Mike Hedrick
As seen in:
Medium,
Psych Central,
Meat & Poultry (USA),
Bolde,
The Express-Star,
Clearwater Tribune
Articles by Mike Hedrick
Separating Paranoia from Anxiety
If you suffer from paranoid delusions you've probably heard it time and time again that your paranoia is just social anxiety, and while there's a function of anxiety in your delusions, paranoia seems to be a deeper, more sinister animal. It used to bother me to no end when people would tell me my paranoia was social anxiety.
The Importance of Support
I count myself extremely fortunate for the support of my family and friends. I feel blessed knowing that I've got this network of good people that can help me if and when a problem arises and I value that tremendously. That said, there are a lot of people out there with mental illness who can't count on a support network like I can. It hurts my heart to know that people are struggling with both the illness, as well as the lack of help from any family or community structure.
Stopping the Relentless Overthinking
I'm guessing I'm not the only out there that has a tendency to think and overthink things to the point of exhaustion. In fact, I know I'm not. Millions of people struggle with anxiety in their daily lives and one major facet of that anxiety is the tendency to overanalyze. For me, my mind seems to mostly spiral on social interactions and money related issues sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. "Did I say something off when I was talking to that woman? it seemed like the energy shifted.
An Escape from Getting Overwhelmed
Sometimes it happens suddenly, sometimes gradually, but we've all been in a situation where we can't focus because there's too much going on. This morning I was trying to learn and understand a new project and suddenly it was like my eyes crossed and my brain blanked out. I just could not make heads or tails of what I was looking at. Thankfully my inner voice spoke up and said, "this is too much Mike, put it away." It was like I had blown a fuse.
The Persistance of Your Delusions
When you have to contend with delusional thinking, life can get hard. Many times I've been so confused by whether or not something was actually happening that I made serious mistakes acting on those things. I have hurt people and I have ruined friendships and relationships over my delusions. I regret those things immensely and I have fought my delusions to the bone, time and time again, but here, 16 years later, I still experience thoughts that have no basis in reality.
Learning to Pull Back
Things in my life seem to take the characteristics of waves. What happens is that, feeling stagnant, I'll start to take on projects or set goals for myself in an attempt to break the nothing feeling, and, realizing it feels good to improve myself and get out of the funk, I'll say yes to more things. During this time I'll get excited about potentialities, I'll start dreaming of life with all these new facets that I've learned and new things that I can be proud of.
Schizophrenia's Effect on Family
I can remember the weeks after coming out of the hospital and moving back in with my parents, it was a scary time, to say the least. I was riddled with paranoia and delusions, my meds weren't right yet and I was suffering from a host of side effects, and though I had been cleared to be released, I was still very very sick.
Am I Actually Talking to God?
I've discussed the voice in my head here before. It's the one that seems to always have the right advice, knows what to do, and reassures me when I need it but I've always been unclear on where the voice comes from. In esoteric circles, people talk about connecting with your higher self. As though there's a part of you that's on a higher vibrational frequency than your everyday self, the one that you know as you who interacts with the world and carries on in your everyday business.
Dealing with Psychotic Connections
There's a funny thing that happens when you're psychotic, everything seems to matter to an enormous degree. This includes things like errant words you see, nuances of people's speech and body language, movements people make, lyrics in songs, random numbers you see, titles of books and even things commercials say on tv. Being hyper-aware, everything has significance of some kind.
The Importance of Taking Care of Yourself
As a person living with schizophrenia, I face challenges normal people don't seem to have to deal with. Namely, I don't have the energy or capacity to take care of myself all the time. This means that I get into phases where sometimes my sleep suffers, or I forget to take my meds, or sometimes I'll overthink myself to the brink of collapse and not remember to do things like eat (or eat too much) or shower.
You Don't Have to be Limited by Your Illness
I've fallen into the trap many times that there are simply things I'm not capable of doing because I have schizophrenia. While it may be more difficult to do those things with an illness like that, I'm here to tell you that you don't have to be limited by your illness.
Grappling with Intrusive Feelings
If you're anything like me you go through periods where you get so focused on things that you invariably lose yourself for a while. Sometimes these things are small little nothings that you've overblown in your head, and sometimes they're actual tangible worries that you have. These obsessions could be about relationships, health, money or any number of things but those are the big ones for me.
The Stress Light Switch
I think something that isn't that widely recognized is the effect of stress on symptoms of schizophrenia and mental illness. It can be an almost immediate exacerbation, hence, why I refer to it as a light switch. Stress has the amazing potential to worsen symptoms rapidly for people like me and there's not a whole lot we can do about it in the moment besides meditate and/or practice breathing techniques.
Schizophrenia and Love
Everyone's deserving of love right? There's no one on this earth that deserves to be alone but for people with schizophrenia and other major mental illnesses, love and relationships can be incredibly hard to, not only build, but also sustain for a variety of reasons. First, and I hate to say it but there still exists a pretty unshakeable stigma around the 'schizophrenia' label.
The Religious Component of Psychosis
A common delusion among people with schizophrenia is that they have somehow been ordained by God to carry a message or to do something important. They believe they are either prophets, angels or God himself. In this thinking they are subsumed with the idea that they have been chosen for a higher purpose and have been given these visions and voices to lead them on a path of righteousness.
The Myriad Side Effects of Meds
Along with our daily regimen of medication for schizophrenia comes something that can be debilitating for a lot of people, the side effects. Of course the benefit of the meds far outweighs the trouble we have to go through as a result of the side effects but still, it's a sad situation that we have to go through these things at all. I can remember, near the beginning, when I had just gotten out of the hospital and I was on a med called Abilify.
We Guys Get Nervous, Too: 5 Reasons First Dates Scare Us
If there’s one path to combating the crippling existential notion that you’re going to die alone, dating would be it. Sure, there are proponents of the act of dating that say “Meeting new people is fun!” or “I like to be social!” but in reality, we know they’re most likely full of crap. Dating is a chore. It’s a means to an end and I think it’d be safe to say that nobody actually enjoys it – more like, they tolerate it.
Dating with Schizophrenia
I’ve never been in a relationship. I’ve been on dates, sure, but none of these potential relationships lasted past the second date. I’ve heard that I’m picky — that I’m not vulnerable enough, or that I’m just plain afraid of being in a relationship. I don’t think others’ thoughts hold any real bearing on my own thoughts and emotions when the prospect of a relationship presents itself. I know what I’m looking for. I know what my type is.
LJ Powell | Obituary | Chickasha Express Star
November 7, 1930 - October 13, 2020 LJ Powell of Chickasha, OK was born November 7, 1930, the oldest of 3 children on a farm near Mountain View to Lawrence Jackson Powell and Edna Pearl Powell, he left this earthly life on October 13th, 2020 at the age of 89. LJ grew up on the farm in Mountain View where he attended school from kindergarten through 12th grade and met the love of his life LaVerne Witten.
Hormel unveils breakthrough innovation in snacks
MINNEAPOLIS — Hormel Foods Corp. is expanding in the snack market with Skippy P.B. Bites, Spam Snacks and Jennie-O Turkey Breast Sticks. Executives of the Austin, Minn.-based company discussed the three new product platforms during a presentation with investors on June 11 in Minneapolis. “Our founder, George Hormel, said it best: ‘Innovate, don’t imitate,’” said Thomas Day, group vice president of Hormel’s Refrigerated Foods unit.
When We Were Small: An Intense Struggle with Depression - OC87 Recovery Diaries
I broke down on a cold December evening and rested my head on the window. I didn’t know how unclean I’d become, until I watched the world fill with snow. My parents always did everything they could for me. It was the seventies. There was hardly any psychiatric medication to speak of then, cognitive therapy was barely emerging and, in general, the information on mental illness was not there to discuss, if you wanted to. I first felt it when I was about eight years old. Depression.
Losing My Job, Keeping My Mental Health by Liz Spikol
I knew it was coming. When my boss told me on a Friday that he wanted to meet on Monday, I figured it couldn’t be good. We weren’t getting along, my boss and I, and while I’d seen him fight — red-faced and shouting — with other writers at the magazine, the silent tension in his jawline when I spoke to him seemed more ominous than a raised voice.
Rotary Ripples for the week of August 25, 2016 - Clearwater Tribune: Community News
The Rotary meeting of Aug. 19 was attended by 22 members and four visitors. Following the usual opening Thought of the Day, the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag and introduction of guests the club was introduced the 2016/2017 Foreign Exchange student from Germany, Anton Hahn, by his host mother Barbara-Lee Jordan. A hearty welcome from all in attendance was forthcoming for Anton. An online service is needed to view this article in its entirety.
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