Social Impact Initiative

Do you want to know what is it like to deal with eating disorders? Then read this interview. We talked to a 22-year old sales school student who enjoys playing in cuddling with animals (any kind, any time), watching series and drawing. Her struggle with eating disorders started in 2012, when she was 15. After 7 years her condition is much better, although her battle is not completely over, yet. According to the American Psychological Association (2017) eating disorders are characterised by severe disturbances in eating behaviours and related thoughts and emotions. People with eating disorders typically become pre-occupied with food and their body weight. Keep reading if you are interested in her answers. How would you describe your mental disorder? It’s sometimes like you don’t want to eat although your body needs the food, other times it’s like you know you have to eat but your body doesn’t let you. For every meal you struggle and fight before, after and/or in betwee...

Hi there. I am a 22 year old student finishing my Bachelor degree. In my free time I like to read, write, watch movies, hike in the nature and take photos. I also like to spend time with my friends and family, probably just like you. If I had to point out something, that makes me different from most of you, I'd probably mention I am suffering from panic disorder. Panic disorder is characterized by reoccuring panic attacks, which are periods of intense fear that include somatic symptoms, like shortness of breath, palpitations etc. They lead to different behavioral and cognitive outcomes, such as avoidance of places associated with one of the attacks. In this interview, psychology students from EFPSA's Social Impact Initiative explored how life with this condition is like for me, and if you want to know more, you're most welcome to read it. . How would you (figuratively) describe your mental disorder? I would describe it as a ghost that starts strangling ...

As the theme of this year's Mental Health Awareness Week is stress, we decided to ask  doc. dr Nikola Petrovi ć from Department of Psychology at Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade a few questions about it… 1.         What are some of the most common reasons why people are under stress? Stress is a normal part of life. Everyone has different stress triggers. People usually get stressed about work, family issues, illnesses, deaths, financial issues or big changes in their lives, sometimes even very positive changes like getting married or winning the lottery. 2.         What are the typical thoughts of a person dealing with stress? Everyone reacts differently to stressors, but some people are more resilient than others. That means that some people have very irrational thoughts such as „This is horrible, I can’t handle this!“ that lead to undesired psychological outcomes and worsen the situ...