Mental Health Tings:
Documenting Experiences
with Mental Illness
& Neuro-Divergence
The Souls of Black Folks (Are Tired)
Object Constancy — and 8 Ways to Improve It
Object constancy— what it is and how we can improve it.
Diagnoses
In this age of social media there are so many people who are sharing their symptoms online bringing awareness to mental illnesses and neurodivergences alike. It can be helpful to have so much of this content floating around the internet because people who may have once been uncertain or even clueless can identify with what they’ve seen and experienced and begin to question what they know of themselves and if they should seek more resources.
Looking on the Bright Side (Helps You Not Me)
It is our nature to want to soften the blow of things that make our loved ones sad. It is uncomfortable to see the people we cherish go through something hard- regardless of how “big” or “small” it seems to us. It is also one of the most painful ways to respond to someone who is deeply hurting. I would like to use this space to explain why.
Feeling Grief
The words “RESISTANCE of the heart against business as usual” instantly spoke to me of grief. Grief will stop you in your tracks as the world keeps moving around you because it is your heart resisting going about business as usual. The unfairness of it will strike you: my world has been irreversibly altered and nobody else even noticed!
7 Things You Can Do To Lessen Your Anxiety
Things Your Suicidal Friend Wants (You) to Hear
Malcolm X said it best: “when we replace ‘I’ with ‘we’, illness becomes wellness.” We need our community. We need our community to hear and, at times, see through us.
I hadn’t even considered that being ignored triggered me, and prompted me to act so recklessly. But to answer her question, yes. I finally felt like the depths of my pain were understood by my community.
But just because people understood did not mean they knew how to react to it.
My Diagnosis, My Superpower, My Kyrpotonite
I told my pre-pandemic therapist, “There is something wrong with me. There is something else going on. I am 0 to 100. I don’t have any inbetween.” I had written a journal entry late-middle school to early high-school with those exact words.
Making A Safety Plan
Every new therapist or psychiatrist whose practice I visit, makes me do the same thing in our first session— make a safety plan. The safety plan is a document that lists the different methods you’ll try if you’re ever in a mental health crisis or feeling suicidal.
Responding to Death By Suicide
I don’t struggle with suicidal ideation as often as I used to, but I still get triggered every time somebody dies by suicide. And can I be honest? When I was in the thick of it, seeing the response that deaths by suicide had on people only made my own pending suicide seem that much more tantalizing.
Discovering I Am Actually Autistic
Hello there! April is Autism Awareness month, or, as some prefer, Autism Acceptance month. My name is Ashley. I’m 28 years old, and I was just recently diagnosed with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder).
Don’t Save Your Tears
Since getting my diagnosis of ADHD at age 22 (I am now 23), a lot of things have started to make sense, especially my sensitivity. Many neurodivergent people struggle with emotional dysregulation and rejection sensitivity dysphoria, which makes nearly every negative thing an enormous deal, even if it was tiny to begin with.
Navigating Dating While Mentally Ill
I recently revealed on my popular Instagram reel show: Search for Serotonin that I went on a date. People in my DMs congratulated me and said they were proud of me for taking this step. I thought it was funny all the fuss people made, but I had been very vocal about not trusting anyone ever again and remaining single to protect myself. And now here I am, allowing a man to give me butterflies.
SAD on the Campaign Trail:
I was diagnosed with SAD in the spring of 2017, better known as seasonal affective disorder and more recently anxiety disorder, both of which caused me many problems before and after running my campaign for Mayor in the City of Oxford, Mississippi.
Panic Attack First Aid
If you remember, I became a certified mental health first aider a couple years ago and one of the topics that we covered was anxiety attacks and panic attacks. Mental Health First Aid defines panic attacks as distinct episodes of high anxiety with fear or discomfort.
Skin Deep:
Dermatillomania. Excoriation Disorder. Skin-picking. These terms are used interchangeably to describe the repetitive and compulsive picking of one’s own skin.
Celebrating Another Year
Today, I am 28, and I have officially survived the 27 club. At 28, now 5 years of ~still being alive,~ I feel like I am not in any way closer towards achieving anything I want in life, and I am starting to struggle with the lack of results as the years speed by.
Tips for Taking Care of Yourself in Depressive Episodes
When you look online for depression tips most articles will tell you things like “drink more water, eat healthier, practice good sleep hygiene.” Today I wanted to share different tips for how to take care of yourself in a depressive episode where you are low functioning.
Life Is Worth Living
Life and its problems have a way of eroding us in a similar way, but beautiful things can be made from that process. The Grand Canyon is testament to that. My life is testament to that. A working masterpiece that will just get more amazing with time.
