Hey everybody.
Happy Thursday.
And when it's Thursday that means I'm on twitter.
So if you haven't found me on twitter, it's just @katimorton
So tweet me there anything that you're doing.
Any great inspirational stories.
Pretty much anything that's going on with you.
And so I have already been on and I have three questions.
As well as a journal topic.
So thanks Sara for that.
And they are all over the place.
I tried to get a variety of questions today that touch on a bunch of different things.
So hopefully you find it helpful.
And if you like it, give it a thumbs up and let me know.
Okay first question is.
'How do you know when your mental illnesses,'
'Are serious enough to think about filing for disability?'
Now we haven't talked about disability before.
And so I thought that was a really cool thing to begin talking about.
Now it's not my specialty.
I don't fill out paperwork for my clients.
Or work with people who are on disability necessarily.
But many of my clients are already on disability when they come to see me.
Now the, when I worked in the inpatient,
I did a lot more work with this.
And we would talk about getting patients on to disability.
And the main factor is that if your mental illnesses,
Are making it impossible for you to get or keep a job.
Then you should file for disability.
Because that's the thing that ends up putting us kind of in jeopardy, right.
If we're really struggling, lets say with depression.
It's horribly, horribly hard to get out of bed.
And we keep, or we are late to work a lot.
We miss days a lot.
And we lose our job.
We get fired because we're not consistent.
And we're not showing up when we are supposed to.
Because we mentally just can't.
We just can't deal with it.
So that's when you begin the process of filing for disability.
Because when we lose our jobs,
Then we may lose our home.
And we may lose, you know, the ability to care for ourselves.
And that's what disability is there for.
When we are unable to care for ourselves financially,
And we will be pretty much out on the street.
Then disability is there to help us along the way so that we can get the support we need.
You know, get the treatment that we need.
And have the money to help us keep the roof over our head,
And you know, pay for food and stuff like that.
Okay.
So if it's stopping you from keeping or getting a job.
Or going to school.
Or doing anything really.
Then I would start looking in to it.
And get the paperwork.
I think you can do a lot of it online.
But there are also places that you can look up in your area,
Where you can go to a government facility and pick up paperwork and fill it out there.
Okay.
And then they assess from there.
Sometimes they will ask you for letters from different clinicians.
Or proof of income.
Or any kind of number of things.
So just be prepared for that.
But once you have it,
It's pretty much a check that comes every month.
And I think you have to continue to prove it,
I don't know if it's every year or every six months.
For any of you out there who are on disability and know more details about it,
Because I only know the starting process of it.
I don't know what my clients have to do in the meantime.
Like how often they have to apply for or continue to prove that they need disability.
So if you have any more information, let us know below okay.
And I will look into this more.
If you want more information about this.
Let me know below.
And I can research some more.
And put out a Monday video about it.
Okay.
Question number two,
'Hey Kati, I was wondering if it's common to binge after therapy sessions.'
'I have been going regularly for over a year.'
'And I find myself binging as soon as I get home almost every week.'
'Will this eventually stop? Should I bring it up to my therapist?'
'Thanks. And I love your videos.'
It is very common.
And the interesting thing about it.
Well, not even the interesting,
The reason that we struggle with binging.
I have clients who wont even necessarily binge after therapy.
But they will, like, feel really wiped out and they will want to self harm.
Their urges will get worse.
I have clients who struggle with exercise addiction.
And they will want to work out.
Now the reason that it gets so bad right after therapy.
Is because we stir all of that stuff.
We're talking about things that are really difficult.
We are trying to process through the reasons that we use that coping skill in the first place.
And so for a while,
We can feel the urge to use that coping skill immediately following therapy.
Now I would definitely bring it up with your therapist.
And there may be something that you can do together.
Like many of clients who struggle with stuff like this,
We'll stop session a little bit earlier.
And we will use the last, lets say ten minutes,
To kind of debrief.
Calm down.
Talk about what tools we are going to use this week.
And kind of lighten up the mood.
So that when they leave, they feel in a better place,
Than if we you know talked about all of the nitty gritty stuff until it's like,
'Okay sorry, our time is up.'
And that can feel really abrupt and it can make us, you know,
All of the things that we are already stirring in our head haven't been calmed down.
And so we're going to revert back to that old coping skill that we have used before to help us.
Does that make sense?
I hope that helps.
And makes sense, is clear.
Because it's been a coping skill that we have used for a long time.
And so when we stir everything up, that's what we are going to go back to.
So I would talk to your therapist.
I would try to make your sessions end on a different note.
Where you feel like you processed, you have time to calm down.
You have tools you are going to use.
And then time is up.
Okay.
Question number three,
'Does mental illness take away personal accountability?'
'It seems that some people use their illness as an excuse for their personality flaws.'
'And it seems nowadays there is a diagnosis for ever abnormal trait.'
'I also feel like this is a problem with trying to break the stigma of mental illness.'
'How can we live with our illnesses and stay accountable for our lives,'
'And take responsibility for our actions?'
Now I want to talk about this.
And I thought this was a wonderful question.
Because some people do do this.
And if you are one of these people,
Then it's something that you should probably work on with your therapist.
But people will use mental illness as a crutch,
To explain away things that may otherwise be in their control.
We can have mental illness.
We can struggle with different mental disorders.
But we are still accountable, for our own recovery.
For getting our own support.
For reaching out.
For working on ourselves.
There are going to be things that are really hard for us.
And you can't tell a bipolar person, you know,
'You need to control your mania.'
Because that's not something like that we can physically do.
It's something I can work on.
I could go to my psychiatrist.
And make sure I am on my medication.
I can make sure I am seeing my therapist.
And I am working on my relaxation tips.
And I am also working, you know.
There are things that we can do to better help us in the moment.
But if we aren't doing anything to help ourselves.
We're not reaching out.
People are trying to help us,
And we are like, 'No no no no no.'
Then in my mind, and my opinion.
We lose the ability to say that things are shitty because of our mental illness.
What's really shitty is because we have a mental illness,
And we are not getting the help that's offered to us.
We're not taking advantage of the help that's offered.
And we're not getting out there and working on it.
And that's where the accountability still lies.
Because we all have our struggles.
We all have different things we are working on.
But that's why we have this wonderful community.
So that you can reach out.
That's why you're watching this video.
If you're watching this video.
Then you're being accountable.
You're reaching out.
You're seeking help.
You're getting better information.
You're communicating with other people about issues and struggles.
Because we all have struggles.
And it makes things a lot harder.
And there are going to be some things that we just can't change.
So no one's perfect.
But the accountability lies in getting the support that we can,
And that's available to us.
And taking advantage of that.
So that we can better ourselves.
Is that clear?
So I think that people do diagnose a lot of things.
And they throw those out like, 'That's the reason that I struggle with this'.
But it really could be the reason.
And if we don't know them well enough,
Then it shouldn't be on us to pass judgement.
If we know them well enough, and we know they are getting help.
Then that's just something that they are struggling with.
And we have to learn to accept that.
Everyone's at different stages in recovery, and in life.
And the sooner we learn to accept that.
The more peaceful and happy we'll feel in general.
Am I right?
Okay, I hope that makes sense.
It's kind of a personal opinion / philosophical thought about it.
But if you have a different opinion, you're always open to share it below.
And let us know what you think about it.
Now journal topic, thanks Sara.
It says, 'Each day is a new life.'
I'm going to say that again.
'Each day, is a new life.'
'Cease it. Live it.'
And it's by David Guy Powers.
It said, 'For me this means don't give up today, there is always tomorrow to succeed.'
'Live your life to the fullest doing what you are passionate about.'
'An example, I'm passionate about drawing. So I draw what I see in my mind.'
'I'm also working towards becoming an elementary school teacher.'
And I thought that was such a great quote.
'Each DAY is a new LIFE.'
How do you want to live your life today?
It's very powerful.
And it also makes it more achievable.
Because we're putting it in one day at a time.
And it can help us stay focused on what we are working on now.
Now where we hope we get to.
So, yeah.
I hope you like that.
I love you all.
I will see you tomorrow.
Because it's finally Friday.
And I will be on facebook, so ask your questions there using the #KatiFAQ
Bye!
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