stig-ma ~ a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality or person People who live with mental illness face stigma every day; treated differently, as if they’re less than others. The stigma is very real and it hurts. Stigma occurs whenever there are negative judgements or stereotypes about those with any form of mental illness. When someone is called “dangerous” or “crazy”, that’s when stigma shows.Read More →
I was contacted by Lukas Schwarzenbacher from Islandart GmbH located in Switzerland. He had asked if I could place their short film on our website, and I am more than happy to.Read More →
I grew up in a household where I thought life was normal. I thought everyone’s parents fought, thought dad always beat and raped mom, thought playing mind games was normal, I thought this was what everyone lived like. Years later I’d come to realize, NO, this is not normal!Read More →
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a pattern of unreasonable thoughts and fears (obsessions) that lead you to do repetitive behaviors (compulsions), which interfere with daily activities and can cause severe stress. You may feel the need to try and stop or ignore the OCD but that will just increase your anxiety. Eventually you will feel the need to stop the acts the OCD causes which will alleviate the stress. You will find, eventually, the acts will keep coming back; this is the vicious cycle of OCD.Read More →
Children of all ages are naturally curious and constantly asking questions. We, as adults, need to be attentive and take the time to listen. The generation now, is exposed to the awareness of mental illness, more than previous generations. It’s our responsibility to help educate our children about the world around them.Read More →
Chances are the majority of knowledge of mental health comes from the media. Researchers have suggested that most portrayals in the media are stereotypical, negative and incorrect. Stigma towards mental health has been in the media as far back as the 1800’s; “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”; dissociative identity disorder, formerly called a split personality disorder or multiple personality disorder. Inaccurate portrayals of people with mental illness has created negative stereotypes in all types of media; internet, television and print material such as magazines and newspapers.Read More →
On September 12, 2016, I went to listen to former NHLer Clint Malarchuk speak for the World Suicide Prevention Day. He touched on his medication and drinking, how he mixed the two and how it affected his mental illness, himself, his family and his suicidal thoughts. I do know, from personal experience from loved ones, how important it is NOT to mix alcohol and or drugs and certain medications when you live with a mental illness.Read More →
Imagine having the same thoughts in your head or seeing the same visions in your head, over and over again. Now imagine experiencing this when you’re supposed to be sleeping. This happens to many people who live with mental illness and happened to me. I remember always having to sleep with the radio on or I would have nightmares. The radio always “tuned” our my parents’ arguments and I could sleep. Not realizing I may have developed PTSD, I still had to sleep with the radio on even after I moved out of the house or I would have the same dreams over and overRead More →
allinyourhead.co.uk First of all, apologies as I haven’t written a blog for a while. It’s down to a few reasons, work family also, I have been reading a few blogs and social media (tweets, Facebook posts) . Everybody has their own unique way of writing and telling their stories which is amazing, it’s really helpful and takes some bottle to really open up and tell all, I have total respect to you all and thank you. While reading them, I can see myself in most but also get why there is this stigma (which is bollocks). I tried to read from a neutral point ofRead More →
Us caregiver’s take on the role of care-giving because we have to, because we want to, but most of all because we love someone who needs us to fulfill this role. I’m going to dive right in and state that sometimes I want to bang my head on the keyboard when I see or hear another reference to ‘tough love’ like it is something to be shunned and ashamed of. The idea that by practicing ‘tough love’, one is not practicing ‘unconditional love’. Love is defined as an intense feeling of deep affection.Read More →