Alice's Anxieties

To a lot of people, I'm sure the above spread looks fantastically mouth-watering, but to me it looks like hell. I dread Christmas because every social event seems to involve stuffing my face with rich food.

You may know this about me, but if not, when I was a teenager I had an eating disorder, I had anorexia. I've had people say to me 'but you weren't super skinny' when they find out, but eating disorders come in very different shapes and sizes. Since then, I have definitely recovered for the most part, but sometimes I find myself falling back into old habits. When I saw my counsellor, she said that due to my Perfectionism and low self esteem, I also have Body Dysmorphic Disorder which I spoke about more here. Generally, I find myself going back to my old ways when I'm in situations that I can't control because the only thing I can control is what I eat.

It's hard around Christmas to not let myself go backwards. It's also my birthday in December, s…

I normally write my blog using my own personal experience of mental health but I think it's really important to highlight other issues that surround mental health such as that of the male population. It has been recorded that:
76% of suicides are committed by men12.5% of men in the UK are suffering from a common mental health disorderMen are three times more likely than women to become alcohol dependent But despite this, only 36% of all referrals to talking therapies are men (reference) Although I say that this isn't necessarily from my own perspective, I know of three men who have all had difficulties with their mental health in various capacities, so I know a little bit about it, but as I always say, I'm no psychologist!

I doubt many boys read this (I mean, not many people read this full stop!), but I think it's so important to try and change this attitude of 'just man up', 'boys don't cry', 'you're such a girl' when boys/men talk abou…

"OMG I'm so depressed that I can't go out this weekend!" - no, you're not depressed, you're just annoyed.

I really think that part of the problem with people's understanding of mental health is how it's spoken about in the media/tv/films etc. People use 'depressed' and 'anxious' as moods the same way they use 'happy' and 'sad', but they're not. It's the same thing with calling people 'anorexic' as a compliment as the Kardashians have been caught in hot water for doing multiple times. Talking about mental illnesses like this makes them seem like trivial things that aren't important, aren't terrifying, aren't serious.

There is a massive difference between feeling sad and having Depression; there's a massive difference between feeling stressed or anxious and having Anxiety. I guess this kinds of contradicts my previous comment about 'anxious' not being a mood, but people can definit…