I thought I had it all figured out. I even had a book title picked out: Whole-ish — On Healing Myself Naturally from Depression and My Messy Path to Well. And I had outlined some of the chapters: Why restoring your gut health and generating good intestinal bacteria will improve mood The science behind optimal […]
In recent months, physical, playful activity has been the only way out of painful ruminations for me, providing a temporary respite from debilitating depression. Its transformative power is surprising to me for its ability to help me manage my emotions. Evolutionary biologist and animal behavioral specialist Marc Bekoff, PhD, once said that “play is training for the unexpected.” And […]
This post is from my archives. I’ve been repeating to myself lately something my therapist said in our session last month: “You can’t unlearn your progress.” Meaning, I can take a few steps backwards in my recovery from depression and anxiety, but that doesn’t erase all the lessons, skills, and wisdom acquired in my past. […]
A picture may very well be worth a thousand words. A motion picture? Maybe even more than that. In a March 2016 article for Counseling Today, Bronwyn Robertson, a counselor and member of the American Counseling Association, writes: Barely able to breathe, a young man battling a panic attack hesitantly enters the group room and makes his way to […]
This post is from my archives. A month into our relationship, my now-husband asked me, “Where do you see yourself in five years?” I didn’t hesitate. “As a nun in a third-world country doing missionary work,” I said. “Interesting.” Somewhere around that time I also told him it would be five years before I slept […]
“Joy does not simply happen to us,” wrote spiritual author Henri Nouwen. “We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.” I find choosing joy and trying to experience joy to be among the most difficult tasks when you are depressed. And yet it is critical to try to reconnect with those persons, places, […]
There’s such a thing as trying too hard. Anyone who has ever suffered through a case of insomnia knows this well. The harder you try to sleep, the less rest you get. Sleep only comes if you can relax and let go. It’s true for many other things, too. Like garage-door controls. The other day, […]
A team of researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently discovered why the drug ketamine may act as a rapid antidepressant. Ketamine is best known as an illicit, psychedelic club drug. Often referred to as “Special K” or a “horse tranquilizer” by the media, it has been around since the 1960s and is a staple […]
There are four distinct types of people when it comes to weather and mood, according to a study published in Emotion in 2011. Summer Lovers (better mood with warmer and sunnier weather) Unaffected (weak associations between weather and mood) Summer Haters (worse mood with warmer and sunnier weather) Rain Haters (particularly bad mood on rainy days) Although my mood […]
