How I Overcame the Embarrassment that Attaches Itself to Mental Illness

    Have a mental disorder? Are you embarrassed to admit that you 
have a mental illness? Do you feel like you have to hide your diagnosis? Well, you are not alone. 

    Embarrassment, whether public or private is real and if taken
to the extreme it can cause someone to have suicidal ideations. The 
holidays are just around the corner. You know what that means, family gatherings. Family can sometimes be the worst offenders, 
they are set in their ways. 

    I, only recently, have become open about my mental illness. At first, it was embarrassing and I tried to choose people that seemed like they might be open. I share my blog and I sometimes talk one on one with them. I hope my blog is helping. Just by word of mouth, many nations have looked at this blog. I had business cards made, so I could gain more views. I write in this blog, because I think that mental illness needs explaining. Slowly, the public is coming around to some sort of understanding. 

    But, embarrassment is natural. People can sometimes say and do some really hurtful things toward mentally ill citizens. I am open
now, but when I first was diagnosed, I was in the closet and didn't want anyone to know that I had been classified as one of the mentally ill populace.

    I found out, that the more open you are about your mental illness, you meet more people who are willing to listen. Sometimes, it is difficult to broach the subject, but it is like speaking to crowds, you get used to it. 

    Another way that I overcame embarrassment, was the continuation of my education at college and learning about how people think and grow. I am hoping to fill with information what the public has, and that is ignorance. People are afraid of what they
cannot understand. It is this fear that fuels others into the closet about having a mental illness, because most likely, they are ignorant too. 

    So, in conclusion, I cannot stress enough the value of learning about mental illness. They have groups for the mentally ill, and then there is school. The more information you have, the more confident you might be to coming out of the closet about your mental illness, or someone you know that has a mental illness.
Be a player, not a hater.

Remember, the more you know....check out the 
Vocabulary ABC's

How I Overcame Improper Eye Contact

     Some people don't think about eye-contact. They just do it.
But, when you have body dysmorphic disorder, sometimes it is
all you think about. Some manipulators work bad eye-contact on
purpose. The pain of getting winked at is real. It is a passive-aggressive action. It is even worse, if you have a nervous tick in 
the eye that is attacked.

    So, through the help of higher-education, I found a better way
of looking people in the eye when in conversation. I used to look
according to my eye-brows, but, I found a better way. My father
used to say to look at the middle of the eye-brows in order to look someone in the eye, but my way is still a lot better and it keeps you from hurting if you get winked at.

    My approach to eye-contact is this simple adjustment. Use the bridge of your nose and focus on the bridge of the other as your center. This not only keeps you safe against winking, it helps you redefine your center. It also helps if you have a second center within to keep you in the quiet. 

    Inside my eyes, I am blind and inside my ears, I am deaf. So, I would get mad when people accused me of imagining things that really happened to me. But, this is another post yet to come. I see without, and I hear without. I am not imagining it.

    There is an eye exercise you can do at night before you fall asleep. You use your finger as a focal point. Run your finger along your nose.Look at the tip of your finger as you go up and down and up and down. Then you find the center of the bridge of your nose and then cross your finger like a plus sign and go only to the pupil to pupil and then back to the bridge of your nose again, and repeat the up and down of your finger. This exercise strengthens your eye muscles and helps you retreat your eye-contact when you need to and still hold eye-contact. A simple, and yet, effective exercise.

    I hope this has helped you redefine your attention practices and strengthened your lucidity. If you remember, one of the first things as children we noticed in others was their nose. It just brings back a natural defense from when we were children. Remember the good old days. 

    About Body Dysmorphic Disorder

How I Overcame My Fear of ECT (shock therapy)

     I used to think shock therapy was barbaric and well, maybe
in the past it was. But, in this modern age, it is more like having
surgery where they sedate you before they use it on you.
I think that I was apprehensive about the procedure, because 
it is a thing of the past. But, it isn't. Back in the day, my 
grandfather suffered shock therapy twice a week. Now, today
that would be too much.

There are benefits to this medical procedure. One benefit the treatment gives you is this "like new" quiet that you experience 
for some time after treatment. Another, well, if you have a 
nervous tick, it just might take that away. It actually has a 
refreshing and calming experience, regardless of fears. But, these things were new to me, and I was scared. That is normal, 
to be afraid of pain. But, the only pain I experienced
was the pain of my fears.

    Now, sometimes, they won't tell you that you had the 
procedure. That makes it scary. ECT was an alternative to a 
labatomy back in the time of my grandfather. Labatomies
are now thought to be bad medicine, but they still use
shock therapy. I am not an advocate for this procedure, but, with better information, maybe I helped you not to be so scared
of it.

    This just shows that sometimes one's fears dictate one's
decisions. I would not voluntarily go under shock treatment,
but I just wanted you to know that I survived it. Even when
the first time happened in the middle of a school semester and
made me forgetful about what I studied in school. Somehow
I still passed, but only with a C. 

Below are a few more things on the ECT treatment procedures.
   
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a procedure, done under general anesthesia, in which small electric currents are passed through the brain, intentionally triggering a brief seizure. ECT seems to cause changes in brain chemistry that can quickly reverse symptoms of certain mental illnesses.

Mayo Clinic on ECT
John's Hopkins
Risks and Side Effects

   In the end, ECT has become more advanced and more 
humane. Remember, it is ok to be scared of it. In a way
I still am, but I recognize a difference after being treated.

A Time of Thanksgiving Is Once Again Here

            Many people suffer from seasonal
depression. This quick exercise can help even
the most defeatist attitudes. Learning the good,
ignoring the bad takes practice and know-how.
Practice looking into your memory for the good
things in life also helps your outlook on life.

           May you all have a safe and happy holidays
this year and all year round. 

  "Reasons for the Seasons"

     Around Thanksgiving time, there is a popular

concept that can help put the last year in perspective.

     Gather in a group, or gather yourself together

to get ready for the activity of the season.

     On a blank zerox piece of paper, put in the

center of it the phrase, " I Am Thankful For ".

     Then, it is customary to think of things

that you are thankful for. Put it down on the paper

and put as many as you can. If you want to make
more than one, well that is a good thing.

     When you are done, place it in an area where

you can read it to remember all the things you are

thankful for and the reasons you are thankful.

     After a few years, (if the activity was saved),

you can view the activities side by side.  It is

amazing how different they might turn out to be.

     I learned this activity during a theraputic group

gathering.

    Every year, I try to write thank you letters to family

and friends telling them through those letters how

thankful I am to have them in my life. With practice 

looking at the good thoughts, negativity takes a back seat. 

                                                     www.nami.org