Similar Posts
Sharing – How To Support Your Depressed Friend When You’re Depressed Too
As you know, I’ve been quick to share links and even write about what your depressed friends need, and how to help people struggling with their own mental health. What I’ve come to realize more and more is that I am also struggling, and failing at being a very good friend for many of these same reasons. I’m burned out, I’m tired, I have little mental energy beyond just getting through each workday, and taking care of myself, for reaching out, chatting, or virtually meeting up with people.
In short, I am experiencing exactly what Annie is talking about. I want to reach out and be supportive to my friends, but I haven’t recognized my own struggles. No, I don’t believe I am depressed in a major way, but I’m definitely suffering from anxiety, stress, and it’s exhausting me.
That makes it hard to be the supportive one in any relationship, even though I want to be.
To combat that, I’m going to be reviewing this article a few times, and thinking about how I might still be supportive, and how maybe people in my life be supportive of each other.
Link – How to Really Support a Loved One Who’s Struggling with Their Mental Illness
There is a lot of specific things mentioned in the article, but as always it all boils down to this: “Ultimately, the kindest thing we can do is what we’d do for any loved one struggling with anything: Be there. Be there to listen. Be there to sit with their pain. Be there to encourage…
Link – The Stigma of Mental Illness in Rural America
I can’t say for myself that this has been an issue, but I have lived in very large cities for most of my life. “Your neighbors don’t have a clue in a city if you’re going to go get some help. But everybody [in a small town] will know if your pickup truck is parked…
Sharing – The many faces of mental illness in Blacks
As a white person, I don’t generally have much to say about other groups. It’s not my place to talk about the hows and whys of the reluctance of black Americans to seek out mental health resources.
I do, however, know that there is a gap in the availability of treatment for most minority groups in the US and that it’s important for members of every group to talk about mental health.
Reviews Elsewhere – A Treasure Box for Creating Trauma-Informed Organizations, by Karen Treisman
I think this is something many of us would agree with, the people in our organizations have all been through trauma, some in more ways than others. Trying to simply go on as if nothing has happened is a disservice to the human beings in your organization, no matter what type of organization we are talking about. Taking some time to recognize what has happened and how we go forward from there is an important step. It sounds like this “Treasure Box” may help us all do exactly that.
Sharing – How to Draw On Your Psychological Resources
None of these things is going to “fix” the stress and anxiety we are all feeling, but they can build up the resources we need to face it and go forward. Developing these skills is an important part of dealing with difficulties, and for survivors, they are also an important part of healing. The more strength you have in these areas, the better prepared you are to heal and move forward.
We often talk about the cup analogy, not being able to pour from an empty cup, but this article gives you really concrete ways to make sure your cup has something in it.
