#Mental health is important

[gildedoak]

Episode 7: Beignets!

I rewatched S2E2 of Helluva Boss ("Seeing Stars") and got hit with that BANGER of a line from Loona about dads having issues and messing up all the time but still caring. VIVZIE, I am sensing a THEMEEEEEEE.

And thank you for all the lovely comments thus far! I'm so tickled to see how many folks connect with this, whether you're from the American South or not. Food is such a core love language for so many people.

SOUTHERN COMFORT FOOD SERIES Chicken and Waffles Sweet Tea Peach Cobbler Hushpuppies Crab/Crawfish Boil Gumbo (plus character notes!) Beignets part 2 Shrimp and Grits Cornbread Biscuits and Gravy Pecan Pie/Sugar Pie Fried Catfish ??? - Season 1 Finale

Description under the cut!

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: Radioapple comic

PANEL 1: (Lucifer sits atop a barstool-like chair on his balcony at the hotel. He's curled up in on himself, quietly crying with his head in his arms as he slumps over the marble balustrade and his tail curled around his ankles.)

PANEL 2: (Alastor gently sets a large platter of fresh beignets next to Lucifer's arm, and Lucifer glances up, looking miserable.) Alastor: (offscreen) You're not a bad father, you know.

PANEL 3: (Alastor strikes a jazz-hands pose as a canned laugh track emanates from his cane.) Alastor: Granted, YES you did fail spectacularly! You fail A LOT. But...

PANEL 4: (Closeup of the lower half of Lucifer's face as more tears fall down his cheeks.) Alastor: (offscreen) ...you're consistently, SINCERELY trying. And that is incredibly important.

PANEL 5: (closeup of Alastor's right eye in profile) Alastor: It's certainly more than my father ever did.

PANEL 6: (Alastor reaches over and places a hand on Lucifer's, which is still clutching at his upper arm. Though we can't see Lucifer's face, he's sitting a little straighter, looking up at Alastor.) Alastor: (offscreen) Or yours, for that matter.

END DESCRIPTION]

[crispychrissy]

So, I just had the most hilariously awkward thing happen. I had a weird brain day today and got super excited when a thunderstorm came though about 9:30pm tonight. I love thunderstorms, always have and always will, so it was the perfect calm ending to a chaotic day.

I went outside in the middle of the torrential downpour of the storm to lay on the lawn in front of my apartment because I just wanted to contemplate existence for a little bit and pretend I’m a plant or something. Don’t judge.

Anyway, so about five minutes goes by and I’m just hanging out, enjoying being pelted by the tiny cloud moisture missiles, when I hear a car pull into the driveway next to me. Not unusual; I’m not the only person that lives in this apartment complex.

But then suddenly there’s a voice cutting through the rumbles of thunder and the sound of the rain.

“Excuse me… are you okay?”

I sigh, and without thinking say, “We’re all human-shaped sentient space dust running away from entropy. Are any of us ever okay?”

My eyes shoot open the second the last syllable leaves my mouth and I look over through my soaked eyeballs to see a FUCKING COP speaking to me through the rolled down window of his cop car that’s parked in the driveway about 9 feet from me. I was about to jump to my feet and run inside to die from embarrassment when I heard him chuckle softly and say:

“You’re going to be fine, just don’t give up. We’ve all had those days. Enjoy your night.”

He rolled up his window and drove away.

And you know what? I laid there for another 20 minutes with a big fucking smile on my face because he’s right.

I’m going to be fine. And you will, too.

[nelkcats]

Therapy needed

Danny needed therapy, that was pretty obvious. After the whole "my future self killed everyone because my family died" thing it became pretty obvious that he needed to acknowledge his traumas and deal with them properly before another Dan happened or his emotions just exploded. The fact that his parents wanted to kill him and no one would acknowledge his death was making things worse.

So he asked his sister for help, but Jazz being annoyingly responsible commented that he couldn't become her patient, something about how personal feelings could cloud her judgment and family can't give each other therapy. Danny thought it was a bit hypocritical considering she used him as a lab rat with her psychology books but decided not to say anything.

The fact that Jazz could not be his therapist made everything 10 times more complicated. First of all because Danny had a trauma with psychologists (and wasn't that ironic? He blamed Spectra for that), and secondly that no one would believe his whole life story or keep it a secret. It was unfortunate that the Yetis were general health doctors and not mental health doctors because that would have solved his problem.

Just as he was about to give up and continue to treat his traumas as a recurring joke, Jazz introduced him to someone. Her name was Harleen Frances Quinzel and she was completely crazy, but according to Jazz she was excellent at her job. Danny had his doubts but in the end he agreed to have an appointment with her.

Strangely, Harley Quinn lived up to his sister's expectations, not being upset when Danny asked to change the decor of the place (Spectra had done a number on his head, common offices became uncomfortable for him), nor when Danny almost froze her by accident. Harley was patient, attentive and considered all his suggestions, accepting or denying as needed. Danny liked it.

The only complaint the halfa had were about the stalkers on the roof who were always watching him on his way to and from Harley's house, it was getting very annoying. One of them panicked when Danny came out crying - couldn't a ghost face his traumas in peace!?

[bi-dykes]

Really fucked up that mental health support group information needs to be skyrocketed after a hateful president in the US is elected. What kind of person do you need to be that if you’re elected to be in charge, ppl need to post suicide hotlines more? I’m not the first to be sharing these after the election. Everyone reading this, much love, show yourself much love in these devastating times <3

988 can apply to anyone in need of help, not just women of colour. some of the woc mental health support groups are actually for all women, though most are for woc specifically

Sources:

@ gaytimes on instagram (for the first image)

@ aakomaproject on instagram (for all the other images)

(flower divider made by me)

please reblog. I will never write in one of my posts to reblog any of my fandom content or my stick figures, but this one, I hope it can reach as many people possible who need it

[dsireland86]

The death of Liam Payne (not sure if many know who he is. If not, look him up), I'm reminded about so many things. Just like Chester Bennington, Liam struggled with mental health issues such as depression and severe anxiety. It is assumed at this point that Liam killed himself.

What does all of this have to do with Bad Omens? Well, Noah took a much needed break from touring over the summer and the band had to cancel countless shows abroad due to his mental health. People WERE NOT very nice about it. I saw many comments on here alone that seriously broke my heart.

Mental health is a HUGE deal. If you are blessed enough to not have to deal with it, I'm genuinely very happy for you. But if you are one of us who have to deal with the reality of living with this type of demon, then you understand the struggle.

I'm so thankful Noah made the choices he made over the summer. I'm so thankful that he took his needs seriously. He gave himself time to fight and overcome a hard moment that he was honest enough to admit he was struggling with.

Bad Omens has helped me with my own awful struggle with sever anxiety, depression and adhd. Just like Linkin Park, they have my heart. They are a beacon in a sea of constant uncertainty and anxiety that help ground me back to reality through their music. It's healing, it's therapy, it's happiness.

If you or anyone you know deals with it... love them. Appreciate them. Help them in the best way you can. Every little thing helps when you're at rock bottom .

The more I listen to "Just Pretend" I really feel like that is the message behind it:

Someone who is trying to reach out and help another (someone they love deeply) through their struggle, but can't. They can't because the other won't let them.

If you're struggling and someone wants to help, please let them. You matter. You're life is important. You're loved. No matter what the voices in your head are telling you.

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

Autistic Burnout can Cause

Feelings os isolation

Negative thoughts

Independence incapacity

Feelings of self doubt

Poor self image/concept

Poor mental health

Reduced quality of life

Feelings of self loathing

Littlepuddins.ie

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Hero Course Application Denial Reason: Mental Health

Summary: Being a hero is hard work, and to enter it you need to fit certain criteria. One of them is having no mental illness that could be triggered by the work you are entering to a degree deemed unsafe by the authorities.

Bakugou Katsuki doesn’t know this.

Note: I am aware IED is a spectrum even if I mostly only know the extreme cases. I am aware not all mental health is the same. The negative talk of mental health in this story is supposed to be targeted at people who use it as a crutch and don’t try to do anything in order to work with their conditions to be able to lessen the harm towards them or others. The people who just go: not my fault I have X.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

When Bakugou Katsuki is six years old, he goes to a therapist who diagnoses him with intermittent explosive disorder. IED for short. It’s theorized his Quirk brings upon it.

Now, Katsuki grows up knowing this. Teachers use it to ignore his outbursts, screaming and attacking the Quirkless kid. It's just a disorder; it’s not his fault.

The doctor speaks about medication or therapy, but the Bakugou family ignores it. There isn't a reason to, given that his behaviour is due to his Quirk. His mother believes it won’t work. Katsuki proudly raises his head and smiles as his Quirk is praised, and they point at him as a perfect hero.

He applies for UA with his head held high.

He is sure to get in.

-

“Denied,” Watanabe Kasumi says as she stamps the words onto the application.

“Hmm?” her coworker and twin, Watanabe Hikaru, says.

“Kid with QAB-induced psychopathy due to being able to block all emotions,” Kasumi says as she puts the paper in the refusal pile. “He applied for heroics.”

“Sounds more like DQD.”

“Both probably,” Kasumi scoffs.

QAB or Quirk Affected Behaviour was when people were heavily affected by their Quirk. Usually, it was just mental and mutation Quirks affected, though there was a case a year or so before where Hadou Nejire was admitted while diagnosed with it due to her needing vitality for her Quirk. Her energized attitude came from that. Most of the time, though, it was just people whose Quirks already affected the brain or added in mutations like animal characteristics. It was not a reason for denying admittance into the hero course by itself. But psychopathy coming from it was.

DQD is a Quirk disorder with three levels: damaging, deliberating and devastating. These Quirks were ones where usage of them harmed the user. Damaging was the most common, and honestly, Kasumi was pretty sure there was a higher rate affected by it. Most didn't know that they had it since it made sense for their Quirks to affect them like that even when theoretically they shouldn't. Deliberating was the second level, which was much more apparent but not incredibly so. Devastating… Well, that was when it horrifically affected you or killed you.

A kid being a psychopath fits the latter.

The siblings continued through the stack of applications, their moves little more than blurs to anyone watching. While they were sitting perfectly normal for them, the reality was that the twins were moving faster than anyone else to go through the stack of papers. Their Quirk was the same: supersonic working speed—or, as their bitter mother called it, ‘Workaholic.’

As long as the twins worked, they were faster than anyone else. As kids, if their mother wasn't forcing them to ignore it, the two could get through homework in seconds, remembering everything as school was their job.

When they got older, they learned their father, never seen by them, was the same. His issue was that he also had QAB. He loved work so much that he was utterly addicted to it. Before the twins were born, he was able to avoid giving in to his condition entirely, but when the twins came and their mother ended up in the hospital for a year due to complications, he had to work harder. He fell into his addiction; no one bothered to stop it, given it wasn't ‘dangerous.’

The twins weren't surprised their mother hated their Quirk when they figured it out. Instead, they made a promise never to let work take over. They got jobs at the same place to focus on each other and remind themselves.

That was when the trouble started. The twins worked fast enough to do the work of hundreds of people, but they also knew how unfair it would be to take all the jobs. So, instead, they accepted positions promising to pay them the same as six people to do the jobs of six people each.

The first place didn't uphold their promise during their first month. They got paid only enough for one person each.

The second place also didn't.

The third place snuck in enough work for ten people each. They only found out thanks to a friend tipping them off.

The fourth place outright demanded the work of thirty the first time they showed up on site, trying to use a new contract they made the night before, attempting to claim the twins signed an agreement they could amend at will.

The idiots didn't remember how both twins got a lawyer to remove that when they first tried it and tried to insist no such thing happened.

That was when Nezu stepped in. The twins did all his administration jobs, which was safer than having many people do them. They also worked as his secretaries for hero work and his secretaries for school. They did the work of hundreds at a much safer rate. Nezu admitted he'd be doing most of it without them anyway, making it easier for them to accept.

“Explosive Quirk kid diagnosed with IED,” Hikaru announces, holding up the paper when he gets it, startling Kasumi from her musing.

“Actual IED or ‘this kid is aggressive but has a Quirk based on explosions?” Kasumi asks.

“The latter,” Hikaru says. “Properly diagnosed and everything. But…”

“Could still be a doctor shrugging his shoulders. Well…”

“Denied,” Hikaru shrugs.

Certain mental illnesses deny you entrance to the hero course. IED was one. If you exploded into violent rages randomly, no one could trust you using your Quirk to save people. What if you got set off and hurt others?

Hikaru pages through the applicant to see what is being done, rolling his eyes when he sees that the kid isn't in therapy. No medication or anything, either.

Figures.

Hope the kid isn’t to upset.

-

“Thank you for your interest in rolling into the UA Hero Course. However we have to deny you on reasons of mental health. IED is on the list of deniable conditions-”

Katsuki stared at the letter, unable to look away. The hag is busy on the phone yelling about suing the school as the old man talks.

Katsuki can't hear a thing.

It's not fair. He can't help his condition. It's not FAIR!

Katsuki screams and stomps off to light his Quirk outside, raging. It's not his fault!

They couldn't do this!

But they could.

“IED is a serious condition for a hero to have. No medication or therapy is foolproof,” the lawyer says. “We will not win this case. It's not even just UA- the Commission itself will not allow anyone with IED to the level Katsuki is diagnosed with, particularly if they are not in therapy or medication, into the hero ranks.”

“What if he goes on medication?”

“UA still doesn't allow it. They have the right as a hero school to do so. Others may do so, but the chances are low.”

Katsuki sits there and feels his dreams vanish.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Notes:

A pet peeve of mine is when people quickly go ‘Bakugou has a condition that makes him angry thus he is completely fine the way he is and also it’s not his fault’. That's not how it works, and claiming it is severely insulting to people with conditions who have put time into overcoming difficulties so they can function in society without hurting themselves or others. Saying Bakugou doesn't need to change if he did have a condition is just excusing his actions.

Plus there are a lot of mental health conditions and physical conditions that can prevent you from being in the army or police force. I can't see how being a hero in MHA is any different. IED is not something to play around with, and I highly doubt they'd be allowed to be heroes even if they are receiving proper treatment.

So I think in a world where Bakugou has it, he’d be forbidden. So boom here it is. I'm not going to confirm if he does or doesn't have it, because I'm also jabbing at the idea that it is because of his Quirk.

I am also now in love with the Watanabe twins.

[wannabanauthor]

For those of us who started watching 9-1-1 again or for the first time because of the BuckTommy kiss, you are valid for wanting to watch the show only for that. It might help to look up summaries of what happened on the wiki to get a better feels for the characters to help in your shipping experience, but it’s also okay if you only watch BuckTommy scenes.

You’re allowed to enjoy fictional media in whatever way you want that’s not illegal. There are no gold medals given out for how you watch it. At all. You’re allowed to like what you like and discard the rest for whatever reason.

Me personally, I cannot emotionally handle all the drama in the show. I watched S1 and most of S2, and it was so heavy that I looked up to see if a pairing would happen and saw that it didn’t, so I quit the show because it was not worth emotional rollercoaster it put me on.

I work in mental health in my real life, and I have seen so many horrifying things in charts that I do not need to seek out emotionally traumatizing fiction outside my designated PMS days where I let my emotions run free.

Seriously though. I’ve been struggling with feeling like not a real fan of the show, but then I realized that it doesn’t matter. I’m not here to impress online strangers who definitely don’t sign my paychecks or pay my bills. I do that on my own, so I don’t give a fuck how people perceive me as a fan.

I’m 32 years old, and I have experienced a lot of loss in my life over the past 11 years. So many deaths of loved ones and funerals. Let’s not even discuss the performance punishment at my previous job that stressed me out so much that I was ready to leave this earth twice, and my parents had to intervene to talk me down. My mom, my former work mom, and stepmom all got cancer a few years ago, like one after the other, and survived. Do you really think that I need to watch the entire show and know all the details to be a proper fan? Especially with how heavy 9-1-1 can be?

So for my fellow fans and shippers of BuckTommy, enjoy the show however you want. There’s no right or wrong way to watch a show. Engaging in fandom however, is a different thing all together. But it’s perfectly fine to ship what you ship and ignore everything else. I’ve done it with several shows. Hell, some shows got my attention because of ships, and I stayed after the show went downhill because of the ships, but then eventually stopped watching. Or most of the time I quit when I see my ship sinking because I’ve been there when my ships had one character killed in a triggering way that relates to their marginalized status, and that has led me to have real life emotional breakdowns.

So take care of your mental health, and watch shows for whatever reason you want. People might judge you or look down on you, but that’s their fucking problem. Not yours. Why are they so obsessed with you anyway?

Have a wonderful weekend, folks, and remember the block button is there for a reason.

[justmeinadaze]

"I'm Just a F**ked Up Girl Looking For Her Own Peace of Mind"

I'm currently experience this and struggling with it so I wrote a little thing here. *sighs*

TW: Mental health (anxiety and depression), child abuse, mentions of suicidal thoughts. Reader has a breakdown and the guys help her through.

Eddie firmly barreled open the front door as he powerwalked into the house. Steve had texted those two words he dreaded every time he got a text from the former jock. 

“Bad day.”

When they started dating you, you told them about your past. About the hospital stay and medication… the depressive lows and manic anxiety episodes… the thoughts that pushed through your head from time to time even though your life was so much better now than where it had been. 

“I’m not…easy…to be with.”

“That’s ok, honey, neither are we.”

You three had laughed at that at the time. 

The first time they experienced it broke their hearts for you. People always mentioned “feeling depressed” or “oh I’m so anxious about this thing!” but they discovered the true meaning of those words during your first break in front of them.

They hadn’t moved in with you yet so you were able to hide the fact that you hadn’t been sleeping. Your mind constantly reminding you of things that needed to be done and how you were a failure for not doing them. Nightmares plagued your dreams at all hours so you just gave up, scrolling through your phone instead as the mental illness continued to whisper.

“Do better. You’re lazy. May as well just get it over with and end the burden you put on people.”

That following evening you had a date night with them at their place and you couldn’t cancel. You genuinely wanted to see them but you were so tired…

“A good girlfriend goes out on dates. Go ahead. Cancel. Let’s see how quick they leave you for someone better.”

Through the first half of the movie they put on, your leg never stopped moving. Steve watched as your eyes never stayed focus in one place. Eddie felt your erratic energy radiate off you as you switched from holding his hand to letting go every few minutes. 

“Baby? Is everything ok?”

“Yeah.”, you responded a bit too enthusiastically. “Yeah, Ed, I’m fine. I’m just…I’m just a bit tired. It’s ok. I’ll get over it.”

Steve paused the film and as his hand petted your head you broke down. 

“I’m sorry. Fuck! Why can’t I be normal?! I’m ruining everything. You should just leave me and find someone better.”

“Hey, hey. No. Sweetheart, no one is better than you.”

“Talk to us, honey. What’s going on?”

You sobbed as you told them what had been happening over the last few days. The listened intently, comforting you anyway they could think of in that moment. 

“They don’t go away, Steve. Those thoughts never go away. Most days I can manage them but they are always there. W-Who can I tell? If I tell a therapist or a doctor they will put me back in the hospital even though I’m not going to do anything… I can’t tell my friends because I feel like I’m burdening them or they just don’t care. I can’t tell people in general because then I’m being ‘overdramatic’. I can’t take time to heal because I’m supposed to ‘suck it up’. So I do… Eddie, I want my brain to just stop telling me I want to die because I really don’t. Some days, though, on bad days…it’s so loud…”

The metalhead yanked you to his chest as you cried, crying with you as he tightened his grip as if he could squeeze all your broken pieces back together. He’d give anything to take your pain away, they both would. 

Today was a manic day and Steve picked up on it fast. Today was his day off and as soon as you woke up, you barely said a word. He asked you if you wanted breakfast and you shot him an angry look as you walked away. Turning on the tv, he put on the game but after a few minutes you came around the corner snapping at him to turn the noise down. Even when he muted the sound, he could hear you growling and swearing under your breath as you moved around the bedroom. 

Other people would see it as you being a brat; causing drama for the sake of drama. 

You wished you could make the world understand that was the opposite of what you wanted. In an episode like this everything was just…amplified…and for some reason your brain insisted it was on purpose. Steve was purposely turning up the volume to get under skin. The birds chirping outside knew you were on the edge so they gathered outside your window with intent. Even the clock on the bed side table was mocking you. 

Both men tried to handle days like this by themselves but when it got to a certain point, they knew they needed to come together to help you. That point came when you abruptly screamed and threw something hard against the wall. 

When Eddie entered the bedroom, Steve was off to the side watching you as you angrily paced, fluttering your fingers with eyes squeezed tightly closed. 

“What happened?”

Your eyes open at the sound of his voice as you shrugged and threw your hands in the air. 

“What happened? What the fuck happened?! Oh, I don’t know. Where do we start, Eddie?! This house is a fucking mess. I tell you guys all the time I need fucking help! I’m not a maid! I’m your girlfriend! But who fucking cares right?! We can just live in trash and be unhappy!”

They knew better than to respond. Before you three moved in together, you had suggested they come to therapy with you and they were surprised with some of the things they learned. They and even you knew they were more than accommodating when it came to housework and splitting household chores. When you were growing up, however, it was never enough.

“Jesus Christ, Y/N, look at this mess! Did you do anything today?!”

Little you looked around at the immaculate living room wondering what else you could have missed. 

“I work and I slave all day at a job I hate so you can have food and a roof! The least you could do is fucking get off your ass and clean a bit!”

“I-I’m sorry, mama.”

“Don’t be sorry. Just do your job! We’re a team remember? I need you to pull your weight.”

They could almost see interactions like that replaying through your eyes and it killed them. They also saw how fast the logic brain took over as you realized what you were doing before the depressive brain abruptly took over.

“I’m sorry. I-I don’t mean to… I know I’m being crazy…I just…” You lean your back against the wall and slide to the floor with your hands over your ears. 

Both men descend with you, crawling closer to you and as soon as Steve’s hand touches your bicep you head shoots up with eyes full of tears. 

“I’m sorry. You two don’t deserve this. I’m a terrible girlfriend.”

“No, baby, you’re not terrible. Everything’s ok.”

“I-I-I appreciate…e-e-every…everything you guys do. Fuck. Everything is so loud, Eddie. I can’t… I couldn’t…I just wanted to scream…”

“Then scream.” You laughed at his response as you wiped your eyes but he insisted. “I’m serious, sweetheart. Just let go.”

“What about…about the neighbors?”

“Like they don’t get an earful almost every night.”, he jokes, grinning when you laugh again. “Go ahead. Just lean back and let loose.”

You roll your eyes as you do what he says but it’s a small shout that barely echoes in the room. 

“Wow. That was both adorable and pathetic. Come on now. Steve, why don’t you try?”

Chuckling, he struggles to stop smiling making you giggle harder before finally closing his eyes and letting out a good scream that makes the metalhead clap. 

“That’s the king of Hawkins right there! Now try again princess.”

Sighing at his antics, you do as he says actually letting go while they scrunch their face and cover their ears. 

“Woo! That was like Banshee from X-Men! Way to go!”

“What about you, nerd?”, you ask as he smirks.

Eddie doesn’t even hesitate as he leans his head back and howls loudly like a wolf. 

“I love you both.”, you softly grin as you reach for both boy’s hands. “I’m sorry for being…me.”

Wrapping his arms around your shoulders, Steve tilts you closer to him and kisses the top of your head. 

“Don’t ever apologize for being you, honey. We love you. Every part of you.”

“We know everyday you’re trying, baby. Unlike your mother who insists on being an evil little gremlin.” You giggle at Eddie’s interpretation. “Like your wizard of a therapist said, healing takes time and we’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“Jesus, Munson, you ARE a nerd.”, Steve jests. “But the other stuff he said I agree with.”

“Oh please! Tell me her doctor doesn’t sound like Gandalf from time to time.”

“I still have no idea who that is.”

After rising to his feet, the metalhead grabs your hands and pulls you off the floor. 

“Well, I know what we’re doing tonight.”, he announces with a mischievous smirk before kissing your lips and running back towards the living room. 

“I’ll make dinner.”, Steve murmurs as he leans down to kiss your lips as well. 

“Oh, you know he won’t allow that. He’s going to want you in front of the tv so you don’t miss anything.”

“True. Hm. How about Enzos delivered?”

When you nod, he caresses your cheek before disappearing after his friend. 

As your eyes glance around the room again everything seems different than it did before. Instead of seeing a mess ridden, dark empty area, you saw a bright room filled with memories of the men you loved making you laugh and feel loved unconditionally. 

“But for how long? It’s only a matter of time.”

“No, it’s not.”, you whisper. 

Taking a deep breath, you head towards the living room where Eddie and Steve greet you with a comforting smile. 

[constantwarriorblogs-blog]

This is something I thought of today

Someone made this mod for Sonic Adventure 2 and it's one I've thought about installing when I'm able to play the game again.

I also play the chao garden a lot and thought about having this mod active while visiting it and now I can't stop imagining Nine finding or starting a chao garden and unintentionally becoming a chao dad.

Or he finds one trying to get the cocoanuts off the palm trees and he has no idea how the Chao got there given the current state of The Grim and now he just has a random Chao to take care of

I can see him (reluctantly) raising this Chao while telling himself "it's for research" and planning to send it back to whatever shatter space it came from, only to get attached to it and refusing to let it go.

[wilted-astraea]

Happy OCD Awareness Week!!

Second Week of October ( October 13th-20th, 2024 )

I don't see enough posts on this website about this awareness week, so I just wanted to come on here and talk a bit about the condition, the reality of having OCD, debunking myths, explaining how OCD functions in the brain, etc..

Firstly, let's get through the basics!

What is OCD?

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is a chronic, long-lasting mental health disorder that is primarily made up of two major components — obsessions and compulsions. People with this condition experience repetitive, unwanted, and often horrifying intrusive thoughts (obsessions) that lead to repetitive or ritualistic behaviors known as compulsions. Compulsions are performed in order to alleviate the anxiety and distress that are brought up by obsessions and serve as a way to neutralize or get rid of them.

Intrusive thoughts (obsessions) don't always come in the form of a random 'what if' thought. They can show up as urges, mental images, commands, ideas, and even physical sensations.

Compulsions are typically depicted as physical acts such as hand washing and cleaning or organizing. Did you know OCD compulsions can also be mental? Some people with OCD, such as myself, experience what is known as Pure-O. This is a subtype where the person has mental compulsions that are invisible and can't be observed by others. Examples of mental compulsions are counting, mental reviewing, compulsive praying, and more!

Understanding OCD starts with understanding the cycle!

What are Intrusive Thoughts, and Where Do They Come From?

If you've been on the internet a lot, you may have come across the term "intrusive thoughts." Unfortunately, like many other mental health terms, it has been widely misused on platforms such as Tiktok and revised to mean something that it does not — often getting confused for impulsive thoughts.

Intrusive thoughts are defined as unwanted, involuntary thoughts, images, or ideas that pop up in the mind and are often taboo and/or terrifying. One important thing to note is that they are "ego-dystonic," meaning that they are opposite to a person's true character, beliefs, and desires. This is what makes them so distressing and confusing for folks with OCD and other disorders.

But where do they come from exactly? Some researchers believe that intrusive thoughts are misinterpreted warning signals from the brain. Our brain projects these thoughts and images to warn us about potential dangers so that we can avoid these hypothetical situations and be prepared. (ex: standing on the side of a tall bridge and getting a random thought of jumping off) Similarly to why we experience feelings of anxiety. However, if you live with OCD or other conditions such as PTSD, this system is in overdrive and no longer functions properly.

The Reality of OCD

OCD is one of the most misunderstood and trivialized mental health conditions in the world. Many cultures have a very idealistic view of the disorder, often reducing it down to a personality quirk and has even been seen as a "beneficial" disorder to have. This could not be further from the truth and the reality of living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder is much more grim and scary. Living with this condition looks like so many things for so many people, so lets play a game!

(DISCLAIMER: If this is triggering for you, don't participate!!!) Imagine your worst fears. Think about how horrified you would be if those fears came true. If they have come true, remember how you felt in that moment.

Now imagine living with a brain that involuntarily forces you to think about those fears and gives you the false signal that they might come true if you don't do something to prevent it. Imagine doing something to prevent that fear from happening, but all it did is reinforce those fears even stronger, and now you're trapped thinking about them for what feels like an eternity.

THIS IS OCD!

A person living with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder will spend at least an hour or more performing compulsions in response to these obsessions. Onlookers might see us performing a compulsion and not understand why we're doing them. What you see on the outside is VERY different from what's going on in the inside. WE DO NOT ENJOY OUR COMPULSIONS, OR OUR OBSESSIONS!!!

Although obsessions don't always have to be centered around fear. Obsessions present in an infinite number of ways and look very different for each individual.

Common OCD Subtypes:

Contamination OCD, Harm OCD, Pedophilia OCD, Relationship OCD, Sexual Orientation OCD, Religious (Scrupulosity) OCD, Magical Thinking OCD, Suicidal OCD, and much more!

These obsessions can latch onto any part of you or your life. They can attack your fears, values, morals, identity/self-concept, relationships, and even trauma.

The Role of DOUBT

Did you know OCD has a nickname? It's known as the "doubting disorder." This is because doubt is a hallmark symptom of OCD and plays a huge role in the way OCD presents. When you have this disorder, you're unable to trust your own reality and you lack confidence in your attention, memory and perceptions. While most people can have an intrusive thought and brush it off, a person with OCD will experience a cognitive distortion where we apply meaning to these thoughts. "What does this thought mean?" "What does it say about me?" "What does it say about the future?" which forms an obsession and causes intense feelings of anxiety, distress and dread. We are unable to handle the uncertainty of these thoughts and what it says about reality. Therefore, we perform compulsions.

If you ask a person with OCD what it's like. You'll often hear it depicted as an evil entity hijacking our brains, having two brains, or being in an abusive relationship with your own brain.

In my experience, it really is similar to being in an abusive relationship with your brain. OCD comes into your life and gives you a false sense of security. It wants you to believe that it's there to keep you safe. But OCD is like a leech. It gets fuel off of your compulsions and uses that fuel to strike you with more obsessions while simultaneously gaslighting you and making you believe that you're crazy for having these thoughts. It convinces you that you need to keep performing compulsions because "it keeps you safe" when, in reality, compulsions reinforce our cycle. Compulsions may help you temporarily. But, what actually happens is that you're teaching your brain that the obsession was, in fact, a real threat and performing that compulsion actually protected you. This makes you more likely to perform that compulsion again when the obsession resurfaces because your brain is tricked into thinking it's a safe mechanism.

When we re-experience our obsessions, they may even multiply overtime. I'm going to give a personal example!!

In 2022, I experienced a severe Relationship OCD episode where I was plagued with fears of a person abandoning me. The initial obsession was "im afraid of this person leaving me" and after performing a compulsion, it then went from that thought to "what if I hurt him and he abandons me?" and then to "what if he finds somebody better and replaces me, which means he'll abandon me!!!!!" So every new intrusive thought can be traced back to the initial obsession — the fear of abandonment. Every compulsion performed keeps you more and more stuck.

Debunking Myths and Misconceptions

Myth #1: OCD is about being overly clean and organized.

While obsessions with cleanliness and symmetry do exist, this stereotype oversimplifies these behaviors and fails to recognize the deeper issues that cause these ritualistic actions. The act of cleaning things excessively or rearranging items is often dumbed down to a preference, when the reality is that the person is trying to reduce their anxiety stemming from unsettling obsessions.

Myth #2: OCD is just a personality quirk

This often coincides with the first one. A personality quirk is something that is taken lightly, but this is a mental ILLNESS. We cannot simply control these obsessions and compulsions, even though a majority of us are aware of the irrational and excessive nature of them. We do not enjoy them and they cause impairment, affecting multiple areas of our lives.

Although the exact cause of OCD is unknown, it's thought to be a combination of factors such as genetics, brain structure, and environmental factors such as chronic stress or traumatic life events.

Myth #3: Everyone is "A little OCD"

OCD is often used as an adjective to describe certain traits or behaviors such as being clean and organized. This language is highly dismissive of those living with the actual condition and paints an inaccurate picture of the disorder, more palatable for the general public to "relate to"

YOU DO NOT HAVE OCD JUST FOR HAVING A PREFERENCE FOR CLEANLINESS. IF YOU LIKE IT, IT'S NOT OCD!!!!!

OCD is a more complex condition than the general public makes it look. Reminder that the OCD brain is physically structured differently. It is a neurobiological disorder.

Myth #4: OCD is rare

According to the International OCD Foundation, 1 in 40 adults have it, or will develop it. 1 in 100 children and teens have the condition, which is about the same number of autistic youth worldwide. This may only account for those with an official diagnosis. Many go undiagnosed for years due to harmful misconceptions and stigma.

Myth #5: OCD isn't treatable

OCD isn't curable, but it can be treated with a combination of medication and therapy. ERP therapy is the golden standard treatment for OCD, but some may benefit from other forms of therapy. Antidepressants, or SSRIs, are also used.

Myth #6: Compulsions can only be physical

As discussed before, there is a subtype called "Pure-O OCD" or "Pure OCD" this name can be misleading because it implies that there are only obsessions, but people with this subtype experience mental compulsions. This type of OCD is harder to detect and people often don't realize they're performing mental compulsions because they feel more "automatic" and are seen as normal to the person performing the compulsions.

There are more misconceptions, but I'll leave it there!!!

Let's Talk Stigma!

While the stereotypes applied to OCD often leave the condition to be trivialized and not taken as seriously as other mental health conditions, it can be just as demonized.

In recent years, we've seen a surge of people opening up about their OCD-related intrusive thoughts/obsessions, only to be met with scrutiny from others who don't understand what intrusive thoughts are.

Intrusive thoughts are wrongfully understood as "hidden desires" that a person is trying to suppress. This idea perpetually paints a person struggling with intrusive thoughts as a "dangerous" person who needs to be avoided and locked away. Thought crimes do not exist, but our thoughts are often viewed as criminal if they are not socially acceptable. This can inadvertently worsen a person's OCD symptoms and cause more unnecessary reactions to thoughts that aren't based in reality. For example, highly stigmatized subtypes such as Pedophilia OCD involve intrusive thoughts about children that the sufferer does NOT align with. If they did, they wouldn't feel the need to perform compulsions. They wouldn't experience such intense anxiety and distress as a result. The real them doesn't want to hurt children. The real them may value the children in their lives (like a family member) but living with OCD means that it can ATTACK YOUR VALUES. OCD IS A GASLIGHTER!

This leads me into the ever exhausting topic of *sigh* Tiktok trends! If you've been around, you've probably seen the phrase "I let the intrusive thoughts win"

This trend is very damaging for OCD sufferers and has inadvertently added to the stigma and misconceptions around the disorder. Not only is the term 'intrusive thought' being widely misused across the internet to mean something that it doesn't, but the phrase itself is an oxymoron.

Users who participate in this trend often confuse an intrusive thought with an impulsive thought. They'll come across a thought such as "I should dye my hair pink" and get on social media with pink hair, claiming that they "let the intrusive thought win" when they actually acted on an impulse, an IMPULSIVE thought. This is harmful for those living with intrusive thoughts because it incites the idea that people dealing with an intrusive thought may act on those thoughts. So whenever a person comes on social media and decides to open up about their OCD-related intrusive thoughts, they're met with backlash from people who claim that those aren't intrusive thoughts, when they in fact ARE. People have conflated these two types of thoughts, leading to further misunderstandings of intrusive thoughts and OCD as a whole.

Additionally, this phrase doesn't make sense. It's an oxymoron, meaning that it directly contradicts itself.

Little PSA to those reading:

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS LETTING AN INTRUSIVE THOUGHT WIN. IF IT "WINS" IT WAS NEVER AN INTRUSIVE THOUGHT, IT WAS AN IMPULSE!!!

A person living with intrusive thoughts are the least likely to act on them, the opposite of an impulse. We are terrified of them. We do not entertain them.

Closing Off

If this post resonates with you and you're suspecting that you or somebody you love might be dealing with OCD, please try and book an appointment with a mental health professional who can diagnose you. I will link some resources below to help you get started!!

Living with OCD can look different for everybody, as it is a very individualistic disorder, but it can be extremely debilitating. The World Health Organization (WHO) has ranked OCD among one of the top 10 most disabling conditions worldwide, of any kind. Yet, OCD still remains one of the most misunderstood and trivialized mental illnesses. It's a much more complex disorder than people realize and can be easily confused with other conditions. I do support research-based self diagnosis, but if you're going to, please keep in mind that OCD is more than experiencing an intrusive thought. There is a diagnostic criteria that must be met.

OCD isn't cute, funny, or quirky. It's not a benefit to those who have it. It should be taken just as seriously as other mental disorders, but unfortunately, it's not. Statistics show that people living with OCD are 10x more likely to die by suicide and more struggle with ideation due to the velocity of obsessions. Many people with OCD report feeling incredibly lonely, as obsessions and compulsions take up many hours of their day and cause them to stay stuck in their heads, unable to connect to the world around them. So if you or somebody you love is struggling with OCD, just know that there is help out there for you. You're never alone, and remember: YOU ARE NOT YOUR THOUGHTS!!

List of Resources Here!

[witness2caesar]

This post will be about my depression so if you don't want to read that, then scroll.

I had a major drop today, which had me in bed for a good while until I tried to do some prayer because I felt the need to ( it was to no one in particular, I just needed the comfort I think ) cried a little bit during that, I felt someone during it but I couldn't tell who it was. Afterward, though, I had the urge to take a very long shower and do the usual stuff like wash my face, lotion, brush my teeth, and actually have the energy to brush my hair out. I feel a bit better, not entirely, but it's better than how I felt beforehand. My cat is now being super cuddly and clingy right now, so that's another bonus .

[arcadia75]

Why Janeway needs a therapist

I got a request for a follow-up to list out why Janeway also needs to see a therapist

Note: I'm treating at least Mosaic as canon. Some of the Voyager stuff might be out of order and probably forgetting stuff.

Got captured by Cardassians and had to listen to her Captain be tortured (and was possibly tortured herself)

Lost her fiancé and father in a shuttle accident, in which she could maybe have saved one of them but didn't

We have no knowledge of what she may have been thru in her career before Voyager. Wolf 359? Other battles?

Lost x% of her crew when thrown to the Delta Quadrant

Made the decision to blow up the Array that stranded the remainder of her crew 70 years from home

Effectively lost another fiancé by stranding herself 70 years from home

Had to deal with a race wanting to steal her crews organs

Had to deal with a Cardassian spy on her ship

Had to deal with integrating the Maquis crew into her Starfleet crew

First Officer got kidnapped by above Cardiassian spy

Got hyper-evolved into a salamander and had babies with her helmsman

Had to deal with Q, on multiple occasions

Saw a double of herself blow up her ship to save them, plus had to accept a duplicate Ops officer and baby onto her ship

Had to kill one being to get her Security officer and Morale officer back

Got stranded on a planet with her first officer, fell in love with him, and then got rescued where they had to go back to being just friends

Got ship taken over by hostile force and then stranded on another planet, where crew died

Had to rescue her Ops officer and Helmsman from prison

Ferengi fucked up a way home

Had to deal with time traveling back to 1996 Earth and saving the future

Single handedly fought a macrovirus to save the ship

Died. Then gaslight by an entity posing as her dead father

First Officer brainwashed by a bunch of former Borg

Had to save officers from a rouge holodeck program written by the Cardassian spy from 3 years ago

Had to make a deal with the Borg, that her First Officer kind of went back on and then fought with him

Had to rehabilitate a former Borg drone

First Officer brainwashed to fight in a alien war

Brain chemistry messed with by aliens doing experiments

Destroyed the ship in a timeline that reset

Fiancé officially broke up with her.

Aliens captured the ship and brainwashed entire crew to participate in war simulations

Switched bodies with some of her crew (was this in Vis a Vis or just fanfic?)

Had to deal with the Omega particle

Alien that they all forget was on their ship and fell in love with her First Officer

Duplicated into goo, then dies later when she doesn't realize she's a duplicate

Major depressive episode during a part of space with no stars

Gets her crew killed by deciding to try a slipstream drive

Demoted helmsman for defying orders

Had to play mind games with alien who wanted to fuck her

Had to discipline her love struck ops officer when she's not getting any herself

Drove her First Officer/Best Friend/Would be lover to the brink of madness to save the ship

More temporal mechanics shenanigans

Found another Starfleet ship and then they turned out to be killers and crazy

Holographic boyfriend malfunctions

Former alien crew member who evolved to a higher being comes back super pissed off

Willingly assimilated into a Borg

Had to help First Officer put the ship back together after it was split into 37 different timeframes

Brainwashed to work in a factory, falls in love with an alien, forced to give him up when her memory gets restored

Had to deal with future self coming back and telling her the awful things about the future

Watched First Officer/Best Friend/Would be Lover get involved with her protégé

At least a year we don't know about. Hopefully she saw a therapist

Promoted to Admiral then sends Starfleet flagship on a mission that costs the life of one of their most beloved officers

Three years we don't know about. Hopefully she at least took a couple vacations

Sends Former First Officer / Best Friend / Would be Lover on a mission where he gets lost 52 years into the future

Spends possibly 3 years looking for said First Officer / Best Friend / Would be Lover

Retires! Buys a nice house! Gardens!

Forced out of retirement cuz synthetic beings attack Mars shipyards

[j0kers-light]

What mental illness do you think J has? All of them are different but I'm talking about Nolan Joker

Hey hi my lovely anon! 🖤✨

Great question!! Out of all the various Joker’s we’ve had over the years, I find Ledger!Joker to be the most sane, and that’s saying something. Let’s discuss.

From Joker’s wiki

The Joker was [is?] a psychopathic anarchist, nihilist, and criminal mastermind (self-professed "agent of chaos") who rose to power in the criminal underworld by thrusting Gotham City into turmoil, and drew Batman ever closer to crossing the line between hero and vigilante.

Heath Ledger, the actor who portrayed The Joker, described him as a "psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy.

I don’t think Ledger’s Joker is crazy. He just thinks differently that is wildly frowned upon. It’s what makes him a great villain. He’s actually rather smart/cunning to always be twelve steps ahead of The GCPD and Batman.

He became very serious when ppl called him crazy. Joker outright denied it, like it was a fact. He is not.

Of course, the good guy always wins, so we’ll never see The Joker prevail, although he gave Batman a run for his money every instance in the movie. Joker was always in control, something that would be difficult to maintain if actually insane.

And I’m not taking up for his actions, the guy is dangerous, but in a more philosophical way. Joker makes people think deeply. He is an expert on mind manipulation. A jester of mind games if you will. 

The only thing that truly undermined Joker was the ‘goodness of others’ not playing into his Ferry experiment.

🙄😒 the movie is set in NY. You’re gonna make me believe they didn’t blow up each other’s ferry in the end? Okay Hollywood. People are crueler than you want to believe.

I consider Nolan’s Joker as mentioned above—psychopathic and nihilistic. Schizophrenic leans more towards the comics version of J so I disagree there.

Compared to comic Joker and even the Arkham Games J that I reference frequently, Ledger!Joker is a pretty tame guy.

I’d invite him over for dinner. Can’t say that for the rest.

[positivelypositive]

🌻

if you've tried...

...to protect a loved one from negative thoughts, self doubt, and mental health issues, even in the most minimal ways -

then know that you're a good person. you care, you empathize, and above all you try to help.

never doubt your goodness. you're a star ✨

[my-autism-adhd-blog]

As a Neurodivergent, When I’m happy, I feel the happiest I could ever feel. When I’m sad, I feel the saddest I could feel.

Neurodivergent_lou