I have witnessed the most obscene, ornate, loud, and grandest displays from people I work with both clients and colleagues. Center-staging isn’t just about the magnitude and lengths gone through to create a circus around him or her. Instead, it is the seductive pull and mystique about enacting […]
To this day, my speech continues to heal, and I am being more vigilant these days about the quality and content of wording and status of my language.
The growing trend in most mental health centers is the banning of tobacco products and their use on campuses that deliver treatment and other supportive programs. When I first entered the mental health system, I was in-patient in an adolescent unit in New York State. Within a year […]
Walking into your therapist’s office, you feel a mix of apprehension and vulnerability. As you sit down, you notice your therapist’s eyes intently assessing your mental state even before you speak. And then, it happens – the floodgates of emotions, insecurities, and vulnerabilities open up. But it’s not […]
In the throws of madness I have found some form of peace to hold on to as an anchor in discovering my innermost serenity. Only in the very end of my tormented nights was I unable to identify a technique to self-manage the chaos around me. By that […]
Background: I have been a consumer of mental health services for a litany of diagnoses including but not limited to NPD. With this said, this presentation is intended to explore existing definitions of NPD and offer additional insight into other possible treatment pathways for people seeking support and […]
In the summer of 2008, mid-July, I was ready for discharge from Binghamton State Psychiatric Center. Of course, readiness for discharge from a state hospital by no means signals the completion of the healing process, but it does set the stage for what would become a decade of […]
Symptom Activation Crossing into Broome County New York my vehicle was immediately pulled over by a state trooper. The trooper insisted that a car was weaving in and out of traffic in the vicinity I was driving. While he issued me no ticket, he followed me all the […]
There is no question that food is apart of our identity. What we eat, how, when, where, and if we eat a particular food speaks to our culture, ethnicity, history, and relationship with food. People with a mental health diagnosis are no exception. & yet, in hospitals, specifically […]
This is the climax scene. Everyone is here for your big finish”. I was ecstatic. My movie, according to the voices, was finally over. We could all be together again.
People with mental health conditions don’t get flowers
The Health Czar is the final solution to the mental health crisis in modernity The age old debate of governance extends into mental health and its administration, policy making, and implementation of state and federal regulations. Some argue for democracy, and its careful review, however political, of the […]
I can never figure out why people choose to be angry. It is a choice. As a therapist, I diagnose people with Intermittent Explosive disorder from the DSM 5. I also provide treatment for the person carrying the diagnosis, help in terms of psychoeducation for the person diagnosed […]
The Living Room model suggests that people in crisis are going to go the Emergency Room (ER/ED) if they cannot resolve the emergent dilemmas overwhelming them in the moment. These emergent dilemmas can be anything from new or worsening symptoms to a change in life circumstance, or a […]
There are rules for participation in treatment on the level of common Article 31 clinic regulations for practices
The rise of the Modern Health Home and fall of the silos gestures to the system’s attempt at integrating care, but, like most new turns treatment, the outcomes reflected the clumsy practices of the care management philosophy and regulations
We all have our limitations. Some of them more visible to the naked eye, others, more covert, and hidden away from the public but regardless still an internal struggle we battle everyday. As a therapist, I have the opportunity to listen to other practitioners talk about their patients […]
Ultimately, there will be times when you have to live with unresolved symptoms.
Delusions put the crazy in madness and mental health disorders. This means, simply, when we think he or she is “out there” and “nuts” it’s delusional systems that we are referring to within a persons larger set of symptoms. Delusions carve out the imaginary and marries it with […]
One of the most canonical features or symptoms of mental illness is the hallucination. There are many known presentations of hallucinations. Some of them are one voice or noise. It can seem like it is exterior to our body or it can sound internal. Some voices talk with […]
Paranoia creeps into our mental outlook, almost undetectable
Unquestionably, the spectrum between negligence and overprotection carries with it serious implications in clinical & peer professional practice in mental health. Even in our personal lives, we have friends and family we care for and we wonder where the line is drawn when it comes to caregiving or […]
There is no question that in the mental health system peers and clinicians are divided on the issue of diagnosis. As a peer and a clinician I will suggest a bi-party solution to this age old divisive question in modern day mental health treatment. At the root of […]
Clinicians, you’ve heard this before… & hopefully, you know the rules. Depending on your program, the office of mental health prescribes rules for the practice of treatment. The rules encompass the way we document, carry out treatment, and even bleed into the philosophy of care and implementing of […]
Introduction Life can be full of surprises, and we all face challenges every day. For individuals living with a mental health condition, the challenges may be more complex and require specialized strategies to overcome. Effective problem-solving skills can be a valuable asset in addressing the obstacles that may […]
Mental Health Affairs 
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