When mental health and cancer health merge
BY Laura Yeager
PUBLISHED October 20, 2018
As well as being a cancer blogger, Laura Yeager is a religious essayist and a mental health blogger. A graduate of The Writers’ Workshop at The University of Iowa, she teaches writing at Kent State University and Gotham Writers’ Workshop. Laura survived cancer twice.
One of the things I've never spoken about in a curetoday.com blog post is the fact that I have bipolar illness. I felt that the cancer aspect of my life was enough to discuss in a cancer blog, but I am one of those individuals who has had to deal with both mental illness and physical illness. I speak of the bipolar illness today because for the first time, the two sicknesses have interacted in an interesting way.
i've been depressed for about three months. This occurred because I went off my anti-depressant due to the fact that I'd gotten a little manic. (Anti-depressants often cause people's mood to elevate.) I knew if I went off the anti-depressant, I'd come down off my high. I did return to normal, but after about a month, I slid down and found myself depressed.
I continued to teach writing at a local university even though it was literally painful to shower, dress, apply make-up and go in. Recently, I found myself teaching proposals, problem/solution papers. One of my students, a young woman, wanted to address the problem of low self-esteem in girls. Her solution to this issue was to utilize affirmations in day-to-day life. Affirmations are kind things we tell ourselves such as "I am capable," or "I can do this." In short, affirmations are little pep talks we give ourselves.
I continued to teach writing at a local university even though it was literally painful to shower, dress, apply make-up and go in. Recently, I found myself teaching proposals, problem/solution papers. One of my students, a young woman, wanted to address the problem of low self-esteem in girls. Her solution to this issue was to utilize affirmations in day-to-day life. Affirmations are kind things we tell ourselves such as "I am capable," or "I can do this." In short, affirmations are little pep talks we give ourselves.
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