#mental illness tw

[youneedsomeprompts]

~ IN A VOID ~ FORESHADOWING DEPRESSION PROMPTS

requested by: @crochet-cafe request: How can I foreshadow or hint that my character has severe depression? I want to make the reveal a big deal when it happens and catch readers off guard

Feel free to use and reblog!

having other characters associate the person's mood with their character traits ("they're always grumpy")

masking their depression really well but being absolutely drained and a lot worse as soon as they're alone

appearing as a 'neutral' person, when their neutral mood actually indicates the emptiness they feel inside

their growing passivity makes them fade into the background

the more excited other people get the more downcast the person becomes (they get perceived as a killjoy)

they don't accept invitations anymore

they always say they're busy but can't answer the question what exactly they're doing

they show no emotional reaction in a fight

everyone says about the person that they have such a hard shell

they usually have been very caring and sensitive to everyone around them but suddenly they seem like they couldn't care less

for more inspiration/how to help: ~ SHOWING SUPPORT FOR SOMEONE WITH DEPRESSION ~ WRITING PROMPTS

note: If you or someone you know feels that way and really needs help, please seek professional help <3

[gor3sigil]

I have to share a story about why I HATE the term "trauma dumping".

So basically, we were at my at the time partner's house with friends of them and we were talking about mental health.

I don't remember exactly how we came to this but one woman started talking about psychosis and her sister who is schizophrenic.

She had a lot of preconception about this and, while I am not schizophrenic, I dealt with psychosis and hallucinations.

So I started to talk about my experiences with that, stating AGAIN that I wasn't schizophrenic but I thought it was an interesting point of view.

Some other people started asking questions so I answered them, asking here and there if it was okay for me to talk about it, and nobody, INCLUDING the woman who started the conversation in the first place, said anything.

And at one point I saw she was uncomfortable and asked her if she'd rather drop the subject.

And then, she BLEW UP on me saying that I was trauma dumping, that she felt like she was partaking in a conversation she NEVER ASKED to partake in (again, she was the one who brought up the subject), that I was being insensitive and over sharing shit and that she didn't like it.

Like, bitch, I asked a bunch of time if it was okay, you were the one talking about these symptoms without even living it and trying to teach people some crappy over the counter shit, but now that she wasn't the Main Character with the Knowledge it became an issue and I was the problem.

I know that I'm open about my experiences and tend to talk about it but I ALWAYS make sure that people on the other end are okay with me sharing this. This was just utter bullshit.

And online or IRL, I just noticed that the term "trauma dumping" is just the easy way out of a conversation that makes you feel uncomfortable while putting the blame on the person doing it.

You can absolutely put boundaries, but don't you dare guilt someone just to avoid being seen as an asshole and make yourself clean of anything. It's healthy to state that you are uncomfortable talking about things, but you can do so without making up shit about others.

[demiboydemon]

My new therapist: your mental health isn’t perfect, but it’s nothing to be ashamed of :) if you broke your arm, you wouldn’t be ashamed of that

Me, internally: bold of you to assume I would be unashamed of a broken arm

[hmshermitcraft]

i have the whole au where scar meets grian in depression and he takes care of grian while the guy is having deserved rest. combs his hair, remind him to take meds, brings him his favourite sweets and scar's support and help makes him go to therapy and they live happily

It's not perfect. There's ups and downs. Scar messes up sometimes, Grian messes up sometimes. Sometimes they both mess up (more often in funny ways but...) Scar attends therapy himself, because he loves Grian, he loves him so much. But sometimes it's hard to carry them both through the rough patches without support.

Yet, despite all the difficulties they face, they carve a place out for themselves where they can be happy. They love each other, and they've made a home.

[4ssmallasad0ll]

i’m going to vibrate if my parents say no to therapy AGAIN after i talk to my doctor abt it.

also i have a question

i used to think i might’ve had a specific mental illness but now idk so how do i ask my doctor to help if i don’t know like what i need help for yk

if anyone knows pls tell me !

[jofms]

open @anchoragestarters

where: maiden alley cinema

josette had quickly taken ill after the discovery of the case at her new place of work but she needed to get back to work to start stabilising herself. it felt like one thing after another and the hardest part was staying afloat whilst she felt like she was getting pushed down, harder each time. the brunette had finished her ticketing shift at the maiden alley cinema for the evening and it hadn't been so bad. it wasn't something that majorly elevated her stress levels, she managed to have some interesting conversations with customers and employees alike about movies and themes - things that took her mind off things for at least a few hours. putting on her jacket ready to go, she looked towards the door and just stopped. what would have been the coming of the night sky just filled her with absolute dread. had she left it too late? she'd worked a little overtime but hadn't expected the light to drop this significantly. what if whoever left the tape for her was waiting? they'd already been inside her place of work and had known about her recent employment. the woman just hung around the front door, onlookers wondering if she was coming or going.

[theprofessionalpromptmaker]

“Maybe it’s a good mood. Maybe it’s a manic episode.”

[jovies]

just watched the new music video (i haven't watched any since bejeweled but want to roast the mental illness appropriation)

lmfao i feel like i watched this exact video intro from the 2005ish emo scene. this is genuinely so cringe and low quality and corny.

some lyrics made me wonder if she ever did go to a hospital and kept it super quiet but nah this looks like someone who, again, filters that idea of "i was so horny for matty i lost my actual mind" through 2005 panic! at the disco visuals.

the video is so genuinely bad and undeveloped, it says absolutely nothing, there's no connection at all between the intro setting and the conclusion

and in summation i've been in the actual psych hospital 4 times in my life, two full hospitalizations and two partial. and i'm not mad about the video because this is just hilariously inept.

anyway thinking tonight about the classical pianist i met the last time i was there who played Rachmaninoff for us in the rec room and provided some of the only calm i could feel during that time, shout out to the real artists who haven't turned their art into flavorless pink sludge mcpatties and produce stuff like a shitty low budget video by an emo band launching a freshman album with $500 and a shooting studio that they got into for a few hours by bribing security with weed

[zuzsenpai]

mental health update

I've been having a pretty shit year as far as mental health goes. I mean, I had an actual mental health crisis in February that was one of the scariest times in my life. It was all because I was trying to taper off a psych med and apparently that was a BAD idea.

In the months that followed, I was able to avoid a bad depression spiral thanks to getting back on that particular med. But I've been getting more and more exhausted, and when I have anxiety, I have it REAL bad. Like shaking and chest pain bad. Thought I had covid and nearly passed out waiting the 15 minutes for the test results. Zuko was sick and had surgery and I was in a constant state of misery and shaking and dizziness. I know I should probably get like... Xanax or something for this. Maybe I will in the future.

Anyway, my focus is almost non-existent these days. During and after Zuko's health crisis last month, I have been at a point where my brain just can't move. I think I've spent the last 30 days scrolling tumblr because that and projects at work (the ones with deadlines) are the only things I can actually get my brain to do.

I want to work on fanfic. So I open a project, but then am immediately like "no I can't get myself to mentally be on the same page as this project". I think about a different project and my chest feels tight because I both want to do it and don't want to do it. It's painful. I accomplish nothing. I want to play a game or watch a show but the thought of putting effort into those things destroys my ability to do them. I just sit and continue scrolling tumblr. I long for conversation but when I'm actually conversing with someone, I can only manage a few words and I hate myself for it. I long for validation or praise on past projects to help motivate me into writing fanfic again, but I know that's selfish and I know it doesn't motivate shit.

This is where I am right now. I don't know how to have fun or relax. I don't know how to focus on anything. I don't know how to want to focus on anything. I waste entire days fretting about doing nothing.

I've also never been more exhausted in my life. I got bloodwork done on vitamin D, B12, iron, and thyroid. All are within normal range. So I'm getting a consultation with a sleep doctor (I get about 5% deep sleep per night, which is NOT good). We'll see how that goes.

I'm starting an exercise routine soon. I'm hoping that does something helpful. But I keep pushing the date back in my mind like "let's start exercising next week"... so you can imagine how that's going.

[sweetmage]

Me: I should be more open about living with BPD to fight the stigma!

Also me, affected by the stigma: But what if people don't understand what BPD actually is outside of pop culture demonization/fear mongering and are scared of me?

:(

[youneedsomeprompts]

~ SHOWING SUPPORT FOR SOMEONE WITH DEPRESSION ~ WRITING PROMPTS

requested by: anonymous

Feel free to use and reblog!

offering hugs

helping them with simple life tasks without judging

bringing them food they like

"I'm here for you."

trying to give them as much comfort as they can

telling them stories from the outside world to distract them

accepting that not every attempt to help actually does something for the other

just sitting in silence with them & being there

"Do you want to talk?" "No." "It's alright."

wrapping them up in a blanket

reading to them

talking them into going out into the green for recreation

being patient

not having expectations but being happy about every sign of recovery

making sure that they're staying hydrated enough

"I made this for you."

showing them they're happy to see them even if the other isn't in a great state ("I love you regardless")

gentle gestures of affection (brushing through their hair, caressing, etc.)

giving them soft smiles

holding them when they need to cry

note: I'm not a professional, and this is not a list of perfect ways to help a depressed person but a list of ways people would maybe try to help. If you or someone you know really needs help, please seek professional help <3

[nekrophoria]

Situational depression, seasonal depression and chronic depression are having a freakin party in my head rn

[brett-is-afraid]

"My mental health has been fine."

I spent five days straight crying every day, sleeping for most of it and drinking for the rest of it. During those days, everything I loved the days before felt like all the joy had been sucked out of it lol

Part of being okay again is realizing you have not been okay, though <3

[gojonanami]

sometimes I think about the fact I have ptsd on top of my other mental illnesses and I wonder how I function as a human—

[autumnshowell]

who: @sloedownwulf

coffee. coffee. coffee. she's had so much fucking coffee. The eggs and the sausage come and she doesn't touch them because the smell of the grease turns her stomach. She needs to write... something. Anything. A.J.'s fronting the bill for her school loans, the gallery opening... now that some of the dust from the absolute, well, wreck of the last week is starting to settle... all of that's reminded her that she hasn't fucking created anything. And they're not going to hang a poem of hers up in a gallery. Nobody's going to buy a one-off vignette of hers and hang it on a wall. That's not the reason she enjoys writing, and it never has been - but the barbs from her mother, real, and the jokes from A.J., in good nature but no less painful to hear, have her feeling some type of way about how useless that fifty thousand dollar piece of paper has become.

But its fucking hard. It's so fucking hard to write. To focus. She can't sleep because she still hasn't stopped being afraid that the world she wakes up into is going to be the real one, where she's being eaten alive. And the fucking... the sound. Everything bothers her. Things she's never noticed before. The hum a light gives off - the fucking awful sounds of a restaurant full of people stuffing meat and eggs and syrup down their fucking mouths. What started as brainstorming has turned into incoherent scribbling that she can't even read, and when the booth next to her scrapes silverware on ceramics it sends a shiver down her spine so intense that she snaps the pen in her hand in half, spilling indigo all down the palm of her hand. Autumn stands, abrupt, slaps... what, one, two, three tens down for her two eggs and sausage and coffee that she hasn't touched, and rushes out, shouldering past a waitress with a cursoy, grumbled apology on her way out. The outside light hits her eyes like a truck - even the colors seem off somehow. She's got hours to kill until she has to go pick A.J. back up, so she decides to just walk, rounding the corner to cut through an alley behind the diner and get back to the park where she's left the rental. She stops dead in the alley, sun overhead beating down on a shaggy, mangy brown hulk not fifty yards away, snarling and growling and staring at her. She feels her breath catch when she sees it tip its head down, tearing a hollow into a body underneath its paws, muzzle all slick and red. She recognizes the body, because its her. The beast snaps a barking grunt at her before it plunges its head into the cavity, and Autumn feels everything well up and out of her, spilling half-drunk coffee out of her guts and into a corner of the alley. When she looks up, though, it's just her and the daytime air. Then she hears somebody call out to her from behind, and she stands, shaking her head, trying to act like nothing that just happened happened. Pre-emptively, she puts an ink-stained hand up to the stranger "I'm fine, just... I'm fine."

[our-flag-means-love]

when i tell you i've been hanging on by a thread all week.