About

Hiya, welcome to my blog

My name is outwardlyintrovert & I’m the ripe old age of 18 years old. Enjoy reading some introductory questions below, if you’d like to know anything else then just ask me in the comments!

So… who are you?

I’m an 18 year old full-time art student (I can hear you laughing… stop it) aaaaaaaaaaaaaand full-time mentalist. I began this blog during an inpatient stay at a child and adolescent psychiatric unit, as I found it useful to rant and say all the offensive things that I couldn’t say to the staff’s faces here. I never really stopped, although I’ve taken short breaks due to reoccuring episodes of mentalism.

You are actually mental, then?

Oh yes! I used to be very ashamed of it, but I had what I like to call a “screw it!” moment, where I “came out” as having mental health problems. I’ve been really overwhelmed by the amount of people that open up to me about their own difficulties when I’ve been brave enough to be open about mine. There have been very sticky moments, but on the whole I’ve had positive experiences. Fighting stigma about mental health starts at the beginning, with the little people like me.

My official diagnonsense is an area of great debate and interest. I was previously diagnosed as having borderline personality disorder when I was 16, hence the title of the blog. After much complaining, debating and an official NHS investigation, that diagnosis has been changed. I have kept the title of my blog the same, as living with mental health problems in my experience has been very much living on the borderline. Current flavours of the month are a hybrid mutant creature of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and an eating disorder approaching anorexia. I’ve also had manic episodes/possible manic episodes. It might be better to just hand me the DSM and tell me to cross out the ones that haven’t been mentioned…

What makes your blog different from all the others?

I’ve not personally read many blogs that write from the perspective of someone who has been through the CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) system, or from someone who is juggling growing up and coming to terms with mental health problems. I primarily write about my own experiences, but I also splurge out my wonderfully biased theories on mental health, the world, being a teenager, being a “young person”, being female…

What else is there to know?

Um. Yes, I’m an art student! This was another “screw it!” moment, where I decided to do something I actually enjoyed rather than something that was socially “acceptable”. I tend to talk to my artwork a lot, thankfully my fellow students find this endearing rather than enraging. I also write, because I have a lot (of nonsense) to say. I like playing piano, working with computers and technology and playing Xbox. I spend far far far too much money on technology, but it’s exciting! Yaaaay, clicky buttons.