So much is known and widely discussed when it comes to co-dependency in popular culture, but very little light gets shed on its evil twin, counter-dependency. While co-dependents are weak, needy, and clingy, centering their behavior on what others do, think, and want, counter-dependents are on the flipside of this. Counter-dependency is when someone projects […]
Are You Counter-Dependent? Read More »
When many people hear the term “mental illness” they picture someone on the extreme end of the mental health continuum. For example, they imagine a schizophrenic male off his meds, walking around talking to people who aren’t there; or a woman with severe OCD, who’s hoarding behaviors and obsessions with germs make it impossible to
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Phobias are a kind of anxiety disorder triggered by a specific situation or physical thing. The fear and anxiety that results from contact with a phobia is severe, and may lead sufferers to go to great lengths to avoid their phobias. When people are unable to avoid regular contact with their phobias, it may greatly
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Unless the people around you are brilliantly aware and ceaselessly supportive, the troubling reality is that it often takes years, decades, for you to come to understand your life through the narrative of “brain disease.” Once you finally undertake an examination of the details of the disorder, only then does your life begin to make
The Words of a Brave Survivor: A True and Unvarnished Picture of Bipolar Life Read More »
People who suffer from anxiety sometimes feel as if they are cats in a room full of rocking chairs. We worry about our jobs, our appearance, weight, families and social lives. We want to be as happy and comfortable as our grandparents, yet our grandparents did not face the type and scope of worries that
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A huge closet full of clothes. An endless array of shoes. Multiple pets. In popular culture, it’s common to accuse women of “hoarding” certain types of objects. While oftentimes the female pack rat image is merely a joke, there are many instances in which the behavior indicates a serious disorder. Compulsive hoarding, which is often
Compulsive Hoarding: Finding Help for ‘Cat Ladies’ of All Stripes Read More »
Do you dread going to a loved one’s home because you can’t set foot in the door without tripping over piles of stuff? Is there garbage strewn about the house of your elderly parent or other family member who perhaps has a mental health disorder but otherwise generally functions normally? Maybe your loved one is
Hoarding Now Recognized as True Mental Disorder – Here’s How You Can Help a Loved One Read More »
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, resulting in roughly 35,000 fatalities every year. In addition, nearly 11,000,000 American adults attempt suicide without success at some point in their lives. Altogether, people who abuse alcohol and/or drugs attempt to kill themselves nearly six times as frequently as people who
Substance Abuse and Suicide Read More »
Have a case of the winter blues? It’s not just an old-wives-tale explanation for why some people experience depression during the winter months. Seasonal affective disorder, which has the rather appropriate acronym SAD, is a real medical condition that can have a serious impact on your life. If left untreated, it can turn into ongoing
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Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), the new-ish name for an old label, multiple personality disorder, still has its armies of detractors. Despite reams of controversy littered through the pages of the upcoming revision of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders slated for May of 2013, DID is still likely to
Contemplating the Controversies of Dissociative Identity Disorder Read More »