the other day i looked over what some people with depression say about their experience. descriptions of numbness and emptiness outnumbered anything else by far. they talked of being in a dark place that made it impossible for them to feel anything, the kind of unmotivating emptiness that creates
Category: depression and mental illness
mental illness in the workplace: good news!
last month i reported on yves magloe, a tenured professor at pasadena city college, who was let go because of a mental illness. as many of you know, it is extremely rare of a tenured professor to let go of – tenure usually means lifetime employment. well, good news. hugo schwyzer reports that professor magloe… Continue reading mental illness in the workplace: good news!
another video: about depression
and here we have another video, where you can hear me talk a little bit about depression and disconnectedness. this time it’s on youtube. thanks, carol, for doing this video!
a tool: alternative thought record
cognitive therapies, which focus on examining and “repairing” one’s thoughts, are often seen as the best way to deal with depression. while i believe that the tools that cognitive therapies provides are just one among many ways to help with depression, they can nevertheless be quite useful. so here is a tool from this tool… Continue reading a tool: alternative thought record
the wounded healer
my approach to therapy is influenced by traditions that place some weight on judicial self disclosure, on the idea of the wounded healer, on the notion that there is very little we can know for certain, and on paying attention to the here and now: the here and now of the client’s life, of the… Continue reading the wounded healer
tracing depression
what is depression? sometimes tracing the various meanings of words can help in understanding the concept or experience for which the word stands. a while ago i spent a few hours trying to pin down when the word “depression” was first used. it looks like henry maudsley, a british physician (there were no psychologists before… Continue reading tracing depression
horticultural therapy
7 am today, when i was watering my garden, my bare feet tickled by the morning dew, i thought, why not do a quick write-up about horticultural therapy? so i googled the term and on the first site that came up, i clicked on “what is horticultural therapy?”, this is what i found: “There are… Continue reading horticultural therapy
mental illness, mental health, mental wellness
the public health agency of canada has a site on mental health – or mental illness, if you prefer that term. the definition is: Mental illnesses are characterized by alterations in thinking, mood or behaviour (or some combination thereof) associated with significant distress and impaired functioning over an extended period of time. The symptoms of… Continue reading mental illness, mental health, mental wellness
chronic pain – hard to understand
many years ago, when i was still in the early phases of studying, i had a telephone conversation with a friend of mine, who at that point had lived for many years with chronic back pain. inexperienced and naive, and influenced by reading louise hay, i suggested to my friend that at some level she… Continue reading chronic pain – hard to understand
suicide by a friend. or was it a stranger?
last week, a young man in his 20s, let’s call him john, ended his life. he had struggled with depression for quite a while and just couldn’t take the pain of his life anymore. he swallowed the pills he had hoarded over a few months, and then he left us. there was a memorial service.… Continue reading suicide by a friend. or was it a stranger?