Heather Terese
Bio
Writer and psychology enthusiast
Stories (3/0)
OCD vs. OCPD: Maybe It's Just Your Personality
Everyone has a friend that’s absurdly organized. With them, there’s a place for everything and everything’s in said place. They’re the type of person that’s got their closet organized by color, their shoes in order of height, and a to-do list is always within arm’s reach. Many people would look at them and refer to their sort of behavior as very OCD, but the question to ask is are they really afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder?
By Heather Terese6 years ago in Psyche
Mental Illnesses: They're Not Just All in Your Head, They're in Your Head
All too often those who struggle with mental illness hear the words “It’s all in your head,” a phrase that implies mental illness is just a figment of our imagination that can be sent away just as quickly as it came. Those with depression may hear “Just cheer up!” Those with anxiety “Just calm down!” Those with bipolar disorder “Just grow up!” And those with ADD/ADHD “Just focus!” Phrases like this indicate it’s a common belief that those with mental illnesses have complete and total control over their disorders. Is it really so simple?
By Heather Terese6 years ago in Psyche
- Top Story - May 2018
Orthorexia: The Eating Disorder You've Never Heard OfTop Story - May 2018
Nowadays, fuel for a negative body image is everywhere. We see it in magazines, store windows, TV ads, social media, basically everywhere we look there’s another photo shopped body telling us we aren’t worthy as we are. For a lot of young women and girls, and even men and boys, this concept can be very damaging emotionally. So, we turn to diet trends, eating less calories, working out more, trying diet pills, some even going so far as to starve themselves or purge after bingeing. As unhealthy as the latter are, we can recognize those as eating disorders: Anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, respectively. They are very obviously not diet trends, they are a mental illness. On the opposite end of the scale, there are eating disorders that cause excess weight gain such as binge eating disorders. On both ends, there are very visible ways to tell if a person is affected by one of these illnesses; excessive weight loss, refusal to eat, eating too much, excessive weight gain, bad breath from purging, wearing baggier clothes, etc. Now what if in order to lose weight a person decides to take the route of proper diet and exercise? They completely change their diet, make sure to stay active, are very careful to eat proper portions and only eat the right things. That sounds perfectly healthy when done in moderation, but what about when it entirely consumes an individual’s life and becomes just as destructive as the other three? This is the life of someone struggling with orthorexia nervosa.
By Heather Terese6 years ago in Psyche