Third of a Lifetime

This week’s focus: Trauma Treatments

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

‏@LisaKiftTherapy “Find a moment of stillness
in your day to close your eyes
and breathe for a few moments.”

Some Tweets to Ponder

‏@AncientProverbs “You cannot prevent the birds of sorrow from flying over your head, but you can prevent them from building nests in your hair.” ~ Chinese Proverb

‏@CarePathways “Unresolved emotions are so harmful to the body-mind system, they block energy, which then becomes a barrier to self-understanding.”

@zebraspolkadots “A good way to bring things back to manageable is to bring things back to focus. Zoom in to now — then out to today, and ask ‘is this mine?’”

‏@PemaQuotes “All these trips that we lay on ourselves—the heavy-duty fearing that we’re bad and hoping that we’re good…never touch our basic wealth.”

‏@Tamavista “We are here to awaken from the illusion of our separateness.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

@kdaigletherapy “Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told: ‘I am with you, kid. Let’s go.’” ~ Maya Angelou

Linked Tweets

Trauma Treatments

@PsychCentral Blood Pressure Drug [Prazosin] Relieves PTSD Nightmares
[SEO: Prazosin is not a new drug, which I find a relief because most side effects will have been already well-established. "The studies showed the drug was well-tolerated and can take effect rapidly, within days to weeks, and some patients reported a return of nightmares when the course of prazosin was stopped. ..." In other words, it treats the symptom but does not cure it, but anyone who's had the nightmares would be grateful for the relief offered.]

@HealingToolKit Great article for people with PTSD, history of abuse or domestic violence
[SEO: A first person "anonymous" account of how finding a good therapist turned this person's life around from one of unending depression and despair to one with some hope for the future. "It was so foreign to me that someone even wanted to help me, that I was worthy of help, and then to stick it out with me, and not abandon me like every adult had in my life when I was a child. It was profound and it stuck with me."]

@Good_Therapy Art and Trauma: Creativity as a Resiliency Factor
[SEO: "There seems to be an unspoken premise that ingenuity is motivated by pain or pathology, or at least some might argue there is a sort of affiliation. Some might assume that this relationship is causal: that trauma causes creativity and thus most artists are contending with some type of affliction. An alternative possibility may be that art is not necessarily motivated by pain; rather the capacity for creative inspiration is something that is brought into the recovery process by those who have such inclinations. In other words, some survivors who are able to express through art may have access to a recovery tool that others do not."]

@drcherylarutt Great post by Francine Shapiro | The Evidence on EMDR
[SEO: Interesting Q&A in the New York Times. "This week, readers of the Consults blog posed questions about eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or E.M.D.R., a psychological therapy pioneered by Francine Shapiro that uses eye movements and other procedures to process traumatic memories. The therapy has been used increasingly to treat post-traumatic stress disorder and other traumas. You can learn more about how E.M.D.R. therapy is done here. Dr. Shapiro addresses reader questions about the current state of research on E.M.D.R. therapy."

@OneLifeTherapy Spotting Your Patterns: How Your Life Can Be Your Therapist
[SEO: Or augment your existing therapy. "A lot of therapy is about sort of stepping back and seeing things – seeing yourself -- from a different perspective. Getting out of the weave and the warp of the moment and looking more at the whole fabric of the situation you’re in. Seeing if there’s any repeating motifs or themes that might help you unlock some solutions… or even unlock parts of you. And the wonderful thing is that you can do this without being in formal therapy."

"Don’t get me wrong, traditional therapy is a great way to get the hang of this pattern-spotting business. And it’s incredibly powerful to work with someone who’s got your back and can help you see any blindspots you might have. But once you’ve become a pattern watcher, you can use it anytime you like, to find deeper insights and often deeper healing, too. So what sort of things might you try to notice? What helps spot the patterns?" She offers many suggestions.]

The Rest of the Best

@RichelleCarey My mother opened up to me about her brother’s suicide
[SEO: "Richelle Carey recalls her family's struggle with mental illness. Her uncle killed himself after struggling with schizophrenia. Carey hopes her family's story will spark a conversation about mental illness in the black community." While acknowledging her focus, Carey's description of the impact on her family, and its associated feelings, is pretty much universal.]

@HealthyPlace Fear of Taking Psychiatric Medication
[SEO: My only quibble is the opening stance that a mental illness diagnosis automatically means taking lifelong prescription meds. If the illness has a biological basis, most likely yes. But not everyone has that. I'd been diagnosed for 10 years, but didn't begin antidepressants until I was in a recovery phase (from acute symptoms of PTSD and dissociative identity disorder), and still couldn't shake my depression. I no longer take those meds.

Other than that, this post is an excellent analysis of the fears you may need to address when starting psychiatric meds of any sort.]

@MentalHealthV DSM-5 Reform: Monetizing Mental Health Care?
[SEO: This is a press release by GoodTherapy.Org which outlines concerns about proposed revisions resulting in the new DSM-V in 2013. (GoodTherapy.Org is an excellent source of information on all things related to therapy, and includes a Find a Therapist database.) The specific charge of 'monetizing mental health care' is based on the idea that big pharma will greatly benefit from the DSM-V changes.

"'Among all the problems with the proposed changes to the DSM-5, including the lack of supported research and lowering of diagnostic thresholds, the most disturbing change is the proposition that all syndromes are biological in nature,' said [GoodTherapy.Org CEO] Rubinstein. The dangers of this radical stance taken by the DSM Task Force can include an increase in misdiagnoses, dependence on psychotropic drugs, and encouragement of counterproductive therapeutic tools.”]

@jodiaman Managing Effects of Anxiety (post and video)
[SEO: "Properly functioning anxiety helps us find our courage and overcome limitations. But sometimes, anxiety becomes dysfunctional and leads us down a road toward debilitating, circular thoughts and constant preoccupation with past or possible life events (read about anxiety attacks and anxiety attack symptoms). To top it off, when you discover that your anxiety is out of control, you may also feel anxious about your anxiety." Includes 20 minute video interview of therapist and anxiety blogger Jodi Aman.]

This week’s focus: Self-Injury Awareness Day and National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

The elemental struggle is with our feeling of being wrong, with our guilt and shame at what we are. That’s what we have to befriend.

— Pema Chödrön Quotes (@PemaQuotes) February 29, 2012

Forgiving is rediscovering the shining path of peace that at first you thought others took away when they betrayed you.~Dodinsky

— Kate Daigle, MA, NCC (@kdaigletherapy) March 1, 2012

Learning to see myself as a part of rather than apart from the bigger world empowered me to shift fromIsolated to involved. #unlimitedlife

— #zebdot (@zebraspolkadots) February 29, 2012

“Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it. ” ~~M. Scott Peck

— K.Randle, PhD, LCSW (@DrKRandle) February 26, 2012

#Stigma creates barriers to treatment, employment, housing, & ultimately acceptance. Help us eliminate stigma. Don’t be silent. #mhm #mhsm

— NAMI Massachusetts (@NAMIMass) February 27, 2012

Linked Tweets

Self Injury Awareness Day, March 1, 2012

@HealthyPlace What is Self Injury, Self Harm, Self Abuse? It’s Self-Injury Awareness Day. Get educated.
[SEO: "Self-injury, self-harm is when someone deliberately hurts or injures themselves. Self-injury is a coping mechanism and not an attempt at suicide." Read this especially if you know someone who self-injures and wish to understand more about why he/she does it. Post contains links which discuss aspects of self injury in greater detail.]

@NAMIMass Depression and Non-Suicidal Self Injury (via Psychology Today)
[SEO: This detailed post describes aspects of self injury behaviors, including: "Symbolically speaking, deliberately injuring one's self can be viewed as a method to communicate what cannot be spoken. With self-harm, the skin is the canvas and the cut, burn or bruise is the paint that illustrates the picture. Most individuals who self-injure have difficulties with emotional expression. This clinical experience is known as Alexithymia—the inability to recognize emotions and their subtleties and to understand or describe thoughts and feelings. Many other self-harmers are struggling with internal conflicts, may have anxiety, depression, experienced physical or sexual abuse, or other more serious psychological concerns."

Includes a list of what self-harmers are trying to convey or do with their actions; and 10 tips to reduce self injury, its impact, or to get help if you are doing it.]

‏@HealthyPlace It’s National Self Injury Awareness Day. In video, Christie’s biggest fear? “I’ll never stop self-injuring.”
[SEO: "You may know her on youtube as 'sullengirl.' At 25, Christie has been engaged in self-injury for 12 years. In her guest post [video], she shares why she started self-injuring, her parents’ reaction to it, and tools she uses to reduce the urge to self-injure.” The video is well worth watching.]

National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

@angelaegambrel NEDA Week 2012: “Everybody Knows Somebody” | Surviving ED
[SEO: "National Eating Disorders Awareness Week 2012 is this week. This year’s theme is 'Everybody Knows Somebody.'" This post contains resource links and info for anyone with an eating disorder and/or their loved ones.]

@PsychCentral NEDA Week: Eating Disorders In Midlife
[SEO: "Even when it’s recognized that middle-aged women struggle with eating disorders, the talk almost always turns to cultural pressure. While there is increasing pressure for women to stay young and be slim, eating disorders are more complex than the desire for a certain silhouette."]

@DrKathleenYoung New Blog post in honor of Love Your Body Day — Love Every Body
[SEO: "I have previously addressed how self-love, including loving your body, is often challenging for trauma survivors. Trauma can instead lead to body disconnection, discomfort or even hatred. The same may be true for transgender or gender variant people. What if you feel like your body has betrayed you? Or is not congruent with your gender identity? It is important to be aware that there are many different paths towards comfort within one’s body."

Be sure to check out the entire post, which further discusses dieting and eating disorders; body policing and weight-based bullying; and information about approaches to health and well-being that are free from "weight-based assumptions and weight discrimination".]

@HealthyPlace Eating Disorder Treatment Center and Facilities — including costs
[SEO: Another resource post with links and info about the types of treatment available; out-patient vs in-patient treatment; and the goals and costs.]

The Rest of the Best

@Good_Therapy EMDR Therapy and Getting Past Your Past: Francine Shapiro – Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
[SEO: [Disclaimer: I've never tried EMDR, but I know people who have, and it was helpful to them.] While the opening paragraph is about a Continuing Education class happening today (03/02/12), the rest of the post by Francine Shapiro (the creator of EMDR) describes progress made in treating Complex PTSD with EMDR; and 20 research studies done over the years on its efficacy. She also discusses her new book Getting Past Your Past: Take Control of Your Life with Self-Help Techniques from EMDR Therapy (Amazon link).

“A study with multiply traumatized combat veterans found that after 12 sessions, 78% no longer had PTSD. Similar results (77%) were reported after up to 12 sessions with multiply traumatized civilians (Marcus et al., 1997, 2004). While childhood abuse victims may need additional treatment, happily each disturbing memory does not have to be processed separately because processing one representational memory can generalize to other similar events.”]

@HealthyPlace Check out The Migraine Blogger, @emilyguzan, if you’re dealing with migraines
[SEO: This link points to a very handy "start here" index of top posts for That M Word: A Migraine Blog.]

@Good_Therapy 50 Warning Signs of Questionable Therapy and Counseling (via @ssanquist)
[SEO: This is a 2008 post, but the info is evergreen. If you're new to therapy, you may not even be aware that certain behaviors are red flags. Educate yourself, and be your own best advocate.]

‏ 
 
 

This week’s focus: Mental Health in the News

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

“You’re not obligated to win.You’re obligated to keep trying to do the best you can every day.” ~ Marion Wright Edelman

— HealthyPlace (@HealthyPlace) February 18, 2012

Some Tweets to Ponder

If it’s real for me, do I have to prove it to you? – Bad Religion bit.ly/opy0d

— Daniel K. Foisy (@WisdomalaCarte) February 23, 2012

To know yourself, be yourself. To be yourself, stop imagining yourself to be this or that. Just be. – Nisargadatta

— Carl Barbarotto (@Carlolight) February 23, 2012

Moving forward is about acknowledging the past, but gently let the invisible cord of the past go, and move toward a better future.

— Mary Kay Evans LCSW (@CarePathways) February 21, 2012

Linked Tweets

In the News

‏@MentalHealthV Alabama Plans to Close Most Hospitals for Mentally Ill
[SEO: "The decision to close four hospitals and lay off 948 employees is a bleak reminder of Alabama’s shrinking budget. But it is also the latest example in a longstanding national effort among states to relocate mentally ill patients from government hospitals to small group homes and private hospitals."

See also Psychiatric Patients With No Place to Go But Jail (Chicago)]. These aren’t isolated occurrences. As states face increasing revenue shortfalls, mental health services will be among the first to go.]

@SarahEOlson2009 FDA Adds Metabolic Warnings to Fanapt
[SEO: If you take the atypical antipsychotic Fanapt, it now includes warnings that it may cause "hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and weight gain". Translation: diabetes, cholesterol issues, and everything else that comes with unwanted weight gain. Talk to your doctor if you are taking any atypical antipsychotic. These "side effects" are in themselves life threatening down the road. There may be better choices.]

@Tao23 The Boy Scouts officially handle sex abuse on the Catholic church model
[SEO: [It's also the Penn State model.] “The lawsuit contends the Scouts knew or should have known the leader put the boy at risk and cites a Scout executive’s reluctance to call police as evidence of an effort to conceal widespread sexual abuse.

“‘He said that wasn’t necessary, because the Scouts do their own internal investigation,’ said the boy’s mother…. ‘I thought that was really weird. … I thought it was really important to call the sheriff right away.’” And so, she did. In his next tweet, @Tao23 stated: “Bottom line, any person or organization that says ‘don’t call police about the sex abuse of your kid’ is complicit in child rape.”]

@PauleyP A SuperStar’s full domestic abuse report here. PLEASE do NOT go back to your attackers for any reason
[SEO: Perez Hilton is a gossip site, but in this case he includes the actual court document filed by Rihanna (aka Robyn F.) in her domestic abuse complaint against Chris Brown. It's very detailed and disturbing. It's also totally commonplace that women treated this way go back to their abusers. Rihanna recently eased up on her restraining order against Chris Brown so they could both attend award shows, plus they are now collaborating musically. Do not look to Rihanna as a role model -- other than for what not to do -- if you are in an abusive relationship.]

@SuePeaseBanitt PTSD…And Cash
[SEO: "The Army removed Colonel Dallas Homas, commander of Madigan Army Medical Center in Washington state, on Tuesday from his post because of an investigation into whether post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnoses were reversed solely to reduce medical costs on his watch." ....

"...[T]he real travesty here is how this story will undoubtedly add uncertainty to the fate of soldiers being medically discharged. Service members quickly grow weary of telling their trauma stories to multiple layers of therapists, often to three or more counselors, before a final decision is made. If at every stage of the process the service member is rightly questioning the ultimate motivations of the examiner, the process loses all credibility. Most critically, those who have served their country with distinction can get caught up in the insanity and be refused benefits they deserve.”]

The Rest of the Best

‏@HealthyPlace Starting New Antidepressant Can Make Depression Worse Before It Gets Better
[SEO: "It takes patience to get the payoff from antidepressants. Two to four weeks is generally the minimum to see any improvement, and it may take up to six months to get the full benefit of a new depression drug." This is true whether trying an antidepressant for the first time or switching to a new one, and can be quite discouraging. As the blogger also points out, don't just stop any antidepressant suddenly, for any reason. The side effects from doing that can be horrific.]

@800273TALK Have you thought about starting a journal? Here’s how to get started.
[SEO: "Journaling is a profound -- and simple -- way to get to know yourself better. To figure out what makes you tick. What makes you happy. What makes you defensive. What makes you giggle or grateful or grieve. What makes you who you are. Quite simply, it’s a great tool to help you grow." Includes helpful writing prompts and tips if you don't know where to start.]

‏@NAMIMass Fight for Your Right to Behavioral Health Benefits
[SEO: Written by Carol McDaid, Co-Chair of the Parity Implementation Coalition, she discusses her three year battle to get insurance payment for benefits required by law for addiction and mental health services. "If you or a loved one have been unable to get your insurance to pay for addiction or mental health treatment, please share your story."

"I've been in the halls of Congress fighting this fight since 1993. .... I intend to fight this fight as long as it takes to end insurance discrimination against people suffering from addiction and mental illness. But, to be successful, we need your stories and a collective sense of outrage." Share your personal parity story by sending an email to hsf@psych.org.]

@natasha_tracy Have You Had ECT? Help Me Create a List of Hospitals that Offer ECT
[SEO: Natasha Tracy is compiling a list of treatment centers that include ECT (electroconvulsive therapy), and is asking for your help in making it more complete. The post includes the list to date; if you know of other ECT resources, let her know in the comments to her post. And if you're looking for those services, this appears to already be the go-to list to find them.]

@LillyAnn “It is important to give ourselves permission to heal. What we voice as our desire to heal must be believed from within.” ~ Cheryl E Gordon

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

To whom do I owe the first apology? No one’s been crueler than I’ve been to me. ~ Alanis Morissette bit.ly/opy0d

— Daniel K. Foisy (@WisdomalaCarte) February 13, 2012

Standalone Tweets to Ponder

Twitter’s new ability to embed tweets so prettily inspired me to change my format here. Each week I’ll showcase one of my tweets, and several from other contributors. These include everything you need to follow or share. I’m loving Twitter even more now! Next week I will work on a format for embedded tweets with links.
 
 

I grow weary of defending against crap “science” that claims #DID is caused by therapists or clients too stupid to avoid media manipulation. — Sarah Olson (@SarahEOlson2009) February 15, 2012

Meditation practice is how we stop fighting with ourselves, how we stop struggling with circumstances, emotions, or moods.

— Pema Chödrön Quotes (@PemaQuotes) February 17, 2012

“The finest thing in the world is knowing how to belong to oneself.” Michel de Montaigne

— LillyAnn (@LillyAnn) February 16, 2012

“You see everything is about belief, whatever we believe rules our existence, rules our life.” ~ Don Miguel Ruiz

— Elisha Goldstein (@Mindful_Living) February 11, 2012

Linked Tweets

@dylansmoosie TELL and TELL and TELL If you are being sexually abused, you need to choose an adult you trust and @JustTell. Help is here.
[SEO: An educational site for both children and adults. "JustTell was created to educate and empower children and adults around the issue of childhood sexual abuse. On the kids’ pages of the site, we encourage children who are being sexually abused to choose an adult in their life who they trust, and to tell that adult about the abuse." There is information for adults about what to do when a child tells about being abused. Don't assume that your kids, or kids entrusted to you (i.e., you're a teacher), know what to do. Tell them to tell. Be proactive.]

@NAMIMass How to Help Someone with a Mental Illness
[SEO: "I talk to many people who want to help a person with a mental illness. Often the people they want to help are loved ones who have just been diagnosed with a mental illness and those who want to help feel powerless. The 'helpers' have a hard job, but let me just say, we love you for it."

This is the go-to post for anyone wanting a clearer understanding of how to interact with a mentally ill person, and ancillary issues dealing with care-taking. As in the above quote, the post is sprinkled with links to other posts dealing in specifics for those issues. If you're the mentally ill person, give a copy of this, with the links, to your loved ones. It's that important!]

@HealthyPlace Our new anxiety blogger, @JodiAman , starts Wed. Find out more about Jodi here.
[SEO: Jodi's new blog is called Anxiety-Schmanxiety. She is an LCSW, and self-described "former anxiety sufferer". Her first blog post is My Introduction to Anxiety at Age 5.]

@ssanquist 4 Things to Remember When You Can’t Take It Anymore | Bounce Back: Develop Your Resiliency
[SEO: "Ever feel like you can’t take it anymore? There is an essential resiliency skill that will help you not only take it, but bounce back from the really tough emotional times in your life. It has to do with perspective."

@SarahEOlson2009 Practicing Validation
[SEO: "Emotional validation means acknowledging and expressing acceptance of someone’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors as understandable. Sometimes understanding someone else’s thoughts and feelings requires a lot of work because the way they think makes no sense to you." If you're that person seeking validation, this post and others listed in its right sidebar can help you, and the people who care about you, to understand the importance of validation in every day life.]

@thethirdsunrise Recovering From Mental Illness is Exhausting
[SEO: Post examines the phases of mental illness, and how exhausting each one truly is. (The Diagnosis; Side Effects, Complications, From Medication; Life After Diagnosis.) But all of this, put into perspective, shows why recovery is worth the effort.]

@LillyAnn Self Kindness: Seven Habits That Will Help You Live a Happier Life
[SEO: Excellent article. Trauma survivors can benefit from these habits, perhaps even more than others. "Some people tend to focus a little too much on the outside world. They try to help the people there and be of service at the expense of their own lives and mental and physical health. Others tend to focus too much on their own thoughts and what is happening inside of their heads. And so much over-analyzing is done and beliefs that everyone cares more than they do about what you do are formed and strengthened. The solution here is to find a bit more balance."]

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@HealthyPlace “People take different roads
seeking fulfillment and happiness.
Just because they’re not on your road
doesn’t mean they’re lost.” ~ Dalai Lama

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@zebraspolkadots “Awareness is the opposite of avoidance. To break behaviors that help us avoid life is to choose to live in awareness.”

@HealthyPlace “Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons.” ~ Jessica Lange

@DrAthenaStaik “We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.” ~ Calvin Coolidge

@PsychDigest “The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.”

@PemaQuotes “So the challenge is how to develop compassion right along with clear seeing, how to train in lightening up and cheering up…”

@StevenHandel “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut

Linked Tweets

@SarahEOlson2009 PTSD: Symptoms, Treatment and Self-Help (via helpguide.org)
[SEO: Extensive, well-organized resources for all things related to PTSD. A good place to start if you are new to the diagnosis, or to give loved ones to help them understand more about PTSD. The PTSD index is in the right column; other possibly related topics are in the left column.]

@HealthyPlace Supporting Someone with Bipolar: For Family and Friends
[SEO: This link provides a compendium of articles on Healthy Place pertaining to supporting a person with bipolar, whether by friend, spouse, or other family member. An excellent resource that anyone diagnosed with bipolar should point their loved ones to for support.]

@PsychCentral Healing Together: Why Can’t We Speak About Rape? Finding a Voice
[SEO: Although found in a blog focused on couples, this comprehensive, thoughtful look at rape and its impact is for anyone dealing with it, whether as part of a couple or not. It also can help anyone wishing to better understand rape's devastating effects upon a loved one.]

@SarahEOlson2009 Psychiatric News Alert: Antipsychotics May Cause Diabetes By Thwarting Crucial Pathway
[SEO: "Antipsychotics -- some of the most prescribed medications in the United States -- can interfere with normal metabolism by activating a protein in the transforming growth factor beta pathway.... Moreover, antipsychotics known to cause obesity and diabetes were found to activate this pathway, whereas antipsychotics that are not known to raise risk of obesity and diabetes did not."

When TV commercials rattle off potential side effects of specific drugs, pay attention to "may raise blood sugar" or "may cause weight gain". If I were not already an overweight diabetic (in which case, those drugs will never be offered to me), I'd never want to take on the risk of becoming one via these drugs. Be your own best advocate. Know what you are being prescribed, and what the risks are. Discuss it with your doctor.]

@LillyAnn The Pause Upon Which All Else Relies (via @zen_habits)
[SEO: "When we fail, it’s because we act on urges without thinking, without realizing it. ... What if instead we learned to pause after each urge? What if we stopped, looked at that urge, paid close attention to what it feels like inside our bodies, but didn’t act? The urge would no longer control us. We would be able to make conscious choices that might be healthier for us, help us be happier. If we can pause, we create space. Space to breathe, to think, to be without acting."]

@PTSDandYOU We Are Failing Our Veterans With PTSD: The Life and Death of Sonny Mazon (via @HuffingtonPost)
[SEO: "He didn't get the help that he needed to heal the pain of his memories from Afghanistan, and as he withdrew from his friends and family he descended into an abyss of sadness. His relationship with his girlfriend had always been problematic, but it became violent. He hurt her badly in a fit of rage, was arrested for domestic abuse, and chose to end his life. We shouldn't whitewash over the violence of his actions, but the context of his life story does help us to see his crime in a different light."

These issues -- increasing suicides, substance abuse, potential for domestic abuse -- are not going away any time soon. It is in everyone's best interests that the U.S. Government do far more than it currently is to provide timely effective treatment -- without the stigma attached -- to our service members.]

@kbellbarnett Gawker Confessions of a Therapist: Are psychologists allowed to publish their clients’ secrets? (via @slate)
[SEO: "Can your shrink spill your secrets? Yes, if your identity is concealed." Article discusses ethics involved and potential violations, and the difference between ethics required of a "therapist" vs. a "psychologist". Long before my personal story was published in my book, I expressly gave my therapist permission to discuss my case in whatever format he deemed appropriate. If this is an issue for you, discuss it with your clinician.]

@Mindful_Living Getting Unstuck from Automatic Negative Thinking
[SEO: "Simply the knowledge that your thoughts are more inclined toward the negative primes your mind to begin to question these thoughts as they come. For example, in a moment you find your mind swirling on negative details you may start to also have a thought arise, 'my mind has a bias toward the negative.' This thought pops you into a mindful space, a moment of clarity and choice that I call The Now Effect."

"In this space you will have the awareness to ask the question 'Is this thought true? What evidence do I have for this thought? Is there another way I can see this situation?' This opens the door to see opportunities and possibilities you never knew existed."]

@natasha_tracy Acceptance of Bipolar [or any Mental] Disorder is a Process
[SEO: (While the original post is aimed at bipolar diagnosis, its author also tweeted the post using the more generic "mental disorder" descriptor. Anyone recently diagnosed with any mental disorder can benefit from this post.) "The diagnosis of a mental illness is a loss. No, it’s not the loss of your mind, but it’s a loss. It’s a loss of your understanding of who you are. It’s a loss of how you see yourself. It’s a loss of control. It’s a loss of many things depending on the impact of your personal illness. And losses beget grief. Or losses beget grieving, and grieving is a process."]

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@Tamavista “Think you’re escaping
and run into yourself.
Longest way round is
the shortest way home.” ~ James Joyce

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@StevenHandel “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston

@PsychDigest “The person you were always meant to become is waiting for you just on the other side of the things you fear.” ~ Tom Wright

@WisdomalaCarte “The only real person you need to know is you.” ~ Alice Cooper

@PsychCentral “Speak thy thoughts, declare the truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.” ~ Voltaire

@iamwun “We cannot be present and run our story-line at the same time.” ~ Pema Chodron

@soulseedz “From the perspective of responsibility, it’s always your move.”

Linked Tweets

@VA_PTSD_Info Returning home and coping with combat stress. Learn about issues facing returning troops. Hosted by Tom Brokaw.
[SEO:"These videos aim to help promote wellness in this returning group of veterans and to prevent chronic mental health issues resulting from combat and other war-zone stress. It is available both as a video for veterans, active duty service members and their families, as well as a version with provider perspectives." At site, see link to either download the video or a transcript in .PDF format.]

@BobbiEmel Giving Up vs. Giving In: Is There A Difference? | Bounce Back: Develop Your Resiliency
[SEO: "Herein lies the common misunderstanding: letting go is not so much about giving up as it is about giving in. It’s not about just standing by, doing nothing, as your house goes into foreclosure. But it is about giving in to the reality of your current situation and letting go of judgments and expectations you might have about the outcome. ... The trick is to be able to work toward your goals or out of a difficult situation without being completely locked into just one result being acceptable."

@OneLifeTherapy If "Eternity Is Now" Then What Will You Do With It?
[SEO: "There’s a saying that you might have heard floating around a bit like that: 'Eternity is now.' If it’s true, then what will you do with this gift of now that’s somehow, miraculously, inexplicably, landed in your lap? This now. And this one." Post discusses various therapies (existential, gestalt, mindfulness) that focus on the "now", and asks what you will do with your moment of "now", right now.]

@HealthyPlace Life Before and After the Diagnosis of Mental Illness
[SEO: "The person you were before, the person you are working to become, is still the same person, but accepting that it takes work to become well, to believe that you will, allows you to both merge your past and present. To become a whole person. A person defined by both times in your life."]

@ssanquist 6 Ways to Stay Resilient in Stress (via Beyond Blue)
[SEO: "It’s an awful lot easier to stay resilient, even if you have a severe mood disorder, when you’re not encased in stress. When you have all that cortisol—the backstabber hormone—mucking around in all of your biological organs, staying sane is about as easy as getting off a chair lift for the first time, or so it feels.]

@SarahEOlson2009 Write Your Heart Out | The Gentle Self
[SEO: Post gives many reasons why writing/telling/sharing your story is valuable. This is just one of them: "Putting thoughts into words and words on paper has a meditative quality to it: Writing creates awareness of who we are and why we do certain things. It’s a way to explore and analyze the self, and we learn more about what drives us and what we want from life."]

@Kkellbarnett “They Are A Part Of Who I Am”: A Reader’s Experience with Meds
[SEO: Post describes comments made by a reader answering specific questions about the when and why of starting/finishing psychiatric meds, and how the reader felt about using them, in terms of necessity, stigma, and outcomes. The reader has a very balanced viewpoint regarding a hot topic. The title is a bit misleading in that the meds which helped her to become who "she is" are part of her past. She states that she is no longer on psychiatric meds, with her psychiatrist's blessings.]

@HealingToolKit Unbreakable Blog Helps Rape Victims Heal [through art]
[SEO: Sometimes a seemingly small idea resonates so strongly as to create a movement. "Grace Brown, a freshman photography student at New York's School of Visual Arts, started her Tumblr blog, Project Unbreakable, in October, after a friend shared a story of sex abuse. Brown came up with the idea to photograph victims holding posters with quotes from their own attacks, featuring words said to them by their attackers." Participants feel more empowered and can take back control over those words that have haunted them.]

@ssanquist Coping With A Stressful Situation: Manage Your Emotions
[SEO: "Whether you’re dealing with an emotional bully (see previous post about adult bullies) or other difficult situation, one of the first steps is to comfort yourself and manage your emotions. The part of the brain that is responsible for decision-making and planning cannot function as well when you are filled with emotion. Acting on emotions without the thoughtfulness of the logical part of the brain usually means trouble." Post describes the "What Skills" and "How Skills" of mindfulness practice.]

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@WisdomalaCarte “Your current safe boundaries
were once unknown frontiers.” ~ Anonymous

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@LillyAnn “You cannot save people. You can only love them.” ~ Anaïs Nin

@Tamavista “It is in retrospect that we realize the brevity of life. Knowing this, take a moment each day to live in the present.” ~ Kitamori

@Carlolight “The way you look at things is the most powerful force in shaping your life. In a vital sense, perception is reality.” ~ John O’Donohue

@WisdomalaCarte “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ~ A Course in Miracles

@HealthyPlace “To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves — there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.”

@800273TALK “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” ~ John Wooden

Linked Tweets

@SafetyStar What’s Your Excuse [to not discuss child sexual abuse with your children]? “My Body Belongs to Me” (video about the book)
[SEO: This short but essential book provides a bridge by which parents can talk with their young children about a subject most parents would prefer having a root canal instead. If your children don't clearly understand about good touch/bad touch, they are vulnerable.]

@drludygreen Stunning article by actor Patrick Stewart on domestic violence.
[SEO: "As a child I witnessed [my father's] repeated violence against my mother, and the terror and misery he caused was such that, if I felt I could have succeeded, I would have killed him. If my mother had attempted it, I would have held him down. For those who struggle to comprehend these feelings in a child, imagine living in an environment of emotional unpredictability, danger and humiliation week after week, year after year, from the age of seven. My childish instinct was to protect my mother, but the man hurting her was my father, whom I respected, admired and feared.”]

@SoulHealr Learn about the connection between Depression, Trauma, and PTSD, as well as strategies for coping with them.
[SEO: This extensive resource offered by the National Center for PTSD pertains to both veterans and the general public. Be sure to peruse the links in the left column for other PTSD-related topics which can help anyone suffering with PTSD, regardless of the cause.]

@800273TALK Find a therapist with this tool from @psychtoday. If you need to talk to someone right now, call 1-800-273-8255.
[SEO: This therapist directory will show you results for psychiatrists (and psychotherapists), group therapy, treatment centers, or all of them. Both the therapist directory and the crisis 800 number are applicable in the US; the therapist directory also has listings in Canada.]

@ssanquist Dr. Deb: January is Stalking Awareness Month (via @Deborahserani)
[SEO: Information regarding research, statistics, and what to do if you are being stalked. Protect yourself, and be your own best advocate.]

@goodthingz 10 Life-Changing Facts About Anger (via @aflourishinglif)
[SEO: Good, useful considerations and strategies for looking at anger and its role in your life differently. Constructively. Perhaps even beneficially. Lots to think on if anger is an issue for you.]

@HealthyPlace In Recovering From Mental Illness, Patience is a Virtue
[SEO: It took 38+ years for me to fully understand the role of mental illness in my life, and then I wanted it done and over with yesterday. (Actually, I still do.) This post discusses why patience must be a factor in your mental wellness plan. "Work to understand that being patient, learning how to be patient, aids in your recovery."]

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@healingtrauma “Rowing harder
doesn’t help if the boat is headed
in the wrong direction.” ~ Kenichi Ohmae

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@WisdomalaCarte “An intention is a quality of consciousness that you bring to an action.” ~ Gary Zukav

@ArrInspirations “The only way to change the future is by inhabiting the present moment.” ~ Jon Kabat Zinn

@soulseedz “One of the reasons we struggle with endings is because we engage in mortal combat with time.”

@GabeBerman “Spirituality, then, is nothing more than giving up your resistance to what is.” ~ Annemarie Postma

@back2incomplete “When you deal with people, always consider whether you are spreading light and love, or whether you are limiting it.”

@DrAthenaStaik “Your presence in heart and mind is one of the most precious gifts of love you can give.”

Linked Tweets

Depression in the News

@SarahEOlson2009 [Low] Vitamin D Levels Linked to Depression Risk
[SEO: If you don't get out into the sun much, or drink milk, vitamin D supplements are not expensive. Doctors seldom test for vitamin D levels; ask your doctor to include that test in the next batch of basic blood tests you're given. And always ask your doctor before starting any kind of supplement. There may be contraindications from prescription meds you take.]

@SarahEOlson2009 Treatment Integration for Depression, Diabetes Increases Success for Both
[SEO: People with diabetes are at higher risk of becoming depressed, and people who are depressed have a higher risk of becoming diabetic. "In the end, 60.9 percent of subjects who received the integrated approach [of treating diabetes and depression as correlated, with a special program aimed at education and compliance] had improved blood sugar levels, compared to only 35.7 percent of patients who received only the usual primary care. Also, patients in the integrated care group were more likely to show fewer depression symptoms in comparison with patients in the usual care group (58.7 percent vs. 30.7 percent, respectively).”]

The Rest of the Best

@AshleyJudd More on why we must prevent child abuse: “You can modify behavior, but you can’t rewire disrupted brain circuits.”
[SEO: "'Toxic stress', or adversity, in early childhood can lead to a lifetime of mental and physical problems -- including disruption of the body’s metabolism or brain development -- and pediatricians should take a leading role in providing care that addresses the problem...." Includes several links to articles which discuss the research behind this conclusion.]

@NAMIMass Do you know the signs that you or someone you know are in an abusive relationship?
[SEO: "Noticing and acknowledging the warning signs and symptoms of domestic violence and abuse is the first step to ending it. No one should live in fear of the person they love." A comprehensive resource, this post includes signs of being in an abusive relationship; the relationship of financial or economic abuse to emotional abuse; tactics used by abusers; the cycle of violence in domestic abuse; and what to do if you or someone you know is caught in this situation.]

@MentalHealthV Picking a therapist
[SEO: If you are looking for a therapist, it's not as easy as picking a name out of the phone book. Be your own best advocate. It's in your interests to make an informed choice. This article provides an excellent primer in how to ensure that you find the right therapist for you.]

@DCoEPage Yoga: an alternative therapy for wounded warriors with PTSD (via @WarriorCare)
[SEO: Yoga: also not just for veterans. Yoga has been used for years in trauma care, regardless of what caused it. "Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D., a PTSD author, clinician, researcher and teacher since the 1970s, asserts that therapists treating psychological trauma need to work with the body as well as the mind. He states that yoga may provide a safe and gentle means of becoming reacquainted with the body and allowing people to confront their internal sensations."]

@Mindful_Living Mindfulness Over Mood: The Now Effect and Your Mental Health
[SEO: "Every moment of our lives our brains are rapidly taking in information and making snap judgments, interpretations and decisions based on what we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. Depending on how we’re feeling we’ll interpret it differently."

"Even though we believe our thoughts represent reality, the truth is, our thoughts are not facts. A lot of us live without an awareness of this, operating mostly from a state of auto-pilot, sleepwalking through life. The good news is we can train our minds to become more aware of this automaticity, get perspective and tune into what really matters."]

@Vdkeck Mental Illness as a Disability (via @Natasha_tracy)
[SEO: A thoughtful analysis of why mental illness can be considered a disability, and why resistance to the label may be misplaced. "I don’t have anything against people with a disability. Why would I? Being disabled means nothing about the individual, it simply indicates their situation. It would be like being against people with siblings. It would just be silly."

"Nevertheless, when considering my own bipolar disorder, I bristled against the word 'disability.' I know; this is hypocritical of me and a double standard. It’s OK for someone else to be disabled but not me? I’m embarrassed to even think it."]

I am honored that my Twitter feed was included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@Carlolight “Above all else
I want to see things differently.”
~ A Course in Miracles

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@WisdomalaCarte “Your standard of living somehow got stuck on survive.” ~ Jewel

@PsychDigest “Your core values should be the blueprint for everything else in your life. Recognize what your values are.”

@SarahEOlson2009 “It’s funny how we feel so much but cannot say a word. We are screaming inside, but can’t be heard.” ~ Sarah McLachlan #FavoriteLyricOfAllTime

@EFTdoc “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.” ~ Arnold Bennett

@CarePathways “That’s right. You have a part of you that has never been wounded.”

@Mindful_Living “Be passionate about what you do, treat others with compassion, and take actions to make the world a better place.” ~ The late Shirley Levine

Linked Tweets

@pourmecoffee This Denver Post photo essay of Scott Ostrom’s battle with PTSD is fantastic, and brutal to read.
[SEO: For veterans, and for anyone struggling to understand how PTSD manifests in daily life. This is a series of 49 photos, each with a paragraph caption, of former Marine Brian Scott Ostrom, who's been dealing with the aftermath of his service in Iraq for the last six years. Note: The symptoms he describes are not unique to war veterans. They are unique to anyone dealing with PTSD from whatever cause.]

@Dr_StevenG Preserving Mental Health During Unemployment (via @drmelanieg)
[SEO: "Many psychological variables are adversely affected by unemployment, including perceived control, belief in one's own competence or self-efficacy, self-esteem, identity, life satisfaction, and sense of meaning and purpose in life." All of this is made even more difficult if you are also dealing with PTSD. Having a support structure in place if you are unemployed -- or fear your job might vanish -- is priceless. Seek help before you think you need it.]

@Mindful_Living Whether you’ve done this before or not, take a minute to become present
[SEO: A guided exercise in mindfulness by Dr. Elisha Goldstein. "This short mindfulness practice is meant to be sprinkled throughout the day to support you in becoming more present, reducing stress, and being more effective in every day life."]

@DrAthenaStaik A Key Aspect of Being Authentically You — Identifying Your Triggers
[SEO: "Awareness is key when it comes to living -- and loving -- authentically. A key aspect of awareness is getting to know, and understand your self and life around you, and one thing that involves is being aware of what triggers you." Includes a writing exercise to help identify triggers. If you are in therapy or feeling especially vulnerable, don't do this without some support lined up.]

@SarahEOlson2009 How to Train Your Brain to Alleviate Anxiety
[SEO: Read the entire article; it's both fascinating and important. What you think and focus on physically alters your brain. Includes three anxiety-alleviating practices to try. Here are just a few snips from the post. "...Individuals who are constantly stressed (such as acute or traumatic stress) release cortisol, which in another article Hanson says eats away at the memory-focused hippocampus. People with a history of stress have lost up to 25 percent of the volume of their hippocampus and have more difficulty forming new memories.

"The opposite also is true. Engaging in relaxing activities regularly can wire your brain for calm. Research has shown that people who routinely relax have 'improved expression of genes that calm down stress reactions, making them more resilient,' Hanson writes. ... Also, over time, people who engage in mindfulness meditation develop thicker layers of neurons in the attention-focused parts of the prefrontal cortex and in the insula, an area that’s triggered when we tune into our feelings and bodies."

"Other research has shown that being mindful boosts activation of the left prefrontal cortex, which suppresses negative emotions, and minimizes the activation of the amygdala, which Hanson refers to as the 'alarm bell of the brain.'"]

@psychcentral Introducing a new blog: “Bounce Back: Develop Your Resiliency”
[SEO: “Resiliency is a key psychological trait that differentiates people who can overcome adversity with only a dip, and those where adversity throws them into a state of stress, feeling overwhelmed, or even depression. That’s why it’s a key trait to learn more about and cultivate in your own life.”

Here’s the direct link to “Bounce Back: Develop Your Resiliency. It “will cover key concepts such as: learning how to gain perspective and ultimately acceptance over events and things that happen in life; looking for the hidden gifts in seeming adversity; learning not to resist; and becoming comfortable with failure including seeing the lessons it provides.”

I am honored to have my Twitter feed included in this list of 50 Best Twitter Feeds for Psychology Majors! Go check out the other 49, broken out into these categories: News; Organizations; Patients; and Professionals.

Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.

Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.

Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)

Photo Credit

@Mindful_Living “May we all recognize in this New Year
that the moments of our lives are rare and precious.
Open to them, Bask in them, We are alive.”

Happy New Year! While I was recharging my batteries in December, there were many wonderful blog posts and mental health resources tweeted. This week we’re looking at the best of December 2011, and this last week.

Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder

@CarePathways “Empowerment is not fearlessness. Empowerment is recognizing the internal ability, even the skill, to experience all of our feelings.”

@Tamavista “Compassion is the antitoxin of the soul: where there is compassion even the most poisonous impulses remain relatively harmless.” ~ Hoffer

@HealthyPlace “Every time you don’t follow your inner guidance, you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.” ~ Shakti Gawain

@PemaQuotes “Only when we know our own darkness well can we be present with the darkness of others.” ~ Pema Chödrön

@PsychDigest “We all have an “inner critic,” a voice in our head that tells us everything that’s wrong. Practice recognizing and tuning out this voice.”

@lizstrauss “My life keeps circling round to lessons I’ve met before. It’s my life to figure out what applies now.”

Linked Tweets

Suicide Prevention Resources

@safeagain Suicide Prevention: Spotting the Signs and Helping a Suicidal Person
[SEO: Excellent resource. If you have suicidal tendencies, this is the page to give to your loved ones and friends who know you best. Do this now, even if you're not currently feeling suicidal.]

@HealthyPlace How Do You Prevent Suicide? The 4th most read blog post ever on our site.
[SEO: Another excellent mental health site with numerous resources and pointers about suicide prevention, including dealing with stigma. Healthy Place also covers individual disorders extensively, including hosted blogs by patients.]

Child Abuse Prevention

@DrAthenaStaik Child Sexual Abuse: Ten Ways To Protect Your Kids (via @PsychoBest)
[SEO: What many child abuse survivors have known their entire lives (and have often not been believed): "People are beginning to understand and talk about how sex offenders can be a friend or a family member. The Penn State and Syracuse scandals have broken our denial about how famous, powerful, and revered people cannot possibly be offenders." Awareness is only the first step. Read this.]

@SafetyStar 10 Reasons not to discuss Child Sex Abuse in 2012
[SEO: Especially aimed at parents, here are ten of the most commonly used excuses to not discuss child sexual abuse with your child. Each of the ten also includes information as to why you must not give in to that excuse.]

The Rest of the Best

@serialinsomniac The 2011 TWIM Awards — The Results! « This Week in Mentalists
[SEO: "TWIM is a weekly digest of selected writings from blogs across the Madosphere, our affectionate name for the mental health blogosphere. ... A group of volunteer authors take it in turns to write the digests, which enables a wide base of mental health blogs to be reviewed." The Twim Awards are nominated and voted upon by its readers, and cover numerous categories. Some of these winning blogs were unknown to me, which is one reason why I like TWIM. Check them all out!]

@DIDwife The fight goes on (via @TheBloggess)
[SEO: I was unfamiliar with The Bloggess till I read this remarkable post about fighting through and living on with depression. She captures the struggles exceedingly well, and obviously struck some major chords with people. I can't remember the last post I read about depression that had 2330+ comments, especially one just published six days ago.]

@natasha_tracy Why is Family so Stressful for Mentally Ill?
[SEO: A discussion of various ways family, especially at holidays, can be so stressful. One aspect discussed that resonated strongly for me was about mental illness and pretending, and how a lot of it boils down to just waiting for it (whatever "it" is, good or bad) to be over.

"And this type of pretending, this type of acting, really is tiring for the soul. Most people have no idea what it is to orchestrate every blink to ensure that others don’t know how you really feel. But people with a mental illness know. They know what it is to hide their every thought from those around them. They know what it is to shoehorn into normal. They know what it is to pretend to care about tinsel and lights when all they really want to do is curl up in a ball and wait for it all to be over."]

@SarahEOlson2009 The Freedom of Boundaries
[SEO: This post focuses from a borderline personality point of view, but is an excellent summation of boundary issues for anyone who struggles with mental health issues.]

@OneLifeTherapy Where Do You Keep Your Un-Cried Tears? Learning To Live With Grief
[SEO: "If you sit for a moment, just you and your sorrow in some stillness, whereabouts in your body do you sense that sadness residing just now? And what might it be like not to feel under pressure to fix or placate or silence or hide it? But just to acknowledge it? Just to see it? Maybe even to accept it? How might you and your grief help one another through this loss?"

@PsychCentral 5 Things Therapy Won’t Cure
[SEO: Dr. John Grohol (Psych Central founder) discusses five major categories which therapy can't resolve or change, which are: Your Personality; Your Childhood; Half a Relationship; A Broken Heart; and Losing Someone. Meaning, for example, therapy can't literally change what happened in your childhood. What good therapy can do is help you to understand and work on aspects of these issues so that they no longer stop you from living your best life.]

@SarahEOlson2009 Borderline Personality Disorder: Erotic Transference
[SEO: This issue is not specific to borderline personality disorder. Transference in psychotherapy involves you working through troublesome relationships by transferring your feelings about that person to your therapist. Your therapist steps into that role, sometimes in such a subtle way you don't even know he or she's doing it. Sometimes it can involve actual role-playing.

Erotic transference refers to sexual feelings you have transferred to your therapist. Many therapists just don't want to go there, which I think says more about them than you. It can be hard enough to admit to those feelings without your therapist grimacing in discomfort. Those who do go there skillfully, and who uphold boundaries as mandated, can help you heal in life-changing ways, particularly if you come from an abuse background.]