to celebrate national mental health week, let’s start with three canadian blogs that talk about the topic. canadian dimension discusses mental health in first nations communities: … native poverty, alcoholism and suicide are almost never championed as a charitable cause … so it is easier for canadians to write cheques for relief efforts in afghanistan… Continue reading mental health: canadian voices
Category: depression and mental illness
through the valley of depression
a while ago, one of our commenters referred to depression as “the big valley” and “heaven and hell.” referring to medication for depression, he also said that “there are no revealed mysteries in micrograins of medicine.” in order to be “close to free”, he “had to do it without buffers. It has been hard, but… Continue reading through the valley of depression
personal crisis management
scott davis of finding your marbles makes a great observation. he compares personal crises with crises on the job and suggests that we can apply corporate crisis management plans to our individual lives:
after depression: what will be different?
i was just thumbing through one of my favourite books on therapy, escape from babel, and came across a set of questions asked of a person who is struggling with depression (interestingly, just as i found in my little research piece, the depression here is described as a “black cloud”): what would be different if… Continue reading after depression: what will be different?
antidepressants
when depression hits and doesn’t go away, sometimes it makes sense to take antidepressants. medline has a helpful little article about antidepressants, giving a very quick overview over how they work, what types of antidepressants are available, how to stop taking them, etc. i found this information to be the most useful: be patient when… Continue reading antidepressants
sex trade workers and free will
here in vancouver, the courts are finally dealing with willy pickton, accused of murdering dozens of women. these were women with friends, family, children. women who laughed and told stories and wrote christmas cards. i personally met two of them. they were also people who were addicted to drugs. they were poor. many of them… Continue reading sex trade workers and free will
illness? normal? i just want to feel good.
“isn’t even negative thinking a mental illness? so we all have some form of mental illness.” that was michelle’s comment on the vote for mental health posting. mental illness. what is that? let’s say illness is a deviation from normal functioning and well-being. so then the question is – what is normal? “normal” is entirely… Continue reading illness? normal? i just want to feel good.
vote for mental health
vote for mental health! what mental health issue needs to go on the government’s agenda? if you have opinions about that – and i hope you do – and if you’re canadian, you can now participate in an e-consultation put up by health canada. the questions are do we need a mental health commission? what… Continue reading vote for mental health
carnival of healing #68
how do you heal the emotional aftermath of cancer treatment? how do we deal with the ups and downs of our personal journeys? what does external clutter tell us about the chaos in our minds? these are just a few of the questions posed in this week’s edition of the carnival of healing, a readers… Continue reading carnival of healing #68
the stigma of mental illness
i have lived on the bipolar continuum at least since my early 20s, though it didn’t dawn on me until quite a bit later. when it finally dawned on me, my first reaction was to laugh at myself: why wouldn’t i be living with a mood disorder, seeing that many of my relatives had struggled… Continue reading the stigma of mental illness