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Links I’m Sharing (weekly)
It Is Possible to Thrive After Depression Supporting someone when they’re anxious starts with listening not ‘fixing’ What can friends and family members do to support survivors of sexual abuse? Please, Stop Using Mental Illness As An Insult Those Struggling with Mental Health Are Trying to Get Well Sometimes mental health support is as simple…
Link – The Tragedy of Mental Illness Stigma
This is atrocious. Think about this for a second: “About half of people in the United States are estimated to have a diagnosable mental illness at some point in their lives. Whether we’re talking about major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, OCD, schizophrenia, or a host of other mental health conditions, this accounts for more than…
Shared Links (weekly) October 17, 2021
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6 ways to protect your mental health from social media’s dangers
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Here’s Why The Cowardly Victim-Blaming of Sexual Assault Survivors Must End
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Talk about mental health, says farmer who lost dad to suicide
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Here are 7 of the best psychology podcasts to boost your knowledge of the brain and human behavior
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Sharing – Are you okay? The power of storytelling in mental health
As I mentioned, in the workplace this is true. Very few people are going to feel safe talking about their own struggles if the leaders in the company never open up about their own at some level. But, it’s also true in our relationships as well.
How many of us wish the people in our lives, spouses, kids, siblings, friends and loved ones, would feel comfortable talking to us about their struggles, yet we never share our own? How would they know that you are a safe person to talk to if you appear to never have any struggles?
Let me give you a prime example from my own life. As many of you know, I worked from home before the pandemic started, and continued to do so all the way through 2020. It had very little impact beyond some lack of socializing, on my life, and so when I compared that to what many others were going through in 2020, I didn’t really want to complain about the things I was struggling with. Most people I did talk to, didn’t really talk about their own struggles either. Finally, however, when I wrote a post about not being OK right now, and shared it across my social media profiles, including LinkedIn, I got notes and messages from a ton of people, some who I haven’t even been in touch with in awhile, telling me about their struggles as well.
I attribute that to two things. One, I know a lot of amazing people who see someone struggling and immediately set out to make sure I knew I wasn’t alone, and two, by sharing my own difficulties, I also provided them a safe place to share their own struggles.
Isn’t that what it’s really all about?
So, what are you struggling with that you have been hiding? What good is hiding doing for you?
When Stigma Hits The Ones We Love
Can you imagine the double blow it must be to have your spouse struggling with addiction or severe mental illness, and know that your friends are likely avoiding you as well? Is there stigma directed at you for being married to someone with mental health issues?
