Parenting

Many of us grew up with parents who battled mental illness, whether we realized it during childhood or not. Anxiety and depression are common mental illnesses our parents may have struggled with, which are often passed from one generation to the next. Your parent may also have dealt with bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or addiction — all of which have a strong genetic link.

Maybe your parent or parents treated their mental illness and were able to live a healthy life while modeling healthy coping skills. Still, simply being exposed to mental illness is a risk factor for developing a mental illness of your own. If your parents did not treat their mental illness, you may have been exposed to abuse, trauma, or worse.

If you grew up with mentally ill parents, it may seem that pain, suffering, or developing a mental illness of your own is your destiny, and there is no clear path for breaking the cycle — but that just isn’t true. Recovering from a difficult childhood is possible and there are many steps you can take to live a vibrant, healthy, happy life, despite being raised by mentally ill parents. Continue reading 10 Ways Children of Mentally Ill Parents Can Break The Cycle

Fathers are one of the biggest influences in our lives. Whether you are close to your father or have a distant (or non-existent) relationship with him, the role of a father in one’s life is hard to capture succinctly. As we approach Father’s Day, here are some ideas that I wish my father had told me about men and mental health. Continue reading What I Wish My Father Had Told Me (About Mental Health)

This morning, I was woken up at 5:13 am by my six-year-old, who desperately needed a drink of water — and who apparently needed to whine at the top of his lungs to tell me so. This would not have been such a big deal had I not been up half the night with a bad head cold…the same cold my son had kept me up all night with two days prior.

Needless to say, I spent the morning with a pounding headache, a full day’s work ahead of me that I couldn’t put off, and a good deal of resentment.

This small snapshot of my life is not unusual. As a working mother of two, there is always a lot on my plate. It seems as though someone is always sick, in need of food or drink, or emotional support. And because they are my children and I love them to the moon and back, I find myself putting my children’s needs about ten miles ahead of my own. Continue reading Why Parenting is the Biggest Challenge to Maintaining My Mental Health