The Mindstorm

Category: NABPM

  • It’s Monday Again – NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 14

    So…another week begins. We spent time Thursday and Friday last week talking as a family about what’s going on with The Girl* and talking to her about what an evaluation is.  We’d had a cocktail party scheduled for Saturday night for weeks and, while debating if we should cancel, we all decided not to.  She…

  • Screw It

    I’m in a wickedly foul mood today.  I don’t really have the time to be in this bad of a mood, but I am, and there’s very little I can do about it other than stew in my own bile for a while.  At least until something else captures my attention away from feeling sorry…

  • Advocate or Hardass? NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 9

    There has to be a fine line between being an advocate and fighting stigma, and being a killjoy.  I still don’t think I’ve found it.  Here’s an example: a friend recently posted a link to a t-shirt on her she thought was funny, but is clearly poking fun at a mental health disorder – in…

  • What’s the Truth? NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 8

    Ok – I’m back on the WEGO Health prompts today!  Today’s topic is Three Truths and One Lie: Tell us 3 things that are true about you, your condition, your Health Activism, or your life. Now tell us 1 lie. Do you think we will be able to tell the difference?  Let’s see! Mental illness runs…

  • Stigma and Sophie’s Choice Part 2 – NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 7

    Continuing from yesterday, I do think mental illness has a caste system.  The disorders that are seen as less scary or less threatening to anyone but the person suffering are at the top.  The farther down the scale you go, the more misunderstood the illnesses become.  They culminate at the bottom of the list with…

  • Stigma and Sophie’s Choice – NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 6

    I watched Sophie’s Choice the other day.  It’s an amazing movie of a tragic and painful story and while I admire the film it’s one of those I have to steel myself up to watch because the story and subject matter, World War II and the Nazi concentration camps.  But the other side of the…

  • Come On, Choose! – NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 5

    If I had a genie, or a leprechaun, or some other mythical creature who’s sole point of existing was to grant wishes, there are a ton of wishes I would unload on him.  Oh who am I kidding.  I’d lock that little beast in the dog kennel, I have so many wishes.  None of that three-and-out…

  • Wordless Friday – Just Pictures. NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 4

    Instead of writing about mental illness today, I thought I’d share some pictures of Tim with you. Here we are, taking him home from the hospital, just 12 hours old. Man, we were YOUNG! Look at that puffy, red boy, with all that wild hair! He got cute, fast. He was (is)  a charmer, but…

  • Dear 18 Year Old Me – NABPM / NaBloPoMo Day 3

    Dear 18 year old Chrisa: Man, you have NO idea what you’re getting yourself in to. Raising kids sounded so easy.  I mean, how hard can it be? You feed them, clothe them, love them, take them interesting places, teach them the things they need to know in order to grow up healthy and happy,…