Had to share this...

I had to share this quote with you guys. I can really relate to some of the emotions in this and sometimes reading something that just gets how you're feeling can really help. Its easy to feel so alone in your emotions, but its soothing to think that somewhere in the world someone is feeling the same. 

Psychology & mental illness myths. - BUSTED.

A lot of the sigma around mental illness comes from myths and misconceptions about it that have been around for a while. I started looking into it and found some really interest psychology facts as well that I thought I'd share.

Myth- Adults don't grow any new neurons 

Truth - We do grow them, especially in the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory forming and emotional responses. 

Myth- Alcohol kills brain cells. 

Truth - It may not 'kill' the cells by excessive drinking may cause damage to the portals that send signals to the brain. 

Myth- Its better to express anger than hold in it. 

Truth- This is something I learnt about during therapy but have also read about in psychology books.  Expressing your anger can actually feed into it and make the aggression worse. I've learnt that dealing with the sadness that often comes with anger is more effective in the long term. 

Myth- We only use 10% of our brain.

Truth - People love the idea that we don't know how to use our brain to its full capacity, just imagine what we could do! But that's simply not the truth. 20% of our energy is used on brain power, and if we used more energy than then, it was simply be difficult or impossible to do anything else but think! 

Myth - You can tell if someone has an eating disorder by looking at them.

Truth- People with eating disorders come in all shapes and sizes. Eating disorders such as bulimia, binge eating and even anorexia can look normal in size. 

Myth- Eating disorders only affect women.
Truth-anyone can be affected by eating disorders, regardless of their gender.

Myth- The media is to blame for eating disorders.
Truth- There are numerous reasons why eating disorders can form, from a traumatic childhood, to genetics or simply a combination of multiple factors. The media may effect some peoples views on their bodies but eating disorders themselves are usually the result of many other reasons.

Myth- Self harm is a suicide attempt.
Truth - Self harm is coping mechanism for dealing with extreme emotions. In some cases, self harm prevents the person from actually attempting suicide.

Myth- There is no cure for mental illness.
Truth - This couldn't be further from the truth, there are many different forms of treatment for every mental illness, from medication to therapies, its about finding the right way to treat it for you.

If you want to learn more about mental illnesses and the common myths, check out the Mind website for a whole bunch of interesting information and advice. And remember that not everything you hear is true!

Becky x

Common thinking errors.

Black or white: This is similar to the all or nothing thinking. For example ‘I failed my driving test, Im a horrible driver and should give up.’

Over-generalization: One unfortunate event leads to the assumption that it will happen every time.

Mental filter: Picking out and dwelling on negative details.

Disqualifying the positive: Successes are seen as flukes.

Catastrophizing:  exaggerating your own imperfections

Emotional reasoning: taking feelings as facts. For example ‘I feel fat, therefore I am fat.’

Personalization: Blaming everything on yourself. 

Classic BPD thoughts...Part 1

These are thoughts that I personally deal with and are typical of a lot of people with BPD and other mental illnesses for that matter.

• 'Don't cry here, you can self harm later...' - Self harm is my safety blanket when I'm in a situation that I can't show my true feelings.
• 'If I get too close, they'll just leave me' - This is the classic fear of abandonment that comes hand in hand with BPD.
• 'Shut up Becky, you sound clingy' - I try to excuse or explain why I may have called someone tonnes of times, but the truth is I'm worried and I think they'll think I'm clingy.
• 'If they don't call you back, they obviously don't like you' - Any other reason can seem invalid
• 'Just be honest about how you feel...but then won't I seem attention seeking?'
• 'Your so stupid, why can't you just be happy?! Nothing is wrong!'
• 'Who am I? How do people see me?' - Lack of Identity is common and not having a sense of who you are can really make you question everything.
• 'Oh no my scars are healing, I'll have to self harm again.' - Once the cuts heal it feels like I should have healed inside as well, but often I haven't and cutting again is my way of showing how much emotional pain I still feel.

These are just a few of the overwhelming thoughts people with a mental illness can experience. In other blog posts I'll give some advice on how to overcome these thoughts and deal with them.


Hope everyone is keeping well.
Becky x