Filipino culture holds a heavy stigmatization towards mental health — it is either ignored entirely, or minimized and mocked. “Why, are you mentally ill?” My mom asked, the sarcasm dripping and oozing from her voice. I’d just handed her an article called “Cats Are the Unsung Heroes of Mental Health” to support why I wanted...
Tag: trauma
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Learn About The Self Care App Which Helps You Survive
Aloe is an app which promises to help you with the basics of self care which is crucial for those who can’t afford constant care or therapy. In today’s political climate, rife with negativity and hatred, it’s easy to forget to take what one would think are the most basic, mundane steps in caring for...
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So Someone You Love is Suicidal: A Practical Support Guide
TW- Discussions about suicide, depression and anxiety. “Nothing in my life has ever made me want to commit suicide more than people’s reaction to my trying to commit suicide.” ― Emilie Autumn, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls There’s advice out there on how to be supportive to a friend or a lover who...
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Crazy Talk: Should I Get an Emotional Support Animal For My Mental Health?
This week, let’s talk about whether to get an emotional support animal (and my cat, because I’ll take any possible excuse to talk about my cat). Welcome to Crazy Talk: a mental health advice column written by yours truly, a mentally ill and queer writer reclaiming his “crazy” to educate and empower. In a world...
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10 Affirmations for Women of Color & Femmes in the Era of Agent Orange
Check out these affirmations, designed to boost our daily lives to help us make it through & survive one of the undoubtedly most violent times we are facing. As women and femmes of color, we all know that things didn’t suddenly become awful with a Trump presidency, but it does feel as though his being...
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Crazy Talk: I Know I Have This Disorder, But My Clinician Doesn’t Believe Me
If you feel you’re being dismissed or disregarded, the question isn’t what disorder you actually have. It’s actually whether or not your relationship with your clinician is a workable one. Welcome to Crazy Talk: a mental health advice column written by yours truly, a mentally ill and queer writer reclaiming his “crazy” to educate and...
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My Father was an Alcoholic, and the Scars Remain
I am still unsurprised when men walk away from me without looking back, exactly the way my dad did, because, deep down, I know that’s what men do. (Content warning: domestic abuse) “I was born of violence and dissonance; it was not love that made me.” –1976 My father didn’t come to the hospital to...
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Why Checking Myself In To a Mental Hospital Was One of the Best Things I’ve Done
Going to a mental hospital isn’t a failure, but a courageous step toward feeling better and creating a life worth living. by Renée Fabian My anxiety spiked as I stepped through the sliding glass doors of the mental hospital, duffle bag in hand. As I said I wanted to check in, the bored-looking receptionist waved me to...
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#EndTheStigma Is Raising Awareness for Mental Illness
Unstable. Moody. Too Much. Extra. Messy. Folks with mental health issues or mental illnesses often hear these words, either directly or indirectly. The stigma against mental illness isolates and kills countless people every year, and leads to coping behaviors including drug use, unsafe/risky sex and, sadly, often suicide. Finding purpose in pain. #chronicillness #mentalhealth #mhealth #awareness...
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Why Sexual Education Needs to be Trauma-Informed
True or false: sexual education is very inaccessible, underwhelming and needs to be reformed immediately. I think most people would agree that it’s true. The state of sexual education in the United States of America has so many faults, including the fact that it’s taught from a cisgender-heterosexual point of view and, many times, it’s abstinence-only education. However,...