bipolaruchiha
Place to keep mental health and disability stuff. :)
99 posts
Latest Posts by bipolaruchiha
I have trouble taking care of my teeth because everything that involves doing that is a sensory nightmare. I decide to do some research to see if there's anything I can do about this. The results?
"How to make your autistic child brush their teeth"
"Autistic Children and Sensory issues relating to tooth brushing"
"How to get your little shit to brush his fucking teeth"
Like, yeah Google, thanks, that really helps. And like, even if I was a child, some of the advice seemed... unhelpful. Like, doing a dance and singing a song while brushing your teeth? Even for a kid, I don't think that would help distract from a sensory experience as intense as brushing your teeth. Like, the extremely intense and unpleasant flavor, the intense feeling of the brush against your teeth scraping across it, even mouthwash has such an intense and disgusting flavor that I have difficulty keeping it in my mouth for more than a few seconds. I wish there was SOMETHING that could be done.
who’s gonna tell tumblr that executive dysfunction is more than Not Doing Things?
I think people need to get better at saying “maybe, maybe not” or “do I really need an answer?” when faced with uncertainty. this is something that gets taught to people with OCD, but I think the masses would benefit
“what kind of attraction am I feeling?” would it be the end of the world if that question didn’t have an answer?
“am I allowed to identify as x when I’m not sure if it applies to me?” maybe! who cares!
literally. you can apply the “fuck around and find out” method to anything
continuously feeling the need to hunt for answers is going to eat you up inside. take it from me. your life gets so much easier when you let yourself be unsure
listen to me. thoughts do not have moral weight. a thought will never hurt anyone. the actions you take because of a thought can hurt yourself or other people, but the thought itself is powerless and there is no such thing as thought crime.
"but i have thoughts about being violent towards people! towards children! surely that makes me dangerous!" are you being violent? for real? with your actions? if not, then you are not actually hurting anyone
"but i have thoughts that are offensive and hurtful! they're bigoted, or they're horribly rude, or they're invalidating to others! i'm a horrible person." and what are you doing with those thoughts, exactly? are you taking bigoted actions, or saying those rude things, or taking steps to actually invalidate people? no? well then. no one is getting hurt. and in the meantime, if it really bothers you, doing things like helping unlearn your biases (both against minorities and just, like, against furries and theatre kids and shit) might help some of those thoughts go away, but sometimes you just get shitty thoughts.
"but i have horrific thoughts about sex!" are you hurting people. are you forcing people to do things they don't consent to. or are you just playing the upsetting possibility in your mind over and over again, and acting like that's even remotely the same thing?
thought. crime. is. not. real. OCD. is. hell. (and anything else that may cause intrusive thoughts.) but it does not define you. your thoughts will always, always come secondary to your actions. you're gonna be fine.
Reminder: Spring is coming so take the time now to update your mania crisis plan
"I support people with POCD as long as they seek help and don't act on their urges" people with POCD don't HAVE "urges" they have intrusive thoughts that they are disgusted and horrified by and would never act on, please learn the difference
“The focus on cis white male presentations of autism creates a massive diagnosis barrier for marginalised people. Our actions are viewed differently depending on our race / gender etc. We need better representation in media and we need academics to understand and embed cultural nuance, not seek to further restrict diagnosis.” (@girl_unleeshed on Twitter)
Here’s the second comic I worked on for Autism Acceptance month! This comic is a collaboration with Leesha (@girl_unleeshed). Please check out her Twitter to read more of her awesome and thoughtful writing!
Though the jokes that "since gay pride month is over, july is now gay wrath month" are funny and all, it's important to remember that July is ACTUALLY Disability Pride Month and ya'll should really be focused on boosting disabled voices and issues this month! For instance, the fact that marriage equality doesn't actually truly exist in the United States for disabled people, or the fact that disabled people are forced to live in poverty or lose their disability benefits, or the fact that 1 in 5 people with chronic pain end up sufferring from alcoholism or other addictions, or how accessibility is still a daily battle for all of us, or how there are active hate groups on places like reddit who try to "call out" those they see as "faking" their disabilities.
This July, boost disabled voices. Talk about the issues that our community faces. Call out ableism.
Every person need to be taught disability history
Not the “oh Einstein was probably autistic” or the sanitized Helen Keller story. but this history disabled people have made and has been made for us.
Teach them about Carrie Buck, who was sterilized against her will, sued in 1927, and lost because “Three generations of imbeciles [were] enough.”
Teach them about Judith Heumann and her associates, who in 1977, held the longest sit in a government building for the enactment of 504 protection passed three years earlier.
Teach them about all the Baby Does, newborns in 1980s who were born disabled and who doctors left to die without treatment, who’s deaths lead to the passing of The Baby Doe amendment to the child abuse law in 1984.
Teach them about the deaf students at Gallaudet University, a liberal arts school for the deaf, who in 1988, protested the appointment of yet another hearing president and successfully elected I. King Jordan as their first deaf president.
Teach them about Jim Sinclair, who at the 1993 international Autism Conference stood and said “don’t mourn for us. We are alive. We are real. And we’re here waiting for you.”
Teach about the disability activists who laid down in front of buses for accessible transit in 1978, crawled up the steps of congress in 1990 for the ADA, and fight against police brutality, poverty, restricted access to medical care, and abuse today.
Teach about us.
manic episode symptoms/warning signs
THIS IS NOT GOING TO APPLY TO EVERYONE!!! this is my own personal experience. mental illness isn't a one size fits all, i'm not claiming to be an expert or know what everyone's mania feels like, this is just what i've experienced
increased irritability
increased energy
change in appetite, not feeling hungry for days and then becoming ravenous
frequent sensory overload
oversensitivity
changes in sleep pattern, sleeping only 3-4 hours or shifting to sleeping more during the day and being awake all night
noticeable increase in productivity, that might start out as good, but you notice yourself being hyper fixated and jumping from several different projects
increase in impulsivity
feeling like you've lost control over yourself and your actions
paranoia
intrusive thoughts
nightmares
talking a lot, rambling, going on long rants
a feeling like you're watching yourself on a screen, like someone else took over your body and you're watching from the outside as they live your life
being aware you're making bad choices or that you are being reckless but not caring or being able to stop
dissociation
impulse purchases and reckless spending
reckless driving
impulse to change appearance or alter your image that can feel like a NEED if it isn't done immediately (for me this manifests in my hair, like cutting it or changing the color at 3 am. it also used to be comorbid with my eating disorder, which led to extreme fasting to try and lose weight)
feeling like you can accomplish things you couldn't normally do, feeling powerful, inflated ego and sense of self. i sometimes would think i was invincible and that nothing could hurt me and tried to act on it to prove it
increase in libido
risky sexual behavior
heightened emotions, everything feels larger than life, the highs feel like they'll never end and the lows feel like the end of the world
for myself this was only in extreme cases, but visual or auditory hallucinations. i've only had visual hallucinations a couple times, but when things got really bad, i would hear things that weren't there, or hear people calling me when i was all alone
feeling like thoughts are racing and you can't stop them, feeling like everything is loud and you're being pulled in a million directions
friends and family noticing uncharacteristic behavior, cutting people off, becoming VERY irritable, or showing too much affection in a way that isn't normal for you
and, inevitably, when it ends: The Big Crash. the depressive episode after that knocks you out
adulthood really does hit you like a fucking truck when you spent all of your teenage years thinking you were gonna kill yourself eventually,
From what I’ve read and observed, bipolar symptoms exist on a spectrum. Using these charts inspired by @levianta’s graphics about autism, you can visualize the extremity of every symptom you experience. As an example, here is a chart visualizing how i personally experience hypomania:
joy will help you heal.
this applies to everything from “staying home sick from school is easier if you play a low-stress game you like between naps instead of wallowing in your snotty misery” all the way up to “grief and trauma is hard, i understand, but learning to live for yourself again means cherishing all the good moments on purpose”
it may not be everything you need to get better – but joy will help you heal, i promise.
It is still a balance of trying to let go and not be rigid despite knowing this. I am not expecting to reach perfection, but just getting through every day, Â a day at a time, and knowing that bending is okay.Â
[Image description: four slides with black text on a light blue background that read as follows:Â
Victim blaming by abusive parents looks like… “You’re disrespecting me by having boundaries that are inconvenient to me. Therefore, I’m entitled to hurt you.” “You know I get mad when you do this and you did it anyway, so it’s your fault I hit you/yelled at you/belittled you.” “You’re hurting my feelings by accusing me of being a bad parent.” “What have I done to deserve this?” (Usually as a reaction to you establishing boundaries). “You’re tearing this family apart (by fighting back against the abuse).” “You’re a bad child. Look at all the bad things YOU’VE done to ME.” (often, those things are trauma reactions, like avoiding their presence or acting behind their backs). (When you try to hold them accountable) “Oh, I forgot, you’re always right and I’m always wrong. Nobody cares about me or my feelings. I do everything for you and this is what I get in exchange.”
In reality… Every person is responsible for their actions. You didn’t make them abuse you—they CHOSE to abuse you. You have the right to be able to establish boundaries without fear of punishment. You have the right to have your needs met. Your trauma reactions are not something you’re doing to disrespect them—they’re something your body is doing to protect you from harm. End image description]Â
These are just some examples of things abusers say to frame their abusive actions as the victim’s fault (taken from personal experience and the stories of people who have messaged me). Feel free to add your own examples if they’re not listed here and if you want to help spread awareness about what victim-blaming looks like!
And remember: abuse is never the victim’s fault.
What does guilt-tripping by abusive parents look like?
What does gaslighting by abusive parents look like?
I see this a lot in leftist circles but mental illness, trauma and abuse will exist with or without capitalism, your “mental illness is a social phenomenon” might be true for your depression and your anxiety but I beg all of you to think about psychotic people, systems and people with personality disorders when you make posts like that. It might be true that we wouldn’t be labeled as mentally ill but we would still need resources to help us cope, there’s still something we would need help coping with and you should focus on making that help available and accessible and free of bigotry for all of us instead of living in a “no mentally ill people” pseudo progressive eugenicist dream.
please dont use spoon theory terms unless you have physical disabilities / chronic pain/illness. the woman who came up with it used it as a metaphor for what it’s like to live with lupus, and as far as I know it’s not applicable to people who do not have physical disabilities or chronic pain/illness. if you do then carry on but otherwise please don’t.
shit, sorry, didn't know. that's my bad, i'll edit or delete my last stuff that used it. sorry!!
Happy ADHD invasion guys! Here is my piece for this year’s cosmic takeover, a little reflection on my journey with adhd :)
There’s a big problem in the autistic community we need to address
I am a semi speaking autistic with high support needs, when strangers see me, they know I’m autistic.
I’ve often seen fully speaking autistics refer to me and other autistics like me as “just stereotypes”
But I’m not just a stereotype, and neither are other autistics like me.
We deserve to be seen too, we deserve to be seen as people with our own personalities.
Please don’t forget us
(Absolutely ok to rb, please spread this around)
Not to sound like a 90s shallow prep, but how you dress can affect your self esteem, and putting energy into wearing things you actively like and projecting an ideal of yourself through fashion instead of seeing clothes as things you have to put on out of obligation helps.
It also can give you a sense of control over your appearance that you otherwise wouldn’t have lmao
reblog and put in the tags a traumatic childhood memory that recently popped back into your head
October is ADHD awareness month! 🎉
The memory issues ADHD causes are some of the scarier and more frustrating parts of living with it - so here’s a set of reaction doodles that all my fellow ADHD peeps are welcome to use whenever anybody decides to comment on your forgetfulness ^Â
HAPPY ADHD AWARENESS MONTH YALL!!
you are so valid!!
your traits/symptoms are valid!!
your experiences are valid!!
self-dx is valid!!
executive dysfunction is valid!!Â
nonmedicated ppl are valid!!
medicated ppl are valid!!
autistic + ADHD ppl are valid!!
stimming is valid!!
hyperfixations are valid!!
comorbidities are valid!!
all ADHDers are valid and your efforts don’t go unseen!! keep up the great work funky neurodivergent ppl!!!
Pals, I’m gonna tell you one of those hard truths, and I hope that you can read this and think about it in the spirit in which it’s intended.
The vast majority of you do not have “triggers”, you have “squicks”. If you learn the difference, I promise you will be happier and healthier, and you will feel much MUCH less as if all media is attempting to personally attack and traumatize you.Â
It is ABSOLUTELY LEGIT to dislike something in a piece of media, or to feel disgusted and revolted by it, or to have an aversion to it for any reason and to any degree. That’s normal! That’s absolutely normal, and if that has happened to you, then you are normal too.
But… Words matter. Words have power. There is a difference between “disgust” and “trauma response” – if a person without PTSD or other forms of trauma calls something that disgusts them a “trigger”, they are giving that thing undue and dangerous power over them. You do not have to legitimize your disgust, because your feelings are already valid. But saying “this triggers me” if it doesn’t actually trigger you in the clinical definition means that you are voluntarily giving up some of your own power and agency to the thing you dislike. It means that you are allowing the thing to have a disproportionate impact on your life, that you are giving it power to affect you and get under your skin and stay there. You are building it up into something much more terrifying and monstrous and serious than it deserves to be. Calling it a “squick” makes you bigger than the thing that’s grossing you out – it makes the gross thing into something that you can have power over, that you can vanquish and reject and entirely discard from your life according to your own whimsy. (For those of you who aren’t familiar with the term “squick”, it’s something you don’t like which causes that icky squirmy “ew! no thanks!” feeling. Here’s the Fanlore page for more detail.)
We live in a society that wants to take power away from so many of us at all costs. Nobody hands you power or agency or confidence or strength – you have to claim those for yourself. If you have the ability to take control over something that squicks you, do it. Stand up for yourself and your media experience, and use the word that gives you power. You can turn your back on a squick and walk away without more than a lingering “ugh” feeling; it is almost impossible to do that with a trigger. A trigger ruins your whole day (ask me how I know!).
Words have power. Disgust is a normal human emotion. Your feelings are valid even when they’re not severe and catastrophic.Â