Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a mental illness that not many people know very much about. It is marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods, self-image, and behavior. These symptoms often result in impulsive actions and problems in relationships. The term “borderline” refers to the fact that people with this condition tend to “border” on being diagnosed with additional mental health conditions in their lifetime, including psychosis. One of the ironies of this disorder is that people with BPD may crave closeness, but their intense and unstable emotional responses tend to alienate others, causing long-term feelings of isolation.

Today has been a rough day, so all I want to do is make sure everyone is okay. Are you okay? If not, do you have someone to talk to? Are you doing self-care? It's okay to not be okay. Tomorrow will be a better day.

Today is #BellLetsTalk Day! Bell Let's Talk is focused on the following 4 pillars:

• Reducing stigma, promoting awareness and understanding

• Providing support and services when and where people need it

• Mental health research

• Encouraging corporate engagement in the Standard for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace

I've talked a little bit about hockey players with mental health issues previously, but there are a lot of other celebrities and athletes who have opened up about their experiences.

Our moods can be greatly affected by sunlight. Natural light helps our bodies produce vitamin D. There are vitamin D receptors in the brain, and the vitamin may affect proteins in the brain known to play a role in mood, learning and memory, motor control, and possibly even maternal and social behavior. Vitamin D may also affect the serotonin levels in your brain, which is the chemical linked to feelings of well-being and happiness.

A lot of research is currently being done related to mental health. Whether it be studying new medications, new combinations of medications, new types of therapy, or getting information about the prevalence of a condition and types of care, we are continuing to learn about mental illness in the population.

Quick post today. Just want to share one of my favorite mental health artists on Instagram! Make Daisy Chains is the champion of #boringselfcare and offers a diverse perspective on mental health. I hope you check her out!

One barrier to getting mental health treatment can be cost. If you have good insurance, therapist and psychiatrist appointments could be as low as $10. But if you don't have insurance, paying out of pocket can be expensive.

I had a hockey game on Sunday and I didn't really want to go. I wasn't feeling very well mentally and the roads were a little snowy and icy. When I'm not feeling well, it can be very easy to just stay home and not go out and do things. But, I also know that exercise is not only good for my body, but good for my mind as well.

A mental health topic that is largely un-talked about is postpartum depression, which is estimated to happen to 1 in 7 women. It is more than just the "baby blues", which can happen as a result of the hormone swings that happen around childbirth and could last for a couple weeks. Postpartum depression symptoms, however, last much longer and are more intense and could interfere with your ability to take care of your baby or handle other daily tasks.

As you probably know, there is a National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. It's available 24/7 and it provides emotional support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress. I recommend programming it into your phone in case you or someone you know ever needs it.

1-800-273-8255

Mental health impacts different communities in different ways. Broadly, the issues faced are similar, but they can manifest differently and approaches to treatment can vary a lot.

Mental Health America has a lot of great statistics about mental health in the black and African American communities.

On Day 15 of #shawleveryday2019, I talked about people's fear of going on medication. Wil Wheaton has also blogged about this and I wanted to share his approach. Just like you would treat a physical illness with medication or a cast or some other tool, you should treat mental illness the same way. There are tools like therapy and medication that can help you address what's going wrong. Getting help is not a sign of weakness - it is a courageous thing and it's the first step toward feeling better.

Today's post comes from my husband Brian. It's a longer read, but I encourage you to take the time to go through the whole thing. The article he is referencing is from bphope titled Bipolar: Blessing or Curse? If you have any questions for him, feel free to comment and I will share it with him.

One of the reasons I am adding mental health resources to my #shawleveryday2019 campaign is to help end the stigma around mental health. Stigma is a big problem and can cause people not to seek help when they need it.

We are about 1/6th of the way through #shawleveryday2019 and I just want to remind you that I am raising money for Independence Center. You can donate to the campaign directly or, when you buy a shawl, I will donate half of the sale price to the campaign.

A lot of people are afraid of taking medication for their mental illness. Some view it as a sign of weakness. Some think that because you are taking meds, you must "have it really bad." Some people are worried about the side effects - will it change who I am?

Dermatillomania (also known as skin picking or excoriation) is a body-focused-repetitive-behavior that is associated with OCD. It is characterized by repeated touching, picking, scratching, and digging at ones own skin, whether damaged skin or healthy. The big differences between dermatillomania and normal picking at skin imperfections and irregularities is that the behavior is chronic, results in tissue damage, and causes the person marked distress and dysfunction.

If you think you might be experiencing mental health issues, Mental Health America has a few screening tools that you can take. There are screenings for depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, PTSD, psychosis, eating disorders and more. They are not meant to be diagnostic, but they can be useful to bring to your primary care physician to have a conversation about seeing a specialist. They take less than 2 minutes and could be the start of getting the treatment you need.