Kitt O’Malley

Category: Mental Health

  • Organizing My Thought Process

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    Tuesday in group therapy, my psychiatrist Alex Michelson (yes, he’s good, excellent actually, and practices in Mission Viejo, CA) pointed out that when sharing in group therapy I talked around my point until I finally getting to it. Unlike my writing which is usually terse and to the point, my speech (at least in therapy…

  • Exhausted

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    Starting to recuperate from the last two weeks. Still exhausted. Sleepless nights, partly due to hypomania and stress, partly to dogs whining to go out in the wee hours of the morning. Too much 24/7 parenting. Home with my son almost two weeks, first when he had the stomach flu, second for spring break. Easter…

  • Found Notes

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    Recently found some notes I jotted down while attending a workshop at The Gathering on Mental Health and the Church at Saddleback Church. Here they are: Enjoy speaking to individuals and small groups. Anxious when hear mental health professionals discussing mental health crisis intervention. PTSD for me. Difficult past experience. Do not want to go back…

  • Day Tripping

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    Often I get caught in my thoughts, in daydreaming and talking to myself, even gesturing and make facial expressions to match my train of thought. Keeps me from being in the present and drives my son nuts, especially when I do it driving him to and from school. My hope is to get those thoughts…

  • Social Media Promotion

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    I’ve debated how to best promote my blog using other social media and have found myself overwhelmed and unsure of whether I am using my resources best. Please also read my Liking Photos post on this matter and give me your personal experiences and advice. Thank you.

  • Another Late Night

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    A couple nights ago, or perhaps it was simply last night, I was up late, unable to fall asleep. Finally, at 1:30 am, I decided to check if I had taken my night time meds (generic Depakote aka Divalproex aka valproic acid and generic Benadryl aka long chemical name I do not care to look up).…

  • LMFT

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    Back in 1990 I got an MA in psychology from New College of California. I worked hard over the next two years to rack up the then required 3,000 internship hours, and study for and pass both the written and oral exams to become what was then called a Marriage Family and Child Counselor. The…

  • NAMI Peer-to-Peer

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    To join a NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Peer-to-Peer group, or not to join a NAMI Peer-to-Peer group? That is the question. If I am to volunteer for NAMI, I must first participate in a NAMI Peer-to-Peer group. This makes sense, yet I fear it. Though I speak openly of having bipolar disorder; honestly,…

  • To Work or Not to Work

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    My past experience has been that in the workplace I become overstimulated, that I take on too many responsibilities, overwork, and burn out. Taking care of my husband and son, as well as myself, taxes me as it is. I need social contact, but still feel that it must be restrained, limited, flexible to my…

  • Not Just Dysthymia

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    Not until I was 39, was I diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. I am now 50. At 39, I recognized the symptoms of mania in myself, euphoria, the feeling of being called by God to a particular church, to a particular path. The diagnostic criteria have changed over the years. For two decades, I had been…