Some people who find themselves dealing with a mental illness or the illness of a loved one eventually come to a point where they want to pitch in and help the mental health community. Mental health advocacy can feel like a natural progression to some and to others it is surprising or unexpected. No matter how it comes about, it is always remarkable when a person utilizes their challenges in life, like mental illness, to do good in the world. Our guest, Shannon Flynn, does just that as a mental health advocate.

Yesterday, I sought medical treatment after suffering some severe dizziness. After some tests, the doctor told me that the dizzy spells and difficulty walking were a result of a medication-related drop in blood pressure. The problem--the psychiatric medication responsible allows me to sleep without nightmares. It was my decision--psych symptoms or physical problem. "The Fat and Happy Paradox?" I asked. "Exactly," he replied.

I recently read an impassioned plea from a doctor for health care professionals to stop referring to drug by their brand name. The brand name, he argued, was basically just an advertisement for the drug. This got me to thinking, how do drugs get their names anyway? The answer is marketers, researchers, doctors, focus groups, the FDA and about $2 million. Really.

Understandably, as a parent, coping with a symptomatic ADHD child can wear you down. Some of the symptoms of ADHD in children include: inattention, compulsiveness, impulsiveness, opposition, defiance, hyperactivity - and these are just a few of the most common. But would you believe there are also positives and strengths within the ADHD diagnosis as well? Tracey Bromley Goodwin, M.ED. and Holly Oberacker, ATR, LMHC believe that to be true and say it's all in the way you look at your child.

Over the past weeks, I allowed my ex access to my spirit because I thought I was strong enough to handle it. Via text messages, he insulted my abilities and predicted my doom, and I forced myself to read his words because the overall issue related to our child. I now realize I chose three paths of thought that do not serve me.

As another (less-successful-than-last-year) school year draws to a close, my family struggles to keep it together without losing it on each other, and my firstborn seems to be moving further and further away from me, I start grasping at straws. Something, anything, for an answer somewhere. A clue. A hint. (Why I think I may be able to find The Big Answer when research teams and psychiatrists much more learned than I cannot is beyond me. Maybe because, having more at stake than they do, I might look harder.) I haven't found The Big Answer yet, but I have come across some information I believe deserves further examination--the connection between inhalent (a/k/a "seasonal" or "nasal") allergies and psychiatric illness.

As a writer and online blogger, I often wonder about the power of the words. I write about eating disorders and recovery, and hope and pray that my words reach out to people and help them feel less alone as they struggle with eating disorders and recovery. I know it is a hard struggle because I have been going through it for four years, and I have tried to convey both the truth of that struggle and the certainty that recovery from eating disorders is attainable through my words here. I am honored and proud to have received the Web Health Awards Merit Award for "Surviving ED." I dedicate this award to all those out there who are doing the hard work of recovering from their eating disorders. This blog really belongs to them, and they are my inspiration as I sit down each week to write.

Tomorrow is Judgment Day, according to the followers of Harold Camping. Believers say they will be taken up to Heaven, while the rest of us anxiously await the apocalypse, come October 21 2011. I have to ask: If the end of the world is tomorrow, why don't more of us believe it? Anxiety and ego strength The answer says a lot about the way people deal with self-doubt, anxiety. And this is just one example of catastrophic, prepare-thyselves thinking.

Hi! I am Kendra Sebelius and welcome to my addiction blog. I am a mental health advocate in recovery from numerous eating disorders, substance abuse struggles, anxiety disorders as well as self-harm. I have been sober and in recovery for several years now, and work to create awareness of co-morbidities in the mental health field.

If you follow me here, or particularly elsewhere, you might have noticed there are some very vocal people who hate me. Mental illness is contentious, and some people take it to a personal level. That’s people for you. Sometimes I talk about these people. I call them “the nasties.” But today is not about them. Today is about celebrating all the wonderful, amazing people who support me, Breaking Bipolar and the mental health community in general.