It’s a continuous effort in paying attention to my mood, physical exercise, good sleep, journaling, meditation, a healthy diet, and quality time with friends. And even with all of that sometimes things break down. I’ve written a post about my habits here, perhaps someone might find it helpful. https://jborichevskiy.com/posts/healthy-living/
Ask HN: How is your mental health?
151–160 of 162 posts
Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#152> How and how well do you keep track of your mental health Mentally. Not very well. This is an area in need of improvement for me. I'm mid-30s and mental health is getting to be pretty important as of late. > , particularly for those with a history of mental health issues, and those with a family history of mental issues. TBQH I think that means everyone . I live in America. In America, mental health takes a backseat…
Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#153- Personality psychology is insanely powerful and useful when it comes to understanding people / situations. An introduction to theories of personality Book by Robert B Ewen is gold.
Have you ever had gut instinct about how someone acts/a phenomena but lacked the words to express it? A distrust/discomfort, déjà vu, or feeling someone is being motivated by dredging up an issue from their past and trying to recreate it with you, to "try it on" you like a Cinderella slipper? (Could be in a good or bad way)
When you grasp the concepts, it can go well into looking at your family / upbringing, yourself, selecting a partner, personalities to distrust/avoid, etc.
Also you may find yourself liking concepts from Freud / Jung / Adler / Horney / Bowlby+Ainsworth and so on. That alone can give you a more informed perspective on behavior.
- Here's an example of professor using the above tools to dissect Twilight (haven't saw the movie or read it yet): Deconstructing Twilight: Psychological and Feminist Perspectives on the Series New edition Edition by Donna M. Ashcraft. She also written a personality theories workbook.
- Object relations stuff is absolutely awesome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Myk352wMSs. IMO it's far easier to digest if you grasp psychodynamic theories above.
- Projective identification: https://youtu.be/cBnZiP3W3ao?t=1215
- You can then take it into individual (like schema therapy https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/young.pdf) and family therapy methods (e.g. Bowenian https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLQOWoom2d0) where the concepts on the stuff above occur
Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#154Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#155I'm supposed to use a document template my therapist emailed me, most likely I will search for an app that does the same (too paranoid about printing and filling a document about my mood) -- so I don't track it yet. I was diagnosed 5 years ago with BPD, has gotten better over the years(mostly by just life exposure I guess), I still get huge situational flare-ups, stuff about work or family, but I no longer react like…
Is the template something you could share? I'd be interested in seeing it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. In the paste I've created text expansions for journaling forms I've wanted to use, then just dump them into the app I was using. Unfortunately I don't have those anymore.
"Daily disposition" -5 Maximum Depression .. +5 full blown Mania
Wakeup hour
Breakfast hour
Lunch hour
Active hours per day (work, school or other)
Number of people you interacted with that day
Physical activity in hours
Dinner hour
Sleep hour
Substance consumption(alcohool, tobacco, coffee, other)
Special events/ conflicts
Treatment
Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#156Therapy is more effective than it has any business being. If you can make it happen, try it. I’m going to start by saying I have a mood disorder, and I don’t understand anxiety disorders because they’re part of a completely different world from mine. Conversations I’ve had with people that have anxiety disorders have reinforced this idea that I really don’t understand anxiety disorders or relate to them. The worst pa…
I have a mood disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. This is the most accurate answer in the thread. > Having strong relationships, having a therapist, and keeping a regular schedule. These are the things I'm actively working on. I'm only 6 months into working full time. It's monumentally difficult just to achieve those 3 things. I haven't worked an 8 hour day since training because I often feel drained and unpro…
I've done it before, but have been thinking about trying it again, but wanted to talk to others that have tried it.
Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#157Use the following strategies: 1. Meditate daily for 15 minutes. Try vedic indian meditations. 2. Keep track of your mood using some app. 3. If your mood is bad for consistently 3 days, then open pastebin and write down about everything you are feeling and going in your head. Most small problems with mental health can be dealt by bringing in consciousness. Simple example, whenever you are feeling nervous, force you br…
Every single meditation expert I know has given a warning with it. For some people, even 5 minutes is harsh. I've been in groups where people just break down and cry at that point. One meditation coach once told me a story of one of his clients who did a 20 minute guided session, and he went out of it with vomiting, diarrhea, and was really angry at the guy. But a few days later, he felt something clear up and asked…
Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#158Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there something wrong with the way I jog? Because I don't find it to be making much of a difference. Same for cycling, walking, etc.
where do you jog? do you jog with someone? sometimes that makes a huge difference. I try to jog outside in the morning or during lunch.
I'm really not a morning person, and my lunch breaks are stretching long enough as it is.. that really leaves after work as the only passable time.
Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#159I won't go into the details; except to say that is was so traumatic I was blind to the scar that she left on my penis (my first real GF asked me how I got it at when I was 18, and even though it was plain as day I never noticed it!). I had no memory of her attack until about 40 years later, and I suffered severe headaches and bloody nightmares those for 40 years.
The day I remembered her attack the nightmares ended and I virtually never get any headaches--and when I do, half an aspirin cure's them; they are not the debilitating monsters that formerly haunted me. I know I have PTSD but its not easy to deal with my past... I get nauseous thinking about it (here it comes now in fact) but I'm better than I was before so, we'll keep chipping away at it for now. I have told one doc about this in detail a few years ago and an online chat buddy who was assaulted when she was a girl is a huge help in this.
Re: Ask HN: How is your mental health?
#160Therapy is more effective than it has any business being. If you can make it happen, try it. I’m going to start by saying I have a mood disorder, and I don’t understand anxiety disorders because they’re part of a completely different world from mine. Conversations I’ve had with people that have anxiety disorders have reinforced this idea that I really don’t understand anxiety disorders or relate to them. The worst pa…