Pureocd

I am autistic. I am bipolar. I have physical disabilities. These things are fairly obvious and once someone gets to know me better, they know the disabilities do not stop there.

Yet, even after getting to know me, most people just see me as autistic, bipolar, mentally disabled, physically disabled, crazy, insane, someone who should be locked up in a mental institution.

What so many fail to see is my other qualities: I am also a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a cousin. I am a poet, a writer, a bookworm, a great friend.

Living with the knowledge you have 14 or more things wrong with you, that is very difficult. Every day, you fight against what those disabilities do to you and how they affect not only you, but those you are closest to. Every that one of those Continue Reading

In the final analysis, you cannot force a person to do what they do not want to do. However, you can do anything in your power to help that person get treatment even if it means forcing mental health treatment. You cannot make them cooperate, but you can put them in a situation wherein they may just be helped. This is especially important for people who are on medications. Monitoring medications and making sure they are taken is essential for people who have Manic/Depression, Schizophrenia and other disorders. It’s like not taking medication for diabetes: it can lead to death.

That is the pro. The con is that they will probably be very angry with you, and that you cannot force cooperation on someone who just will not do it, unless you want to go so far as to have them Continue Reading

The stigma of a mental health diagnosis is an extremely complex issue. First, why is there a stigma? There is a stigma because of fear and of ignorance. Then, the fear of the “stigma” or “label” as being applicable to a person or a person’s family member etc. coupled with the fear of the consequences of having this “label” and the possible persecution and alienation from “normal” society further perpetuates the “stigma”. Finally, the “stigma” or “label”is fueled by the vast ignorance that surrounds mental illness and the brain itself.

Mental illnesses are diseases. Diseases of the brain. No different from heart disease, kidney disease, diseases of the eye etc.. But, our society attaches Continue Reading

It happens to everybody at some point, from the businessmen on Wall Street to the drug addict on the corner; from the President in the White House to the single mom down on her luck. The rigors of daily life become too stressful to deal with, too painful to cope with, and a diversion becomes necessary. This can come in the form of a favorite TV show, sport, game, or anything, so long as it takes away from the troubles of the real world’ long enough to make it bearable.

This is a mental process known as escapism, so-called because it is used by people seeking to escape’ from the confines of a life they no longer enjoy. So, in order to give themselves a temporary release from what has become undesirable (and to stem possible thoughts of suicide), an individual will Continue Reading

There’s not one person over the age of eighteen that hasn’t had a “Crazy” thought. These thoughts usually arise during times of high stress and are self limited.

Most “Crazy” thoughts are benign and take the form of wishful thinking.

A jilted woman might wish her boyfriend was dead, or a gambler might pray that a rival horse breaks its leg, but neither would have any intention to act in a way to insure their desired outcome.

Wishful thinking becomes dangerous or destructive when a thought evolves into an obsession. While obsession is a mental health issue, it doesn’t always lead to a mental illness which requires medical treatment and intensive therapy.

However, obsessive thoughts will gain momentum over time and Continue Reading