This week’s focus: suicide prevention resources
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.)
@Tamavista “Knowing others is wisdom,
knowing yourself is enlightenment.” ~ Lao Tzu
Some Tweets to Ponder
@CarePathways “Many questions will be asked of you in your lifetime…but you do not have to always know the answers.”
@WisdomalaCarte “If a man cannot change the world these days, I still believe a man can change his own destiny.” ~ The Alarm
@zebraspolkadots “Learning to listen to my ‘self’ began with being mindfully aware of the parts of me that made me ‘me’. Thought, belief, physical sensation.”
@HealthyPlace “Support the type of thinking that leads you to feeling good, peaceful and happy.” ~ Allan Lokos
Linked Tweets
In the News
@DrKRandle The Colorado Shootings and Mental Illness: As a Nation we still don’t get it!
[SEO: Discusses public perception of mental illness when tragedies occur. Makes the case that while severe mental illnesses such as bipolar and schizophrenia are thought to be biologically based, at the same time their caregivers are limited by civil rights as to how far they can go to force those ill people to get help.
“The Aurora murders not only destroyed and injured innocent movie-goers, causing great pain and suffering, they also further stigmatized persons with mental disorders. A poster already being circulated on the Internet belittles mental illnesses, dismissing them as a flimsy excuse for Holmes’ actions. It is important to remember that persons with mental illnesses are more likely to be victims of violence than to harm others and that Loughner, Cho, and possibly Holmes, are not representative.”
@sheelaraja What an inspiring story! For Judo Champion, a Painful Path to Gold
[SEO: Kayla Harrison, the Olympic gold medal winner in judo, a first for the USA, had previously told ‘the rest of the story’ in response to the Sandusky trial. She was repeatedly abused from age 13 to 16 by her judo coach. In 1997, he was convicted and is serving a 10 year sentence.
“And she told about how she was a mess — desperate, unhappy and ready to give up on everything — when within weeks her mother, Jeannie Yazell, took her from Ohio to study judo with Jimmy Pedro and his father, Jim Pedro Sr., at Pedro’s Judo Center in Wakefield, Mass. ‘We just felt like she just had to get back to what she knew how to do,’ Yazell said. ‘She could have control over what went on on the mat.'” This is truly story of triumph over evil.]
Suicide Prevention
@natasha_tracy What to do if Someone Threatens Suicide on Facebook
[SEO: “Suicide threats should always be taken seriously. Half of all people with bipolar disorder attempt suicide and up to one-in-five successfully complete a suicide so please, these threats are not words to take lightly.” This post spells out what steps to take to try to help the suicidal person online. Also read the follow up post: Suicide Resources on Facebook, which includes screen shots from Facebook.
(SEO: And always know that you can call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) if you are struggling emotionally or thinking about suicide.)]
@PsychCentral Are We Our Brother’s Keeper? Dealing with Suicide on Facebook, Online
[SEO: Dr. John Grohol, founder of Psych Central, adds to Natasha Tracy’s posts (see above), about what to do when Facebook isn’t enough, or the suicidal person is not on Facebook or even in the same country. Lots of valuable links in this post.]
@DCoEPage The time is now to reverse the heartbreaking trend of soldiers taking their own lives every day (via @TIME)
[SEO: The statistics on military suicides are getting worse, not better. “To emphasize the silent, tragic epidemic that is sweeping across the U.S. military, consider this one statistic, which was brought to light in a recent TIME magazine article: ‘More U.S. military personnel have died by suicide since the war in Afghanistan began than have died fighting there.’ Let me rephrase that, just to make sure you understood the above statistic: Since the start of the Afghanistan war in 2001, there have been more soldier suicides than soldier combat deaths.”
The Rest of the Best
@MentalHelpNet Training the Self-Care Habit
[SEO: “The important thing here is that self-care is a major factor in feeling well and being resilient in difficult times. But there are some simple ways to get your brain in the habit of self-care.”]
@PsychToday What NOT to say to people with chronic pain or illness
[SEO: (ETA: The link shows as broken, but it works fine. I’ve tried several fixes with the same result.)
This post is based on ‘invisible illness’ such as Fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome, and how people who suffer from those invisible illnesses are often treated by friends and family. Many people diagnosed with PTSD are also dealing with both physical and mental ‘invisible’ conditions that may seem ‘fixable’ by uninformed or uncaring people. Read this categorized post, and the comments, for validation that these uninformed, uncaring people are just wrong. And you aren’t the only person being tormented by them.]
@PsychCentral How to Get Things Done When You’re Depressed
[SEO: “So the last thing you want to do is… anything. You might think ‘I’d like to do this, but I just can’t,’ Preston said. But there are several ways you can get things done when you’re struggling with depression. They do require effort on your part, but they work.” Post outlines five ways you can help yourself to get things done. It also discusses getting too much sleep when depressed, and tips to stabilize your sleep patterns.]
Incredible Stage! A library of gigantic fairy tale books at the Tomorrowland Festival in Belgium
