While not an official mental health diagnosis, video game addiction is very real (Addicted to Video Games). This is embarrassing to admit, but I did nothing yesterday but play a Facebook game. I began to question whether I had a video game addiction and how to recover from it. Here are some signs that help to recognize a video game addiction and tips on how to recover from it.

My therapist will be taking a leave of absence for most of January due to major surgery. We spent the last session planning what to do since we won't be meeting for about a month. I have other people on my treatment team I can check in with, but not everyone is so fortunate. This made me realize it might be a good idea to write about how to deal with a therapist's absence.

Seasonal depression exists but so do seasonal depression remedies. Seasonal depression exists in my part of the world, where winter brings with it subzero temperatures and short hours of sunlight. This can make even the most chipper of us feel down. Whether it's winter blahs or full-blown seasonal affective disorder (SAD), it's not fun to experience, and sufferers want to get better quickly. I've recently had a bout and here's my three things to try for seasonal depression.

If your holiday is making you depressed, you should know this is actually pretty common. While it is a mental health myth that the suicide rate goes up during Christmas, that does not negate the fact that many people find the holidays to be a drag. It's okay to feel that way--holidays are a stressful time, and our culture demands a "perfect" holiday so anything that falls short may seem like a personal failure (What Is Holiday Depression?). But the good news is you don't have to have a "perfect" holiday, and there are things to try if your holiday is making you depressed.

Do you know how to cope with self-harm thoughts? Self-injury is a highly stigmatized behavior that is common among people with borderline personality disorder. Self-injury is never a healthy coping skill, and people thinking of self-harm should fight against it by using healthy coping skills. But what healthy coping skills should one use? Here are ways to cope with self-harm thoughts.

Did you know you can use humor as a mental health coping skill? I dabble in stand-up comedy, using stories combined with sarcastic comments from my life as part of the act. Recently, I did a show about my time in rehab in the state hospital system. The entire time was traumatic; I refer to it as the worst four months of my life (What the State of Indiana Doesn’t Want You to Know). But using humor as a coping skill for mental health got me through it, and enabled me to look back on it and see the funny things, such as the control freak staff member who posted a sign that read, "If you fart in the dayroom you will be marked for disrespecting staff and peers!"

Do you know how to start recovery from a mental illness trigger event? Ever since Katrina hit and I served as a relief worker, I have had a fear bordering on terror of drowning. My city, Indianapolis, just got hit by a minor flood. I do not have the words to describe how I felt as I sat on the table of a friend's business and watched the water rise to the lugnuts of a car across the street. Let's just say I'm agnostic and I was praying like my life depended on it (Pushing Aside Daily Mental Health Triggers is Tough). Events such as these trigger psychiatric symptoms and are called mental illness trigger events. The good news is there is recovery from a mental illness trigger event.

Do you know how to use coping skills in an emergency situation? Recently, while I was at a mental health facility, a series of tornadoes touched down and forced us to evacuate to the basement, three times (How to Create an Emergency Anxiety Toolkit). Unfortunately, several of the other mental health consumers had claustrophobia (literally). We had to know how to use coping skills in an emergency situation. Here's what I learned.

Pokemon Go has taught me many things about mental health coping skills. Coping skills are vital to recovery--they're the bricks and mortar of building a new foundation for your life (Coping Skills for Mental Health and Wellbeing). Coping skills vary by person, and one of mine is playing Pokemon Go (I have the weight loss, buff legs, and sunburn to prove it). Here is what Pokemon Go taught me about mental health coping skills.

Pokemon Go can help with mental illness recovery. Unless you've been living under a Kabuto the past few weeks, you're aware that Pokemon Go has gone viral (How a Video Game Gave Me My Life Back). But did you know Pokemon Go can help with mental illness recovery? Here are three ways Pokemon Go can help with mental illness recovery.