Inspired by work people have done on madness maps and mental health first aid kits, I decided to make a checklist/flowchart to use when I am having a particularly hard time or am in crisis. It was a good process for me to make because it helped me to really think about what has helped me or caused me trouble in the past. I really like that we can make these sorts of tools for ourselves instead of relying on more general (often judgmental) dos and don’ts or advice from people who never know us as well as we know ourselves.

Tags: anxiety, art, BDSM, beauty, body, checklists, comfort, counseling, crisis, crisis checklist, depression, eating, emotions, enjoyment, exercise, fear, flowcharts, friends, games, hormones, hunger, hypnotic, illness, injury, insomnia, isolation, journaling, laundry, loneliness, madness map, madness maps, manageability, massage, medication, meditation, mental health, mental health first aid kits, messy apartments, misanthropy, museums, music, pain, painkillers, panic, parks, pets, projects, psych meds, psychiatrists, QueerMentalHealth.org, responsibility, rest, restlessness, self-fear, self-harm, self-help, self-help books, sex, showering, sleep, sleeping environment, snacks, social activities, stair climbing, stress, supplements, support groups, symptoms, task management, tea, The Icarus Project, therapists, therapy, tools, vulnerability, withdrawal, yoga

I’m in a DBT group right now. It’s comprised of four modules, and I just finished my second, which is distress tolerance. Of all the things I could possibly say about it, the most accurate would be that it’s a lot of work. Think of it this way: it’s a lot of practicing things that are aimed at reducing distress, regardless of what mood or state of mind one might be in. Thankfully my emotions are still pretty distressing on a regular basis, so I was able to more or less have something to compare the results to.

Tags: activities, anger, angry music, anxiety, appealing to the senses, avoidance, binge eating, breathing exercises, comfort, DBT, depression, distress, distress tolerance, eating disorders, emotions, gaining perspective, guilt, improving the moment, jealousy, letting go, loud music, mantras, meditation, mental exercises, mindfulness, mood, music, nature, panic, prayer, pros and cons, purging, purpose, radical acceptance, reaching out, religion, sadness, safety, self soothing, self-destructiveness, senses, shame, spirituality, stress, television, therapists, therapy, volunteering, wise mind

This idea has been in the works for a couple months now – and it’s finally ready for announcement. QueerMentalHealth.org is first and foremost, a support site – not only for our readers, but also our writers. Queer Mental Health has been a creative outlet for our writers for over 6 months now, and we’re proud to expand our site to include artistic endeavours.

Tags: art, creative outlets, media, music, news, paintings, poetry, satire, submissions, visual arts, writers, writing

I am going to attempt to make this useful, even though a large part of the focus of this article is to release frustration. I also hope that this will be of some help to others of you who may be suffering, despite your best efforts to get help for yourself. I understand that not [...]

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