“Do you WANT to get better?” a family member asked me a few weeks after I graduated from the psych ward in 2005. I was furious and hurt. Because it was just one of many insensitive comments that seem to imply that I was causing my illness. So when a woman in the online depression […]
Nine years ago I decided to wean off all my meds and take natural supplements instead. One evening I was fixing a magnesium concoction, chatting with a friend. We were talking about my depression, and this new holistic route I was taking. “You have everything you need inside you to get better,” she said. Yeah, […]
Most people who have been sober longer than a year are asked to give a “lead”—to tell their story. Mine was structurally simple, covering what it was like, what happened, and what it’s like now. Having only drank for three years, my addiction story is pretty straightforward: I stopped guzzling down mood-altering beverages. My depression […]
I am helping my friend, I’ll call her Pam, end an emotional affair. I mean, it’s not the kind of emotional affair where she tells the guy that she loves him. They don’t have secret meetings, or talk every day, or have “code language.” To an outsider, the relationship wouldn’t seem inappropriate in the slightest. […]
Psychologists have touted for decades that exercise can go a long way in treating depression. Dr. James A. Blumenthal, a professor of medical psychology at Duke University, led a recent study in which he and his team discovered that, among the 202 depressed people randomly assigned to various treatments, three sessions of vigorous aerobic exercise […]
Someone recently said to me, “Your tips are fine for those who struggle with mild to moderate depression. But what about if you can’t get out of bed you’re so depressed? What would you say to those who are really ill? She’s absolutely right. Suggestions to improve one’s mood and to pursue healthy living should […]
Picnics at the beach. Afternoons by the pool. Three months of summer bliss. Or not. For many people, the summer months are the most difficult. In fact, 10 percent of those diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder suffer symptoms at the brightest time of the year. The summer’s brutal heat, bright light, and long days can […]
Approximately 10 percent of depressed persons are treatment resistant. These folks have not responded to antidepressants or any kind of medication. Their efforts at cognitive-behavioral therapy and other types of therapy have failed. Even sessions of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) have proven unsuccessful. These people are the sickest of the sick, and spend their days in […]
A very wise editor once gave me a simple piece of writing advice: write from where you are, not from where you want to be. In naming this blog, “Sanity Break,” my hope is that it becomes a place of trust and honest rambling among persons who are struggling to live life normally—to function at work and at […]
The day I returned from inpatient therapy, my Lab-Chow mix cuddled up to me on the bed as I cried. She looked into my defeated gaze and licked my tears. I was astounded that this creature was capable of the empathy that I so craved in my closest friends and relatives. It was like she […]
The average patient with bipolar disorder takes approximately 10 years to get a proper diagnosis. About 56 percent are first diagnosed with unipolar depression. I imagine the stats for depression and other diagnoses aren’t pretty either. Working with a good doctor can save you 15 years of pain and misery. Trust me, I know. I […]
Some sobering statistics:Depression has a much greater impact on marital life than rheumatoid arthritis or cardiac disease. Ninety percent of marriages where one person isbipolar ends in divorce. Persons diagnosed with bipolar disorder have three times the rate of divorce as the general public, which is about 50 percent. This is all to communicate this message: marriages […]
A new study by researchers at Washington School of Medicine in St. Louis offers new insight into why vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) is so successful in treating persons with severe depression. VSN involves inserting a device into the upper left area of the chest to stimulate the left vagus nerve, which originates in the brain. […]
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 […]
No four words felt better when I was depressed than these, spoken by so many friends so often: This too shall pass. It didn’t matter who said them: my mom, who I figured was lying; my friends, who I knew were being nice; or my therapist, who I suspected wanted to get paid. When my […]
Just though I’d write out why I think Catholicism is, hands down, the best religion for the mentally ill. Here are a few cool devotions and traditions within the Catholic faith that work well with those brains that are, well, creatively designed. 1. There is a saint for every neurosis. You have a neurosis? We’ve […]
My new blog, “Sanity Break,” launched yesterday on Everyday Health! My first post … Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results (Albert Einstein). It’s comical when your husband’s cousin gets caught in a mental “Groundhog’s Day,” but not so fun when you can’t break the cycle of nonsense in your […]
