Surviving a Suicide Attempt

HealthyPlace Mental Health Newsletter

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• Surviving a Suicide Attempt
• Share Your Mental Health Experience
• New from HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat: Struggle with Bulimia
• Family Dysfunction Doesn't Have To Go On Forever, on the HealthyPlace TV Show
• The Hidden Causes of Anxiety and How to Treat Them on the HealthyPlace Radio

"Surviving a Suicide Attempt"

Our new depression blogger, Amy Kiel, wrote a great post this week on surviving a suicide attempt that took place 5 years ago. It was a dark time for her and Amy says she doesn't believe she'll ever get back to that spot.

Over the years, we've interviewed over a dozen people who tried to commit suicide and survived. The common theme among them is that they were all glad they are alive today. I went back to read, listen, watch their stories. The second common theme was: things had changed for the better over time. Some reported their life circumstances had improved, or they had found a treatment that finally worked, or they learned to better manage their symptoms. All had found a new meaning in their lives.

I think the point of all this is that things do change. New people come into our lives, treatments are constantly developing, and we are growing as individuals; learning from our successes and errors. Hope and positive change: good reasons for living.

"Once you choose hope, anything's possible." ~ Christopher Reeve.

Articles on Suicide

• Depression: Understanding Thoughts of Suicide
• Why Live When You Feel Like Dying?
• Feeling Suicidal? How To Help Yourself
• Coping With Feelings and Thoughts of Suicide
• Reasons for Living Can Prevent Suicide During Depression
• Coping with Suicide Attempts - Video
• Surviving Suicide Attempts: Back from the Brink - Video
• All Articles on Suicide

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Mental Health Experiences

Share your thoughts/experiences on the surviving a suicide attempt or any mental health subject, or respond to other people's audio posts, by calling our toll-free number (1-888-883-8045).

You can listen to what other people are saying by clicking on the gray title bars inside the widgets located on the "Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences" homepage, the HealthyPlace homepage, and the HealthyPlace Support Network homepage.

If you have any questions, write us at: info AT healthyplace.com

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From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Before we get to the latest blog posts below, I want to take a moment to welcome back Angela Lackey, our eating disorder blogger. Angela has been taking care of herself over the last month or so. Many of you have inquired about how she's doing. I hope you'll drop by her Surviving ED blog and share your thoughts and well wishes.

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• Never Going Back: Memories of A Suicide Attempt (Depression Diaries Blog)
• Ten Bipolar and Psychiatric Myths (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• Recognize Signs of Verbal Abuse - How To Stop Verbal Abuse (Part 6) (Verbal Abuse and Relationships Blog)
• Anxiety: Have You Ever Felt Safe? (Treating Anxiety Blog)
• A Stolen Life: Reclaiming Myself After Anorexia (Surviving ED Blog)
• New Normal: At-Home Parent to Bipolar Child (Life with Bob: A Parenting Blog)
• How to Build a Comfort Zone (Video) (More Than Borderline Blog)
• Phobias, Anxieties and Work (Part 2) (Work and Bipolar/Depression Blog)
• Borderline Personality Disorder Awareness Month: What BPD is Like?
• Panic: The Impossible Language of Fear
• Choices: A Powerful Influence on Depression
• Hatred of Psychiatry Doesn't Create Change
• Friendships Come Harder for Child with Psychiatric Illness
• Develop an Exit Strategy - How to Stop Verbal Abuse (Part 5)

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

Your Thoughts: From the HealthyPlace Forums and Chat

On our Eating Disorders forum, RawRocKillz talks about her 10 year struggle with bulimia. "I tend to go through periods of binging and purging for months at a time and sometimes I'll stop for a few months. The past 3 years have been especially bad and now with no job I have alot of unnecessary idol time. I just attended an IOP (intensive outpatient) program for almost a month-and-a-half and kind of fell out of it. I was scared that I would end up inpatient." Sign into the forums and share your thoughts and comments on battling an eating disorder.

Join us on the HealthyPlace Mental Health Forums and Chat

You must be a registered HealthyPlace member. If you aren't already, it's free and takes less than 30 seconds. Just click the "register button" at the top of the page.

At the bottom of the forums page, you'll notice a chat bar (similar to facebook). You can chat with any registered member on the forums site.

We hope you'll be a frequent participant and share our support link with others who may benefit.

"Family Dysfunction Doesn't Have To Go On Forever" on HealthyPlace TV

Growing up with abuse, addiction, poverty and other serious problems definitely affects the way a child develops and sees the world. For Dena Foman, living with an alcoholic father and drug-addicted mother who left home, it meant growing up with deep-seated insecurities and an inability to parent her own mentally ill child. But she was determined not to continue the cycle of family dysfunction. That's on this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. (Breaking the Cycle of Dysfunctional Living - TV Show blog)

Other Recent HPTV Shows

• The Insidiousness of Alcoholism
• The Self-Healing Power of Helping Others

Still to Come in May on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show

• Living Straight, Coming Out Gay
• Family Faced with Schizophrenia Finds Hope and Recovery
• Trip From Mental Illness to Advocacy

If you would like to be a guest on the show or share your personal story in writing or via video, please write us at: producer AT healthyplace.com

For all previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV archived shows.

"The Hidden Causes of Anxiety and How to Treat Them" on HealthyPlace Radio

The cause of your anxiety disorder doesn't have to be strictly psychological. There are also physical reasons why people develop anxiety disorders and sometimes they are overlooked by health professionals. On this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health Radio Show, Dr. Sharon Heller shares the physical causes of anxiety and how to treat them. Listen.

Information on anxiety disorders and panic attacks and how to treat anxiety and panic.

Other Recent HealthyPlace Radio Shows

• Child Abuse: The Impact Doesn't Have to Last A Lifetime: Nikki Rosen has been through severe child abuse, drugs, an eating disorder, self-harm, panic attacks, prison, rape, living on the streets with no money, no family and no hope. She details her true story in a book titled "In the Eye of Deception." The focus on this HealthyPlace.com Mental Health Radio Show is: living through, surviving huge obstacles in your life and coming out the other side.
• Women, Body Image, and Weight: It seems women are always worried about their weight. In a blog post titled "The Weight," author Jen Selk says her weight concerns began when she was a little girl. The number on the scale tied into her body image, her body image into her self-image. Jen shares those concerns of "feeling fat" and whether it's possible to separate "feeling fat" from feeling good about yourself.

If you know of anyone who can benefit from this newsletter or the HealthyPlace.com site, I hope you'll pass this onto them. You can also share the newsletter on any social network (like facebook, stumbleupon, or digg) you belong to by clicking the links below. For updates throughout the week,

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back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index