Category: Video

What is Tardive dyskinesia?

Medications, Mental Health, Side Effects, Video

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a neurologic disorder associated with the long-term use of certain medications (dopamine receptor-blocking agents) for some types of mental illnesses, such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. TD causes involuntary movements of the body such as facial-tics, rapid eye blinking, sticking out of the tongue, lip pursing, and jaw clenching.

Some people experience involuntary twitching and jerking of their arms, legs, or torso. In this video, Lauren shares her personal experience with TD, and also sits down with Dr. Leslie Citrome, a psychiatrist and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at New York Medical College, and who specializes in tardive dyskinesia.

Exercise Addiction

Addiction, Coping Strategies, Mental Health, Video

Obviously, there are many health benefits to working out regularly. It’s good for our cardiovascular system, can relieve stress, and it releases feel good chemicals like endorphins. But just like anything, it’s best in moderation, and when exercise is done excessively, it can come with some dangerous health complications of its own.

So let’s jump into what exercise addiction is: simply put, it’s an unhealthy obsession with physical fitness and working out and we feel helpless to stop even if we know it’s not good for us or is out of control. It’s that second portion, the part about not being able to stop, that differentiates this from professional athletes, olympians, and marathon runners. Sure those people could have exercise addiction, but it’s not just the amount of exercise we do that’s an indicator of this, it’s much more than that.

If we think about it, we can imagine a lot of reasons why someone would become addicted to exercise: it’s a distraction, it makes us feel good, and it’s something our society supports. And it’s not a big jump from that for us to understand why those of us with eating disorders can struggle with it as well. Since eating disorders are coping skills, and exercise can reduce stress and make us feel good. Not to mention that it still feeds into that ED voice by giving us a false sense of control and makes us think that we are achieving something worthwhile.

Dissociation

Anxiety, Dissociative Disorders, Mental Health, Video

Dissociation is when our brain (and rest of our nervous system) feel overwhelmed and unable to deal with what’s going on in the moment and they pull us away. I have always talked about dissociation as our brain pulling the ripcord on reality because it’s just too much! When it comes to the DSM they call any dissociation DPDR or depersonalization/ derealization disorder.

Now depersonalization is when we feel out of our body like we are watching ourselves from above or in a haze and derealization is when we feel separated from our environment and it can feel like we are in a dream or like everything around us isn’t real. These experiences are really common, it’s estimated that half of all adults have had at least one episode of DPDR! 50%! That’s a lot of people, so know that you are not alone!

Roasted Chicken – Thomas Keller (Video)

Culinary, Fusion Cuisine, Video

Thomas Keller is considered by many, and rightfully so, the preeminent American Chef. He has won multiple James Beard Foundation awards and is annual winner in the Top 50 Restaurants in the World.  His restaurant include: The French Laundry, Bouchon, Ad Hoc, and Per Se.  He has been awarded three stars (the highest rating) by the Michelin Guide for both his New York restaurant Per Se and his Napa valley restaurant The French Laundry.  With these two awards he holds the distinction of being the only American chef to be awarded three stars by Michelin for two restaurants at the same time.

His passion for food is obvious and can be seen in his roasting of a simple chicken:

What is Psychosis? (Video)

Mental Health, My Schiz Life, Psychosis, Schizoaffective Disorder, Video

This is an excellent short video exploring what psychosis is like and the different stages. I highly recommend watching it if you have a psychotic disorder such as Schizophrenia and Schizoaffective disorder or if you have a friend, family member or in a relationship with someone susceptible. Sometimes or often times you might recognize the signs before the person slipping into psychosis. Catching it early may prevent hospitalization being needed.