I Have Schizoaffective Disorder, Does That Count As ND? I Saw That Schizophrenia Was On The List, And

I have Schizoaffective Disorder, does that count as ND? I saw that Schizophrenia was on the list, and I WAS originally diagnosed with that when I had my mental breakdown.

For those who don't know about Schizoaffective Disorder, it is a mental disorder. There are three types: Bipolar (Manic) Type [mix of Schizophrenia and Mania], Depressive Type [mix of Schizophrenia and Depression], and Mixed Type [a combination of all three].

I have Bipolar Type, personally. If you want more information, I will put some links to various sites explaining the disorder.

Mayo Clinic

Schizoaffective disorder - Symptoms and causes

Here is a list of famous people with Schizoaffective Disorder:

 Brian Wilson

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Britney Spears

Vincent van Gogh

 Louis Wain

Virginia Woolf

Allison Schmitt 

John Nash

Jordan Burnham

Michael Angel

And there are more famous people with this disorder than this!

OC87 Recovery Diaries

Medication Adherence and my Schizoaffective Journey - OC87 Recovery Diaries

Life with psychotic symptoms, hallucinations, delusions and paranoia is hard enough, but when coupled with suspicions of medication; it can

This is the story of a young woman who has struggled with Schizoaffective Disorder. It advocates the need to stay on your meds unless a psychiatrist says it is safe to do so.

Sorry for the really long re-blog, but I felt the need to teach people about this.

fuck it. shout out to "high functioning" neurodivergents

the ones who can mask easily, the ones who can get social cues, the ones who have managed to go most of their life not even knowing they were ND because they didn't present as the stereotypical ND person.

the ones who can pay attention in class, understand social etiquette, who understand societial expectations

the ones who don't feel neurodivergent enough bc they don't struggle in the same ways/areas a lot of NDs do, or they can't relate to other NDs' experiences because they always understood these things easily

the ones with high empathy, the ones who DO get the joke, the ones who are constantly told that they can't possibly be neurodivergent because they don't act like what you'd expect a neurodivergent person to act like.

you are neurodivergent enough. you are valid, and so are your experiences. not struggling as much as others do in some places doesn't mean you dont struggle at all. your condition and diagnosis is valid. your symptoms are valid. YOU ARE VALID. not checking all the supposed boxes doesn't mean you aren't neurodivergent. you are enough. you are valid. you are loved. you are valued. you matter. you belong in neurodivergent spaces, you deserve to use whatever resources are available to you, you are allowed to take up space in these communities. and i am so, so proud of you.

feel free to, and actually, i encourage you to reblog this with your experiences. we belong in this community as much as anyone else. please also tag this w/ any neurodivergent conditions i may have forgotten 💙

since this is getting lots of notes I'd like to add, even if you're undiagnosed or maybe self diagnosed, for whatever reason, (i.e. can't get access to a diagnosis, not being taken seriously, or just not wanting an official diagnosis, etc.) this still applies to you. actually especially to you folks. don't think for a second you're not valid just bc you don't have the paperwork or whatever to say it

Here we go, ladies and gentlemen! One of my few Het Ships!

My I Introduce:

Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne

From Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Destiny

This is my favorite Gundam Ships, period. Don't get me wrong, I like Heero Yuy and Relena Peacecraft, but these two are just...better!

Kira comes out as more human. He didn't start out as a warrior nor was he trained from a young age to be one. He was just a college student living in Heliopolis. He simply wanted a peaceful life. He was thrust into the war mainly to protect his friends. He lost his home and at one point, questioned his own identity. He is soft-hearted and gentle but is dedicated to protecting his loved ones and, despite the war, he maintains his gentle and loving nature. He does know that although he hates war, sometimes it is necessary to fight for what you believe in.

Now Lacus is like Relena in certain ways. Both have a father in a political role and have had a cushy upbringing, with Relena going to a high-class private school, and Lacus becoming a pop-princess. The main difference between them is the idea of sacrifice and how much they are willing to give up for their cause. Relena doesn't seem to sacrifice much, whereas Lacus in the end, is willing to give up the lifestyle she grew up in, her popularity/status of being a symbol of the PLANTS, her home, and ultimately her own freedom. She literally committed a crime by stealing the ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam and giving it to Kira so he could continue to protect his loved ones and try to end the war.

Kira and Lacus' relationship, from friends to romantic partners, is more consensual throughout their story than Relena and Heero's relationship. Relena's affection and care for Heero were initially one-sided, as Heero originally wanted to kill her in order to keep his identity a secret, whereas Kira and Lacus quickly became friends during their first meeting, with Kira willing to threaten his freedom aboard the Archangel to keep her from being used as a bargaining chip for Earth.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, but I just love them SO much! Lacus is also my favorite woman in all of the Gundam series! (NOTE: I hate the color pink with a passion! However, I overlook that particular trait with Lacus because I love her as a character!)

The coloring doesn't work, that's for sure! I tried it, really I did, but I soon became obsessed with how it looked and what colors to use for the best effect... yeah, I fell down deep into the rabbit hole.

As someone who has lived their entire life with anxiety, I am glad that this post exists. Thank you so much for sharing this bit of helpful information!

Why "doing something relaxing” does not help your anxiety

A lot of the time when people give advice intended to relieve anxiety, they suggest doing “relaxing” things like drawing, painting, knitting, taking a bubble bath, coloring in one of those zen coloring books, or watching glitter settle to the bottom of a jar.

This advice is always well-intentioned, and I’m not here to diss people who either give it or who benefit from it. But it has never, ever done shit for me, and this is because it goes about resolving anxiety in the completely wrong way.  

THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO when suffering from anxiety is to do a “relaxing” thing that just enables your mind to dwell and obsess more on the thing that’s bothering you. You need to ESCAPE from the dwelling and the obsession in order to experience relief.

You can drive to a quiet farm, drive to the beach, drive to a park, or anywhere else, but as someone who has tried it all many, many times, trust me–it’s a waste of gas. You will just end up still sad and stressed, only with sand on your butt. You can’t physically escape your sadness. Your sadness is inside of you. To escape, you need to give your brain something to play with for a while until you can approach the issue with a healthier frame of mind. 

People who have anxiety do not need more time to contemplate, because we will use it to contemplate how much we suck.

In fact, you could say that’s what anxiety is–hyper-contemplating. When we let our minds run free, they run straight into the thorn bushes. Our minds are already running, and they need to be controlled. They need to be given something to do, or they’ll destroy everything, just like an overactive husky dog ripping up all the furniture. 

Therefore, I present to you: 

THINGS YOU SHOULD NOT DO WHEN ANXIOUS

–Go on a walk

–Watch a sunset, watch fish in an aquarium, watch glitter, etc.

–Go anywhere where the main activity is sitting and watching

–Draw, color, do anything that occupies the hands and not the mind

–Do yoga, jog, go fishing, or anything that lets you mentally drift 

–Do literally ANYTHING that gives you great amounts of mental space to obsess and dwell on things.

THINGS YOU SHOULD DO WHEN ANXIOUS:

–Do a crossword puzzle, Sudoku, or any other mind teaser game. Crosswords are the best.

–Write something. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. Write the Top 10 Best Restaurants in My City. Rank celebrities according to Best Smile. Write some dumb Legolas fanfiction and rip it up when you’re done. It’s not for publication, it’s a relief exercise that only you will see. 

–Read something, watch TV, or watch a movie–as long as it’s engrossing. Don’t watch anything which you can run as background noise (like, off the top of my head, Say Yes to The Dress.) As weird as it seems, American Horror Story actually helps me a lot, because it sucks me in. 

–Masturbate. Yes, I’m serious. Your mind has to concentrate on the mini-movie it’s running. It can’t run Sexy Titillating Things and All The Things That are Bothering Me at the same time. (…I hope. If it can, then…ignore this one.) 

–Do math problems—literally, google “algebra problems worksheet” and solve them. If you haven’t done math since 7th grade this will really help you. I don’t mean with math, I mean with the anxiety. 

–Play a game or a sport with someone that requires great mental concentration. Working with 5 people to get a ball over a net is a challenge which will require your brain to turn off the Sadness Channel. 

–Play a video game, as long as it’s not something like candy crush or Tetris that’s mindless. 

THINGS YOU SHOULD DO DURING PANIC ATTACKS ESPECIALLY:

–List the capitals of all the U.S. states

–List the capitals of all the European countries

–List all the shapes you can see. Or all the colors. 

–List all the blonde celebrities you can think of.

–Pull up a random block of text and count all the As in it, or Es or whatever.  

Now obviously, I am not a doctor. I am just an anxious person who has tried almost everything to help myself.  I’ve finally realized that the stuff people recommend never works because this is a disorder that thrives on free time and free mental space. When I do the stuff I listed above, I can breathe again. And I hope it helps someone here too. 

(Now this shouldn’t have to be said but if the “do nots” work for you then by all means do them. They’ve just never worked for me.)

Guten Morgen! Did you sleep well last night? If you chose to stay awake, did you have fun? If you wanted to but couldn't sleep, I hope you get the chance to sleep, and your day today goes your way!

These two images are of me and my homemade Bane Cosplay. This is more my interpretation of Bane, and not really meant to be completely canon.

This is me at my very first anime convention and my very first cosplay. (I am the Genin Choji!) I was scared to death because of the distance from home and all of the people, but I also loved every minute I was there!

this is for those who despair over seeing ships or tropes that make them uncomfortable while they do their little scrolly-scroll on ao3, acting like they aren’t responsible for their own internet experience

(alternatively, the back button also works)