CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS — Mental health advocates and survivors unite this month to help educate and bring awareness to suicide prevention. National suicide prevention month is a time to share resources and stories such as local mom Heather Loeb.
In her blog called Unruly Neurons, she opens up about her battles with depression and suicide. “I started it about two years ago. I wasn’t really consistent with it until about a year ago, after I came back from a psychiatric facility for six weeks,” said Heather Loeb.
Loeb says that with depression and anxiety, it’s more than just being sad.
“And that’s not the case it can be physically and mentally debilitating you can’t get out of bed, you physically hurt,” said Loeb.
Loeb says she has been suicidal many times but what keeps her spirits up is her family.
“So I try to think about them, and think about my husband and they really keep me grounded and keep me in the moment and keep me from escalating,” said Loeb.
Along with her husband and two kids to keep her grounded. Loeb found a purpose through her experiences that the shares on her website.
“That’s why I blog now, to chip away at the stigma of depression and everything surrounding mental illness,” said Loeb.
Her website is a mechanism for therapy and a way to educate others about mental illness. A process that clinic Director Joel Johnson says is called behavioral cognitive therapy.
“You interject positive behaviors into your life in order to sort of positively battle negative thinking,” said Joel Johnson who is the Clinic Director at Coastal Plain Center in Alice Texas
Johnson said along with counseling and other resources in behavioral cognitive therapy one goal is to look at the things you do during the day.
“If you have some of those things that make you feel great enhance some of those. If there are things during the day that aren’t making you feel good, let’s reduce some of those,” said Johnson.
