HELPFUL RESOURCES
Are you experiencing symptoms of:
Anxiety:
Feeling restlessness, keyed up or on edge, easily fatigued, difficulty concentrating, mind going blank, irritability, regular sleep disturbance and difficulty controlling your worry.
https://www.headspace.com/articles/how-to-reduce-anxiety (Reducing Anxiety)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5qmbEt3Dyg (Meditation for Beginners)
Depression
Loss of interest or pleasure in almost all activities; Significant unintentional weight loss/gain or decrease/increase in appetite; Sleep disturbance; Tiredness, fatigue, or low energy; Feelings of worthlessness and/ or guilt; Impaired ability to think, concentrate, or make decisions; Recurrent thoughts of death.
https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/resources-support/depression/treatment/ (Depression Treatment)
Compulsive Behavior
Recurrent and persistent thoughts, impulses causing marked anxiety or distress; attempting to ignore, suppress or neutralize such thoughts/impulses/images with some other thought or action; The obsessions and compulsions cause marked distress, are time consuming or significantly interfere with the person’s normal daily functioning.
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/ConditionsAndTreatments/obsessive-compulsive-disorder (OCD Background)
Irregular Mood
irritability, aggressiveness, insomnia or hyper-somnia (sleeping too much), changes in appetite, weight loss or gain, fatigue or low energy, low sexual desire and function, feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness, or guilt, inattentiveness, lack of concentration, or forgetfulness, unexplained physical symptoms
The manic symptoms of cyclothymia may include: extremely high self-esteem, excessive talking or speaking very quickly, sometimes so fast others have trouble following what the person is saying, racing thoughts (muddled and disorganized), lack of focus, restlessness and hyperactivity, increased anxiety, going for days with little or no sleep (without feeling tired), argumentative, hyper-sexuality, reckless or impulsive behavior
https://www.webmd.com/bipolar-disorder/guide/bipolar-disorder-forms (Types of Bi-Polar)
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17843-mood-disorders (Mood Disorders)
Identity Struggles
Struggling to understand and connect to your authentic identity within. Many people can find it difficult to connect with their authentic self-image and self-concept. Exploring one’s Identity may include the intersection / layers of race, gender, religion, spiritual, culture, sexual preference / identify, values, morals, experiences and much more.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/basics/identity (understanding Identity Basics)
https://lunchticket.org/being-biracial-the-identity-crisis-of-both-and-neither/ (Bi-racial Lived Experience)
Getting stuck in Future or Past Thinking
Consumed by thoughts, catastrophizing, stuck in problem-solving mode, uncertain of future outcomes or how to understand the past. Excessively being absent from the present moment can lead to many mental/emotional health disorders if not identified and explored with a professional.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmVQuiT0OTw (Fighting Your Own Thoughts | Sadhguru)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-gift-maybe/201412/are-you-consumed-your-thoughts (Consuming thoughts)
https://www.mindful.org/meditation/mindfulness-getting-started/ (Mindfulness)
https://insighttimer.com/en-au (download App ASAP!)
Emotional Trauma
Complex PTSD is defined by symptom clusters mainly resembling an enhanced PTSD, with symptoms such as shame, feeling permanently damaged and ineffective, feelings of threat, social withdrawal, despair, hostility, somatisation and a diversity from the previous personality. It also regularly presents with serious disturbances in self-organisation in the form of affective dysregulation, consciousness, self-perception with a negative self-concept and perception of the penetrator(s), often causing dysfunctional relations with others leading to interpersonal problems. (Evangelia Giourou, Maria Skokou, Stuart P Andrew, Konstantina Alexopoulou, Philippos Gourzis, Eleni Jelastopulu World J Psychiatry. 2018 Mar 22; 8(1): 12–19. Published online 2018 Mar 22. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v8.i1.12)
https://www.healthline.com/health/cptsd#treatment (CPTSD Background and Treatment)
PTSD
Distressing memories a traumatic event(s); flashbacks feeling as if the traumatic event(s) were recurring; psychological distress / physiological reactions triggered from stimuli that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic event(s); Avoidance of distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings about or closely associated with the traumatic event(s) and avoidance of or efforts to avoid external reminders.
https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/resources-support/post-traumatic-stress-order/help-support/ (Support)
Eating Disorder(s)
Behavioral signs: Binge eating, Purging, Excessive exercise, Social withdrawal, Body image, Change in clothing style.
Physical signs: Weight changes, Disturbed menstrual cycle: Dizziness, Fatigue Being cold, Inability to concentrate.
Emotional signs: Obsession with weight, Low self-esteem, Negative emotions, Meal-time anxiety, Mood changes.
https://www.healthdirect.gov.au/eating-disorders (List of Eating Disorders)
https://pacificmedicalacls.com/eating-disorders (Eating Disorders Background)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMVyZ6Ax-74 (Eating and Body Dysmorphic Disorders)
Emotional Support Group for Men
-https://www.meetup.com/safe-emotional-space-for-men/
(All symptom criteria sourced via the DSM-5) Please speak with a mental health professional before Self-Diagnosing