Tag: Mental Illness
-
Course of Treatment: Treatment Options — Home Care
Let me get this out of the way first. Being able to take care of your mental health at home is pretty awesome, but it isn’t for everyone. As a primary treatment, home care works best for people who have experience dealing with their mental illness. You need to be able to recognize a downturn…
-
Fucked Up Parts of Mental Illness: Punishing Myself for Having Fun
Okay, once again not the post I was planning on writing. This time I could probably push through and write about home care for mental illness, but I think what’s going on today is kinda relevant to a lot of folks with mental illness. This week has been awesome for me. Depression has been largely…
-
Course of Treatment: Treatment Options — Alternative Therapies
Sorry for the late post. Next post should be on time tomorrow. Understanding Alternative Therapies For purposes of this discussion, I am using “Alternative therapies” to refer to mental health therapies which are not commonly available and/or are often not covered by insurance. Alternative therapies cover a lot of ground, and I can only begin to introduce…
-
The Course of Treatment: Treatment Options — Talk Therapy
Understanding Talk Therapy Talk therapy is one of the most popular treatments for mental illness. Usually you will hear talk therapy referred to as counseling or simply “therapy,” but I use the (unpopular) talk therapy to distinguish between talk therapy and other forms of therapy such as music therapy or art therapy. There are many…
-
Course of Treatment: Treatment Options – Medication
Gah! Late again! Sorry folks, what was supposed to be a 2-hour out-patient deal yesterday turned into a full day at the hospital thanks to a mild reaction to anesthesia. Disclaimer: I have some very strong feelings about the use of psychiatric medication. I’m going to be as even handed as I can here,…
-
Course of Treatment: Getting a Diagnosis
Once you’ve made the decision to get help, the first step is usually setting up an appointment with a doctor or counselor. Some people will go to a family doctor or general practitioner first, others will go straight to a psychiatrist. Some set up counselling through their employer, school, or religious organization. In the US,…
-
The Course of Treatment: Recognizing You Need Help
For many people, one of the hardest parts of getting treated for mental illness is recognizing and accepting that they need help in the first place. Several cultures have a strong stigma against mental illness. In the US this stigma comes in two forms: first the denigration of anyone with mental illness as crazy, unstable,…
-
Mental Illness: The Course of Treatment
As I mentioned at the start of this series, getting treatment for mental illness can be a difficult process. So we’re going to take a few days to look at what you can expect treatment to look like, and how your poly partners can help the process (or at least avoid harming it). This discussion…
-
Anxiety Disorders and Polyamory
This post and others discussing specific mental disorders will reference the Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Psychiatry and Psychology, Edition Five (DSM-V). Apologies to my international readers, I’m just not familiar enough with the ICD to use it as a reference. Please note: everyone’s experience of anxiety is different. This is general information meant to…