Transcript

Mental Illness Survival Tips

Allow yourself small victories

Designate someone in your life who is allowed to ask you:

So…have you been taking your medication this week?

hsssssss

Occasionally allow yourself some therapeutic hyperbole.

What's wrong?

My clothes came out of the dryer slightly damp. I can't do anything right, ever, and I'm going to ruin everything and everyone will hate me and I'll end up alone and all I'll have are my stupid damp clothes.

Makes sense.

Survival Tips

Posted on December 19, 2013 by Robot Hugs
New Comic! All of these tips have been really useful to me. I have had checklists for my day that included 'get out of bed once' and 'shower', and when I couldn't do anything because my head was so screwed up and I could get one of those done, it was a pretty big accomplishment. Designating an official asker is pretty important. That person is trusted to only ask that when they're concerned and never use it as a joke or an insult. It can be your reality check for whether you're ok or not. Also, I really believe in the therapeutic power of hyperbole, and the people I love know that when I get going they should just  go with it. Working through a rough episode is so much less stressful when you don't have to argue with someone at the same time. And somehow, actually verbalizing the crazy stuff that my brain is saying helps in a really ridiculous way helps me process. I think there's lots more of these. Anyone else out there have some tips? Maybe I can draw those too! Maybe you could draw some also....