Hey guys! So todays the end of march meaning my little mental health awareness series has finished! Thank you to everyone who sent me stories and posts and supported by liking the posts i put up! I'll be back to normal this month, with a Tunesday tomorrow, some reviews and some little posts of my usual kind and a cheeky baking post!
Remember the awareness doesn't stop here! Remember to sign up/donate/hold your own mental health weeks or months to carry on supporting! Look here to see what you can do: http://www.mind.org.uk/get-involved/
I know how much you love it when I find new websites for you and heres a new fave, it's called Blah Therapy and you can choose whether you want to 'listen' or vent' to a stranger. You can help people out or talk to people about your problems to someone you don't know and so can't judge or say anything, I always find it so much easier telling people I don;t know about my problems! http://blahtherapy.com/chat-hub/
Love you all and I'll see you very soon
Eleanor x
Monday 31 March 2014
Saturday 22 March 2014
Mental Health Awearness March- Anxiety
Heyy guys! Today's mental health topic I want to talk about is anxiety. Anxiety comes in different forms and today I'm going to talk about General Anxiety. We all experience anxiety at some point in our lives, before an exam, before we meet someone new, before an interview but for people with anxiety this feeling doesn't go away. Everyones heard of the flight or fight reflex, the idea that if something was to attack us our chemicals in our brain would allow us to take action and decide the best thing to do, this is why we get anxiety. But nowerdays we are less likely to be attacked by wild animals and so this relfex is not so useful to have before a driving exam, as you can't fight or flight the situation the feeling stays with you for a long time. What is meant to be a useful mechanism, becomes a pain. People with anxiety have these feelings at a high level on a day to day business meaning they can't get on and do everyday things such as go to work or school or even go outside. Sometimes this feeling builds up to a panic attack.
A panic attack is the bodys reaction too all the emotions at once, fear, excitement, anger and can lead to pounding heartbeats, shaking and sweating and even blackouts. This feeling is terrifying, often people feel like they're going to die during the ten or twenty minuets it happens. People may never have panic attacks some people hay have one or two during a lifetime and some people have them several times a week, they come without warning and strike randomly. Some panic attacks wake you up in the night which can be worse as you're confused and helpless too.
People are more anxious than others because of personality types, current circumstances, past experience or a mixture.Feeling anxious about something may be something that was written into you as a kid, to fear people or places, even things you do on a daily basis such as take in high sugar and high caffeine and drug use lead to signs of anxiety and increase attacks. A main one and the one that causes anxiety for me is the future, worrying that something might happen and feeling helpless because I can't do anything about it.
Anxiety can have a huge impact on peoples lives, it is not a case of "pulling yourself together" and just doing what ever it is your scared of but it's a serious condition which makes it hard for people to live their lives. Telling people with anxiety that they're worrying about nothing or that it wont happen isn't going to help either, I know for me that if there has been a plant seeded in my head that theres even a small possibility something may happen being told its silly isn't going to make me stop worrying, just as telling someone with depression to "cheer up" isn't going to make them happier or telling someone with a broken leg to get up and walk will make their bones fix. People with anxiety may find it difficult to hold down a job or relationship or even have leisure time. There is of course, help. Councilors and medicine which may help and ease the pain. I think taking days one day at a time really helps, living for the here and now, not forgetting the future but not focusing all your time onto it and stressing about it so that you lose focus on whats going on right now.
I hope this post opened your eyes to anxiety. Remember there's still time for you to write a post on a mental health issue and send it to me at smitheh01@gmail.com and I'll have it up next week.
Lots of love
Eleanor x
Wednesday 19 March 2014
Mental Health Awearness March- Anorexia
Hey guys, so todays mental health topic I want to talk about is anorexia. The NHS website describes it as "An eating disorder and mental health disorder that can be life threatening." People with anorexia try to keep their weight down as much as possible by eating as little as possible, they often have a distorted image of themselves thinking they're fat when they're actually not. It can includes exercising excessively and counting calories.
We all want to look a bit different to what we do, I'm yet to meet or talk to someone who is 100% absolutely happy with how they look, we want to change our noses, our legs, our hair, our weight. But when thoughts of being thin and losing weight satirize our thoughts it can be so dangerous for our mental and physical wellbeing. These thoughts then become all someone can think about, even going out with friends loses meaning and life just becomes this mess of pursing to be thin. No matter how much weight they lose it's never enough. People with anorexia often hide eating from family and friends, pretending they already ate or lying about what they eat. Warning signs include loosing weight, missing meals, not eating in restaurants. It can be associated with depression, self harm and bulimia. Anorexia can often lead to things like kidney failure liver damage and heart failure. I think warning signs can change from person to person, for example people don't eat a lot but they might not be anorexic, they just don't have a big appetite. Anorexia can start for many reasons too, people may have distorted images of themselves like I said earlier, believing they're too fat and should lose weight but that's not the only reason. I've heard from some people with anorexia who have said the reason they stopped eating was because they felt that their food habits was the only thing they could control in their lives, or as a way of self harm. I think it's important to remember that people can't always bring a knife to their skin but find it easy to skip meals and eat very little as a way of almost punishing themselves.
I know what it's like to be scared to eat, I seriously do. Since the beginning of this year life got a lil tougher for me and I've been ill a lot lately since January really, I really do not have anorexia or even a want to be thinner but because of how ill I've been I've had problems meaning I panic and feel awful when ever I eat, so not wanting that feeling Its been hard for me to eat, literally having to turn down foods and swapping cooked meals for sandwiches because they're easier on my stomach. It's embarrassing and a little impolite to turn down foods and I know a lot of people have been worried for me and it's hard for me to tell them that I'm okay it just scares me a little. I lost a fair bit of weight too but luckly things are starting to get easier for me, I'm eating so so so much more than I was and I've gained a little weight from what I was in February time so things are looking up at the moment anyway, although eating still causes me a lot of stress and anxiety, and it's hard for me when people don't understand.
For people with anorexia it's so much worse than that, its usually a morbid obsession with wanting to lose weight. I did a post a while ago on weight issues and blamed the media ect but it has such an important role within an increase in young girls especially wanting to desperately lose weight to look like the photoshopped woman on magazines.Anorexia is so serious, it's not something to be taken lightly and it can lead to death. But there is help there are so many campaigns and people and support groups that you can go to, I think a lot of the time often you may not even realise that your obsession has become unhealthy you may think its a simple little diet when in reality your friends and family can see it's so much more than that. If you or you think your friend is in danger of becoming anorexic then please have a look around the Internet to find people that can help, even going to a doctor and telling them your problem and to see what they suggest to do, I believe in you all and I think you can do this remember I'm always here to talk to too.
If you want to write a post on an issue raised here or on another mental health issue contact me with your post and Ill post it within these next two weeks. Smitheh01@gmail.com
Eleanor x
Tuesday 18 March 2014
Mental Health Awearness March- Alex's story, dyslexia
Heyy beautifuls, since I was very bad last week at putting up posts I should be doing three this week, staring off with a post that was sent to me by Alex of Strawberry Sundae (http://gibbongirl11.blogspot.co.uk/) all about dysexia, remember to give this page a like:')
If you want to write a mental health post for mental health awearness march send it to me at smitheh01@gmail.com I'd love for you too get involved even if you're not a blogger! See you tomorrow,
Eleanor x
Hi my names is Alex and I have dyslexia it sounds a bit like
an AA meeting. I was asked to write a post about dyslexia if you find me
interesting you could check out my blog.
The facts
Dyslexia is a learning disability that effects all parts of
my life. Dyslexia is a specific learning difficulty that affects memory and
processing speed which impacts on literacy development, mathematics, memory,
organisation and sequencing skills to varying degrees. Dyslexia can occur at
any level of intellectual development. It is neurological in origin and is seen
to run in families. It affects up to 10% of the UK population at some level and
can affect anyone of any age and background. Dyslexia means difficulty with
words or word blindness. There is also a
numbers disability called Dyscalculia. Dyslexics have difficulties determining
left from right and dyslexic’s brain can only process one instruction at a
time. Some Dyslexics have trouble learning to ride a bike others struggle to
learn to swim. Most Dyslexics never
crawl when they are a baby – they cannot move each corner limb at different
times they tend to move one side of their body then the other, this means that
they can’t crawl. Individuals with dyslexia process information in a different
part of the brain than non-dyslexics.
Non-dyslexics use three areas on the left side of the brain
to process language. The centre area is for automatic word retrieval. Dyslexics tend to use the right side of the
brain to process language, which is an inefficient method. They have great
difficulty remembering words they have recently encountered, and their
processing speed tends to be slower.
Dyslexics brain interprets the information it is seeing
differently from the way a non-dyslexic does.
Individuals with dyslexia tend to be creative and show high level of
intelligence. Some people have Dyslexia
all their lives and are never diagnosed.
Having dyslexia doesn’t mean you are stupid your brain just works
differently to other peoples. Some
people’s Dyslexia is an inherited difficulty. If one parent has dyslexia, 50%
of their children will have it. If both parents are dyslexic, 100% of their
children will be. Dyslexics tend to have good people skills, and vivid
imaginations.
Dyslexia effects everything I do I have to write down
instruction of things I need to do , I have to get other people to check my
school work for spelling mistakes and I don’t know my left and right.
Some dyslexics have used their disability to help them think
outside of the box and achieve great things like Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg,
Agatha Christie, Einstein and Richard Branson. Many Dyslexics have trouble
remembering more than one instruction at a time and yet Zoe Wannamaker, Kara
Tointon, and many other TV stars have overcome this to remember their lines.
If you would like to know more watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DQFbQWyOdw
If you want to write a mental health post for mental health awearness march send it to me at smitheh01@gmail.com I'd love for you too get involved even if you're not a blogger! See you tomorrow,
Eleanor x
Wednesday 12 March 2014
Mental Health Awearness March- A's Story
Hey darlings! I have had some wonderful people sending me their stories and facts about themselves so I'm going to share one with you today that someone sent me! This post has a strong message which I love which is all about "romanticizing" mental illnesses which is so often done and needs to be stopped. This is quite a hard hitting post but I hope it will give you a better understanding of mental illnesses like it did to me, which is ultimately my aim in this month.
"The first time I deliberately harmed myself I was just three or four years old. I scratched myself until I bled and then scratched more. I didn’t know why I wanted to see myself hurt, but I started to do it again when I was seven, and attempted suicide for the first time the next year. I tried to hang myself with my shoelaces after reading in the newspaper about a little boy who’d done the same. As an eleven and twelve year old I would spend hours banging my head on the wall, punching myself in the face, choking myself with belts and burning myself, sometimes with inspiration from books and TV. All of this came before I knew there was a community online of people my age who felt this way. I didn’t even know kids like me existed. Sometimes I wonder how different things would have been if I had.
When I was fourteen or so, things got even worse. If I had been severely depressed before,I was dead now. I felt like I was watching everything in my life from underneath a frozen lake. Not sinking to
the bottom was a daily battle, and I didn’t know why I was fighting it. For the first time, I looked for help, anonymously on the internet. I found instant messaging helplines, support groups, forums and so many other dead girls. I felt stronger for a while. I could see the sun more clearly through the ice. But things tend to lose their power over
time, and it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t stronger than the shock of pain, the mesmerising allure of flame and my endless self-loathing.I had plans to kill myself in a few months time, and my community and my tiny bit of power over myself were just enough to get me past it. I couldn’t think about why, what I had to live for, because I knew I didn’t have many reasons. Dead girls online were having difficulty too. People took positions against them; their self-diagnosis, their self-harm, the way they supported each other, their “romanticisation” of their illnesses.
They made these political positions and insisted that they were for the girls’ own good, never giving any
evidence that these things are unhealthy. On the contrary, we know that having a support system and not
hating significant parts of yourself reduce the risks of developing many mental illnesses, and are important for recovery.
But there are problems, sure. I began to cut myself with razor blades, which I’d never done before.
Furthermore, I did it when I just needed some emotional release I could have got other ways, instead of
needing to so I didn’t kill myself immediately. Also, ridiculously, I carried on cutting after I’d got what I needed,because I wanted it to look prettier. I thought about carving words into my skin next time.
I don’t go searching for pictures of cuts or blades; they do nothing for me. I came across them by accident.
However, some teenagers are helped by seeing pictures of them, by wallowing in all the grief of the world, by celebrating each others’ smallest victories and they are allowed this. We owe them their community since
we’ve failed them so many other ways. We should encourage them to get help, and make it easier for them to do so (there are economic and social barriers, one of the many reasons self-diagnosis is valid).
We should promote positive coping methods more as alternatives to self-harm. We should teach where trigger warnings are needed and there should be spaces for positivity and spaces where you can be as dark as you feel. There should be more people looking after them.
I don’t believe the problems online come close to approaching those that exist in wider society. The media is
robably most guilty of romanticising mental illness and misunderstanding what it is,and given its power, is
capable of far greater damage. Why are teenage girls even a target? All I know is I’ve
hurt myself many times because of a film that made me feel like a monster, a relative who called me “crazy”
or the failings of my country’s mental health system but I’ve never felt anything but acceptance online"
If you want to share your story for me to post for Mental Health Awearness March send them to me at
smitheh01@gmail.com.
Eleanor x
Friday 7 March 2014
Mental health awearness march-OCD
Hey guys, this is the first of my mental health awearness posts. I've had a really positive feedback from you all about wanting to get involved and writing posts for me, but the option isn't closed. You can read my last post here if you want to get involved: http://littlethoughtsfromlittlepeople.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/guest-bloggers-wanted-to-mental-health.html
One mental health problem I really wanted to do some research into is OCD. When it springs to mind immediate thoughts are, oh people with OCD like things to be neat and orderly but as I found out it can go a lot deeper than that. Some people with OCD develop rituals such as cleaning their hands a number of times a day which can really effect things like their jobs or even having difficulty leaving the house. OCD stands for obsessive compulsive disorder and it's an anxiety disorder that produces fear. It effects up to 12 in 1000 people of any age. It's so important that like me, you can see that OCD (rhyme alert) goes much further than simply "cleaning" or whatever; people with OCD can suffer obsessions which can take up worrying and disturbing thoughts. I got this from: http://www.ocduk.org/ocd and it says that "People with OCD often realise that their obsessional thoughts are irrational, but they believe the only way to relieve the anxiety caused by them is to perform compulsive behaviours, often to prevent perceived harm happening to themselves or, more often than not, to a loved one."
I talked to a guy a few months ago over a forum who's family had gone on holiday and they were on their own and was worried that their family was going to have bad things happen to them because they hadn't been breathing properly and this was a bit strange to be however after research I found out this is common, people with OCD sometimes feel like if they don't do a certain thing it will hurt a loved one and on the off chance a loved one gets hurt for some coincidental reason, they think they have caused this to happen.
However it's also important to see what isn't OCD, it's become a common thing to say 'I have a bit of OCD' if they are quite clean and tidy. But these things rarely cause anxiety where as OCD can leave a person feeling exhausted for hours. OCD is aslo not about collecting things like rocks or stamps or cards, some hoarders with OCD arent collecting because they enjoy it, they're collecting because they fear if they get rid items it will hurt a loved one. OCD is different too impulsive disorders like compulsive liars or shoppers, as someone with OCD had no pleasure from doing what they do but rather being driven by unwanted thoughts. Finally OCD is also different to OCPD as this is a personality disorder.
There are four main types of OCD (with a lot of sub divisions) which are Checking, Contamination / Mental Contamination, Hoarding and Ruminations / Intrusive Thoughts. There are of course types that don't fit into these category's.
There is so much more that I literally can't fit into this post but i hope this gave an insight and made you a little more aware about OCD. If you want to find out more look at the link i put above and please watch this video http://www.ocduk.org/understanding-ocd-video.
If you want me to write a bit more on OCD please comment and I'll try do a part two, if you want to write your own post on things I left out then do so and send it too me and ill publish it, even if your not a blogger. If you want to write your own post on a different mental health problem or even want to share your own experiences you can do so and if you want to remain anonymous i will fully respect that. Thank you all ill see youu next week!
Eleanor x
smitheh01@gmail.com
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