Revue newsletter for Child Abuse Survivor - Issue #13
Do you have a favorite mental health podcast that helps you understand the issues, or makes you feel a little less alone? Click the link to the post and share it in the comments.
New from the Blogs
Sharing - The 9 Best Anxiety Podcasts for 2022 — www.childabusesurvivor.net They list out some that I'm familiar with, and a few that I am not, but I'm interested in what you have to say, What mental health podcasts do you regularly listen to? Or are you still waiting for one that works for you?
Sharing - Receiving a hug or engaging in self-soothing touch reduces cortisol levels following a stressful experience — www.childabusesurvivor.net I think this is interesting. Obviously, during a pandemic and as survivors hugging someone else may or may not be all that realistic, but the fact that this study seems to indicate we can get similar results from self-soothing touch is an interesting idea.
Shared from Elsewhere
I’m Thankful for a Positive Psych Ward Stay When I Was Suicidal | The Mighty — themighty.com A person with depression and suicidal ideation shares the positive experience they had during their psychiatric hospital stay.
We are failing people with severe mental illness. What can we do? | Aeon Essays — aeon.co As a society we are failing people with severe, persistent mental illness. It’s time to reimagine institutional care
7 Black Mental Health Pages To Follow On InStagram To Get Your Mind Right | MadameNoire — madamenoire.com If you’re reflecting on what you wish you’d done or hope to do by the end of the year without taking self-care into account, you might just find yourself in a mental state that isn’t very healthy.
The 20 Best Mental Health Books to Read in 2021 — www.menshealth.com A list of the best mental health books to help with depression, anxiety, relationships, and self-esteem in 2021. These are best-sellers and editors' picks.
From the Archives
Link - Managing Holiday Anxiety and Depression — www.childabusesurvivor.net Yes, this time of year is different from the rest of the year. Many of us are more likely to travel, spend more time with family, and have a different schedule because of the various days off. Despite that, the advice for handling mental health challenges isn’t really that different, is it? “Managing mental illness...
It's The Time of the Year When We Need to Talk about Seasonal Affective Disorder — www.childabusesurvivor.net As I realize that those of us in the US will be turning the clocks back to standard time this weekend, and those of you in other Northern Hemisphere countries may have done the same last weekend, it's important to remind ourselves of what that time change, and change in the amount of daylight to follow, can mean for folks. So, I'm sharing a link and an image from the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) to remind us that SAD is a thing, and it can be mild and treated by taking some small actions, or it can truly interfere with living our lives and might require something more than eating healthier. Either way, keep this handy and know when the season might be affecting you.
Link - This Is What ‘Self-Care’ REALLY Means, Because It’s Not All Salt Baths And Chocolate Cake — www.childabusesurvivor.net I love this, and so much more from this article: True self-care is not salt baths and chocolate cake, it is making the choice to not build a life you don’t need to regularly escape from. Self care is just that, taking care of yourself. That’s not something that you somehow hope to find some...
Does Childhood Trauma Disrupt Our Storytelling Abilities? — www.childabusesurvivor.net I will admit, in healthcare, these two types of narrative incoherence could cause a problem. How would a medical professional move forward with a diagnosis when our response to the first question is to dump an overwhelming amount of possibly relevant, possibly not, information, or to dismiss any symptoms? It really would be difficult to know. We know that the folks who get to the quickest, and best, healthcare are the ones who come in with details like what is wrong, how long it's been going on, what happened previously to an illness or injury, etc. Trauma survivors typically struggle with exactly that. This is only one way where not being able to tell a story in a coherent, effective, way hurts survivors. It blocks us from legal proceedings, as I said before, and it blocks us from being understood by those closest to us quite often. So, if you really want to connect with others, and maybe get better healthcare, learn to tell stories. That's how the world communicates. But, if you're confronted with someone who is struggling to tell a coherent story, consider what kind of trauma they may be dealing with, and have a little patience.