I Feel Like Tumblr Has Kind Of Changed The Meaning Of The Word "echolalia" Into Something That Can Be

sometimes it feels like I ruin everything. I lose things, break things, forget things all the time. It seems like I don’t care, but I do. I care a lot.

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. 

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. 

friendly reminder that bipolar ii isnt the “easy,” “soft,” or “lesser” bipolar disorder. just because we dont experience full-on mania doesn’t mean our experiences are somehow invalid. 

hypomania has the power to ruin relationships. 

depression has the power to ruin lives. 

we end up hospitalized for depression. 

we’re more likely to rapid cycle and contrary to popular belief, our depression can cause psychosis 

our suffering is real and cant be discounted solely because we experience a lesser form of mania. 

This ADHD and Autism Venn Diagram was requested even more highly than the ADHD and PTSD diagram, and I finally got round to making it…

(Click here to see other diagrams)

Fuck you *hypos your mania*

im calling myself out on this one

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!!

talking to your parents in your 20’s moodboard

for my fellow psychotics who struggle with thinking someone is in their house, a method I’ve found that really works are these guys:

i put them on my front door and anytime it opens they ring. that way if i think someone has broken in or i see someone who isn’t there i can think back to if the bells have rung, and if they haven’t i can assure myself it’s not real. obviously it’s not fool proof, like if you are prone to auditory hallucinations, but it has really helped me calm down in time to avoid major psychotic breaks. it’s a real lifesaver

nonpsychotics encouraged to rb

A while ago, I made up the word bipolarian to mean someone with bipolar disorder.

There's nothing wrong with "people with bipolar disorder." But it takes a lot of characters, and sounds too much like person-first language.

Bipolarian amuses me because it sounds like "planarian." Cut our heads in half, and we'll become one body ruled by two heads. Seems appropriate.

Here's a plushie two-headed planarian. Aww, such a cutie