There are websites that welcome suicide. Sure, they say they’re “pro-choice” when it comes to suicide, but, really, they’re welcoming the choice of suicide. And I think that when a site is welcoming of suicide, it is encouraging of suicide as well. When everyone on a site is suicidal and pressing forward towards suicide, it’s hard not to see it as a viable option, especially if you’re depressed or in distress already. I’m not sure I have an answer to the existence of pro-suicide sites, but I do have some information for their visitors.
I talk about serious mental illness a lot, but I have failed to answer the specific question, what is a serious mental illness. Today I’m going to do that. I’m also going to talk about why it’s important to separate those with a serious mental illness and not just lump everyone with a mental illness together. As a person with bipolar disorder, a serious mental illness, I do feel strongly about this.
Everyone experiences emotional pain, and sometimes that pain can be very difficult to bear. However, I posit that people with depression experience exaggerated emotional pain. Depression causes emotional pain in and of itself, of course, but what I’m talking about is regular, everyday emotional pain being exaggerated because of depression. This is similar to how depression worsens physical pain, which I have written about before.
Emotional blackmail can occur in any relationship, but, unfortunately, some people associate emotional blackmail with bipolar disorder (or another mental illness). I’ve had many people talk to me about this over the years. It’s extremely hard to deal with emotional blackmail no matter who’s doing it, but when emotional blackmail comes alongside bipolar disorder or another mental illness, really, it’s double-tough. Read on to learn about emotional blackmail and what you might want to do about it.
Did you know there are tags banned on Instagram? More to the point, did you know that hashtags for bipolar disorder, depression, self-harm, suicide, eating disorders and other mental health tags are banned on Instagram? Up until recently, I didn’t know this. Upon finding it out, however, I think it’s incredibly important to speak out against it. While I realize that Instagram may have the best of intentions with these bans, banning mental health/mental illness tags on Instagram is not the way to help people.
So-called “happy” experiences trigger my depression more than sad ones do. This includes everything from witnessing happy people to taking part in a happy event to watching something happy in a movie. All of these things can make me more immediately sad than seeing something depressing. This seems counterintuitive — even to me — but it is what happens in my daily life. It’s one of the ways that I know I experience major depressive episodes — episodes of an illness.
Psychology can harm your mental health in several ways. Some of you may have experienced this. In fact, just last week on Instagram, I posted an experience someone had that illustrated of type of this harm (more on this later). Now, don’t get me wrong, I know that psychologists are there to help, and certainly, not all psychologists will hurt your mental health, but some definitely do. I want to explore how I’ve seen psychologists hurt the mental health of others, even in spite of their best intentions.
I’m having a happy holiday with bipolar — at least, so far. There was a time when I didn’t think that was possible, but I’ve learned differently since then. This post isn’t about how great my life is or how you should feel bad about not having a happy bipolar holiday, this is about discussing how to have a happy bipolar holiday and how, if you can’t, that’s okay too.
Recently, I learned that the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can trace your call. I didn’t know this. But the thing I did know about the Lifeline, and other suicide hotlines is that they can save your life. It is not surprising to me that the Lifeline uses every tool at its disposal to save lives, and I guess tracing calls is one of those tools. Some people have a distinct problem with this. I suspect they are missing a certain perspective when the Lifeline traces calls: they are missing the perspective of someone who is actually trying to save a life.
Have you heard the statement, “you create your own reality?” I certainly have. It’s new-age-y and pop psychology-y and something that drives me crazy. Like with many things, there is a kernel of truth to it, but the blanket statement is untrue and people use “you create your own reality” in harmful and toxic ways. If you’ve ever bristled at the idea that you create your own reality, read on.
There is a weight to a chronic illness diagnosis. The name of the illness being written down on your medical file forms a lead blanket that lies atop you for the rest of your life. Because that’s what chronic illness is: it’s a burden you carry until you die. I know that sounds a little on the depressing side, but it’s also on the realistic side and it’s important to stay realistic when talking about a chronic illness diagnosis – it’s an awfully weighty thing.
Today, Bipolar Burble welcomes guest author Kate Haldeman. Kate is a licensed professional counselor, mental health advocate, and is a person with mental health issues. See more about Kate at the end.
Learning how to respond to mental health jokes is something I’ve had to do and it’s something I know we almost all have had to do. These types of jokes can happen at home, work or out and about and can definitely hurt a person’s feelings. Allow me to share what I’ve learned about these situations, microaggressions and handling mental health jokes.
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