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.)
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.
@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.]
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!]
@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."]
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.)
@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."]
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 “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.]
Special Request: If you find value in this blog showcase, please add the Dissociation Blog Showcase link to your blogroll so others can find it. Thanks!
We have amazing writers amongst us who give insight and hope to anyone struggling with dissociation, or to their loved ones. It’s a brain trust, and I treasure it. When I find new blogs, I usually update the Dissociation Blog Showcase (DBS) on Sunday evenings.
I owe each of these bloggers a huge apology for the delay in getting their blogs listed and announced. Regardless of the reasons, the delay has taken far too long. I can only promise to do better in the future, and thank each of you for your considerable patience.
Tonight I’ve added the following new blogs:
Silenced No Longer
Singing over the bones & rising from the ashes
The Vacant Skeleton
Please use the DBS link above to access these blogs, and check out the entire directory of (approximately) 200 dissociation-related blogs! As always, be careful and stay safe. Many of these blogs do not provide trigger warnings, nor are they obligated to do so.
If you, or someone you know, experiences dissociation and blog about it, write to me with the URL at sarah.e.olsonATgmailDOTcom . I review each blog before adding it to the Showcase.
Thanks so much for the feedback and well-wishes for this project!
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.)
@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.”]
@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."]
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.)
@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.”
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.)
@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.]
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.)
Special Notice: Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors will be on hiatus throughout the month of December. I’ll be taking the time to rest and recharge, and hopefully complete some lingering projects. I’ll still be available by email or on Twitter. Thanks so much for your support year-round!
@Mindful_Living “As we learn to drop down
from the busyness in our minds and into the now,
we can cultivate self-trust and self-reliance.”
~ The Now Effect
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@WisdomalaCarte “I sabotage myself for fear of what my bigness could do.” ~ Alanis Morissette
@DrAthenaStaik “To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” ~ Lao Tzu
@Tamavista “Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist only of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” ~ Amiel
@PsychDigest “Grateful people experience less envy, anger, resentment, regret, and other stress-related feelings. Today, be more grateful.”
@Mindful_Living “When you think about it, there is no other time than now.” ~ The Now Effect
@LillyAnn “Don’t postpone joy until you have learned all of your lessons. Joy is your lesson.” ~ Alan Cohen
@thethirdsunrise Depression is Terrifying
[SEO: Written completely in a "you are there" voice, this post chronicles what the day to day experience of depression feels like, and how it alters perspective and perception. After being prescribed a new antidepressant, the description of coming out of depression over a number of weeks rings true. In fact, all of it rings true, and achingly honest. This would be a good post to give to a friend or family member who doesn't get why you can't just snap out of it.]
@LisaKiftTherapy 4 Ways to Build Emotional Resilience
[SEO: "If you don’t feel particularly resilient, know that you can deepen your sense of well-being and begin to build your own emotional resilience toolbox. The more you practice, the more you can literally change the way your brain is wired to facilitate a happier and more peaceful life. It can be developed in anyone."]
@psychcentral 9 Ways to Have a Simpler but More Satisfying Holiday
[SEO: "Keeping things simple this holiday season can help you stave off stress and focus on what counts. Each person may have a different idea of what a simple holiday looks like, depending on your traditions, family life and financial situation. But we can probably all agree that a simple holiday is one with fewer obligations and headaches and more relaxation and joy."]
@SarahEOlson2009 It’s Not the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…
[SEO: "It's [perhaps] not the most wonderful time of the year if your partner has a mental illness. … While it can be challenging, and may mean making sacrifices and disappointing people, being deliberate about how you and your partner with mental illness approach the upcoming holiday season can make the difference between your partner staying stable versus needing serious interventions come January (if not right in the middle of the festivities–no one wants to be in the ER on Christmas, trust me!).”]
@zebraspolkadots When holidays aren’t happy for us…
[SEO: To a lot of people with mental illness, the holidays are more than just extra stressful. They can kick in painful memories, cause one to regress to about age five, and be left with the same empty holes long afterward. This post discusses the reasons why and how of not putting yourself in that position again. You can decide to not go. You can choose to not become enmeshed in old family dysfunction again. It's very empowering once you conquer your fears about not going. From my own experience, it was also quite liberating, even though it meant I chose to be alone.
"I didn't explain myself to them because that gave them power to again question my decisions and tell me something was wrong with me for not wanting to spend the holidays with them. And in the end they did that anyway - but I no longer felt the obligation to apologize and try to fix it."]
"How would it be to consult your inner hat-rack like this? To allow for a full exploration of one aspect of something at a time, and to really hear yourself out before the argumentation kicks-in to silence a thought mid-way? And then to explore another aspect. And another."]
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.)
@DrJennifer “It helps all of us
when we give ourselves permission.
It’s so good to be real…”
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@ariannahuff “Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me.”
@PsychDigest “While the old saying is, ‘What we resist, persists,’ in mindfulness it is, ‘What you accept, transforms.’”
@WisdomalaCarte “When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
@Tamavista “Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” ~ Spencer Johnson
@karenkmmonroy “What holds you to the past? You keep thinking/talking about it. So you keep re-creating it — so you keep talking/thinking ’bout it.”
@DrAthenaStaik “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” ~ Virginia Woolf
Linked Tweets
@HuffingtonPost Staggering numbers: A veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes, new study says.
[SEO: "Faced with the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment rates tipping 12 percent and a loss of the military camaraderie, many veterans report feeling purposeless upon returning home. ... The epidemic is raging among those who are currently serving too. From 2005 to 2010, approximately one service member committed suicide every 36 hours, the CNAS study revealed." Every 36 hours! The study makes 'big picture' recommendations which are years overdue.
Meanwhile, as we near Veterans Day (in the U.S. November 11th), think of ways you can support the veterans in your life throughout the year. PTSD doesn't take a holiday.]
@HealthyPlace Accepting Diagnosis of Mental Illness
[SEO: "At some point in our journey to wellness, most of us hear similar words—We Have a Mental Illness. The first reaction might be one of denial and then relief. Nobody wants to have a mental illness that is stigmatized and requires medication and consistent self-care, but if you have been struggling with the pain of untreated mental illness, having a reason for this is a relief. Knowing that treatment is available is scary but opens doors: life can be stable and productive. But it isn’t easy to accept, not yet. The diagnosis is just the first step many of us take in order to find recovery."]
@DorleeM 13 Surprising Ways To Fight Headache Pain
[SEO: Discusses alternative therapies including: biofeedback, accupuncture, massage, stretching, aerobics, meditation, yoga, relaxation exercises, heat and cold, avoiding nitrates and nitrites, botox injections (surprised me, too!), transcranial magnetic stimulation, and electrode implants. You never know what might offer some relief.]
@Mindful_Living If you have 10-Minutes somewhere today, go ahead, give yourself a gift and practice this right now. (YouTube)
[SEO: "This is a 10 minute practice to bring with you anywhere and anytime to begin training your mind to be more present to your life and recognize more clarity, opportunity, possibility and choice." Video by Dr. Elisha Goldstein (@Mindful_Living). I found it very relaxing, and I'm a hard case in that area.]
@HealthyPlace When to Disclose an Anxiety Disorder
[SEO: "Following on from last week’s article on why to disclose an anxiety disorder, I thought I’d say a little about when to disclose an anxiety because it is, perhaps, as important as why." Two excellent posts that provide criteria for the when and why of disclosing any mental health condition.]
@ssanquist 10 Steps to Starting Your Self-Esteem File
[SEO: "Five years ago I walked into my therapist’s office feeling like a Krispy-Kreme doughnut: I had no center. Everything I attempted both professionally and personally flopped. I had no sense of self, no confidence, and no faith in myself. I found nothing of value in my DNA. So she assigned me a project that I have since called “The Self-Esteem File.” Here are 10 steps for starting your own."
Each detailed step provided is a long term project, and can seem overwhelming to someone who needs help with self-esteem. But that's kind of the point. It takes a lot of time and practice of healthy thinking and actions to grow self-esteem. There is no overnight fix. This post provides a very useful road map in getting there.]
@DailyTamara Separating Life Stress from Mental Health Relapse
[SEO: "Part of mental health self-care involves identifying potential triggers and avoiding them or, at the very least, preparing for the impact they may have on your life. Those of us who have a mental illness have a harder time adjusting to life changes: relationships, starting a new job or losing an existing one, changing locations, the loss of a loved one. It is ironic, but positive life changes can also have an adverse influence on mood. It’s hard to find balance among all of the different cards that life deals us, but it’s crucial to be able to distinguish circumstantial stress from signs and symptoms of relapse."]
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.)
@CarePathways “♥ EXPRESS YOURSELF ♥ Write, speak,
draw, paint, sing, dance, laugh, create, share, celebrate!
The world needs YOUR unique brilliance.”
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@PemaQuotes “When we can recognize our own confusion with compassion, we can extend that compassion to others who are equally confused.”
@SpiritualNurse “Stress is not caused by being ‘here’ but wanting to be ‘there’.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
@iamwun “We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.” ~ Tao Te Ching
@HealthyPlace “I want to say I deserve better and mean it. I want to say I give up and believe it. I want to say I’m moving on and do it.”
@soulseedz “Trust yourself enough to let the masks slip, with people who recognize and love you just as you are.”
@DrSharonSays “The catch in emotional workouts is knowing how to use the weights wisely.”
Linked Tweets
In the News
@Tao23 To save money, Topeka repeals law against misdemeanor domestic battery
[SEO: This is disturbing on several levels. First, this won't be the only city that makes these kinds of choices in a distressed economy. Second, the article alludes to the idea that this is a game of chicken between the city and its county to see who will blink first and pay for what was cut. Politicians are using real live people -- who might not still be alive if/when they get this resolved -- to score points. (I'm not naive, it happens at every level of politics. It's just dismaying to see it so in-your-face.) Third, do you know where the line is drawn in your city between misdemeanor and felony domestic battery?]
@samhsagov America’s Mental Health, State By State (@SAMHSAgov report summarized on Huffington Post)
[SEO: "'Mental illnesses are treatable and people can recover to live full, productive lives. Unfortunately in the past year only 37.9 percent of adults with mental health problems received any type of care,' SAMHSA Administrator Pamela S. Hyde said in a statement. 'The chasm between need and care is costly both in terms of personal health because of missed opportunities to prevent disability and health care expenditures related to illness such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity.'"
"Click through the slideshow to see, from lowest to highest, how many people in each state experienced a mental illness (according to 2008 and 2009 data that included 68,936 adults)." The results might surprise you!
World Mental Health Day Blog Party -- October 10, 2011
@unsuicide International Suicide Prevention Wiki -- hotlines and more
[SEO: "The International Suicide Prevention Wiki (ISP Wiki) is a worldwide directory of suicide prevention hotlines, text-lines, and resources. The ISP Wiki is open source to be used by any individual or organization. This directory was created for the PostSecret App and may be used freely in other apps to instantly connect people in need to crisis centers near them." A great resource! You never know who you might meet online who needs this info.]
"'Angry, unhappy kids become angry, unhappy adults. Mental-health issues cost our society billions of dollars, not just in terms of health, but in terms of education services, justice and prisons. Where do you think these problems come from? Most of them start in childhood.'"]
@ALosAngelesLove Painfully beautiful, heart-wrenching, important post from @annaandthering for World Mental Health Day
[SEO: Anna departs from her usual weddings-oriented blog to talk about depression, generally, and then more personally about her own battle with it. "I hid my sadness well because I knew if someone saw me smile they would not believe I was truly broken. I wanted to hurt myself to have some physical sign that I was not faking. I don't want you to have to feel the same. I want you to seek help before you think you need physical scars to prove that you are unwell. The mental scars are enough."]
@DrKathleenYoung World Mental Health Day: Advocating for Yourself
[SEO: "Before you can begin advocating for yourself, you really have to understand the problem as you see it, what kinds of things happened in your life to bring you to where you are today (whether or not they are directly related to the problem), and figuring out where to go from here. Then you need to understand your treatment options, and how to get the type of treatment you want. It’s not always easy, and sometimes it can be especially challenging to advocate for yourself when you’re in the throes of mental illness."
This post discusses the following topics: Learn About Your Treatment Options; Be Patient, But Settle for Nothing Less than Improvement; Know When It's Time to Change or Call It Quits; Advocating For Yourself Can Be Challenging -- But Don't Give Up!]
@psychcentral World Mental Health Day Roundup 2011
[SEO: 80 bloggers contributed to the World Mental Health Day Blog Party. At this link, see some of these posts designated by category, and also a link to a list of all 80 blogs.]
The Rest of the Best
@fromtracie Blog Against Child Abuse — September 2011 Change Edition
[SEO: September 2011 edition of the Blog Carnival Against Child Abuse. Theme is Change. See also posts in the following categories: Healing and Therapy; Advocacy and Awareness; and Poetry.]
@HealthyPlace Have You Learned to Trust Your Doctor, Psychiatrist?
[SEO: "Start small with a doctor. As my friend would say, trust but verify. Take the doctor at his word, but check on what he’s saying. Look information up on the internet. Ask questions. Do not blindly walk wherever he tells you to. Take baby steps. ... And if you feel the trust has already been broken be open about it. He can’t express his viewpoint or explain why he behaved the way he did if you don’t give him the chance. And the doctor may not know you feel the trust has been broken and he can’t work to fix something he doesn’t know isn’t working."
@NAMIMass Mindfulness And Remembering To Actually Live Your Life
[SEO: "That’s the thing about mindfulness. It’s nothing 'special.' Yet it’s immensely potent. It can reconnect you to a sense of the sacred even in the middle of the mundane. It’s something you can tap into at any moment you like. And it can add untold fathoms of depth to even the flattest of days. How? ... "
"By lifting you free of the myth of “the daily grind” and letting you experience how this breath, this breeze, this sound, this moment – this day – is different from all others. Different, and worth walking into… rather than sort of forgetting or overlooking or blocking out. And it only takes a second to remember all this. To reconnect with it. To reunite yourself with your life, in a way."
@thebalancedmind Mental llness -- You Have to Ask for, and Accept, Help
[SEO: "You have to want to get better. You have to be willing to do the work. You have to be willing to take the steps. Because I cannot spoon-feed you back your life. I cannot wrap a treatment in pretty paper and leave it on your doorstep to be opened at your leisure. I cannot reach through your computer and fix the chemicals in your brain. The cold, hard truth of it is this: No matter how sick you are, if you don’t actively work at getting better, you never will." Includes basic links to hotlines and how to find help, particularly in North America.]
Congrats! MT @Mindful_Living Just walked into Barnes & Noble Santa Monica, The Now Effect was up front. Signed all the copies. Proud papa. ~ 21 hours ago
Next week I will work on a format for embedded tweets with links.
