Personal Stories and Interviews, a round-up


Filed Under Personal Stories, Round-ups | Dec 1, MST 11:05 am

 
Unfortunately, suicide is a far too common occurence in our own society. In this story from the village of Lisbellaw, a man who lost his brother to suicide discusses how it’s affected his family.

Andrea Hammit tests out the Foresight institutes five-a-day mood boost plan.  Her verdict? Small changes can have a big impact on the quality of your life.

Joe Donovan an ex-marine and computer programmer who has hit several rough patches in his life. Despite his complicated medical history and his bouts with depression, he still looks at the world through optimistic eyes.

The Dr. Jim Marshall Farms Foundation was born from the good doctor’s own experiences fighting depression and suicidal thoughts. He opened an 84 acre farm that is dedicated to helping people overcome their own fight with depression.

Andy McNab shares some devastating stories about soldiers with PTSD. Many of them committed suicide, some are in prison, all of them are coping with demons.

The talented musician Juliana Hatfield discusses her battle with anorexia and depression .  She put it rather well — a heart that hurts is a heart that works.

Finally, Sharp Brains interviews  Prof. Robert Emmons, otherwise known as Father Gratitude.  Like his name suggests, he studies positive psychology. The work he’s done studying the practice of gratitude is astounding. This interview is worth reading, since if you practice the advice he gives, you’re almost guaranteed to change your life. Of all the exercises I’ve covered on this blog,  his gratitude journal is the one that I’ve made a daily habit.

Cybersex Bums You Out


Filed Under Personal Stories, Relating to People, Uncategorized | Oct 31, MDT 10:43 am

 
A recent Australian study from the Swinburne University of Technology reveals that the more time a man spends online looking for sexual thrills, the more likely he is to suffer from poor mental health.  In a survey of 1325 Australian and American men, doctoral student Marcus Squirrel found that 27 percent of the men surveyed were moderately depressed, 30 percent had high levels of anxiety, and 35 percent were moderately to severely stressed. Those numbers were directly related to the amount of time the men spent on sex sites.

That’s not to say that cybersex is in itself a bad thing, however an excessive amount of online sexual activity can be a sign of deeper personal problems. It’s important for people to be aware of what motivates them to do the things they do. Sometimes, our hobbies are actually forms of self-medication, subconscious efforts on our part to bring balance back to our lives.

Cybersex itself is a snack, it’s not a meal. People who spend more time on cybersex than the actual kind are a bit like people who spend more time eating junk food then real meals. They’re trading real calories for the empty variety. Instead of eating a healthy dinner, they’re muching on cheatos and drinking cola. After awhile, their health will take a hit.

In the end, it’s about moderation and self-control. Cybersex itself isn’t a determinant of poor health — the majority of the men surveyed were healthy, and many of the men who spent a lot of time engaging in cybersex didn’t suffer from depression. However, on average, the more time that was spent on sex sites, the more likely the person had problems of some kind. This knowledge should encourage people who do frequent sex sites to examine their habits and find out if they’re approaching them in a way that adds to their life or in a way that masks their unhappiness. Put differently, they need to make sure that they treat cybersex like a snack and not a meal replacement.

Dealing with Depression, A few personal stories


Filed Under Personal Stories, Round-ups | Oct 29, MDT 12:13 pm

 
When you’re suffering through a depression, you often find yourself cut off from the rest of the world. It’s difficult to relate to people who don’t understand what you’re going through. For this reason,  it’s important to seek out and learn from the experiences of people who have gone through similar trials as yours — otherwise, you risk becoming increasingly alienated from society.  The more you understand how common your problems are, the more confident you’ll feel that they can be overcome.

Today, I’d like to point you towards the stories of people who’ve struggled with mental health problems. These individuals have seen the pit of despair and lived to talk about it.  Some have overcome their problems,  others are simply managing them.

Stories of Depression

Gayathri Ramprasad, spent a decade tackling suicidal thoughts, hospital visits, and electro-shock therapy before she found peace and became an international advocate for mental health.

The story of Y. Euny Hong doesn’t end on as positive a note as Ramprasad’s. Her struggles with being bipolar were complicated by the fact that her husband was also bipolar. Their marriage didn’t last.

Over in Afghanistan,  Sher Mohammed has been chained to a tree for a month as part of a treatment for his illness.  His story provides an example of how culture filters the way we approach mental health. The more we appreciate this fact, the more flexibility we’ll have when dealing with mental illness.

In Vietnam, Mai Huong Day Psychiatric Hospital is the only hospital in the country to provide outpatient psychiatric care. Their doctors struggle with the lack of awareness that people have of mental illness, a problem that also exists in the West. Some issues seem to be universal.

Students at the University of California, San Francisco share their own struggles with depression during a panel titled “Living With Depression“.   A recurring theme during the panel was how important it was for people to come forward about their problem. Living with depression is easier if you don’t try to tackle it all by yourself.

The british TV personality Fern Britton discusses her struggles with post-partum depression. Her story highlights how people from all walks of life can fall victim to mental illness.

Next comes the story of Nicola Leggat.  She’s a talented singer living with bipolar disorder. She’s come a long way since her early manic episodes, where she felt disconnected from the world. Her story is one of triumph over adversity, of moving forward and wresting control over her life away from her condition.

Finally, we hit on the story of Lynn Johnson, who fell into a deep depression after the death of her daughter. This depression spiralled out of control, until Johnson was left homeless.  She turned to professionals for help, and managed to build a new life for herself.

One of the recurring themes from all these stories, the good ones and the bad ones, is that recovery came after turning to other people for help. That’s not to say that it’s impossible to pull yoursef out of your misery, but you are more likely to succeed with a helping hand.

Our Time Is Up


Filed Under Media, Personal Stories | Oct 6, MDT 10:06 am

This has to be one of the best short movies I’ve ever seen. It’s the story of Dr. Stern, a therapist who, after learning he’s about to die, decides to provide his clients with a different form of therapy.

In a way, Dr. Stern only started living when he realized he was about to die. Most of us are the same way — we hide from our mortality, and in the process, we lose the courage to face life head on. Hiding is no way to go through life.
 

Searching your way to better health: How I got rid of panic attacks.


Filed Under Overcome Depression, Personal Stories | Sep 2, MDT 12:37 pm

Years ago, I underwent a period of frequent and intense panic attacks. At the time, I had no idea what was happening to me. Eventually, after one particularly bad episode, I took a trip to the E.R room of a local hospital. It was late at night, and the doctor who saw me admitted that he wasn’t really equipped to deal with mental health issues. He tried to give me a diagnosis, but what he came up with was less than satisfying. He thought I might have been having a schizophrenic episode, and I knew that I most definitely wasn’t.

He asked me to wait until they could call in a psychiatrist. After several hours of dicking around the gloomy interiors of this rather decrepit hospital, a psychiatrist finally showed up — and she was absolutely, utterly, and completely terrible. She made it abundantly clear that she didn’t want to be there, and after a few cursory questions she immediately asked me if I wanted any drugs. I told her no thank you, and then she basically kicked me out of her squalid little office.

Dr. Google Provides A Diagnosis

I decided that since these doctors didn’t know what the hell they were doing, I’d have to diagnose myself. When I got back home, I went online and entered some of my symptoms into Google — shakiness, rapid heart beats, shortness of breath, and nausea. I started browsing through various conditions, and through a process of elimination I realized I was having panic attacks.

Read more

Next Page →