 years ago in Psyche
