Social media, generally, gets a bad rap. Yes, the way many of us use it only increases anxiety and loneliness, because we are flipping through someone’s vacation pictures and comparing them to our day at work, but we can, and should, be using it to communicate. We have the most powerful tools we’ve ever had…
This is an interesting idea: The network approach also has a strong message for all of us who care about mental health and illness. We should abandon the last vestiges of our belief that mental disorders are best seen as medical diseases. The symptoms of depression, PTSD, or social anxiety don’t point to an underlying…
New research finds that family support matters, even for college kids. University of Michigan investigators discovered that when college students feel isolated and disconnected, support from family members can keep them from harming themselves during difficult times, “Parents can serve as a first-line of defense in efforts to prevent or reduce the risk of suicide…
This article is not directly about child abuse. But it does, absolutely, deal with an area that I’ve talked about many, many times. Predators are looking for vulnerabilities to exploit. They aren’t necessarily targeting one specific kid, they are looking for the kids with low self-esteem, with poor relationships with parents, who feel unloved, etc….
“After losing a friend to suicide, parents getting divorced, watching addiction take over my sister’s life, tearing my ACL and taking on all the other random obstacles life brought, living in silence became too loud for my mind. Believing and living the lies that society has placed on mental illnesses—keeping silent in struggle—ended up leaving…
Human connection is so important and effective because it breaks through the isolation and loneliness common among people living with mental illness. Connecting with someone else allows people to share their humanity, to exchange stories, to celebrate life’s joys and to empathize through life’s sorrows. Friendship also motivates, inspires, and encourages. While it might be…
