coping

Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.

Misunderstood and Misdiagnosed: My Road to Recovery
My mental illness feels like I'm in the midst of a giant, cluttered, shrub. I feel trapped, I struggle to move, and I am almost constantly terrified. Even though I have a mental health condition, none of the labels make sense to me perfectly. I used to think that illness was treated with a straightforward approach, you get ill, then diagnosed, then treated, and then better. I am now realising that my illness—and no illness—is that linear and predictable.
By Jennifer Lyn6 years ago in Psyche
Off
OFF by Andre N. Jones CHARACTERS DODSON CARR A pilot. A drunk. Conflicted by guilt and his inner demons.
By Andre N Jones6 years ago in Psyche
This Sadness
Today, I am sad. Don't get me wrong, I will laugh. I will function. I will go through the motions of my life. I know that tomorrow will be better. If not, the next day will. But for today, for right now, I am sad.
By Jenn Pautsch6 years ago in Psyche
A Story About Being Followed
The Story: I remember it vividly: feeling terrified, shocked, stuck, scared, and simply uncomfortable. A story about the first time I was ever followed by a man. The first time happened, when my cousin, her dog, and I went for a walk, on a public trail, near her house. About five minutes into starting on this trail, we noticed a man who was visibly day-drinking, holding a brown paper bag to cover his choice of drink. We slightly veered off the path, as the dog led us to where he wanted to do his business, between some trees. My cousin fell pretty silent before whispering to me, "That man's watching us." And, when I looked up, he was watching us from the path. Brown paper bag in hand, with zero shame, and with eyes on his prize. I immediately freaked out. My eyes widened, and my jaw probably dropped. Sheer terror must have been on my face, because my cousin noticed. She tried to calm me down, listing reasons not to worry:
By MB | Stories & More6 years ago in Psyche
The Survival Guide to Dealing with a New Disability
Getting a diagnosis of a disability can be devastating news. There usually are overwhelming emotions of shock, disbelief, anxiety, fear, and despair.
By Tracy Stine6 years ago in Psyche
Finding Light in Darkness. Top Story - August 2019.
I am an atheist. I hold to no gods, no faith, no religion. I don’t have a problem with people finding faith comforting, but I don’t believe in proselytizing and I think that “mission trips” are just a fancy way to say “colonialism.” However, a couple of years ago, I had a friend join The Satanic Temple, and because I try to take an active interest in the lives of my friends, I looked it up. And what I found there, was the Seven Tenets, that are the fundamental base to The Satanic Temple. They resonated with me, and I read more and wrote them out; and over the last two years, have applied them to my life, and my therapist and I agree for once that they have helped me. So without pretense or expectation, I present to you the Seven Tenets, and how I have applied them to my life to aid in my constant process of tweaking my outlook to improve my mental health.
By Paige Graffunder6 years ago in Psyche
10 Things I Obsess About
I have OCD, and it's a thing that I struggle with daily. It is a byproduct of another disorder, but that doesn't make its teeth any less sharp. I wanted today to talk about some of the things that I obsess about, and how they affect my daily life, and how I manage them using coping mechanisms, distractions, and behavior modification tactics.
By Paige Graffunder6 years ago in Psyche
Aporia: Goddess of Transformation and Change
Lately, I have been experiencing these mental blocks. Upon a conversation with a close friend of mine, I have discovered that I am currently suffering from anxiety and depression. Well, it is not so much of a discovery, as the desire to work on myself has finally manifested in my life. I think my mental blocks could be a result of my depression, which projects its fears and worries onto the faces of those in my life, making me think that they hate me. I know that the odds of them actually hating me are probably non-existent, but I still get consumed with the fears of them talking behind my back. I have to fight against the desire to bend over backwards for them to gain their approval in light of this personal information, but it is difficult—I am such a people pleaser.
By Authentically Me6 years ago in Psyche
Some of My Problems
If I understood the things I understand now from five years ago, I believe I would be in a different place, but now that I am here, I wonder where I will be in five years? From being a kid to now, in one of Alaska’s villages, I never did understand some of the things I had problems with, my parents didn’t understand because they understood the church, the nature around the village, food to prepare, jobs, and more or less, the western world. I wasn’t any different from them. They had taught me about church, hunting and gathering, and I was learning from school. Learning the culture we have in AK, and the history of America and praying. In between the only events that go on, I grew like anybody in the village would, playing with everybody around the village.
By yuk6 years ago in Psyche
It's Okay, Not to Be Okay
I feel broken. I've felt like this for years, but it wasn't always this way. As a child and even into my young teens, I was an outgoing person. I could talk to anyone. I still can, but it's different now. It's more forced. I can feel my body draining of its emotional and mental energy. It's a show... or maybe a hope on my part. It's a hope that maybe one day I'll return to normal. But what is my normal? I can't remember anymore.
By Kira Frascella6 years ago in Psyche
Sleeping and Anxiety
I have always had sleeping problems. While I do not consider myself an insomniac, I know that my inability to shut off my brain, so to speak, at night has caused me stress since my middle school years.
By S.E. Reinero7 years ago in Psyche
The Best Approaches for Eliminating Depression
Depression is among the deadliest mental conditions anyone can have. However, being depressed is, to some extent, normal in life because of the many challenges we encounter every day. If you are depressed right now, therefore, don’t panic or lose hope, because like millions of people before you, you are guaranteed of finding help for as long as you seek it. There are a host of medical as well as natural remedies to your problem. Here are a few of them.
By Flora Mayer7 years ago in Psyche