Angela Grey

<p>Living beside the water should be peaceful until the bodies of mystery infants wash ashore. A nightmare scenario unfolds: the third in a string of dead bodies turns up in the suburban lake, rekindling the mysterious occurrence. Each is a premature baby, and they were delivered a year apart. DNA tests show they’re all related &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/07/12/lake-of-secrets-is-now-available/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen

<p>Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford Words on Bathroom Walls by Julia Walton The Mystery of Hollow Places by Rebecca Podos Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia The Words We Keep by Erin Stewart Impulse by Ellen Hopkins Paperweight by Meg Haston When We Collided by Emery Lord Clean by Amy Reed It&#8217;s Kind &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/03/21/35-fantastic-ya-books-on-mental-illness/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-rea

<p>Where do you get the details to put in a memoir? How do you remember things from so long ago? Which ones are the correct memories to use? How do I connect them? You will now gather the particular details and make them universal so your reader can connect with the words you write. Use &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/03/06/memoir-writing-for-mental-health-details-part-two-mapping-out-memories/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-rea

<p>It sometimes feels really unfair when coming out of psychosis (the depths of a mental illness). Why me? But in order put spin some positivity regarding it, I&#8217;d like to mention some things it has taught me about myself. Here are reasons I&#8217;m grateful for certain aspects of living with a mental illness. Being grateful &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/03/05/things-i-have-learned-from-my-mental-illness/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span

<p>The brain basis of a mutual relationship between sleep and mental health is not yet completely understood. But&nbsp;neuroimaging&nbsp;and&nbsp;neurochemistry&nbsp;studies suggest that a good night&#8217;s sleep helps foster both mental and emotional resilience, while chronic sleep deprivation sets the stage for negative thinking and emotional vulnerability. Harvard Medical School Sleep hygiene: taking a soothing bath before bedtime, &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wor

<p>Fear of being hurt by the sufferer is one such reason there is stigma about mental health issues. Most people with mental illness aren&#8217;t dangerous. And if they are, it&#8217;s a danger to themselves. My psychiatrist once said that mental illness doesn&#8217;t cause a person to be violent if they didn&#8217;t already have that trait. &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/03/03/some-reasons-why-there-is-such-a-stigma-around-mental-health-problems/" cl

<p>I attended a class at Pathways Mental Health Crisis Center in uptown Minneapolis about healing the body from trauma, judgment, guilt, pain, anger, or resentments. I learned many things like you need to liberate yourself from guilt and shame by embracing the pain because you battled it and won. For example, if you were abused, &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/03/02/depression-vs-expression/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader

<p>What type of memoir do you choose to write? Thematically based or on a particular timeframe. Some common themes are death of a loved one, career, marriage, childbirth, moving to a new home or town, etc. What are the important moments that stand out for you with the chosen theme or timeframe? Once you understand &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/03/01/memoir-writing-for-mental-health-details-part-2/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="scree

<p>According to memoirist, Jack Gantos, &#8220;Don&#8217;t be that writer who waits all day for the perfect first sentence,&#8221; he advises, &#8220;or you will grow old while learning to hate yourself and writing.&#8221; Writing a memoir helps us understand who we are, where we come from and where we are going. It creates a legacy. It &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/02/28/memoir-writing-for-mental-health-details-part-one/" class="more-link">Continue

<p>If anybody has the right to give writerly advice based solely on success, Stephen King is one of them. With so many novels and short stories under his belt, King offers the collected wisdom, both learned and discovered. King&#8217;s memoir is part life story or memoir and part writing manual. The field guide is smart, &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/02/28/book-review-for-on-writing-a-memoir-of-the-craft-by-stephen-king/" class="more-link">Continue r

<p>I&#8217;ve written about journaling for mental health before; but this time let&#8217;s go over memoir writing in long format, possibly book style. I received an email and a Twitter DM about how to start a memoir. Here are some tips, prior to starting, during the writing phase, and after you finish. Identify a strong opening &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/02/27/memoir-writing-for-mental-health-overview/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span clas

<p>Social anxiety disorder (social phobia) is a chronic mental health condition in which social interactions cause irrational anxiety and fear. Social anxiety disorder typically begins in the teenage years, though it can sometimes start in younger children or in adults. If we consider the statistics, according to the&nbsp;National Institute of Mental Health&nbsp;social anxiety is more &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/02/13/what-is-social-anxiety/" class

<p>Please note that I didn&#8217;t write to cure it because for some people there is no cure. Anxiety may be in part genetic. So, what are some other causes: alcohol and drug abuse, chronic pain or injury, stressors or uncertainties, personality, unhealthy eating and little to no exercise, traumatic events, or diabetes, cancer, or other &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/02/12/anxiety-causes-and-things-i-had-to-do-to-lessen-it/" class="more-link">Continue

<p>While I have anxiety, OCD, and schizophrenia, I oftentimes feel that people think I&#8217;m sitting in a corner in utter anguish and hearing voices. I have stressors like everybody else so I have rough days, but those are usually days that would be stressful to anybody. Some examples are work issues, writing challenges, family matters, &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/02/11/how-do-i-think-other-people-perceive-me/" class="more-link">Continue reading<

<p>First and foremost is a mistake I made as a teenager. Why? That had the monumental consequences that affected not only me but a daughter from my teen pregnancy. The pregnancy itself was the mistake not the preemie I gave birth to who ended up with the correct mother in the end as a result &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2022/02/04/mistakes-made-lessons-learned/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> &#8220;MISTAKES MADE + LE

<p>A beautiful family hiding dysfunction. A house full of secrets. An intelligent, creative, and schizophrenic girl. An awkward, awesome, zealous boy. Noxious peers. Worse high school. Embarrassing moments. Danger lurks. Young love.&nbsp; Reality? What befalls one on an unraveling journey? And what is it like to question one&#8217;s own sanity? Adria is a high school &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2021/04/06/secret-whispers-available-on-04-11-21/" class="m

<p>As with my previous post, where I elaborated on my mental health according to each decade, here, I will go over how my social anxiety disorder came to be. It began in college when I sought my Bachelor&#8217;s degree, which included numerous presentations, speech coursework, and one Acting class. I don&#8217;t remember why I chose &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2020/07/29/social-anxiety-disorder-evolution/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="

<p>When asked, is it Waubay, SD, Watertown, SD, or Brooklyn, NY: to which do I belong? Since I spent a great deal of my childhood moving around, sometimes three times in one school year, I don&#8217;t really know what to respond when asked about my hometown. I was born in Webster, some eleven miles off &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2020/07/24/write-about-my-city-my-hometown/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> &#8220;Write

<p>Run Fast, Run Far by Angela Grey For me, returning to therapy after twenty years, only to discover that the pain I&#8217;d left behind years ago was only hiding under the surface and waiting to reappear in memories, daydreams, and nightmares. As a sexual abuse survivor, I thought I was bad, defective, crazy and alone. I &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/run-fast-run-far/" class="more-link">Continue reading<span class="screen-reader-text"> &#8220

<p>Beyond Quirky: The descent into the darkness, hallucinations, and delusions of schizophrenia by Angela Grey Beyond Quirky is a memoir about the descent into the hallucinations, delusions and darkness of schizophrenia. It started when I was twenty-seven and returning to college after I had my four children. Initially, I didn&#8217;t know they were hallucinations and &hellip; <a href="https://angelagrey.wordpress.com/2016/08/02/beyond-quirky/" class="more-link">Continue read