Kitt O’Malley

Search results for: “bipolar”

  • Not My Last Advocate Post

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    This is far from my last advocate post. I haven’t even gotten started. In My Last Advocate Post, Susan Zarit of Bravely Bipolar makes the case that we who live with mental illness must organize and speak up. I strongly agree with her concluding points and have added details of my own based on my experience. We lack psychiatrists…

  • To conceive or not to conceive – Is that really a valid question?

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    Thank you, Edel Williams of Placid’s Place for this blog post. When I was pregnant with my son, I was under treatment for depression, but was not yet diagnosed bipolar type II. That diagnosis I received when he was two. We ended up deciding not to have more children, not because we feared passing on…

  • ‘You Don’t Know’ & ‘I Am the One’

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    Susan Zarit of Bravely Bipolar posted this video clip from the 2009 Tony Awards Performance of ‘You Don’t Know’ and ‘I Am the One’ from the Broadway musical Next to Normal on her blog post Another Sleepless Night. The video clip had me in tears. No doubt others living with mental illness and their families will find the performance…

  • Mental Health Resources

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    RESOURCES IN THE UNITED STATES Descriptions are directly quoted from each resource’s website. DBSA: Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance dbsalliance.org Support Groups Help Depression and bipolar disorder can be isolating illnesses, but DBSA support groups can help you connect with others who have been there as well. Visit a DBSA support group and get the…

  • NAMI Target Exercise

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      Target Exercise: Relapse Prevention Planning © NAMI Peer-to-Peer Recovery Education Course Week Seven Class Handouts (Rev. 2006) included the Target Exercise shown above, the text of which I’ve summarized below. In the bull’s-eye, we put what we MUST do, or MUST not do, to live well with mental illness. I MUST take my medicine, sleep, and not…

  • Thank You NAMI Walks Donors

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    Thank you to my wonderful generous NAMI Walks donors, all of whom I know and love: my friend Jonathan, my friend Kathleen, my sister Tracey and her husband Joseph, my parents, my Uncle Larry, and Dyane Harwood. There is still time to donate to NAMI. As you may recall from my previous post, I am participating…

  • NAMI Week Five

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    At the end of week five of NAMI’s Peer-to-Peer training, we learned the concept behind Dialectical Behavior Therapy or DBT. To begin seeing the world in less black and white terms and to learn to hold and accept uncomfortable and opposing feelings, we made dialectical statements describing two roses in opposing terms. My two roses here are both…

  • You’ve Got This!

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    Healthline launched a video campaign called “You’ve Got This” where we who live with bipolar disorder can make a short video offering hope and inspiration to those recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Check out videos from the campaign: http://www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder/youve-got-this Healthline donates $10 for every submitted video to To Write Love On Her Arms. The more exposure the campaign gets, the more videos…

  • Beautiful Blogger Award

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    Thank you so much, Just Plain Ol’ Vic at justplainolvic.wordpress.com, for nominating me for the Beautiful Blogger Award. Just Plain Ol’ Vic started blogging for support regarding his wife’s bipolar disorder. Spouses and families of those of us with mental illness need support, too. In the US resources include NAMI Family-to-Family which is an educational course for family, caregivers and friends of individuals living with…

  • NAMI Week Four

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    Today was week four of NAMI Peer-to-Peer classes. In week four, we shared our personal stories. I am taking the opportunity to copy and paste my story here: My Story As a freshman at UCLA, I fell into a deep depression, believing that my parents, my sister, the whole world would be better off without…