(scheduled post)
They say I have a linking problem, I say just one more link (for the road). Who you callin’ lunk?! Another week, another linkdump, and they seem to be getting longer. As usual, the comments in italics are mine.
“Similar to ‘love,’ normal is a term that falls astoundingly short of expressing the wide range of human emotions and experiences.” (Lachlan Nicholson)
This is how real people define normal
Family
When My 8-Year-Old With Bipolar Disorder Asked if He Could Dye His Hair Blue
Dating & single parenting my son living with bipolar
Part I: Parenting Insights for Those Who Have Bipolar Disorder
10 Tips for Supporting Children Through a Spouse’s Mental Illness
Grieving father: Stop jailing people for mental illness (tw: suicide)
What we learned during CNN Parents’ chat on mental health and addiction.
Was it attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder? Obsessive-compulsive disorder? Bipolar disorder? Asperger’s syndrome? Theodosiou says she’ll never know for sure because as Daniel started abusing drugs, he was never sober long enough to really get to the root of the problem.
Mother who lost mentally ill addicted son: The system is ‘broken’
When mental illness affects your family
He is 14 and hears voices. He’s been hospitalized more than 20 times. Stephanie Escamilla is tired of seeing the country focus on the mentally ill only when there’s a national tragedy. So she and her son are telling their story — of a family on the brink.
She had an epiphany. “I thought I hated my son,” she says. “But then I realized it wasn’t him that I hated. It was his bipolar disorder.”
My son is mentally ill so listen up & Video
More than a men’s issue, paternal depression affects us all
Milana’s more pressing fear then was that Mamma, with undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, would make good on those frequent threats to kill her, her three siblings and their dad. Or that Papa might kill Mamma first. Or that Mamma actually might drink the coffee Milana poisoned.
Author reveals childhood of horror behind suburban facade (tw: abuse)
10 brutal truths about being married to a bipolar person.
Bipolar Mums online community.
Teens
Amateur radio helps teen with disabilities
Teens With Chronic Mental Illness Are Less Likely To Finish School And Find Jobs.
Taking charge of your mental health.
Opinionatas
Interview with a woman diagnosed with bipolar 1 (2 parts).
Why I Never Disclose My Mental Illness On The First Date.
Ties that Bind – When love is all you need. (Human stories from a Portland shantytown)
Retired CEO reflects on life with bipolar (Charleston)
Black and minority ethnic people are shortchanged by mental health services
Dwight Kiefert, a Republican from Valley City serving in the state House, clarified in an interview Monday that while he leans toward the belief that homosexuality is a mental illness, he is not sure because he is neither a doctor nor a psychiatrist. – What an utter dickhead.
ND legislator calls marriage equality ruling a victory for the mentally ill
This one’s for you, Dwight…
Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee Uses Schizophrenia As A Slur, Gets It Wrong. another douche
According to statistics from the South African Federation for Mental Health, 23 South Africans die every day as a result of suicide, the 8th highest suicide rate in the world. In light of Mental Illness Awareness Month in July, it is critical for South Africans to be aware of this tendency in order to seek treatment sooner rather than later. There will be expensive marketing spin, but nothing will change, it breaks my heart.
Mental health must be a priority for South Africa
Psychiatric drugs save lives and promote healing. And water is wet.
The lithium we have on Earth now — part stardust, part primordial dust and part earth dust — is a constituent part of our planet, one that sometimes shapes personalities. The thought occurred to me that maybe my taking lithium prophesied a lithium-dependent future, connecting it to a past when our world was birthed in fiery lithium explosions. Maybe that capsule filled with a salt, the one that allowed me to function, tethered past, present and future together. But then, extravagant prophecies built on the miraculous powers of a prehistoric element reek of mania. (Jaime Lowe, I don’t believe in god but I believe in lithium)
Why Iowa should open the jailhouse doors and release those with mental illness. It’s a crying shame that that statement needs any justification at all.
Psychosis isn’t catching but burnout is a risk for many caring professionals. People are stupid enough to think psychosis is contagious? Where are we, the Middle Ages?
The high cost of being bipolar.
‘Movies can teach so much about psychopathology and psychiatry, including diagnostics, issues of medical ethics, the stigma of mental illness.’ – Anthony Tobia
Shedding Light on Mental Illness Through Movies and Social Media
A psychologist’s perspective on post-traumatic stress disorder.
Is depression a mental or physical illness? Unravelling the inflammation hypothesis.
A letter – to my pre-bipolar self.
Mental illness and weapons. are a dangerous combination.
An endless road to reintegration for mental health patients. (India)
Concerns on Mental health literacy (Malta)
Ethiopia: ‘Socialization Is a Good Sign for Improving Mental Health’
Help
10 Ways to Curb Mania and Hypomania. There were a few that were new to me.
Employment
I’d like to see an article addressing the terrors of getting a job in the first place.
Mental illness and work: Dealing with it.
Flexible workplaces help people with disabilities, impairments and mental illness.
Mental Illness in the Workplace.
Virtual training helps vets with PTSD, mentally ill nab more jobs
Hip hop
How Hip-Hop Could Actually Be The Key To Beating Mental Illness. With a baseball bat yo.
University of Cambridge: Hip-hop music can help people experiencing mental health difficulties.
Hip-hop culture is a powerful vehicle for raising awareness about mental health. It is rich with references to psychiatric illnesses that have not been explored, dissected and documented until now.
Hip Hop Psych
Stranded in a Mob: Depression and Rap in 2015 How Kendrick Lamar, Earl Sweatshirt, Heems, and Future are destigmatizing mental illness.
Two words: Krizz Kaliko.
This is not mental illness
This section leaves a sour aftertaste.
Hate is not a mental illness. It is an inversion of fear of the unknown other into an illusion of power. That’s a heady cocktail for people who feel powerless. It’s an easy score these days, freely available online.
Hate is not a mental illness
Racism is not a mental illness
Why It’s So Important to Stop Conflating Racism With Mental Illness
There is absolutely no medical or scientific evidence linking mental illness to sexual orientation. Such unfounded personal opinions do no good to members of society who may be combating mental health issues.
It’s not about mental illness: The big lie that always follows mass shootings by white males
While in the 1970s it was believed that there was a connection between mental illness and terrorism, the current dominant belief, purported by Martha Crenshaw and others, is that terrorists are mentally healthy and rational. This dominant belief has recently been challenged by some publications, such as in particular Kamaldeep Bhui’s work on the connection between depression and isolation and radicalization in UK Muslims, as well as a number of other studies that inquire whether suicide bombers could actually be suicidally depressed, for example.
Mental illness and Terrorism
Anxiety
It rhymes with society.
“The blues are because you’re getting fat or maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re sad, that’s all. But the mean reds are horrible. You’re afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don’t know what it is. …” — “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Truman Capote
If depression is a “black dog,” Kat Kinsman writes, then anxiety is a feral cat.
Living with anxiety, searching for joy.
Anxiety, you’re not the boss of me
Research
Tl;dr they haven’t solved any problems yet.
What Causes Bipolar Disorder? Aside From Genes, These Are The Things Most Likely To Increase Your Risk
Psychosurgeons burn away mental illness with lasers.
Korean and American Researchers Isolate Genes Triggering Mental Disorders
CHMP Backs Three Generics for Major Mental Illnesses (tl;dr cymbalta, abilify, lyrica)
A Blood Test for Mental Illness in Women?
For women with bipolar disorder, sleep quality affects mood. Sleep quality affects the mood of every human that ever was.
Military women who develop postpartum depression are more likely to be diagnosed later with another mental illness and are at higher risk for considering suicide than those who dodge the condition, according to a new report by the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center.
Study into older people and mental health support.
Mental Healthcare Big Data Warehouse Illuminates Care Trends.
Comorbid anxiety ‘a crucial target’ for treatment in bipolar disorder. Half of us get it.
Genetic Underpinnings of Intermediate Phenotypes in Psychosis
Stigma of the dump
The tl;dr of this entire section can be summed up by saying that people with mental illnesses are treated like shit. It’s not news.
Survey shows up shunning of the mentally ill.
Mental health tags damaging and unhelpful.
This Campaign Is Shattering Stereotypes About People of Color With Mental Illness.
45 Truths People With Bipolar Disorder Wish Others Understood.
8 Misconceptions about Mental Health and Mental Illness.
Crazy talk: The language of mental illness stigma.
My anxiety is only exacerbated by the fact that Muslim and Arab culture does not easily accept mental illness, often chalking it up to some sort of spiritual deficiency. I have been told by well-meaning but, frankly speaking, ignorant Muslims that if I just prayed harder, Allah would remove this trial from my life, or that my sins are the cause of my episodes of depression.
Muslim, bipolar and still unmarried.
Living with a bipolar spouse. Also a Muslim article.
Mental illness discrimination common in New Zealand.
Black Canadians and the fight for mental health awareness.
