Blogs
My name is Kelsi Cronkright, and I am thrilled to join the "Debunking Addiction" blog at HealthyPlace. My history with addiction is extensive. As a highly sensitive, neurodivergent human, the demands of our capitalistic and heteronormative society have always felt overwhelming. About 20 years ago, when I was a freshman in high school, I began struggling with an eating disorder to gain a (false) sense of control. When I went to college, alcohol and other drugs were added to the mix, and my life quickly spiraled out of control.
Verbal abuse can impact the way children view relationships and themselves. Sometimes parents exhibit verbally abusive behavior toward each other without involving the children as recipients. Although the kids may not receive any verbal abuse from their parents, this dynamic still profoundly affects a child and how they develop into adults.
The repercussions of self-injury go beyond the obvious. By sharing a bit about how self-injury affected my health, I hope to help you better understand the full extent of what you—or perhaps a loved one of yours—may be going through.
Schizophrenia is a big part of my life. There are times (almost always) when I think it is too big of a part of my life. I doubt anyone wants to believe that their whole life and thoughts revolve around their mental illness, but hardly a moment goes by when I'm not thinking about schizophrenia. For example, I frequently have symptoms that make me aware of my illness.
If you’ve clicked on this blog post, someone in your life has likely begun taking steps to recover from their mental health struggles. First of all, thank you. I can say firsthand that having the support of loved ones has an impact on the process. It certainly has for me. Given that, I wanted to share how my loved ones have supported me and how you can support someone, too, in mental health recovery.
An idea that I keep returning to with my journey toward a happier life is looking for joy in situations that aren't typically very joyful. I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "Hard work is its own reward," but what does that mean? How can something that you loathe doing be in any way rewarding? How can you look for joy there?
At this time of year, we might think about how to change various aspects of our lives. We might want to change our looks, habits, or many other things. These changes are often expressed in the form of new year's resolutions. And as most of us have witnessed, new year's resolutions rarely last past the year being new. I think this, in part, is because we don't think about how to change and what's required to change. And in many cases, change begins with one simple idea: not changing has to be more painful than changing.
When I think about an anorexic mindset, two primary features stand out to me: deprivation and control. Within the eating disorder framework, these attributes often manifest in behaviors such as caloric restriction, compulsive exercise, food rituals, or body image obsession. However, an anorexic mindset can impact many areas of life outside the parameters of an eating disorder as well.
Navigating relationships can be confusing, especially with narcissistic behaviors like paperclipping -- being kept on the backburner -- from a partner. Are you the victim of paperclipping? Knowing what to look for can help you avoid hanging onto the idea of a potential relationship with no possibility of commitment.
I haven’t heard schizoaffective voices in over a year, but when I used to hear them, I encountered a lot of stigma and became reluctant to mention them. Much of it was self-stigma, in that I wouldn’t talk about them to the people around me unless they were people I trusted and who knew already that I heard voices. But, the thing is, I was correct in not revealing, say, at work when I heard voices, as there is both stigma and self-stigma involved.
I am 11 years old and started sh when I was 10.
Life got so hard and I was at my lowest point of my life. Im still in pain but I'm just to tired to sh I feel like there's something deeply wrong with me because I'm to tired to hurt myself. I've tried to quit many times but just can't, although most of my cuts healed I still always seeing them when I put on my sweater or put on my bracelets and i just get scared if anyone would see them like my oldest sister. Seeing my scars make me remember bad things but knowing I healed from it more then ever really helps. If you ever need help with anything or need to talk with someone there will always be someone with you that cares for your truly. Decide who you feel comfortable telling.