Finding Your Marbles
A Mental Health Survival Guide

Ok, don’t get me wrong. I love parties. They are loads of fun and they are a great way to meet people. However, I admit that I struggled with the title of this article because I didn’t want to make it sound like I thought of parties as something that had to be “survived.” (my original title was “How to Have Fun at a Party” but I hated that one even more.)

However, for someone with anxiety, parties can be pretty scary, but it doesn’t have to be that way. People with anxiety can enjoy parties as much as anyone else! The trick is to develop some skills to manage your anxiety so you can go and have a good time. So, please forgive me for the crappy title, and let’s talk about parties.

Continue reading “How to Survive a Party” »

This video over at Videojug is a great demonstration of the “Square Breathing” technique I described last week in “How To Survive A Panic Attack Part 1.” It gives simple, step-by-step instructions on how to learn deep breathing techniques.

Continue reading “How to Relax Using Deep Breathing Techniques” »

Here’s a neat little trick I learned back when I was doing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for depression. CBT is a type of therapy that works on “inappropriate thinking,” I.E., it is based on the theory that mood disorders can be caused by, or at least worsened by, inappropriate emotional responses to events. Or, in other words, when you are depressed, you are getting upset when you probably shouldn’t be. It’s pretty cool and it’s easy to learn, but it takes a bit of practice.

Continue reading “Ten Minute Therapy” »

I was talking to a depressed friend of mine a couple of years ago. She was almost entirely crippled by her depression and she could barely cope at work. I asked her why she wouldn’t tell her boss about her depression. Her reply,

“I can’t talk about it. Nobody talks about it. You just don’t bring it up here.”

Continue reading ““Nobody Talks about it”” »

“He’s only big because of his bounces”
– Winnie the Pooh

Courage is one of those things that everyone tries to understand, but that nobody really gets. When most people talk about courage, what they really mean is “fearlessness.” The two concepts couldn’t be more different.

Children are taught that having courage means being fearless. Courage is “ignoring your fear and standing up to danger, no matter how scared you are.” In other words, kids are taught to be Tigger. Brave kids aren’t afraid of anything, and kids who show fear are weak. Sound familiar?

Continue reading “How Winnie the Pooh Taught Me Courage” »

In Part 1 of this article, I talked about using the Square Breathing technique to manage a panic attack. In this article, I will talk about a second technique, Grounding.

What is Grounding?

I learned how to use grounding (also sometimes called “situational awareness”) back when I was suffering from PTSD and I was getting flashbacks. By using grounding techniques, I was able to control my flashbacks and get myself calmed down. Later on, I also found that grounding worked for panic attacks. It’s a good skill to have.

The idea behind grounding is that it helps you manage your panic attacks or flashbacks by teaching you to concentrate on the “real” world around you, instead of the false fears and images that your brain is creating. It takes some practice, but it is a very useful trick to know, especially when a flashback or panic attack catches you off guard. (which, for me, was “always”)

Continue reading “How To Survive a Panic Attack Part 2” »

Panic attacks suck.

I can remember my worst one like it was yesterday. A friend of ours had given us a pet snake as a gift (long story), and one day, the snake somehow got out of his cage.

And disappeared.

We started looking for him, but we couldn’t find him anywhere and I began to panic. Thoughts were rushing through my head; “What if he got into the ductwork?” (we lived in a condo at the time), “what if he dies somewhere where we can’t reach him?” I completely lost it. I couldn’t breathe, my heart was pounding and I got dizzy. All I could think about was all the horrible things that could happen if we couldn’t find that snake.

Continue reading “How To Survive a Panic Attack Part 1” »