Blogs
While it seems hard to believe, some people want others to stay mentally ill and, indeed, sometimes even individuals themselves, choosing to maintain mental unwellness. You have the obvious example of people refusing medication and thus becoming very sick but there are other forces as well that can encourage a person to stay acutely, mentally ill.
This is a misleading title perhaps. What I want to talk about today are Legos and games of all sorts. I want to talk about adult ADHD and boredom and what can bring relief. I want to talk about having fun when fun can't be had and all sorts of interesting thing. And, I want to talk about whether rules make fun more fun or less fun. Let's get started!
![Image courtesy of [image creator name] / FreeDigitalPhotos.net](/sites/default/files/styles/blog_listing/public/uploads/2013/06/ID-10073348.jpg?itok=hYhc8ojB "Black Hole")
When life's highs are followed by inexplicable lows, the clinically depressed person has the hardest of times.
As I mentioned in my About Me blog post, my battle with depression is ongoing. I lay in the trenches, at the ready for when my brain decides to ambush me with yet another volley of chemical scud missiles.
Boredom can last for hours. ADHD-Related boredom can last for days, weeks, etc. And, there are things we can do to address it. Turn on the tunes or bust out some brain-stimulating games and see things go from boredom to less-boredom!
Sometimes mental health professionals see a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder (BPD) and assume the person is faking his or her symptoms. This can lead to a number of negative reactions, ranging from discarding what the patient is saying to denial of medical care. More Than Borderline's Becky Oberg talks about this stigma and its consequences, as well as how to fight it.
Latest from Perez Hilton, the National Enquirer and other gossip (oh, excuse me, entertainment news) sites: "Is Amanda Bynes Schizophrenic?"
Ignoring for the moment how much we hate that term "schizophrenic", let's get to the heart of the reported issue.
Amanda is not doing well, and her parents are worried.
How well I know the feeling.
It's something you do every day, but how often do you actually deliberately think about breathing? Back when I was struggling with PTSD I never thought about my breath - or would have even believed that it could help me feel better almost instantly.
Recent research, however, proves that focusing on your breath can dramatically impact and reduce PTSD symptoms.
Biting nails. Popping zits. Picking blisters. Scratching scabs.
Who can honestly say they have not done any of the above? If you said you haven’t, I do not believe you. We are all human and we all have little habits we do, sometimes without even realizing it. Some people will spend fifteen minutes in the mirror just picking at the pimples or zits or blackheads on their face. Before a big test, people tend to bite their nails and hangnails, sometimes until they bleed.
Surprise, surprise – these are self-harming behaviors.
There is something I have noticed about my busy bipolar brain. I’ve noticed that it seems obsessed with multitasking. It almost seems to not allow me to do one thing at once. If I sit down to watch TV, for example, I can’t stop myself from also picking up my computer or playing a game on my cell phone. When I sit down to write an article, I have to constantly also be checking in on my social media at the same time. People always wonder how I can be everywhere at once. That’s easy. I’m everywhere at once because my brain is everywhere at once.
It’s that time of year again, time for the mentally ill in our midst to pack up the dysfunctional family and set out on what it known, with charming imprecision, as “the summer vacation”.
These excursions into extravaganzas of unfulfilled expectations, simmering like gumbo on a sultry Louisiana evening before appearance as fully-formed resentments destined to plague psyches for decades to come, always seem to begin with an air of insouciance and breezy optimism based necessarily on our ability to forget what happened last year.
We sally forth, armed to the gills with digital devices which, we believe, will simplify our lives rather than dominate them with unintended and unnecessary complexity, as they actually do; the very opposite of what one imagines for a vacation since the word, simply, means to remove one’s self from the pressures of normal reality – not take it with you.
Thank you for your comment. I'm sorry you're in that situation. I know how hard it is for parents to watch a child with mental illness struggle. Know this: you are not alone. Many parents are in this untenable situation.
Your options are very limited for the reasons you have listed. Your son is an adult and get to make his own decisions -- even when those decisions are heavily influenced by an illness. And while some might disagree, the US tends to fall on the side of personal rights, regardless of illness.
If your son is a risk to himself or others, you can see about getting him treated without his consent. (In some States, this is also possible when a person is at a grave threat of decompensation [getting sicker].) I know this is a hard thing to do, but sometimes the only thing that will help someone is the treatment they refuse.
I recommend you check out the Treatment Advocacy Center. They have a hotline and a lot of information online about serious mental illness and treatment of those illnesses: https://www.treatmentadvocacycenter.org/
I also wrote this piece about the situation when help is refused (not associated with HealthyPlace) and it lists some additional resources: https://natashatracy.com/bipolar-blog/person-mental-illness-accept-illness/?swcfpc=1
Finally, I recommend you reach out to other parents in the same situation. You may be able to find these people through groups like NAMI (just Google them). Knowing others facing the same issues can help.
I hope your son is able to get help.
-- Natasha Tracy