Stigma: Domestic Violence, Mental Illness, and Addiction

recent mental health

Am I Scared or Is It Grief? – Uncovering the Sad Feeling

18 Jun 2022

I used to feel this sad and heavy pain in my gut all the time. At times I could name it, pinpoint where the sad ...

Shame, Alcoholism, Stigma, and Suicide

29 Apr 2022

In addiction treatment circles, conventional wisdom suggests we have to let people hit rock bottom before we can help them. But what happens if rock ...

Stop Blaming Mental Illness for Gun-Related Violence

29 Apr 2022

It's a perfect scapegoat: if mental illness is the issue and healthcare is a privilege, the solution must be a stronger police state and more ...

Childhood Trauma, Body Dysmorphic Disorder, and Plastic Surgery Addiction

28 Apr 2022

Many people who have multiple plastic surgeries are looking for self-worth, not correction of a deformity. Most of the time when we talk about addiction, ...

How to Be Less of a Jerk – Part 2 – Admit Racism

09 Jun 2020

[Content warning: Racism] Just because someone doesn’t want to be racist doesn’t mean they aren’t. Contributing to white supremacy is racism. Supporting racists is racism. Excusing ...

Be Less of a Jerk 101: Racism Crash Course

08 Jun 2020

Stop getting offended when someone calls you white, part of white supremacy, a recipient of white privilege, or even *gasp* you get called racist. Instead, ...

domestic violence

Stop Blaming Mental Illness for Gun-Related Violence

29 Apr 2022

It's a perfect scapegoat: if mental illness is the issue and healthcare is a privilege, the solution must be a stronger police state and more ...

Alcohol and Rape Prosecutions: Consent, Intoxication, and Memory

29 Apr 2022

Victim blaming is a defense mechanism for bystanders to feel safe by falsely imagining that it “could be avoided if...” or “that can’t be the ...

Dangerous Words and the Internet

28 Dec 2018

Content Warning: online harassment, online predators, child exploitation Sometimes you have to go back in order to move forward. Like a mystery novel where ...

The Persuasive Mind Tricks of Abusers

16 Nov 2018

Isolation is the number one tool used by abusers. Isolation breeds desperation nurtured in an environment where an abuser can exercise more control and wield ...

The Truth About Sexual Assault

28 Oct 2018

quick facts on sexual violence in the united states what is sexual violence? sexual violence is both physical and psychological, it encompasses violent and non-consensual ...

Yes, Things Get Worse Before Things Get Better

26 Sep 2018

One thing about trauma in PTSD is that it starts to show itself when you're safe(r) than before. Our brains are working on overdrive trying ...

addictions

Willpower Doesn’t Keep Me Sober

03 May 2017

I've gotten a significant amount of side eye from acquaintances who hear I quit drinking the day after a binge. They think either I have ...

Opioids, Dissociation, and PTSD – The Shocking Connections

02 Mar 2017

Endogenous opioids naturally occurring in the human body are different in people with trauma disorders. Post-traumatic stress disorder can make a person feel disconnected from ...

Why I Won’t Be Making New Year’s Resolutions

28 Dec 2016

Setting big goals is dangerous because, unless resolutions are understood as flexible processes, the only outcomes available are to fail or succeed. For me, that ...

Social Anxiety and Racing Thoughts

28 Dec 2016

I’m at the park again. I sit, hunched over my coverless journal. I ripped the front and back off in a drunken fit of rage ...

Is Guilt Selfish? Regret, Shame, and Relapse

27 Nov 2016

Since guilt is cited as a frequent relapse trigger, we need to uncover the layers of internal regret. Looking back over journals from different periods ...