coping
Life presents variables; learning how to cope in order to master, minimize, or tolerate what has come to pass.
My Life with Anxiety Disorder
In 2012, I was attending church on a rainy night. All of a sudden, my hands start to sweat, and my heart starts to race a million miles an hour. I rush to the women's bathroom with the fear that I would have a heart attack or pass out. It was so hard to breathe because my chest was tight. My mom finds me in the bathroom and takes me outside. When I describe my symptoms to her, she tells me I'm having a panic attack. It was a surprise to me. At the time I didn't feel panicky. That's probably a foolish thought. However, my mom tells me that a panic attack can happen for no reason. She suffers from the same condition.
By Sarah Loyd7 years ago in Psyche
How I Made Positive Changes to My Mental Health
When I was young, I spent all my time putting myself down, battling my thoughts and feelings, not giving self-confidence a second thought, and feeling I was not worth anything. This was a result of the emotional and physical abuse I had endured in my childhood and early adulthood. As I got older and became a parent, I developed a very long struggle with my mental health, and I realized that something had to change or I would continue to lose everything.
By Carol Ann Townend7 years ago in Psyche
Painting Happiness Rocks and How It Helped Me
Art therapy uses the creative process of making art, whether it be painting, drawing, sculpting, or any other form, to improve your physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Expressing oneself in this artistic way has been proven to help reduce stress and anxiety, improve self-awareness, and help manage and further understand the feelings one may be suppressing or unaware of.
By Nadine Belliveau7 years ago in Psyche
Foods That Can Help Reduce Anxiety
My 9th-grade son Jarret has a lot of anxiety. It might not help that Jarret's mother and I insist that he wear a bulletproof vest to school since President Sex Criminal refuses to possible gun control solutions. Then there's the fear of being picked last to play football and soccer in gym, even though we're practicing with the best soccer balls in 2018. And I bet Jarret is also feeling some anxiety since I've started seeing Chica Reyass, even though I assure him that the two of them are not in competition for my attention! So, I'm doing all I can to calm Jarret down, including teaching him about foods that can help reduce anxiety into his diet.
By Devon Thomas7 years ago in Psyche
Combatting a Day with Depression
We all get them, low points—some worse than others. With depression, a particular low point could be paralysing...crippling. The hardest part? Not feeling like there is a way back out of it—feeling like there is no escape from how much you are hurting. But, please hold on—because there is, you just have to keep going. This is how.
By Elle White 7 years ago in Psyche
The Tragedy of Relapse
When you're spiralling so fast, your mind cant keep up. Dizzy, entranced, and then it hits you. At 8AM, when you find yourself pulling apart a razor to free the blade while sitting in the bathtub, it hits you. And you're holding the false remedy to a day you can't seem to see the end to between your thumb and finger, frozen in spot, knowing that this isn't a slip-up in recovery. You've drifted back to a place where you can't cope—a place you need to heal from quickly, because you are running out of options.
By Elle White 7 years ago in Psyche
Have a Day
"Have a good day!" It's a pretty common phrase, is it not? Something we often say to one another -- something we may call to say to our significant other on the way to work, or shout after our children once they’ve scrambled to gather their book bags and lunch pals in time to make the bus. It’s a nice sentiment, but sometimes the expectation to have a good day is simply too much. Some of us may be struggling with long term depression or battling a treacherous physical disease, grieving the loss of a loved one, or experiencing the heartbreak of a relationship coming to an end. For some of us, from the moment we open our eyes to the sun streaming in through our bedroom window, we are doused with an overwhelmingly heavy blanket of sadness, anger, confusion, or loneliness, leaving us with not even a moment of serenity to bathe in before settling over us. A full day of expectations awaits us, and the mere thought of having to fulfill those expectations is exhausting; having to fulfill them with a cloud of disdain raining down on us seems damn near impossible.
By Abbey Walters7 years ago in Psyche
Gender Dysphoria
“Deep breath, sweetie. Straighten your spine. Bright smile! Think about a happy time in your life.” The words ring empty in my ears. A happy time in my life? Happy? My brain crackled and strained like a record on the brink of making some noise. I don’t know how I was expected to pull a happy expression when here I was, a spy undercover. It was advice a friend had given me yesterday—I heard something that helps people dealing with dysphoria is to act like you’re a spy undercover. I had brainstormed a name minutes earlier, a backstory and everything. Pendleton Schnell was the real name for myself I came up with, the same initials as my actual name. I was an adult with a baby face posing as a high school girl. I had been watching a man, one of the teachers, for months in this faux-investigation—on the brink of some kind of discovery, some evidence against him. Doing homework, projects, and attending class each day was just the name of the game. Taking senior photos was, too.
By Sol Stassi7 years ago in Psyche
