Please welcome Abby, of Life @ The Poles to her second day as the Mental Health Blogger of the Week.  Today she is going to share her favorite mental health resources with us.

Online resoruces:

Surprisingly, Twitter and Google are where I turn first when I’m looking for information about anything mental health. There is something to be said for having the minds and lives of millions of people just a few clicks away, and the friends I’ve made through Twitter have seen me through some tough times. The Twitter tags, #depression, #mentalhealth, and #bipolar, are a few good places to start looking if you are newer to Twitter, or new to the mental health community there. (And there is one!) As if that the support of like minded people wasn’t enough,  through the blogs of the friends and acquaintances I’ve made through twitter, I’ve come to find out how many others there are out there living courageously with mental disorders. I don’t feel nearly as alone, and sometimes that is what makes the difference between getting through a day emotionally intact and breaking down.

McMan’s Depression and Bipolar Web (http://www.mcmanweb.com/) is a fantastic individual site for articles on behavior, treatment, and often overlooked, recovery from mental health disorders. I spent HOURS reading it the first time I found it – there is THAT much information there.

When it comes to medications, I simple adore Crazy Meds. (http://www.crazymeds.us/) It’s not often you get a thorough explanation of a wide variety of mental health medications – complete with pros, cons, side effects and, most importantly to me, a sense of humor. When you’ve spent days bogged down in technical descriptions of the medications you may or may not be taking or might be soon or are considering, a concise, humorous, CLEAR explanation in words most adults can understand.

Offline:

My Psychiatrist/Therapist. I’m lucky that my therapist IS my psychiatrist,  however, if you happen to have two professionals you work with, they are BOTH invaluable resources for you when dealing with your disorder. Even with as much information available over the internet as there is, it’s not a replacement for being able to sit down and talk with someone who knows how the human mind and emotions work, and more importantly, knows YOU. It takes time to establish that relationship, to get to know them and for them to get to know you, but once you DO establish it, it’s an invaluable resource for dealing with whatever disorder you are dealing with. Let them help you, ask questions, LOTS of questions! It’s what they are there for!

Writing. I write daily whenever possible, even if it’s just a few lines about how I slept poorly, ate junk and then was in a grumpy mood that evening. (Or visa versa!) Over time, having this record of how you felt and what you did and what you were thinking and what was going on around you will make an enormous difference. You’ll be able to go back and read about the last time you felt a certain way and compare it to this time, and see if there are similar triggers, events, foods, medications, sleeping habits, and so on. Without that over-time information, it’s easier to miss the patterns! The record of those patterns will be one of the tools you use to manage your disorder actively; it gives you the power to deal with it actively. And that power will make a difference in how you look at your disorder – you won’t feel nearly as helpless in dealing with a disorder that can often feel completely out of your control.

Family/Friends. Whether it’s a phone call, an instant message, an email, Facebook, Twitter, blogs – those friends who are supportive and understanding,  that support network  – they are the net that catches you when it feels like you are free falling and out of hope. They’ll grab your arm and drag you back up, or sit there on the ground with you until you can get back on your feet. I know it can be hard to allow ourselves to be vulnerable to others, to admit that we are struggling and need help – but friends, people who love you, do want to be there for you when you need them most, just like you’d want them to reach out to you if they were suffering and needed help. This was a hard lesson for me, and one I still struggle with – but it’s one worth learning. (Also, they can provide a mirror and a second memory to help you pinpoint your triggers or stumbling blocks – just remember to take what they say with a grain of salt, and use YOUR good judgment when it comes to what someone else says about you, your moods, your triggers, your particular flavor of disorder.)

I’m sure I have a dozen other places I turn to, depending on what I’m looking for – but these are my first lines of defense, the places and people I turn to when I don’t think I can take another step on my own. As time goes by, we all develop our own set of resources, but these seven are my favorite overall when it comes to information and help getting back on my feet.