Tsvetty (she/her)

Tsvetty aka MentalHealthMemo joined Momma on May 25, 2020 for a live Q&A via Twitch and YouTube to talk about Living w/ Panic Disorder, Agoraphobia & Depression as a Student

About Tsvetty

Tsvetty is a mental health blogger and Youtuber. She decided to create content about mental health because she struggled with mental illnesses since she was a kid, dominantly anxiety and mood disorders. But on top of that, she’s also an undergraduate student for Social Work & Psychology, where she’s learning the practitioner side of the mental health sector which she was once in before as a patient. She likes putting her lived experience as well as her professional knowledge together to provide the most informative articles and videos possible. 

Socials / Links for Their Info

• Blog: https://www.mentalhealthmemo.com/ 

• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxZvL5inljOHvpr-OrqSdgg 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mental_h_memo 

• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/mentalhealthmemo/ 

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mentalhealthmemo/ 

Episode Summary

Students, strugglers and anyone who has ever been told to just calm down need to hear this one.

In this episode of Even Tacos Fall Apart I sat down with Tsvetty, a mental health blogger and YouTuber who has lived with panic disorder, agoraphobia and depression since childhood. She is also a social work and psychology student, which means she brings both the lived experience and the textbook knowledge to the table, and that combination makes this one of the most useful conversations we have had on the show.

Tsvetty walks through what it was like growing up with anxiety long before she had a name for it. Stomach aches, headaches, constant nerves, all of it chalked up to being a shy kid until her depression hit hard in middle school and her first panic attack in high school kept her out of class for almost a year. She talks openly about the ER visit, the intake worker who treated her like a burden instead of a patient, and the year of intensive outpatient therapy that finally gave her the tools to function again.

We get into what actually helped. Exposure therapy for the agoraphobia. Cognitive behavioral therapy for the depression. A panic bag stocked with medication, fidget tools and breathing aids that she carried everywhere. Her dog, who forced her to leave the house on a schedule whether she felt ready or not. And distraction techniques, because the textbook answer of sitting with a panic attack and just observing it was never realistic for her, and she is honest about that.

Tsvetty also breaks down her personal triggers, including one that surprised me: her own breathing. Noticing a physical sensation in her body can set off a spiral fast, which is a good reminder that panic disorder does not always need an outside trigger to show up.

A big chunk of this episode is about how people talk to those of us who are struggling. Tsvetty shares the moment a loved one told her to just stop having panic attacks because they were stressful for everyone else, and we both dig into why comparing suffering, telling someone to just cheer up or suggesting a walk will fix depression does more harm than good. She makes the case, and I agree with her completely, that the brain is a physical organ and mental illness deserves to be treated that way instead of something abstract you can just decide to snap out of.

We also talk about why labels and diagnoses help some people and feel limiting to others, how grounding techniques and simple yes or no questions can support someone mid panic attack, and why reframing your coping strategies when your anxiety and depression trade places is normal rather than a sign you are doing something wrong.

This one is honest, a little messy in the best way and full of real strategies you can actually use, whether you live with panic disorder and agoraphobia yourself or you love someone who does.