[Fuzzybear]

(aside from meds since I have impossibly severe side effects to meds)
(and aside from pets since I'm also allergic to dogs and cats grr me)

[HALLIEBETH87]

That it’s ok to Admit that I’m not ok

[cashart10]

That my hallucinations and delusions are just that—hallucinations and delusions. They are never real, not any part of them.

[~Christina]

My feelings matter

[Blue_Bird]

That it's not my fault if I have hallucinations/delusions etc, it's part of the illness and I'm not a bad person because of it. For some reason I used to think it was some personal failure on my part if I had a re-emergence of symptoms or wasn't doing well.

[HALLIEBETH87]

Also a t once said the trauma of my past is not my fault. But the healing is my responsibility

[Wild Coyote]

HI Fuzzy! Thanks for a very interesting thread!

I have to say the best info/tool ever given to me was the confirmation that I should always follow my own gut feelings/intuition..

And so be it!!! I do take some advice from people I respect. Otherwise, I am better off to stick with my own.

Love to All! :

[*Beth*]

Damned if I can remember a single thing a therapist said that has helped me as much as listening to good music has.

Dysfunctional Thought Record (methods to challenging cognitive distortions). Works great for anxiety and anger, for me.

Playing through expected stressful or triggering experiences in a positive and reasonable way before facing them (kind of like a positive rehearsal). Great for anxiety, anger, and prevention of potential depersonalization or derealization, for me.

Grounding techniques. Great for anxiety, anger, prevention of depersonalization/derealization, and to a degree over-stimulation that may lead to mood elevation.

Various methods of deescalating mood elevation (i.e. avoid overstimulating situations, take prn, try to focus on a task/project that soothes or better directs/calms thinking, avoid caffeine/alcohol, etc.)

Various methods of fighting off depression and related symptoms (challenging cognitive distortions, creating "To Do" lists for both necessary tasks - with positive rewards, etc.)

[Sometimes psychotic]

Double up to fight depression....Ie do two fun things at once....I changed it to three with three different senses but it works if you catch the depression early enough.

[Wild Coyote]

Originally Posted by BirdDancer

Dysfunctional Thought Record (methods to challenging cognitive distortions). Works great for anxiety and anger, for me.

Playing through expected stressful or triggering experiences in a positive and reasonable way before facing them (kind of like a positive rehearsal). Great for anxiety, anger, and prevention of potential depersonalization or derealization, for me.

Grounding techniques. Great for anxiety, anger, prevention of depersonalization/derealization, and to a degree over-stimulation that may lead to mood elevation.

Various methods of deescalating mood elevation (i.e. avoid overstimulating situations, take prn, try to focus on a task/project that soothes or better directs/calms thinking, avoid caffeine/alcohol, etc.)

Various methods of fighting off depression and related symptoms (challenging cognitive distortions, creating "To Do" lists for both necessary tasks - with positive rewards, etc.)

Very impressive!

[MistressStayc]

Would I think such negatives thoughts of a friend in my situation? If I wouldn't be judging them so harshly then why myself. Cut myself some slack essentially but the way he put it hit home with me.

[Merlin]

Adults are no more able to thrive without social contact than babies.

[bpcyclist]

Perhaps the single biggest breakthrough I have ever made overall, in terms of tools, I guess, was when my brilliant teacher pointed out to me that my once-boss, who discriminated horrifically against me once I had to go IP and my diagnoses (bp1/addiction) came out, was not my problem. My problem was actually me. He was simply and merely beign exactly and perfectly who he was and is. My refusal to recognize that desiring him to be compassionate, understanding, eveolved, and humane about my experience was the true cause of my pain was, in fact, the only problem.

I thought that was quite possibly the craziest thing I had ever heard. The guy was a big fat jerk! I went home and thought hard about it. Turned it around. And then, suddenly, it just hit me. The teacher was right! My boss was just being the person he is. He is who he is. My wishing him to be otherwise was causing me stress, pain, and anguish, because my (faulty) belief was opposing reality. I started laughing. It was suddenly funny. Why hadn't this occurred to me before?

So anyway, this is the most useful tool I have. It is kind of an old Buddhsit "trick" and, while I am a Christian through and through, I do find some of the secular aspects of Buddhist writings to be fascinating and often extremely useful to me. So, I use them.

[Fuzzybear]

Originally Posted by bpcyclist

Perhaps the single biggest breakthrough I have ever made overall, in terms of tools, I guess, was when my brilliant teacher pointed out to me that my once-boss, who discriminated horrifically against me once I had to go IP and my diagnoses (bp1/addiction) came out, was not my problem. My problem was actually me. He was simply and merely beign exactly and perfectly who he was and is. My refusal to recognize that desiring him to be compassionate, understanding, eveolved, and humane about my experience was the true cause of my pain was, in fact, the only problem.

I thought that was quite possibly the craziest thing I had ever heard. The guy was a big fat jerk! I went home and thought hard about it. Turned it around. And then, suddenly, it just hit me. The teacher was right! My boss was just being the person he is. He is who he is. My wishing him to be otherwise was causing me stress, pain, and anguish, because my (faulty) belief was opposing reality. I started laughing. It was suddenly funny. Why hadn't this occurred to me before?

So anyway, this is the most useful tool I have. It is kind of an old Buddhsit "trick" and, while I am a Christian through and through, I do find some of the secular aspects of Buddhist writings to be fascinating and often extremely useful to me. So, I use them.