Tag Archive for Depression

Yes, They WILL Hurt!

May 14, 2019 Comments Off on Yes, They WILL Hurt!

I never did like the nursery rhyme “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words can never hurt me.” As a child growing up with a physical disability, I quickly learned this is a lie.

It’s a lie that affects many people we know–those with schizophrenia, depression, and addictions, for example. And those we label “OCD” or say “committed suicide.” What difference does the language we use make and what can we do about it? Read this short article from Our Health, “Say it or Swap It?” It’s a bit of an eye-opener.

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Depressed? Stressed? High BP? Try This

March 26, 2019 Comments Off on Depressed? Stressed? High BP? Try This

Whoever heard of “horticulture therapy”? Not me. Apparently, it’s a real thing that’s being used in the field of mental health. It seems that plants can help people overcome depression, and gardening helps people both mentally and physically.  It has helped vets, people with addiction, kids, and older adults. According to Gardening becomes healing with horticultural therapy, “Many studies have found that just being in nature — such as taking a walk through a garden, a park, a forest — can improve not only your state of mind but your blood pressure, your heart rate and your stress hormone levels and, over time, can lead to a longer life….But taking care of a plant or a garden with guidance from a therapist goes a step further.”

This is an interesting article, worth a read.

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Self-Criticism Ages Us…and Other Harms

May 29, 2018 Comments Off on Self-Criticism Ages Us…and Other Harms

Ever spend sleepless nights thinking, “I should/would/could have…” or “I’m so embarrassed” or “She’s right about me” or similar self-criticisms? Sure you have. We all do. But the thoughts go away, so no harm.  Right? Not right. There IS harm, not just to our minds but to our bodies, including making us age faster.

I found the article titled Why You Should Stop Being So Hard on Yourself very interesting. Read through it–be sure not to skip the “3 Steps to Self-Compassion” about 2/3 of the way down. Some good ideas there.

And ease up on yourself!

[Thanks to my daughter,Elizabeth O’Donnell, for sending this to me.]

 

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Help Your Friend with Mental Health Issues

May 14, 2018 Comments Off on Help Your Friend with Mental Health Issues

During this month of May, which is Mental Health Awareness month, I think about people struggling with depression or who are bipolar or have other conditions–friends with mental illnesses they try to hide, and friends with a mental illness that is very apparent.  You probably do, too, since one in four people experience it within any given year.   Sometimes, dealing with them isn’t easy.  Because I care for them, I want to support them; I want to make their lives more livable.  But I’m not a professional, and I don’t want to do or say something that would be harmful to them.

I’d like to share with you a short yet helpful article.  I’ll give you its five recommendations here.  For an explanation of each, read “How to Help a Friend with Mental Illness.”

  1. Listen to what they are saying.
  2. Validate what they are saying.
  3. Ask what they need.
  4. Educate yourself about their experience.
  5. Keep being a friend.

I’m trying to apply these steps to my friends.  I hope others will apply them to me when I need them.

 

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“Miracle Cure” Kratom

November 15, 2017 Comments Off on “Miracle Cure” Kratom

Health warning: The increasingly popular herbal “cure” for depression, pain, anxiety and opioid withdrawal not only isn’t a cure but can be dangerous.

According to the FDA, there have been 30+ deaths related to it, and there’s no evidence that it helps with any of those conditions.  In fact, it can damage your liver and cause seizures.

So many of us believe in the power of nature–the herbal cures used successfully by  our ancestors and other cultures. This is not one of them.

Please, dear readers, keep your loved  ones and yourselves away from Kratom.

          

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How to Help a Friend with Mental Illness

March 21, 2016 Comments Off on How to Help a Friend with Mental Illness

I know people struggling with depression or who are bipolar or have other conditions–friends with mental illnesses they try to hide, and friends with a mental illness that is very apparent.  You probably do, too, since one in four people experience it within any given year.   Sometimes, dealing with them isn’t easy.  Because I care for them, I want to support them; I want to make their lives more livable.  But I’m not a professional, and I don’t want to do or say something that would be harmful to them.

Recently I found a short yet helpful article I’d like to share with you.  I’ll give you the five recommendations here.  For an explanation of each, read “How to Help a Friend with Mental Illness.”

  1. Listen to what they are saying.
  2. Validate what they are saying.
  3. Ask what they need.
  4. Educate yourself about their experience.
  5. Keep being a friend.

I’m trying to apply these steps to my friends.  I hope others will apply them to me when I need them.

 

 

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Who Gets all that Income?

September 16, 2013 Comments Off on Who Gets all that Income?

The economy may be improving, but the rich are getting richer and the rest of us?  Well….  Here’s an unnerving statistic: the gap in income is currently the largest that it has been since the early 1930s–yes, the Great Depression.  Today, 1% of the people are getting 95% of the income.

This is having an effect on all of us, but especially the poor who are trying to climb up out of the well the recent bad economic years have put them into.

 

 

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