Every time there is a tragedy like the Germanwings crash in which the murderer is suspected of (or is documented with) mental problems, my job as a health advocate who tries to educate the public about the complexity of mood disorders gets much, much harder. Why? Because the connection of depression and/or suicidal thoughts is once again […]
“When you’re emerging from a depressive episode, how do you know when to push yourself—in terms of commitments and challenges—and when to be gentle with yourself?” someone asked recently on my depression community, Project Beyond Blue. That’s one of the toughest questions people who have repeated depressive episodes face. Because no matter what they choose, […]
Do these questions sound familiar? Are you tired or fatigued? Do you have trouble falling asleep? Do you have little interest in doing things you once enjoyed? Do you feel sad, depressed, or hopeless? They are typical questions asked by a doctor (psychiatrist, general practitioner, gynecologist) or provided in a questionnaire to screen for depression. […]
Six years ago a fellow blogger, Elisha Goldstein, Ph.D. of PsychCentral.com (“Mindfulness and Psychotherapy”) introduced me to the concept of mindfulness. A clinical psychologist and bestselling author, he familiarized me with the work of Jon Kabat-Zinn, whose Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program I participated in (at our local hospital, with a certified instructor). Elisha opened […]
Last night, I helped my daughter with a math problem: 6 + 8 x 4 % (4 + 3 – 7) – 3 x 4 Her lesson was on the Order of Operations. You know, “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally.” First you tackle the parentheses, then the exponents. Then you do multiplication and division. […]
In her young twenties, writer and activist Eileen Flanagan spent two years teaching English in the country of Botswana, neighboring South Africa and Zimbabwe. She ate, lived, and slept in a 180 square-foot mud hut and was quite content. Then life got a tad more complicated … she married, had kids, and eventually found herself […]
“You,” he said, “are a terribly real thing in a terribly false world, and that, I believe, is why you are in so much pain.” That quote belongs in Emilie Autumn’s psychological thriller novel, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls. I used it a few months ago in a post to describe Robin Williams and […]
“Holding on to anger,” said the Buddha, “is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” I don’t know about you, but I feel the venom coursing through my veins when I’m ticked off, tightening all my muscles, activating the sympathetic nervous system to prepare for the gorilla that is not about to […]
I keep getting the same email over and over again, and my heart aches each time I read it: “I have tried everything to overcome my depression, but nothing has helped. Is there anything else I can do or will I have to live the rest of my life plagued with sadness?” First, hear these […]
I’ve always found it curious that more suicides happen in the spring than in any other season. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Center for Health Statistics, suicide rates are lowest in the winter months and highest in the springtime. What’s so bad about April and May? The sun […]
I’ve heard a thousand variations of this problem: “My brother is depressed, but he also drinks a lot, which is probably causing the depression. So what do you treat first? The alcoholism or the depression?” The two conditions are so intertwined that it can be impossible to separate them. Just last week I met with […]
Once a year or so I’m tempted to shave my head like I’m going through chemo to make my depression visible to others. I’m thinking if I pulled a Sinead O’Connor, people would take the illness seriously. I saw a commercial the other day for some leukemia association, and I was jealous. I know that’s […]
I’m reading “50 Shades of Grey.” It’s come to that. I’m not very far, just at the elevator scene when they finally kiss. It’s the safest, cheapest, easiest solution so far that I’ve found to my problem: a libido that exists somewhere on the back of a milk carton (missing). This problem isn’t new, of course. […]
The other day a child psychologist was telling me about a very rigid, perfectionistic patient of hers. “I want to control what other people are thinking,” the patient explained. “How do you think you are going to do that?” the therapist responded. The 11 year-old brainstormed but couldn’t come up with a solution. Finally the […]
I have a theory: Many people who suffer from chronic severe depression and anxiety are allergic to sugar and foods like white flour that the human body processes like sugar. Like most of my theories, I have tested this one on my 13-year-old son, because his brain is most like mine in our family (poor […]
Dr. Karl Menninger, the famous psychiatrist, was once asked following a lecture on mental health: “What would you advise a person to do, if that person felt a nervous breakdown coming on?” Most people thought he would say: “Consult a psychiatrist.” But he didn’t. He surprised everyone when he replied: “Leave your house, find someone […]
Happy Daylight Savings Day! I know I always feel better once this day arrives … the beginning of Spring to come. Also, I wanted to let folks know that we now have a Doctor and Therapist Referrals section (group) on Project Beyond Blue (now over 2200 members!). When Beyond Blue Foundation has the resources, I’d like to have a […]
A woman on ProjectBeyondBlue.com, my depression community, recently asked me this: “You exercise daily and eat the right things. You research and write this stuff for a living. But what about those of us who can’t get out of bed in the morning? What about when you are too depressed to exercise, eat right, or […]
There is a saying that the honeymoon of a marriage is over when the queen sits on her throne as the king comes in to shave. At some point, I suspect, every husband and wife asks himself or herself the question: Do I really want to spend the rest of my life with this person? […]
I wrote the following letter as a response to a conversation with a friend I have known since college. She wondered why I used the term “death thoughts” in my writing. But I wanted to publish it for all of the people closest to me, who have never seen me wail from the hollow place […]
