Research & Education Archives | My Bitter Insanity

Why It’s Important to Take a Step Back: the ‘Wise Mind’

August 20, 2018 / Research & Education / 3 Comments

My brain likes to lie to me. My brain tries to trick me all the time.

I try to keep it under control, but sometimes my mind gets away from me. I’m sure it happens to everyone once in a while. For me, it’s not once in a while, really. It’s often. Really often.

If I wake up in the middle of the night, nine times out of ten I can’t get back to sleep because my brain starts to buzz with all sorts of unwanted thoughts. I get repetitive, intrusive thoughts about all sorts of things I don’t really want to think about that just swirl around my head, looking for a way out.

He hates me. He hates me, he hates me, he hates me. I fucked up and now he’ll hate me forever. He thinks that I’m a terrible person. He thinks that I did it to hurt him.Continue Reading

Suicide: The Real Reason to Talk About Mental Health

May 7, 2018 / Research & Education / Leave a Comment

This post is part of my series for Mental Health Awareness Week 2018! The series includes articles, poems, and photo essays by many guest authors about mental health and related issues. For more information, click here!

Content warning: this post discusses suicide in an academic context

I’ve been struggling to write a post this week. I’m not sure if last week’s emotionally drained me or if it’s just a bit of writer’s block, but either way, I’ve started like ten posts without being able to get past that third sentence. So, this week’s post is slightly less creative and less introspective, but it’s important nonetheless.

Global Suicide Rates

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there were 788,000 deaths by suicide in 2015 alone. Approximately one every 40 seconds. I can’t even picture how many people that is.

WHO mentions that 1.4% of all worldwide deaths in 2015 were by suicide, and suicide is the second leading cause of death for those aged 15 to 29. Many more people attempt suicide, and though it is hard to know how many, estimates are more than 20 people attempt suicide for every suicide death.Continue Reading

Binge Eating Disorder: My Biggest (or Only) Secret

March 5, 2018 / Research & Education / 2 Comments

As you can probably guess, I’m fairly open about my mental health issues; it’s not something that I’m ashamed of and I talk about it when I can. However, there’s another facet to my mental health that I’ve never really spoken about, but which has been in my life for much longer. I’ve only recently come to grips with something I’ve really know all along: my problem eating is not just a symptom of my depression, it’s something much more than that.

I saw a different psychiatrist a couple of months ago (back in the in-between), and along with suggesting new medications and treatment options, he was also very validating and frank about my eating. When I mentioned that I struggled with my eating, he asked for more details and we talked about my feelings surrounding my disordered eating. He diagnosed me with Binge Eating Disorder.

Are you on the list?!

Global Suicide Rates