By:
On:
In: Anxiety, Depression, Living with Mental Illness, Personal Stories
With: 0 Comments

By Marisa Lancione Published by Healthy Minds Canada Living with a chronic mental illness can sometimes feel like waiting for the other shoe to drop (hopefully it’s at least something stylish). Up until this point, I have distanced my writing from my present by focusing on my past. Well, I’m going to take a huge leap of faith and discuss the state of my current mental health. And the fact is, I’m struggling. I’ve been battling semi-regular panic attacks for the past 6 months. My first panic attack in years happened in March. As with most panic attacks, they happen at the most inopportune moments.Read More →

By:
On:
In: Depression, In The News, Living with Mental Illness, Personal Stories, Supporting a Loved One
With: 0 Comments

BELLEVILLE – Michael Teasdale never thought about killing himself. But he did feel like curling up in a corner and letting life roll over him until it flattened him out of existence. The Stirling man and Loyalist College student was just one of the walkers in Wednesday’s Defeat Depression at the school, aimed at raising awareness of mental illness.Read More →

By:
On:
In: Anxiety, General, Living with Mental Illness, Personal Stories
With: 0 Comments

To some, anxiety is a taboo term. To one student, it was seven letters that defined her life. At the age of 12, second-year Ryerson journalism student Emily Aubé was diagnosed with panic and generalized anxiety disorder. Both conditions put her through great stress and pressure growing up. “In high school, there were no resources that helped me and I felt very much ashamed of my disorder in fear of being labeled as ‘mental’ or ‘crazy,’” Aubé said.Read More →

By:
On:
In: Coping Tips, Depression, Living with Mental Illness, Personal Stories, Supporting a Loved One
With: 0 Comments

Last November, I was diagnosed with depression. Depression is an illness which provokes a wide range of reactions in people, depending on their own experiences. It is, to me, something intangible- just when I think I’ve understood its impact on my life and those around me, it slips away and mutates into something else. Some days I am able to brush it aside, other days it lies on me like a hot, heavy, suffocating blanket, preventing me from doing anything and leaving me tearful with frustration. I think for sufferers and for those who deal with them, be it friends, family or colleagues, depression isRead More →

By:
On:
In: Depression, General, In The News, Living with Mental Illness, Personal Stories
With: 0 Comments

When Elizabeth Manley opened the door and saw her mother for the first time in weeks, her mother collapsed on her knees and began to cry. Since moving to the United States to pursue her dreams of figure skating and Olympic gold, Manley had become a pale ghost of the robust athlete she had once been — she’d lost all her hair, gained 40 pounds and had almost completely stopped talking. “I wanted to wear the pretty dresses and the pretty makeup, but unfortunately sports don’t always come with the pretty stuff,” she told a packed crowd at the University of Ottawa on Monday, 30Read More →

By:
On:
In: Anxiety, General, Living with Mental Illness, Personal Stories
With: 0 Comments

I am telling my story, because if it means that it brings hope to just one person who lives with Social Anxiety Disorder, that recovery is possible, then it is worth it. I will start by sharing with you some of my experiences of living with Social Anxiety Disorder. I will then go on to explain to you how I believe I developed this illness, its symptoms, the effect it had on all facets of my life, the coping mechanisms I used, as well as explaining how the disorder was never recognised or treated for twenty years, and resulted in the development of more complexRead More →

By:
On:
In: Agoraphobia, Anxiety, General, Living with Mental Illness, Personal Stories
With: 0 Comments

Hi ! I am Roz and thought I would share some of my own experiences of living with agoraphobia with you. I am in my 40’s and have suffered from anxiety since I was age 13, when I started suffering a school phobia and the cause was emitaphobia. With struggling for a couple of years I managed to get back to schooling and although continued to suffer from anxiety and panic attacks got through school and college ok. I started work and it wasn’t until I started work that they became a problem. I got through till I was about 30 with managing to doRead More →

By:
On:
In: Anxiety, Coping Tips, General, Living with Mental Illness
With: 0 Comments

“What If” thinking is how I would refer to anticipatory anxiety. An anxiety which is experienced with an initial thought of doing something. Example: Assume that you have an important meeting arranged for next week, and you also know that you have no option, but to attend this meeting. During the lead up to this important meeting, you will no doubt experience anxiety. You will often find yourself asking yourself the “What If” questions. What if I have a panic attack? What if I have to leave the room? What if I pass out?Read More →

By:
On:
In: Anxiety, Coping Tips, Living with Mental Illness, Personal Stories
With: 1 Comment

Around my freshman year in high school, I received a diagnosis I frequently refer to as “the trifecta” — depression, anxiety and OCD. Depression was without a doubt the main diagnosis, but I found out over time that these three individual illnesses play off each other. Sometimes it was hard to tell where the symptoms of one illness ended and another one began.Read More →

By:
On:
In: Coping Tips, Living with Mental Illness, Personality Disorders, Supporting a Loved One
With: 1 Comment

A Guide To Understanding Paranoid Disorder How to Cope with Paranoia Living with someone who has been diagnosed with paranoia requires patience, compassion, and strong personal boundaries. The following tips can help you provide the necessary support and assistance to help him in his struggle to overcome paranoia. Encourage compliance with treatment – His mistrust may interfere with his willingness to take prescribed medications or attend therapy sessions. This occurs commonly in people being treated for paranoia and slows their recovery significantly. Encourage him to follow his treatment program.Read More →