Did You Play Outside A Lot As A Kid? Turns Out, It Might’ve Improved Your Mental Health

A little bit of green can go a long way. Past research has shown that greenery and nature can do wonders for your mood or even boost your immunity, but a new study published in PNAS just took these mental benefits to the next level.

By examining satellite images of the green spaces surrounding the childhood homes of almost a million people, researchers found that children who grew up around lots of green space had a 55 percent reduction in risk of developing mental disorders in adulthood. The study also took into account other factors like socio-economic status and genetics—and greenery still reigned supreme.

To dive even further into their findings, researchers say that timing does actually matter for getting your green space in. These mind-boosting benefits are most potent up to the age of 10, making our childhood years the best time to root ourselves in nature. more

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Kids From Trauma NEED Someone to Tell Them Their Normal Isn’t “Normal”

It took me a quarter of a century (literally) to realize that I experienced trauma throughout certain points in my childhood. It took me another year to realize that my behaviors were deeply rooted in how I responded to that trauma. And it took me even longer to realize that my emotions during those years were not normal.

It seems obvious, doesn’t it?

The thing was… no one told me that the things I was doing weren’t normal. And a lot of times, as a kid, if someone doesn’t outright tell you something, then you have no idea.

I didn’t know that it wasn’t normal to self-harm at twelve years old. All of the friends I’d chosen were doing it so I assumed ALL preteens were doing it. None of us hurt ourselves to fit in with each other (we actually knew each other for quite a while before admitting to one another that we were self-harming), but we were all doing it to cope with something. We were all kids with messy stories, which drew us together like magnets. more

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The No. 1 Trap That Keeps People In Relationships With Psychopaths

We often talk about gratitude like it’s the miracle cure. Don’t get me wrong: While I have a lot in my life to be grateful for, gratitude—like mindfulness, eating clean, and other well-intentioned solutions—can have their dark sides.

The then-partner of one of my clients once told her she should be grateful he hadn’t laid a finger on her since the year began. Another’s told him he had nothing to be depressed or traumatized about and should be grateful she was still there with him, despite her escalating abuse. My ex-partner held me emotionally hostage for every tiny piecemeal change he made before regressing to worse behavior.

You see, gratitude can sometimes become your blinders, your ball and chain in an abusive relationship. more

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The cost of staying silent on mental health

When his self-employment worries escalated, a writer found it hard to ask for help

Earlier this year, I admitted myself to psychiatric hospital. I went in voluntarily, only to watch nurses search through my possessions to remove anything I could harm myself with: razor, pills, iPhone cable. I was put on watch, and for days I was not allowed outside unaccompanied.

I shared a ward with people in financial services, law, advertising, the drinks industry, commercial aviation, the military, and more. Men and women diagnosed with depression, anxiety, bulimia, anorexia, self-harming, personality disorders, and chronic addiction to drink, drugs and gambling. more

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This Is Why Victims Of Gaslighting Stay — And How They Can Finally Break Free

As a society, we’re finally starting to become more conscious of the toxic behavior known as gaslighting—partially because of all the high-profile cases of it we’ve seen recently across every sector of life from Bachelor in Paradise to Washington pulpits. Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse, a series of manipulative behaviors with the goal of getting control over you and isolating you from your friends and family. A gaslighter makes you question your version of reality—making you vulnerable to more abuse.

To a total outsider, it can often be difficult to understand why a person would remain in a relationship with someone who gaslights them. But when you look closely at the specific behaviors of gaslighters, it’s easy to see why extricating oneself from this type of controlling, head-spinning relationship is so difficult. Sometimes, it can even seem impossible. more

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Newly discharged mental health patients at much higher risk of death

Such patients are 90 times more likely to die from drugs overdose than general population, research finds

People with mental health problems are at a hugely increased risk of dying from unnatural causes, including suicide, soon after they have been discharged from hospital, new research reveals.

Such patients are 38 times more likely to die of fatal poisoning and 90 times more likely to perish from a drugs overdose than the general population, according to a new study.

Experts say the difficulties some people with serious mental illness have in adjusting to life after a spell of inpatient care are likely to explain the higher death rate among that group of vulnerable patients. more

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FaZe Rain Speaks Out About His Intense Struggle With Depression and Why He Took a Break From YouTube

FaZe Clan Owner Nordan ‘Rain’ Shat has been incredibly transparent about his fight against anxiety and mental illness in the past.

On July 26, Rain, one of the main owners of FaZe Clan, uploaded a video on YouTube discussing why he has taken a break from the platform, along with how his battle against mental illness almost reached a breaking point in April of 2018.

When discussing the wealth that he has generated in his time as a YouTuber, Rain mentioned that money is not a ‘cure’ for all the problems that he has dealt with in his mind since he was younger, even though some of his viewers may think otherwise. more

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What Happens When You Mention Suicide in Therapy?

Mental health clinicians are trained to navigate discussions about self-harm.

The first time John came to my office for treatment, I asked him many questions about his background, his symptoms, his strengths, and his goals. And then I came to a standard question about suicide: “Have you been thinking you’d be better off dead or wishing you were dead?”

John hesitated, then replied, “No . . . Not really.”

“Not really?” I asked, sensing there was more to be said.

John looked away and sighed. He then explained that at his lowest points, he sometimes feels like maybe it’d be better if he were dead, and at times, he had wished he could go to sleep and never wake up. I spent some time assessing how serious the risk was that John might end his own life, and concluded that the risk was low. We made a plan for how John and I would monitor and manage his thoughts of suicide. more

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Explainer: How does mental illness affect sentencing?

Just last week, the Victorian Court of Appeal significantly reduced the sentence given to Akon Guode, a mother who killed three of her children after driving her car into a lake in Melbourne. The main reason for the 8½ year sentence reduction was that the trial judge had not sufficiently taken Guode’s major depression into account.

While the circumstances of this offence were unusual, it is common for offenders to have mental health problems. Surveys have shown that almost half of Australian prison entrants report being affected by a mental disorder. With that in mind, how are mental health issues taken into account during the criminal justice process? more

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A mental illness journey: Clinging to hope after hitting personal rock bottom

Rock bottom, looking back, came 11 days after the Green Bay Packers lost to the Seattle Seahawks in the NFC championship game.

My life, along with my family’s fabric, had slowly unraveled for months, spiraling into the abyss of mental illness. We had every reason to be happy in the fall of 2014. I was in my first season on the Packers beat, a dream job. My wife, Kelly, and I had three healthy, amazing boys. Each day was vibrant.

Depression doesn’t need permission to disrupt. It can strike when you least expect. That fall, Kelly had what can only be described as a mental breakdown. What followed was a routine of suicide attempts and psychiatric hospitalizations, each flailing treatment an unsuccessful solution. It felt like the illness was always one step ahead, no matter what we did.

Then in late January 2015, rock bottom. more

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