Finding Your Marbles
A Mental Health Survival Guide

In Article 1 of this series, Choosing a Therapist, we talked about how to find and choose a therapist. In this segment, I will talk about making your first therapy appointment, how to prepare, and what to expect when you get there. Finally, I will talk about the evolution and growth of the relationship between you and your therapist.

Continue reading “Therapy Series Part 2: Your First Therapy Appointment” »

Choosing a therapist is a lot like dating. You want to find someone who is supportive, someone who understands you, someone who is compassionate and who cares about your interests, and, above all, someone who you can trust. Also, just like dating, choosing a bad therapist can be a total nightmare, and one bad experience can be so discouraging that you are tempted to just give up. Finally, to make things worse, there are hundreds of therapists and there’s no easy way to pick the right one.

So what’s a person to do?

The answer is simple. Do some research, ask lots of questions, and be patient.

Continue reading “Therapy Series Part 1: Choosing a Therapist” »

Therapy. It’s a loaded word. To someone who suffers from mental illness, no one word sums up all the fears and hopes of sufferers like the word “therapy.” In one word is contained all our fears of exposure and ridicule (”if I go to therapy then everyone will know that I’m crazy!”) alongside our deepest-held and most cherished hopes for recovery and a normal life.

If you suffer from a mental illness, at some point in your life you will end up in some sort of therapy, whether it is a few “stress-buster” sessions with a relaxation coach, or full-blown institutionalization at a mental hospital. For most of us, going to therapy for the first time was, or will be, the most difficult and terrifying thing that we have ever attempted. Beginning therapy is the first step to recovery, and if you suffer from mental illness, it will be when you finally decide to face your illness. This week, I will be writing a series of articles that will attempt to help you begin, and get through, therapy. Therapy saved my life, and I hope I can help it save yours.

Continue reading “Therapy Series: Introduction” »

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” »

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” »