The new Netflix series, “13 Reasons Why,” based on a popular young adult novel by Jay Asher with the same title, has created a lot of controversy. Some critics have deemed the show inappropriate for teens. While it is true that the show can be triggering for some viewers, I believe that it provides a powerful insight into a possible scenario of what might cause a teenager to die by suicide and can serve to help facilitate important conversation topics.
Warning: Spoilers ahead
Do any of these sound familiar?
“Why do you always take everything so seriously?”
“You are too sensitive!”
“You don’t even know that person, why do you care what happens to them?”
“You are so fat!” “You’re disgusting!” Who is going to love you if you look like that?” “How can he stand looking at you with your disgusting stomach and your double chin?”
These were just a few of the many things I used to say to myself. The irony was that the more depressed I felt, the more I shamed myself. Continue reading The effects of self fat-shaming
Hello, you wonderful people. I hope your New Year is off to a wonderful start.
I am honored and humbled by your outpouring of support of “Superhero Therapy“. I am thrilled an excited to be working on a few more geeky psychology projects, one of them being a self-help ‘Harry Potter Therapy’ book, which I am planning to make available for free.
Writing a book was a dream of mine ever since I learned how to read. I was 3 when I was devouring children’s books. My health destroyed by the Chernobyl radiation, I was not allowed to watch television due to migraines and seizures. Often too sick to go to school, books were both my entertainment and my friends. And I swore that one day I would write one. Continue reading Publishing my first book
Guest post: Harpreet Malla, M.A.
When my two greatest passions, movies and mental health, intersect, I become very excited. Especially when it is done well. I was invited to a pre-screening of director Gavin O’Connor’s The Accountant, written by Bill Dubuque, and while I expected a good thriller, I did not expect a genre-fluid, well-rounded portrayal of someone with tendencies of Asperger’s Syndrome. Note that the portrayal is sensationalized for entertainment purposes, but still retains value in its complex look at its characters and their unique struggles. The following review will explore themes of mental health in The Accountant, and as always with my writing, do so with minimal spoilers so you can save the treat of watching it for yourself and draw your own conclusions. The following will contain details that will not spoil any plot points moreso than viewing the trailer (see link below) or first fifteen minutes of the movie would.
Continue reading When “Weird” Means Wonderful in the Accountant
What if you could design your very own dream Loot Crate? What would it contain?
Given my profession and my work with Superhero Therapy, I wanted to put together an idea for a potential Loot Crate, one which could help people in managing their Dementors of depression and their boggarts of anxiety while helping them connect with their superhero potential. Here’s what I came up with.
Connecting with the Force includes a certain kind of practice – the practice of mindfulness. This means noticing how you are feeling and what is going on around you in real time. Most of the time we are in a rush, overwhelmed, and stuck inside our own minds. So then, how can we practice using the Force? Continue reading Star Wars Challenge: Use the Force
Pokémon Go is a mobile app, which is quickly taking over the world. In just two weeks after its release the free app has made over $1 billion worldwide through optional in-game purchases. Streets and parks are busy with people playing the game on their phones and yet the media is full of dangerous warnings about this game. Do the benefits of this game outweigh the risks or should people stop playing this game immediately?
Do you deserve to be loved?
That’s an interesting question, isn’t it? Some might say, it depends on whether you are a good person. Others might say that love is unconditional.
In some cultures, including one I was raised in, parents might use love as a kind of privilege, something to be earned, deserved, not readily given. I’ve heard some parents telling their children that if they do not behave well, their parents will leave them and become a parent to another child. This suggests that love can be given as a reward or removed as punishment.
