Cliff's notes from the 300+ hours of various talk therapies it took to control my personality disorder and eventually got trained in to pass it forward. It's got some tips on interacting with the mental health system in general as well.

This is a different take that might not fit everyone, but this game is about spreading positivity to others without any pressure. You write and receive supportive letters and make someone else feel a bit better or smile.

Kind Words 2 is now in beta and you can join the playtest for free on Steam. I'll paste the game description here because I think it says it all:

"Kind Words 2 is a place to be yourself without worrying about fitting in. It's a social space with no followers, no likes, no subscribing.

These are real people making each other feel seen, heard and less alone."

Maybe one of you wants to give it a shot. Be safe and healthy, especially in the upcoming days.

What do you think about Family Constellation and what are your experiences?

Basically, whatever you were using done fucked your brain.

Think about what used to make you happy before whatever you were using. Think about it. Did you like Sports? Did you like Music? Did you like writing? ANYTHING. What did you used to love?

I'll bet you can get through withdrawal easy. That's just two days twitching and sweating. Withdrawing is EASY once you've done it enough.

But what're you gonna do after? How are you gonna cope with the next SIX OR MORE MONTHS of ANHEDONIA??? How are you gonna cope with the fact that for months at a time nothing you used to love will bring you joy without the substance you've been abusing?

Let's talk about PAWS, ok?

I don't know what to do with my hands. I'm legitimately so nervous and self conscious when I'm expected to dance. I have a company party coming up and I'm seriously considering taking lessons. How do I get out of my head and enjoy myself?

I recently managed to find a new place to live and it was not an easy task. Even though the move isn't over yet, I felt like I deserve a small celebration.

This is a new line of thinking for me though. Very often when I had accomplished something in life, I didn't feel like celebrating. It felt like it was to be expected and now its accomplished, so why give it another thought?

It feels nice to celebrate my own accomplishments though. I've rewarded myself with a tasty meal at a restaurant and enjoyed it a lot.

How are you celebrating your own accomplishments?

I wrote a small piece on dealing with perfection paralysis. It includes 7 tips to focus on the things to do.

Archive link: http://archive.today/aEx7K

Should probably talk to my psychiatrist so I get a change in my medication. Every time I start many weird projects, feel like I can easily change the world or have invented something that can, need basically no sleep and/or get aggressively political (even religious), I know the drill... At least I'm not paranoid though. Hope the best for you all too <3 Also sorry if I've bothered someone these days, it really wasn't my intention.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/716981

> Full report : https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/8e71-Toronto-Community-Crisis-Service-Jan-2023-Evaluation-Reportaccessible.pdf Relevant Teddit (Reddit) post : https://teddit.net/r/toronto/comments/10epbcg/toronto_community_crisis_services_6_month_report/

Let's not forget that while, I support therapy, I don't support abuse of it (for ableism).

What is a "Safety Plan?"

• It is a plan that YOU create for YOURSELF (and which only needs to be accessible to you.)
• It is a plan that addresses (and hopefully decreases) behaviors that:
  • You don’t like doing or feel bad after doing
  • Decrease your ability to connect with others
• Examples:
  • Self-injurious behaviors
  • Substance abuse
  • Binge-Eating
  • Gambling
• This plan may not continue working if you do not
  • Seek treatment for a known mental-health issue
  • Do not use the activities more often when you are calm than when you are distressed (THINK PAVLOV, a calming activity must continue being associated with a feeling of calm more often than distress to continue calming you).

What does a safety plan include?

• 3x ACTIVITIES to do instead of the behavior that disrupts your life
  • Listen to a specific song that calms you
  • Take a hot bath
  • Do a craft you love
  • Do a sensory activity you love like playing with clay or paint
  • Play with a pet that loves you
• 3x PEOPLE to contact who will always pick up the phone for you (as many backups as possible to avoid strain on any one person)
  • A partner?
  • A close friend?
  • Family?
  • A mentor?
  • Another associate from your socio-cultural or religious background?
• 3x Public SERVICES to Access in Case of Emergency
  • Your specific mental health provider such as a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist
  • Local Mental Health Board
  • Local Service for a specialty or minority background such as LGBTQ, POC, or Veteran.
  • National Mental health hotlines
  • National Specialty hotlines for the LGBTQ, POC, or veterans.
• OPTIONAL for people whose home is not a safe place, where can you GO to feel safe?
  • The library
  • A public commons like a statue or fountain
  • A national or state park area
  • A church or other charitable organization’s property
  • A friend or acquaintance’s property

If you DO come in contact with the involuntary mental health system, can you answer these questions? (You likely can't create these answers ahead of time so just write them out and leave blank spots for them)

• What behavior OF MINE did the mental health system concern themselves with? They usually worry about
  • Real or perceived threats to self
  • Real or perceived threats to others
  • PROFOUND inability to provide for one’s own safety (think naked in below-freezing temperatures or wandering into interstate traffic)
• What part of that behavior did I MYSELF have control over?
• What will I PERSONALLY do to prevent this problem behavior from occurring in the future?
  • Did I have a previous safety plan either formally or informally?
  • What safety plan could I develop to address this specific behavior?
  • How could I modify my safety plan to address this specific behavior?

Examples of places to keep a safety plan:

• fridge
• wallet
• phone home screen

HELP! THERE'S A THING I DON'T HAVE 3 OPTIONS FOR!

• Well I reckon you know where to focus your recovery now, don't you? Start with the first listed option you don't have enough items for and find some things/people.

cross-posted from: https://lemmygrad.ml/post/322331

> Hey comrades, > I hope this doesn't break the rules but I needed someplace to rant to sane people. I know how well threads like this go over on R*ddit. > Due to some hefty psychological abuse during my childhood, I suffer from bad social anxiety. Until very recently I couldn't even talk to strangers via phone, Discord, or Email. > > It took me so long to realize that I needed help and even longer to gather the strength to seek it that I am 25 now and only started getting better slowly. I just feel like it took me too long and now recovering is meaningless. I never went to any parties or clubs because I couldn't and I also didn't have romantic connections. > > The thought of asking someone out terrifies me. I am completely clueless in dating matters and overcoming this seems like an impossible roadblock. It feels like I am already too old to have no clue about relationships and I will be definitely too old once I get over my fear of approaching someone. I don't want to be alone forever. I don't want to become some weird incel creep but I also feel like I already crossed the point of no return. > And yet I feel silly for worrying about this. I know a lot of you have far greater problems in life. Me complaining about having social anxiety and being single just shows how good my life is if this is truly my biggest problem but I still can't shake it. > > Sorry that this rant is so uncoherent and leading to nothing I just had to get this out in an environment that is actually supporting and understanding. > > Edit: thanks everyone for the kind words. I was shedding some tears while going through your replies. I was that deeply touched. I count myself once again lucky to belong to such a kind and caring community (can't believe libs call US red red fascists) and I now feel much better about myself. I feared I was alone in my fight, and even though I haven't met a single one of you in real life, I now know I am not. I will get around to answering everyone of you but it might take me a day or two.

CW desire to be dead!

Recently, there was another one of those tweets that was truly not intended in the direction I gave it in my mind: The right-winger is outraged that, according to a media report, not even 50 percent of young people in Germany would be willing to defend their country in times of need and threat. Response of the Left: What am I supposed to defend, please? What difference does it make to me whether I pay my rent to the German conglomerate or to the Russian oligarch?

And here I was very quickly at my reflections on the society with which I actually do not want to share a planet, a life. When I read articles for outsiders about 'what’s going on inside of a depressive head', I often read that these people like me generally do not want to stop living - they just don't want to live in their current situation anymore. Yes, to the end it is true somewhere: In a society in which we work together to save the climate, compete on how we can put an end to hunger and bad working conditions once and for all, and help to ensure that those who come after us will have a better, simply a good life, less work, no more harm to animals and weakened people – yes – in this utopia, and occasionally in some novels, there is this community that I recognize is worth defending.

Back to the here and now? Homo homini lupus. Our finance minister has just called for more overtime at work to save 'our' 'prosperity' in this dire situation. Our head of state is philosophizing about introducing a 'service year' for young people to give something back to 'our' society in life. The majority of the over-aged society is enthusiastic and I don't understand why this duty doesn't exist rather for last-, than for first-time voters. Marriages, family homes and whether to live with 1, 2 or 3 children in the future? All these worries are passé for last voters - I think if, then 68 would be a good age to 'give something back to society'.

The psychologist is so fond of asking why I didn't seek support sooner with my 'negative thoughts'. I gladly provide many explanations, but none of them satisfies either of us. The less we beat around the bush, the less my answers satisfy him.

And the further I spin this thought today, the more likely I am to come out with more questions that others have in a different context: What am I supposed to defend here, please? What fight am I supposed to be fighting? My doubt about existence is not based on the longing to escape a situation I’m in, but to escape human society as a whole. Staying to do others a favor by doing so? Working so as not to let the overall work of society collapse? The psychologist may not be able to hear me moaning anymore - others have real problems, I agree with him – I just can't see our, the human society anymore. And there I really do not see how he, how anyone could help.

Our goverment is currently thinking about how they can make it more difficult for people who want to pass away, to ‚easily‘ pass away. A misunderstanding, for my part. I don't want to run away from something, I just don't see any reason at all far and wide as my horizon goes, to stay.

Read the text here: https://write.as/peace-labor-may/militant-altruism

Read the text here: https://write.as/peace-labor-may/everything-changes-constantly-continuously-nothing-is-ever-the-same

I just wanted to share the book, which finally set me on the way to recovery, after an year and a half of suffering from anxiety, panic attacks and depression.

Btw, if anyone needs my advice on these conditions, write back, I'm willing to help!

A little reminder for you, comrades.

I assert that addressing mental health issues, specifically, for communists, is essential due to the following three reasons:

Healthier individual = healthier community;

Healthier mindset = more effective communal work;

The results will be of benefit despite the change (or lack thereof) of socio-economic circumstances.

Let me decipher the simplistic axioms I have provided above.

Firstly, an individual suffering from an «ailment of the soul» often times is further isolated and alienated from their community, for various reasons. Some of the main ones being: stigmatization of «non-normative» behaviors, reactions and perceptions; limited socialization of particular neuro types; lack of opportunities for affected individuals to partake fully in development and realization of their potential. There are many more reasons why an affected individual may be experiencing a greater level of alienation from one’s community. If you look at an activist community, focus on direct action and/or participation in socially important tasks can be of more difficulty to an individual suffering from a mental health ailment. Some examples of possible outcomes: due to one’s depression, an individual may not be able to partake in many efforts, despite their desires; they may be unable to find motivation to start something of benefit not only to others, but to themselves. Another simple example: an individual suffering from anxiety, may avoid certain situations in which their anxiety is triggered; thus seriously lacking in participation as well. Despite these hypothetical comrades' desires and drives, they cannot simply «will» their conditions away; medication may not be available to them, or they may choose to not medicate due to multitude of reasons. Exclusion of such individuals lead to an impairment of a community, lacking in human resources; more responsibility taken by the rest of the community, with possible burnout of the «healthier» ones.

Secondly, even if the individual’s mental health condition is not severe, if left unattended, it may lead to a development of a particular mindset, or attitude, that may not be conductive to effective work of the community. If, for example, an individual feels limited in certain capacity, but overcomes said limitations by overexerting oneself, by «getting over» one’s struggles, they may face unwanted consequences, such as a sense that others should also «overcome» and/or suffer in silence; or a sense of bitterness and resentment because they may feel that their efforts go unnoticed; or repress and/or suppress their emotions and later on be caught up in the tangles of one’s unconsciousness influencing their decisions, perhaps skewing their objective perception of reality. These aforementioned consequences are not exclusive to those suffering from a pronounced mental health issue, and may affect a great portion of a community.

Thirdly, mental health support can lead to great long-term benefits despite the outcomes of the activist movement. Even if members of an activist group do not promote their cause to the desired extent, if they practice mutual mental health support, they may reap the fruits of this labor rather soon - the benefits of being cared for are obvious and lead to an acceleration of one’s development in nearly all areas of life. And it is not as costly as one can imagine - the time dedicated to listening empathically to another individual’s struggles; the time spent helping another gain perspective on one’s experiences; the efforts to understand and objectively analyze another’s circumstances: none of this is ever in vain and can impact the community in surprisingly positive ways.

These are, I believe, the most immediate and most apparent advantages of providing mental health support within any group of like-minded individuals, and can lead to progress not only in the lives of the affected ones, but in the life of the movement and community overall.

There are certainly risks and responsibilities that come with such efforts. None of the participants of such efforts should ever take them lightly, and realize as early as possible, that we are limited in our capacity to understand and help others. We must not succumb to the idealist view of mutual mental health aid, where everyone agrees and gives each other pats all day long. We must remember the ultimate goals of the movement, and not water them down to spare another one’s mental state. We must also never view ourselves in any way or form as «guides» or «the wise ones» in the scenarios where one may show one’s vulnerability. Cameraderie and compassion, along with objectivity and reliance on empirical data, must guide us in our communal strive for the improvement of our conditions.

Read the text here: https://write.as/peace-labor-may/speaking-into-the-void

something similar to the 4chan electronics challenge but for social anxiety or wathever?

In this video, I briefly summarise three ways in which zen buddhism and leftist theory have given me perspective on commodification of myself and the modern society.

The title of the video may seem a bit presumptuous, but the content of the video itself is extremely useful.