When I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, I was ashamed. I told no one, save my husband. I cut myself off from the rest of the world and I went into hiding. I was afraid to tell my extended family because I was afraid they would turn to me with new eyes and I would be terrified of what I would see in them.
When I encountered the blogging world I knew that I was born to write about what I was experiencing. I wanted to blog about bipolar disorder so I could heal through writing, but I hesitated. I worried most about what my writing would do to my family. Would someone I knew find me online? Would my kids be taken away from me because of my mental illness?
I decided to put on a brave face and write. If people found out about me on the internet, then so be it. I wasn’t writing for the haters. I had to share my disease with the world, so some good would come of it. I wrote for the one that felt my shame and had nowhere else to turn. I wrote for the person who needed my brutal honesty. I wrote for the being that needed hope.
I started to hear from readers that they were glad I existed because now they didn’t feel all alone. I, too, was not alone. And that made it all worth it.
Please join Cristina Fender in her journey to wellness. A new post on her blog, Bipolar Vida, is available every Monday and Thursday at 8:00 A.M.
The upcoming HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show is for adult women. Our topic is: What to Do When Earlier Attempts at Eating Disorders Recovery Have Failed.
Some 10 to 15 percent of women suffer from anorexia, bulimia, binge eating or maladaptive eating attitudes according to a new study from the Université de Montréal and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
According to news reports, some women develop eating disorders in their twenties, thirties, and forties because they, too, face increasing pressure to be thin, just like their teenage counterparts. The pressures of pregnancy, divorce, job loss, and other common issues faced by adult women also take their toll.
But many adult women with eating disorders were teenagers with anorexia and bulimia which carried into adulthood. Some made attempts at eating disorders recovery in their younger years and for a myriad of reasons, the recovery attempt either didn’t work out or didn’t last.
Now, in adulthood, these same women wonder whether they can be successful at eating disorders treatment.
In her interview on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show this week, Ms. Poppink defines what true recovery from an eating disorder really means and emphasizes that recovery can take place at any age.
Based in Los Angeles, California, Ms. Poppink says “over the years I’ve seen many people emerge from despair into a more full and fulfilling life.” At this point, if you’ve lived with anorexia, bulimia or binge eating, you may be thinking: “That’s impossible!”
Ms. Poppink swears it’s not, but during the show, she does discuss what it really takes to recover from an eating disordered life. Are you ready? Watch the HeathyPlace Mental Health TV Show on-demand.
Share Your Thoughts or Experiences About Eating Disorders Treatment and Recovery
We invite you to call us at 1-888-883-8045 and share your experience with eating disorders treatment or trying to recover from an eating disorder like anorexia, bulimia or binge eating. Or maybe you feel it can’t be done. Call and tell us why. (Info on Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences here.) You can also leave comments below.
For those not familiar with the term intersexual, the Intersex Society of North America defines it as:
“a general term used for a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn’t seem to fit the typical definitions of female or male. For example, a person might be born appearing to be female on the outside, but having mostly male-typical anatomy on the inside. Or a person may be born with genitals that seem to be in-between the usual male and female types—for example, a girl may be born with a noticeably large clitoris, or lacking a vaginal opening, or a boy may be born with a notably small penis, or with a scrotum that is divided so that it has formed more like labia. Or a person may be born with mosaic genetics, so that some of her cells have XX chromosomes and some of them have XY.”
A vast majority of the time, doctors make a decision as to what sexual identity the child will have. Some intersexuals undergo surgery to “normalize” genital appearance. Other parents of an intersex child are told, raise your baby as a “boy” or “girl.”
Congratulatons! Your Baby is an Intersexual
As a parent, it’s a traumatic experience and confusing to say the least and most are not prepared in any way for the birth of an intersexed child. Thus they rely on the doctor’s advice…and from what I’ve read, it varies widely, from doctor-to-doctor.
For the intersexed child, there are years of doctors visits, not understanding your condition, feeling disconnected from your body, knowing that you are not like everyone else of your gender and the shame of living with that, being socially isolated, plus “feeling” your parent’s feelings about being an intersexual.
Which Brings Us to Our Guest …
Kailana is 39 years old.
“When I first realized I was different is a very hard question to answer mostly because my early medical life as a young kid was confusing. Too many doctors appointments out of town and out of state that I look back on and only remember crappy memories. Too many physical examinations and odd comments and questions. I ended up with a life as a kid and teen only being confused about what I was because doctors and parents kept asking me one question over and over, “are you happy as a boy?”
“The answer was simple, I am not a boy and apparently no one understood what those few words meant. I ended up being ignored and while I looked like a boy, sort of, I did not feel it.”
In 1993, Kailana received an official diagnosis of “intersexual.” She says “the diagnosis pretty much destroyed what little life I had held onto.”
We’ll be discussing the various psychological and emotional aspects of “being intersexual” (read Kailana’s blog post - Intersexual: Raised the Wrong Sex) plus a common question that spans all of mental health: How do you deal with a trauma or traumatic event that is seemingly beyond your control?
About the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show
The HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show airs live every Tuesday night at 5:30 pm PST, 7:30 pm CST, and 8:30 pm EST. Our guest and HealthyPlace Medical Director, Dr. Harry Croft, will be taking your personal questions.
If you miss the live show, you can always click the “on-demand” button on the player and watch the show at your convenience.
Share Your Experiences on Intersexuality
We also invite you to call us at 1-888-883-8045 and share your experience - whether as an intersexual, a parent or loved one, or a medical professional. (Info on Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences here.) You can also leave comments below.
Imagine you’re so nervous about eating around others, you break out in sweats just at the thought of it. And by the time you arrive for the meal, you’re sick to your stomach.
Our guest, Aimee White, understands the problem. She has Social Anxiety Disorder (Social Phobia) and on the show, Aimee provided us with insight into how Social Anxiety Disorder has impacted her life; leaving her somewhat isolated and unable to eat around others.
According to Dr. Croft, those living with the social anxiety avoid public places for fear of being ridiculed or embarrassed over something they do or say. However, it is often difficult to avoid social situations altogether, so for sufferers battling Social Anxiety Disorder, being put in those situations may cause the following physical symptoms:
Healthyplace.com knows that suffering from a mental illness is not easy. We never want you to feel alone. With our newest feature, you can share your mental health experiences, comments and stories with others by calling 1-888-883-8045. Take a minute to share and you just might be giving someone the inspiration they need. The mental health experiences recordings are posted in a widget on the HealthyPlace homepage and the HealthyPlace Mental Health Support Network homepage.
As you know, suicide is never a pleasant subject. Often times, bouts of depression are so strong that those suffering feel the only way out is to end their life. What family members are left to deal with is unbearable, as feelings of loss and guilt take over.
But what happens when the suicide attempt fails? It seems that situations such as these are not any easier to deal with.
Fear, Worry, and Stress of a Repeated Attempted Suicide
This Tuesday, September 22, we will talk with one family who lived through this nightmare. Patricia Gallagher watched as stress and depression consumed her husband’s life. John, a financial analyst, lived in constant worry over the stability of his job and the welfare of his family. After dealing with excruciating headaches, high blood pressure from the stress and weight loss, he decided he could not deal with the stresses any longer and made the life altering decision to end his life…but failed…twice.
Be sure to watch Tuesday as Patricia relives her husband’s failed attempts at ending his life and what they are doing now to keep their family together.
Have a comment or story you would like to share? E-mail me at producer AT healthyplace.com. We’re here to provide the most up-to-date and trusted information on mental health.
See you Tuesday at 5:30p PST, 7:30 CST, 8:30 EST. You can watch the show live, or later on-demand, on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show homepage. As always, our guest will be taking your questions during the live show.
Saturday, September 19th, 2009 by Christina Torres
Why do people with bipolar disorder sometimes become psychotic and what’s it like to experience this loss of reality in everyday life? That’s what we talked about on Tuesday’s HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. It coincided with the introduction of our new Bipolar Psychosis section in the HealthyPlace Bipolar Community.
Our guest was mental health author and HealthyPlace.com writer, Julie Fast. Julie has lived with bipolar disorder for over three decades and has endured many psychotic episodes throughout that time. Clearly, Julie has experienced many weird hallucinations and delusions, but she emphasized they can be managed effectively and discussed the various treatments for psychosis as well as management techniques.
Surviving Suicide on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show
Join us this coming Tuesday as we explore life after an attempted suicide. If you or someone you know is picking up the pieces after an attempted suicide, e-mail with comments or questions to producer AT healthyplace.com. You can also respond directly to this post by clicking the word comments next to the “posted in” link below.
Remember we air live every Tuesday at 7:30 pm CST / 8:30 pm EST and 5:30 pm PST. See you then!
In case you are not familiar with Bipolar Disorder, you’d be surprised to know that it affects more than 15 million American adults and children. The most common bipolar symptoms documented are severe mood swings and change in behavior, which explains its alternative name, manic depression. Highs (manic) and lows (depression) often lead to the inability to be involved in long-term relationships or hold a job.
Living with Bipolar Psychosis
Another symptom of bipolar disorder experienced during extreme manic and depressive phases is psychotic thinking, where the person is out of touch with reality and may experience auditory, visual or other sensory hallucinations. And that’s what we’re going to be talking about with our guest, Julie Fast.
Julie is an accomplished mental health writer who also has bipolar disorder. Her previous assignments for HealthyPlace.com include:
And today, we are launching a new section on Bipolar Psychosis in which Julie discusses not only the signs, symptoms, causes and treatments of psychosis in Bipolar Disorder, but she provides personal insight into the experience of having a bipolar psychotic episode (videos 9-10 on bipolar psychosis).
Dr. Harry Croft will be with us to provide his expertise on the subject of psychosis in bipolar disorder. And, like we do every Tuesday night, we reserve the second half of the show for any mental health questions you have for Dr. Croft. If you would like to get more information on Bipolar Disorder, click here to read articles or maybe even take our bipolar screening test to determine whether or not you might need to seek professional treatment.
Finally, you can e-mail me at producer AT healthyplace.com if you have questions or experiences you would like to share. Our goal at HealthyPlace TV is to bring you real life people with real experiences so that you know you are not alone in what you or a loved one may be going through. We are here to help point you in the right direction and get you to live your best life.
We’ll see you on Tuesday night for the live HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show on Bipolar Psychosis. We start at 5:30p PT, 7:30 CST, 8:30 EST or you can watch it at your leisure by clicking the “on-demand” button on the player locoated on the HealthyPlace TV Show homepage.
Where do you turn? How do you cope when your child commits suicide?
The transformation from childhood into teenage years should be a memorable one. The progression from grade school to middle school, then to high school brings special moments such as school dances, track meets and new friends. However, some kids have different experiences. Pain from rejection, bullying, and disappointments consume some children and cause them to end their lives by committing suicide.
On Tuesday’s HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show, we’ll delve into the subject of child suicide and how parents cope with the loss of their child.
Our guest, Elaine Davison, will take us through the story of losing her 17-year old son to suicide, and how she and her family are coping today without him. Join us as Elaine shares how her son dealt with rejection and disappointment in his life and how ultimately, he failed to get the necessary help and treatment that may have saved his life.
As always, HealthyPlace Medical Director, Dr. Harry Croft and our guest, Elaine, will be here to answer any questions you have on surviving this tragedy. We’ll also give you the warning signs of child depression and suicide to look out for in your own children. (There are also many articles available on HealthyPlace on child and teenage suicide.)
Send us your comments, stories, or concerns on this topic to producer AT healthyplace.com.
You can watch the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show live on our website every Tuesday evening at 5:30p PST, 7:30 CST, 8:30 EST. See you then.
The true inspiration of Tuesday’s show was our guest, James Callner. He took us through his journey with OCD from the very beginning, at age 29. Now in his late fifties, he still suffers from OCD, but is proud to say that he lives in a high-functioning state.
Popcorn and Walking?
Two simple things in life that people normally enjoy and may also take for granted, but for James, they are reminders that OCD will not take over his life.
In his early years with the disorder, James found comfort in his psychiatrist who became his champion. He challenged James to take risks and to have trust. It was these two things that allowed James to participate in sharing popcorn out of the same bowl with friends; something an OCD sufferer would never think of doing. The fear of contamination was too much for him to handle, but he took a chance and had a small kernel of popcorn and chewed it very fast. To his surprise, he didn’t die! Taking risks made him feel good.
Although he has small victories, he still experiences anxiety and has trouble facing the day. When James is having one of those days and can’t get out of bed, the word “walk” comes to mind. That’s right, taking one step at a time, one foot in front of the other until you get to the place you need to be to start your day. He promises it will get better and you will eventually get faster at it.
During the show, James mentioned several different types of therapy that can help manage OCD symptoms. He found great success with his psychiatrist, medication and through a Codependents Anonymous 12-step program. For a more detailed look into his inspirational recovery, visit his website, Awareness Foundation: OCD and Related Disorders. As we mentioned on the show, you can view one of Mr. Callner’s films on OCD titled “The Risk” in HealthyPlace.com OCD Center.
If you missed the show, we encourage you to visit the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show homepage and click the “on-demand” button on the player to see the show in its entirety. You may just find a champion in James Callner.
See you next week when we discuss the tragedy of losing a child to suicide. If you or someone you know has experience with this terrible loss, we invite you to share your story, or e-mail your questions to me at producer@healthyplace.com
Have you ever experienced unwanted thoughts or felt the need to repeat an action over-and-over again until you felt safe? Have these thoughts or actions caused you anxiety, to the point of interfering with your normal activities? If so, we invite you to watch Tuesday night’s show focusing on Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD).
The Impact of OCD
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder also causes fear in individuals, which leads to unwanted repetitive actions. An example of these actions may be washing hands repeatedly due to fear of germs, or maybe even driving all the way back home numerous times just to check and see if an appliance has been turned off.
Bottom line, OCD symptoms can take away one’s sense of well-being by not allowing rest until the action is repeated. This can cause serious impairment to a normal lifestyle.
Treatment of OCD
Our guest on Tuesday’s HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show, James Callner, suffered from Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder for many years and was first diagnosed with OCD in his late 20’s. Thirty years later, he is proud to say that he is living a high-functioning lifestyle, despite his disorder. Mr. Callner has also made several films, one of which is based on his own battle with OCD.
During the show, he’ll discuss his struggle with OCD and enlighten us on various OCD treatment methods that worked for him.
As I’ve mentioned before, the goal of the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show is to educate those suffering from a mental illness as well as provide information to friends and family members. One way we stand by this commitment is to allow you, the viewers, to ask our guests as well as HealthyPlace.com Medical Director and Board-Certified psychiatrist, Dr. Harry Croft, any questions you may have during the show either via chat or email.
If you would like to contribute your personal story on dealing with OCD, either written or video, feel free to contact me at producer AT healthyplace.com.
