I found this article the other day, and thought I’d share it with you:

New study finds hugs can improve people’s mental health

Colin D’Mello and 680News staff

Dec. 11, 2009 20:32:44 PM

Hugs are more uplifting than even going to church, according to a new Canadian study.

The Montreal-based Association of Canadian Studies analyzed data from a 2007 Canadian Community Health Survey and found people who get hugs regularly are even more likely to report better mental health.

The study also found Canadians appear to be happy overall as more than 60 per cent of the population reported their mental health as excellent or very good; however, those who were hugged on a regular basis were twice as likely to report their mental health was excellent.

Researchers said it is the loving community feel that does the trick  and regular hugs could lift your spirits.

(source)

What are your thoughts? Have hugs helped you at all? Leave a comment!

What is self-harming?

Self-harming is when someone intentionally hurts themself. Self-harming behaviors include cutting, burning, picking at skin, hair-pulling, hitting, multiple piercing/tattooing, and drinking harmful chemicals. Self-injuring is a coping mechanism, and it’s important to find healthier ways to cope. You can physically prevent yourself from self-harming by throwing away your blades or being supervised in a hospital. You can also call 1-800-DONTCUT to make doctor and therapist appointments. Siriusproject.org has DBT (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) coping skills for you to use instead of self-harming.

• Click here for different alternatives to self-injury depending on your mood.
• Click here for a list telling you if you are ready to stop self-harming.
• Click here for an explanation about what recovery is.

Why do people self-injure?

Click here for a list of reasons why people self-harm. Some reasons include affect regulation (“trying to bring the body back to equilibrium in the face of turbulent or unsettling feelings”), communication (“using self-injury has a way to express things they can not speak;” they are not using self-injury as manipulation), and control/punishment.

Who self-harms?

More women self-injure than men, and approximately 1% of the populations has self-injured. Selfharm.net has questions to answer if you think you may be a self-injurer, and you can click here to see a list of characteristics of people who self-harm. Conditions in which self-injurious behavior is seen include BPD, mood disorders, eating disorders, OCD, PTSD, Dissociative Disorders, anxiety and/or panic disorder, Impulse-Control disorder not otherwise specified, and self-injury as a diagnosis.

What should you do if someone you know self-harms?

Be supportive, but don’t reinforce the behavior. Try to understand that self-harming behavior is an attempt to maintain a certain amount of control. Let the person know that you care about them and are available to listen. Encourage expressions of emotion, including anger. Spend some time doing enjoyable activities together. Offer to help them find a therapist or support group. Don’t make judgemental comments or tell the person to stop the self-harming behavior, because people who feel worthless and powerless are more likely to self-injure.

Click here to read the Bill of Rights for People Who Self-Harm.

National Self-Injury Awareness Day is March 1st.

Music has the power to influence people’s emotions; it can make them happy, sad, or angry. Music can also aid in the recovery of mental illnesses.

The Geriatric Mental Health Department of the Chhatarati Shahuju Maharaj Medical University in India is starting a music therapy clinic to treat elderly patients with mental disorders (like dementia). Nearly 5% of elderly people older than 60 suffer from dementia.

S.C. Tiwari, the head of the Geriatric Mental Health Department, said that music is found to have a positive impact on patients suffering from mental tension. Slow and melodious music soothes tension; rock, pop, and fast music should be avoided because of the negative emotions it can draw out, and it also raises blood pressure. So, soft, melodious, and soothing music is the way to go if you want to relieve your mental tension.

Not only can music therapy help people with mental illnesses, but playing an instrument and being a part of an ensemble can help, too.

Tunefoolery Concert Ensembles is a group of 50 musicians from Cambridge, Massachusetts, who are all living with a mental illness. The group helps musicians move away from the mental patient role into a new identity as a professional musician and performer.

“Tunefoolery is a great example of how non-traditional mental health treatment truly can change people’s lives,” said one of the band members. “Music is powerful medicine! I have a tremendous feeling of belonging with Tunefoolery. I have found great friends here. It’s a job and a creative outlet at the same time.

The members perform as solo acts or small ensembles; they play 75 to 90 gigs every year at mental health treatment programs, hospitals, nursing homes, and other locations. You can visit their website at www.tunefoolery.org.

In my research, I found a website for artists living with a mental illness: www.mentalhealthmusicnetwork.net. I also found a study about how music therapy soothes mental illness: www.uninews.unimelb.edu.au/news/4302. Check those out if you’d like; they’re pretty interesting.

When asked, “What role does music play in your recovery process?” this is what people had to say:

“Music is my life. When depressed, I have certain artists that help me get through. Tori Amos has saved my life many times.” –Tiffany Arnold

“Instead of using music to calm me down, I tend to find music to suit my mood…it’s something I’m working on.” –DeAnna Banfield Ross

“Music comforts me as long as I remember that during a crisis. My memory is so very bad.” –Rachel Morris

“My daughter always listens to ICP really loud to calm herself down when she is mad (and most of the time it works!!)” –Sara Paschal

“Music has a tremendous role in my recovery. I would not be as far as I am in life as well as my recovery without it. When I’m feeling stressed, I put on some good dancing music and dance away. If I need to just relax, I put on some R&B or Jazz.” –Rachel Johnson

“Music is the only thing that got me through my youth. That’s why music mends.”– @musicmends

“It says what I can’t verbalize.” –Amy Ruiz

“I use relaxation CDs to relax me and it helps me to sleep too; soft in the background when you put light out. It’s CDs with no words just music, and the others are of waterfalls, birds in the background ,etc. And panpipe music also lets me relax.” –Melanie S. Grobler

“Before I was even aware that my mental health was not at its best I would find myself listening to things like Carmina Burahna (sp?) by Carl Orff and Guns and Roses when I was very stressed or angry. I would dance (untrained) by letting my body go and seeing what happened when at a dancer friend’s house and always feel vulnerable after. Once I was aware of depression I found that the sound of the TV in the background, people talking on radio 4 kept me calm when I was home alone. Carl Orff and Guns and Roses are still things I listen to when I have great pain, upset or stress, I listen very loudly for about 10 mins and have about 1 min of maximum volume where I scream, shout, sing along before turning it down so the neighbors don’t complain. I used to sing in am dram and G&S operatics at school and uni and I miss it. I would like to find somewhere to sing as singing used to give me feelings of passion and energy and high spirits and emotions that in other ways I would be afraid to express.” –Fiona Art

“Music plays a huge role in my depression, it helps, randomly, to listen to sad songs when I’m sad because I can identify with them and have a cry. It helps me to let it all out. I also find heavy rock to be empowering, calming and just listening to it can make me feel as though I have succeeded in venting a lot of anger.” –Vicky Protheroe Jones

“Music is vital to me in every way…it helps me in that, when I hear someone else articulating what I feel, I feel that maybe I am not alone, maybe someone else does understand… it feels good to have music be able to speak for me,when I am too weak to speak for myself.” –Ms MCR Makaveli

Do you have any reactions to this article? How has music helped you, and what part has it played (if any) in your recovery process? Let us know! Leave a comment here or email us at join.us@ontheborderline.org. I’ll be posting your responses here on our blog. Thanks!

I found this article about coping with your symptoms through writing the other day, and I thought I’d share it with you:

Cope with Your Symptoms Through Expressive Writing

By Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, PhD, About.com

Created: August 18, 2009

For people with either physical and psychological problems, expressive writing has been shown to have a positive impact. It’s no wonder that people have used expressive writing for centuries as a means of personal discovery, catharsis, and meaning-making. If you’ve never tried expressive writing, this is another skill to add to your coping skills toolbox.

What Is Expressive Writing?

Expressive writing is hard to define, because it is essentially anything you want it to be. Expressive writing is the act of writing about your personal experiences in order to understand and communicate your own perceptions, interpretations and responses.

Expressive writing can take many forms. For example, some people keep a paper journal. Others use a blog (short for “weblog”); this is a personal website that can function as an online journal. Sometimes the writing takes the form of prose, for others poetry. Choose whatever you feel most comfortable with. By the way, there is evidence that expressive writing is helpful whether or not you share that writing with someone else, so if you want to keep it private that is perfectly fine.

Why Is Expressive Writing Helpful?

We don’t really know why expressive writing is helpful, but there are a few theories that may explain why it works. First, expressive writing may work because it helps people make sense of the events of their lives — it may be a way to process and think through the meaning of events and how you want to respond.

Expressive writing also may help you express pent up emotions about things that have happened. This release of emotions may help you feel better about the situation.

Finally, expressive writing that is shared with others may give you a sense of social support. It feels good to share your writing and get positive feedback or have others let you know that they have been through similar circumstances.

Expressive Writing: What Should I Write About?

There are no hard and fast rules about what you should be writing about in your expressive writing practice. Usually people choose to write about events that are of personal importance. Usually these are events that are at least mildly emotional or are personally relevant for any number of reasons.

For example, you might write about a stressful event that is happening in your life now, or an important event in your childhood. Perhaps you want to write about how you perceive aspects of your relationships, your work life, or your spiritual life.

The topic of the writing isn’t as important as how you write about it. Expressive writing is probably most helpful when you write about a topic in depth. This means that rather than writing about the superficial or surface qualities of an event, you really delve into the psychological and emotional aspects of the event.

For example, ask yourself:

• How were you feeling at different points in the event?
• What were you thinking?
• What physical sensations did you have?
• How did this event impact how you see yourself, other people, the world, or your future? What does this event now mean about you?

Getting Started With Expressive Writing

If you’ve never tried expressive writing before, it may feel a little strange or awkward at first. It is definitely a skill that requires a bit of practice before it comes easily. Before you start, it may help to check out some examples of expressive writing. A good place to find models is the expressive writing section of the BPD forum:

Poetry & Prose: The BPD Expressive Writing Forum

(You can also find the article here.)

If you start a blog that has to do with mental health, email the link to us (join.us@ontheborderline.org) and we’ll post it on our blogroll!

I look forward to reading your blogs

-Lauren

Although borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder are similar, there are differences. Here are some articles that may help you understand the differences a little bit better:

Disentangling Rapid-Cycling Bipolar From Borderline

How to Understand the Difference Between Borderline and Bipolar

BPD and bipolar disorder, similarities and differences

Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder

Note: If you think you have a mental illness, you should always see a professional for a proper diagnosis; do not diagnose yourself, and do not have a friend diagnose you.

I’m the moderator of a social anxiety group on facebook, and somebody messaged me today with the information below. If you have social anxiety, please think about taking this survey to help these people out. (You must be at least 18 years of age to participate.)

Thanks!

-Lauren

A group at Towson University is currently conducting a research study to understand how individuals with social anxiety react in emotional situations. For the results to be beneficial to understanding the development, maintenance, and/or treatment of social anxiety it is essential that many people who experience social anxiety participate. Therefore, your participation will be greatly appreciated. There will be several surveys about your anxiety, emotions, and reactions to those emotions that should take you about 20-30 minutes to complete. If you are over the age of 18 and willing to participate, please click here. The first page will give you a full description of the study. Thank you for your support.

Musician and BPD awareness advocate Kayla Kavanagh put an On The Borderline badge on her website! Click here to check it out.

To get your own badge to put on your website/blog/myspace, click here. Tell us that you’ve done this and provide us with a link to your site, and we’ll thank you here on our blog and our facebook fan page.

Thanks again to Kayla Kavanagh! Make sure to visit her website and check out her music

Somebody emailed this link to me today, and it’s definitely worth checking out. After you sign the petition, be sure to share this link with other people who will also be interested in signing it. Thanks!

Click here to go to the Advocacy for Borderline Personality Disorder petition.

If you want to know a little bit more about the petition before you sign it, here’s what it says on the petition site:

Help us Bring Borderline Personality Disorder into the light!

Please sign this petition to support changing the name and designation of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) in the next publication of the Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder - 5th edition (DSM-V).

Background

The DSM is published by the American Psychiatric Association and provides diagnostic criteria for mental disorders. It is used in the United States and in varying degrees around the world, by clinicians, researchers, psychiatric drug regulation agencies, health insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies and policy makers. The DSM-V is due to be published in 2010. The DSM organizes each psychiatric diagnosis into five levels (axes) relating to different aspects of disorder or disability (only two are important to us):

• Axis I: clinical disorders, including major mental disorders, as well as developmental and learning disorders
• Axis II: underlying pervasive or personality conditions, as well as mental retardation

BPD is currently categorized under AXIS II because it is deemed a personality disorder.

Changing BPD to AXIS 1

The BPD Awareness Campaign is dedicated to changing BPD to AXIS I for the following reasons:

• BPD is a major mental illness and should be treated as such
• The most recent research on BPD indicates that this disorder is a highly treatable condition. It is not permanent and unchanging as is currently indicated under the AXIS II designation.
• BPD is excluded from many managed care and healthcare plans, and most parity bills in the United States
• In Canada treatment is often restricted to those with an Axis I diagnosis such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder and Clinical Depression
• Due to stigma, support groups are virtually nonexistent and family members are often blamed for the illness
• Clinicians, aware that a person meets criteria for BPD, often substitute an Axis I diagnosis such as major depression, bipolar disorder, and/or posttraumatic stress disorder, which are reimbursable. This results in under-diagnosis of BPD and over diagnosis of other disorders.

Putting BPD onto AXIS 1 would make it a mainstream serious mental illness that is worthy of care and treatment.

Changing the Name

The BPD Awareness Campaign is dedicated to changing the term BPD for the following reasons:

• It is inaccurate and confusing - Mental illness is no longer categorized as either neurotic or psychotic. Therefore BPD cannot fit on the “Borderline”.
• It imparts no relevant or descriptive information-  It says nothing of the key elements of BPD- Emotional dysreguation, Impulsivity, Cognitive dysregulation
• It reinforces stigma-  the very mention of the term “personality disorder” suggests that the person’s  personality is flawed. This is very upsetting to individuals in recovery, especially when they are already questioning their self-worth and identity.

One possible alternative proposed by Marsha Linehan, Ph.D (an expert in BPD) is Emotional Regulation Disorder. This term integrates a key component of BPD - Emotion dysreguation. Another term proposed isEmotional Processing Disorder.This last term better integrates emotional dysreguation and the cognitive dysreguation which is now thought to be a key factor in BPD.