Hi all,
Even though the world crumbled around us, I can’t say that 2020 was a particularly bad year for me in terms of personal growth. Reading back in my diary one of the biggest things that kept bringing me down was not having any purpose in my life. No job, no family. Well this year, if you didn’t know already, I started law school. It has given me a great sense of direction and purpose.
Having struggled with anxiety for most of my adult life I can say my anxiety is at an all-time low. This is due to…
Hi all,
it’s been a while. If you don’t know I started law school at the end of June so I have been busy with that. I managed to get through my first term and now I am into my second. I am going to give it around 8 units of study before I make a decision on whether or not I want to pursue law. So far I am enjoying it. My ultimate goal is to help people with mental health issues tackle their legal issues. I want to also specialise in mental health law.
When I started my…
Using this easy strategy
We live in a world today where companies are after one thing from you. Your attention. That’s it. They no longer ask for your money. They want you to rack up those minutes with your eyes glued to the screen. Every design, sound, application is designed to keep your attention and they keep your attention by manipulating a chemical in your brain called dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that plays a key part in motivating behaviour. When you eat delicious food you get a hit of dopamine because it tastes great and calories are critical to survival, when you have…
New research weighs in
Warnings surrounding potentially distressing content are not a new phenomenon. Television shows warning that “viewer discretion is advised” or some similar phrase have been around for years. Trigger warnings, as warnings for content are typically known today, first came to light in the early days of feminist internet blogs and message boards. They would typically precede content that included a reference to sexual or domestic violence. The idea being that it would warn people that the content that followed may “trigger” an anxiety response in people with PTSD.
What seemed like overnight. Trigger warnings went from niche internet idea to…
For those of you who don’t know I applied to Law school and I hope to someday help people with mental health issues tackle their legal issues. In exactly one week and 3 days, I start Law school. I actually got in.
I feel weird about it though. Whatever happiness I felt was quickly destroyed by doubts creeping in. Can I do this? But I know this is just anxiety talking and it is not going to get the best of me this time.
Anxiety, you have been a monster by my side for too long. You have controlled every…
Its been in the dark for too long.
Most people have a view in their minds eye about what schizophrenia is and what people with schizophrenia look like.
And it’s probably wrong.
At least 64% of you will believe that schizophrenia is a split personality and that couldn’t be further from the truth. Schizophrenia is actually a psychotic disorder, meaning that people with the illness lose touch with reality. They commonly experience hallucinations, a perception of having seen, heard, touched, tasted or smelled something that wasn’t actually there. And/or delusions, fixed false beliefs.
Not only is most peoples view about schizophrenia wrong it also remains one of the…
A dangerous place to be different
This story is about a young gay schizophrenic man from Iran. I don’t tell you his name to keep things anonymous, but let's call him “D”. I met D on Reddit after he made a post about his family using his psychosis as a way to explain his homosexuality.
As someone who is also gay and has struggled with psychosis, I thought I must know more! This story must be told. With my ignorance in tow, I sent D a message asking if I could interview him for an article I would like to write about his situation. …
Truth is definitely stranger than fiction.
Let me tell you a story.
Around age 20, I suffered a mental breakdown. I had just lost a friend and the rose coloured glasses I saw the world with shattered. The illusion of safety in the world destroyed. As I sank deeper into my breakdown I started leaving the house less until I became a recluse, a shut-in. For 10 years I struggled badly with mental illness. I was stuck in a rut, unable to get out. Every day the hole I had sunk into grew deeper and the light of escaping dimmed.
It stayed this way until, according…
Anyone who knows exactly what they want to do in life I envy, deeply. There is a pain of not knowing your place in the world. I have been waiting for something to hit me. A sign from something, to tell me what I was meant to do in life. But it never came. All that got me was a lonely existence. Stuck in a stasis of anxiety and depression. Never leaving the house to do anything.
I had fought for 10 years to get out of the house and through professional help and medication, I had started to do…
When fantasy rules the roost
I open my eyes. I look over to my right. My partner, the one that loves me for me is peacefully asleep. The bed is adorned with perfectly matching textiles, the rest of the room looks like it is right out of an interior decorating magazine. There is a stillness in the room. It gives me pause to appreciate that everything is right in the world. I hear a faint pitter-patter of tiny feet running up the hallway. The door swings open. I sit up to meet the eyes of my children as they come into the room.
screeeeeech
The…
Nagame
I write about mental health and stuff I like. Stay in touch with me (http://nagame.co/sign-up/). You can email me at nagamedigital@gmail.com.
