The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has designated October 6-12 as Mental Illness Awareness Week. I was diagnosed with PTSD, Depression, and Bipolar Disorder by the time I was 18. Here's what I want people to know about mental illness, based on my personal journey: There is no blood test for a mental illness … Continue reading Mental Illness Awareness Week: What I Want You to Know
I remember when I was first diagnosed with all my mental illness labels, and how I was told I would struggle for the rest of my life. I felt isolated and insecure, believing I was the only person to struggle from something as heavy-sounding as "manic-depressive illness." Today, with mental illness labels becoming ubiquitous features … Continue reading How to Heal Depression, Anxiety, and Bipolar Disorder
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder (what they then called "manic depressive illness") in 1999. While the diagnosis matched the symptoms I was experiencing, the treatment I received never seemed to make things better... and they never treated the root of why I was struggling. While I have shared about my personal experience with bipolar … Continue reading Identifying Root Causes of Bipolar Disorder
These five common myths of mental health keep us stuck in our journey, not moving toward healing. You aren't stuck with a broken brain!
I take eating for my mental health seriously. I don’t prescribe to a specific diet or style of eating, but there are numerous studies out there showing that food IS mood. For those of us who fight a mood disorder of any kind, the way we eat can impact brain health. Because our gut microbiome … Continue reading My Top 5 Mood-Boosting Foods
When I was 21, I made a suicide pact with myself. I felt the weight of the world on a consistent basis, as I struggled with depression, mania, and the chaos of jumping from one failed medication to the next. My mind was not my friend, and I didn’t feel safe in my body. At … Continue reading Freedom from the Mental Illness Shame Cycle
No amount of sugar or substance can make my brain buzz the way a dose of hypomania can. The ideas, the thoughts, and the LIFE that course through my head – all those are amplified in a time of crisis or extreme change. Being thrown off my daily routine or sleep schedule is a risk … Continue reading Being Bipolar in a Global Crisis
I don’t have to remind anyone that the last few weeks of this pandemic and period of social distance have been unlike anything experienced or seen in our lifetime. My work schedule has been interrupted, my husband’s work schedule has been interrupted, our social life has disappeared, and my kids are completely thrown off. Field … Continue reading Mom Life During a Pandemic: How We Can Best Support Our Kids’ Mental Health
I am so thrilled that my friend Kathie Pagliaro offered to be a guest contributor in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month. Like I always say, there is no one size fits all for mental health. Kathie and I met almost 4 years ago at a leaders retreat for our company, and we instantly connected … Continue reading Mental Health Awareness Month: Kathie’s Story of Healing
"Our genes load the gun, but our environment pulls the trigger." Have you heard this before? We are not stuck with our genes. We can change the expression of our genes with every bite we take, step we take, thought we think. This is the concept of epigenetics. I recently found out I have a … Continue reading How Dirty Are Your Genes?
