Between 1990 and 2003, my pet was a little bird, a cockatiel. His name was Luke. He was so tiny!
He enjoyed copying songs and words. He'd copy numerous songs, and he'd copy my mother when she said, "Mike?" He would say, "Hello," "Hey!" and "Pretty Boy." He also copied me coughing, sneezing, chewing gum, laughing, and more.
The odd thing is how could that little tiny brain of his be able to remember all those songs, noises, and words?
I've seen many medical doctors in my time. And I've noticed that none of them would tell me what the potential side effects of a medication they had just prescribed me could be unless I asked them.
But I worked with one psychiatrist who, even when I asked him about it when he'd prescribe me medication, wouldn't tell me what the potential side effects were.
It's impossible for any psychiatrist to be able to remember every p
Mental illness is a terrible disease. It affects the lives of those with depression, bi polar disorder, OCD, and more in a profound way.
But their are lots of ways to overcome this illness. For example, their are hundreds of different forms of psychotherapy, anywhere from Freudian psychoanalysis to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
Back in July of 2011, I was a patient in a mental hospital. It was the second to last time that I've been in one of those places.
While I was there, I got talking to one of the psychiatric technicians (psychiatric techs job are to keep patients in mental hospitals and psych wards safe). And to my surprise, he told me that he was seeing a therapist at the time.
I don't think a psych tech who is still requiring psychotherapy should be doing that for a living. Those who work in mental
Years ago, a friend of mine knew a person who had been through trauma. He told me that he wanted to give this individual some advice so this person could be helped and could learn how to cope.
I told him that could be a bad idea. The thing is, if a trauma survivor has a lot of anger inside because of what happened to him/her and isn't on psychiatric medication that works well to help them, the therapy can actually make the anger worse.
Besides, my friend wasn't a trained psychotherap
Working with those with mental illness has it's rewards. Many individuals with this terrible illness can be helped and will listen to good advice they're given by people who care about them, such as friends, family, and therapists.
However, with some folks with mental health issues, even the greatest and most helpful advice falls on deaf ears. It doesn't matter what you tell them. They don't listen to good advice and just do whatever they want instead.
Some people have to hit r
When I was a teenager, I generally came across as a happy person.
But one high school student who I knew didn't like me because he was jealous of me. He believed that my quality of life was better than his was at the time. And I think that he thought that I was a happier person in life than him.
Little did he know that, back then, I was dealing with severe depression much of the time. My life wasn't so rosy back then.
Just because someone appears to be happy, like I usually did
Many people are easy to get along with. Then their are others who struggle in this area.
Some individuals who I know are basically good, nice people. But at the same time, they don't get along with so many others and have a problem with just about everyone. And they like to complain about others a lot too.
So with that said, here's my question: if they have a problem with so many people and don't get along with most others, don't they realize that maybe they are the ones with the pr
Years ago, when I was battling issues with depression and anxiety, I asked my therapist at the time if she thought it was a bad idea for me to drink alcohol.
This counselor was a psychologist, not a psychiatrist. So she wasn't a medical professional.
She said that I would have to ask my psychiatrist if it would interact with the psychiatric medications that I was on at the time.
But she went on to say that either way it would likely be a bad idea for me to drink because alcohol i
I have a question for those who know a thing or two about evolutionary psychology.
I know that anger is a healthy emotion. If you never felt angry, people could walk all over you and rip you off, and you wouldn't do anything about it.
However, how is it is beneficial for a person to sometimes feel frustrated....like when a person is trying to complete a task and they run into difficulties and get frustrated as a result?
For example, I became a little frustrated a few days ago whe
I have a long history of mental illness in the form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and bipolar disorder. I've been a patient in mental hospitals more than once over the years as a result.
The last time that I was in the hospital, back in 2011, my parents came to visit me like they often did when I was in one of those facilities.
I told them that it must be hard to have their own son in a mental institution once again.
However, they disagreed with me. They responded by sa
Years ago, I was reading a self help book about anger management.
The author of the book, a psychotherapist, wrote that when someone is being what you perceive as being rude to you, the person doesn't make you angry. Instead, the author stated that you make yourself angry when the individual is perceived by you as being rude to you.
I'm not so sure about that.
What's your opinion about this? Do you think the author is right or wrong?
If you have mental illness, getting help for it is commendable. And it's worth it because, with the help of mental health providers such as therapists, psychiatrists, etc., you can overcome it and live a happy, productive life.
Also, doing what you can to help yourself while you're in treatment increases the chances that you'll be successfully treated.
However, if you get the help and do as much as you can to help yourself in the long term, you are not only helping yourself. You are
Life can be good. However, we all go through emotionally tough times in our lives.
During those hard times, some people can get suicidal, unfortunately. Some individuals can get suicidal when something major in their lives goes terribly wrong. Maybe they're going through a messy divorce, or perhaps their child passed away.
But some people can actually get suicidal over much smaller problems. I don't think all people realize that.
So if you get suicidal easily over smaller issu
I've worked with lots of psychotherapists over the years. Some I thought were better than others.
One therapist I saw was a counselor whom I didn't work with for long, as I didn't think she was very good at it.
However, one helpful bit of advice she gave me was for me to surround myself with positive things and good people. I thought that was excellent advice.
If you surround yourself with good things and good people, your life still won't be perfect and rosy. Yo
Psychiatric medications have come a long way over the years. These pills have helped lots of people overcome serious mental health issues. For many, they couldn't have overcome mental illness without psychiatric medications, myself included.
Unfortunately, psychiatric medications (as well as all medications, for that matter), come with potential side effects, some quite serious. These meds have their trade-offs.
And some people are afraid to take medication because of it.
One of the most common forms of psychotherapy, called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, focuses on replacing irrational beliefs with more rational beliefs for those in therapy with mental illness. For example, those with clinical depression have lots of negative irrational beliefs. And people with bipolar disorder who are in a manic phase often have grandiose beliefs and goals that aren't realistic.
However, one person I know feels that saying that those with mental illness have a lot of irra
I've done a lot of volunteer work over the years. And sometimes humorous things happen at volunteer jobs.
One time I was working as a volunteer dealing with the public. And every person that morning that I had dealt with were all men.
So when I finally had a female customer that day, I accidentally called her, "Sir."
How embarrassing!
She didn
An older man who I knew had successful heart surgery years ago.
After his surgery, he was asked if he wanted to join a support group for those who also had heart surgery.
However, he decided not to join the group. He just wanted to forget about the heart surgery.
Of course, he couldn't completely forget about it, because if he did, the chances of him getting sick again would increase. He had to take care of himself and take care of his heart. One way he did that was by going ou
Mental illness is a terrible thing. But with the help of professional treatment, people with this illness can overcome it and live happy, productive lives.
However, if you have a friend or a family member who you care about who has mental illness, you can't always help the person on your own. Often, mental health providers are needed.
For example, if you know someone who has bipolar disorder, and if the individual is in a manic phase who has lots of energy with grandiose ideas that a
Some people love working in the mental health field. They love helping others and work in the field for many years.
Then their are others who basically enjoy working in the mental health field, but don't have a passion for it.
Then their are others who would rather do something else for a living.
Here's my question: can you go as far as becoming a psychiatrist or a psychologist if you don't have a passion for that type of work?
Considering the enormous dues you have to pay i
A year or two ago, a storm gave us some hail where I live. And the hail was getting sort of big. Hence, I was getting afraid that it might cause some damage to my car.
Fortunately, the hail never got big enough to cause any damage. I lucked out.
Have you ever seen damaging hail before? If so, how bad was it?
In your opinion, what's worse: a summer day in which the weather is too hot for you, or a cold, frigid day during the middle of the winter that is too cold for you? Why?
For me, a cold winter day is worse. I tend to like hot weather anyway, even though I've lived most of my life in Maine, United States.
Years ago, Aaron Beck invented Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). This form of psychotherapy was invented because he noticed that those with mental illness have a lot of irrational beliefs, which are part of why some have mental health issues. Depressed people have beliefs which are too negative. Those with bipolar disorder, when they're manic, often have beliefs and goals that are too grandiose. Folks with clinical anxiety typically have beliefs which cause them to over-worry about situati
I think that in American society, their's a misconception about defining the word 'hero.'
To me, a hero isn't a famous sports athlete.
Instead, a hero is someone who risks his or her life to save others, such as firefighters, many police officers, and just the everyday person who risks it all to save the lives of others. They're the true heroes of our world.
