Since many mothers have just shipped off their offspring for the first time since they brought the babes home, they are experiencing what mental health professionals have termed “empty nest depression.” I have to be honest, I can’t really relate to that right now from where I’m sitting, at the beginning of flu season trying […]
Even as I love the autumn season, it is full of anxiety for me (like every other season, come to think of it). I start to mourn the ending of summer when I hear the cicadas grow louder the last two weeks of August and when I feel the crispness in the air at that […]
<span><img alt=”9:11 image.jpg” src=”http://blog.beliefnet.com/beyondblue/files/import/imgs/9%3A11%20image.jpg” width=”250″ height=”189″ style=”float: left;margin: 0 20px 20px 0″ /></span> <p>Most of us circle a few days of the calendar year that we know will be difficult to get through: the anniversary of a death, traumatic event, or even happy occasion. These dates are charged with emotion. </p><p>September 11 falls under that category […]
On the combox of my post, “Suffering: the Irritant That Produces the Pearl,” a reader wrote: In you I see a woman who runs and kayaks and all the things that exhaust me just to read. As a read about your finding the tools/kits, I want tot say, PLEASE tell me what the tools are? […]
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting. Wait without thought, for you […]
Roughly a quarter of people age 65 or older suffer from depression. More than half of doctor’s visits by the elderly involve complaints of emotional distress. Twenty percent of suicides in this country are committed by seniors, with the highest success rate belonging to older, white men. According to a recent report in the “Journal […]
I’m a huge fan of Wall Street Journal columnist Melinda Beck. I follow her insightful “Health Journal,” and was especially intrigued by her two-part series on hoarding: how to help the hoarder and how to deal with it as a family member or friend. Beck’s perspective is unique because she combines her journalism skills with […]
Awhile back I returned to my high school alma mater and spoke to the high school students. Here’s the gist of my message: 12 Things I Learned in High School. 1. Act as if you belong. In 12-step support groups this means “fake it til you make it.” I just remember being incorrectly placed in […]
Harold Kushner explains what NOT to say to a grieving family in his classic “When Bad Things Happen to Good People” using as an illustration the story of Job (the faithful, righteous, and pious man who loses his livestock, house, servants, and children, and is afflicted with boils all over his body). Having lost his […]
Today I have the pleasure of interviewing one of my favorite bloggers/writers/professors and just plain talented people out there. Dr. Monica A. Coleman is a minister, scholar, activist, and writer. (Yes, it is possible to be all those things …). Presently, she is Associate Professor at Claremont School of Theology. And she has been diagnosed […]
In my daily meditational “Magnificat,” I read an excerpt from Teresa of Avila that gave me hope that we need not have perfect faith for our prayers to be heard by God. She writes: I was alone then without any person in whom I could find some support, unable to pray vocally or read, but […]
In Spring 2006 the depression of two very successful men made newspaper headlines in Maryland: Phil Merrill, a renowned publisher, entrepreneur and diplomat in the Washington area took his own life. Eleven days later Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan withdrew his candidacy for governor of Maryland because of his struggle with depression. For weeks, newspapers […]
I was interviewed recently for a cool site called “Practical Spiritual Healing Guide” on ways I treat my depression and holistic techniques I embrace. Since it’s a good overview of my health philosophies, I thought I’d share it here. To get to the cool website, click here. 1) You write a blog about dealing with […]
The following is an excerpt from a new book called “Forgiveness: A Time to Love and a Time to Hate” by Helen Whitney, and is reprinted with permission of the publisher. Her book is based on the PBS documentary. From the beginning of time humans have committed brutal acts against one other. In this last […]
Teenagers are moody. Absolutely. Fluctuations in hormones cause angry outbursts, irritability, emotional hysteria, defiant behavior, and weepiness. So it’s very difficult to tease apart teenage drama from legitimate depression and other mood disorders. However, it’s worth the effort because depression and other mood disorders that begin in adolescence often become much more serious and difficult […]
I found the following article at “The Daily Gazette” about Jamison’s seminar on “Madness, Moods, and Creative Achievement” at the Science Center 101 back in 2005. It serves as a good summary of her discussion at Johns Hopkins’s Mood Disorders Symposium, as well. To get to the original article, click here. Science Center 101 […]
The other day I wrote a post for Psych Central about suffering. I was a tad nervous posting it, because somehow I think I should have a more optimistic philosophy about life, and that I should be a more positive person, in general. However, given the feedback on the piece, I am glad I published […]
Awhile back USA Today published an interesting article as a kind of wrap-up of the four-day annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. Among the happiness talk was how to stay chipper in this economy. My friend, Robert Wicks, attended and was interviewed for the article. Here is his section in the article (I still get […]
Vacations are theoretical concepts that exist today only on paper. That’s according to Joe Robinson, work-life balance speaker, trainer, and author of “Don’t Miss Your Life.” His statistics are dire: Some 25 percent of Americans and 31 percent of low-wage earners get no vacation at all anymore, according to the Center for Economic and Policy […]
What do you do when you’re stuck in a rut? Even though I’ve written about this in several posts—“12 Ways to Keep Going,” “Getting Through the Rough Spots,” and “12 Strategies to Help You Recover From Relapse”—I fail to remember the pointers when I’m there myself. My present mood dip isn’t a mammoth relapse, thank […]
