Clipmarks | abailart's 'depression' clips

The Hollow Lives of the Happy

Wed, 20 Aug 2008 07:45:37 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: <<<Who wouldn't question this apparently hollow form of American happiness? Aren't all of us late at night, when we're honest with ourselves, opposed to shallow happiness? Most likely we are, but isn't it possible that many of us fall into superficiality without knowing it? Aren't some of us so smitten with the American dream that we have become brainwashed into believing that our sole purpose on this earth is to be happy? Doesn't this unwitting affection for happiness over sadness lead us to a one-sided life, to bliss without discomfort, bright noon with no night?

My sense is that most of us have been duped by the American craze for happiness. We might think that we're leading a truly honest existence, when we're really just behaving as predictably and artificially as robots, falling easily into well-worn "happy" behaviors, into the conventions of contentment.>>>

Clip Source: chronicle.com

Why are most Americans so utterly willing to have an essential part of their hearts sliced away and discarded like so much waste?

Surely all this happiness can't be for real. How can so many people be happy in the midst of all the problems that beset our globe — not only the collective and apocalyptic ills but also those particular irritations that bedevil our everyday existences, those money issues and marital spats, those stifling vocations and lonely dawns?

Doctors offer a wide array of drugs that might eradicate depression forever. It seems truly an age of almost perfect contentment, a brave new world of persistent good fortune, joy without trouble, felicity with no penalty.

Don't we fear that this rabid focus on exuberance leads to half-lives, to bland existences, to wastelands of mechanistic behavior?

This brand of supposed joy, moreover, seems to foster an ignorance of life's enduring and vital polarity between agony and ecstasy, dejection and ebullience.

Tags: happiness, melancholy, depression

Ten Dubious Clip Tips for Mental Health

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:15:41 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: <<<Transcultural Psychiatrists would certainly have a few dilemmas with the above list. The serious Neuroanthropologist probably does too! But what the heck, I put them here just for fun! Mind you, the list might lead to some interesting questions about what could be considered the definitive TOP 10 FOR BRAIN HEALTH applicable across cultures!>>>
(article author).
There are grains of truth floating about in this fun , of course. I infer the writer is inviting readers to confirm the state of their own mental fitness by indulging in a healthy demolition of such breezy tips lists. I'd say you should be able to rattle off ten major objections to the list fairly quickly if your mental health is robust.

Clip Source: neuroanthropology.net

1. A healthy diet.

avoid substances that stress the brain and limit drugs like caffeine, nicotine and alcohol.

2. Stimulate your brain

Exercise the brain as you would the body.

3. Keep a diary

writing notes for yourself helps convert information stored in your short-term memory to long-term memory.

4. Sleep well! Getting a good night sleep is essential for concentration.

5. Regular exercise!

6. Regulate your couch-time.

7. Socialise!

The brain is the organ of society and socialisation is an integral part of brain health.

8. Organisation.

9. Relax. Spend time on a hobby, take your dog for a walk or just sit back in a comfortable armchair with a great book. Technique to relax are not only useful to reduce stress and enhance brain performance, relaxation methods have also been shown to play a positive role in emotional health. For example, mindfulness meditation has been shown to decrease the recurrence of depression.

10. Positive thinking.

Tags: mental health, thinking skills

Top 100 Mental Health and Psychology Blogs

Mon, 11 Aug 2008 09:56:46 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.universityreviewsonline.com

Top 100 Mental Health and Psychology Blogs

Whether you work in the field of mental health or are simply interested in the subject, keeping abreast of the news, opinions and commentary within the online blogging community can be overwhelming. There are literally thousands of blogs that focus on mental health, running the gamut both in terms of focus as well as in quality.

Although it was difficult to narrow thousands of noteworthy resources down to the top 100, below is a categorized list of what we feel are the most popular, informative and/or unique mental health and psychology blogs on the Web

General Psychology

Cognitive Psychology

Forensic Psychology

Psychiatry

Neuroscience

Addiction

Anxiety

Austism

Bipolar Disorder

Depression

While any list of this kind is subject to oversights and omissions, it is our hope that with these top 100 sites you will find an excellent resource from which to educate yourself on mental health and psychology issues.

Tags: mental health, psychology, psychiatry

BIG change happening now: The Coming Re-Becoming

Sat, 02 Aug 2008 12:29:38 GMT

clipped by: egsnyder
clipper's remarks: Blogger, James Kunstler, is author of "The Long Emergency".

/e

Clip Source: jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com

The Coming Re-becoming

Everywhere you turn in this nation, you see a society primed for implosion.

We seem unaware how extraordinary the American experience has been, especially in the last hundred years. By this, I don't mean that we are a better people than any other society -- these days, ordinary people in the USA make an effort to appear thuggish and act surly, as though we were a nation of convicts -- but for decade-upon-decade, we were very fortunate. Even the Great Depression of the 1930s may seem like a relatively peaceful and gentle "time out" from a frantic era of hypertrophic growth, compared to the storm we're sailing into now.

Even now, we think we are immune to the epochal hazards of history. The notion that nothing really bad can happen to us is reflected in the blind cluelessness of our current news media and their simple failure to report what is now happening.

Tags: change, peak oil, end of suburbia

Downward Spiral of Empire

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 10:27:50 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: <<<The human ego loves to be "right", and some people prefer to watch the world burn with great glee and vitriol. But this is not the time for ego my friends; ego is what got us here. We have been called "lunatics", and now we are being called wise women and men, but it isn't about labels. It's about moving into the next phases of collapse with sensitivity, compassion, and humility, realizing that when people take their own lives in the throes of their own private and our collective collapse, there but for the grace of Something Greater goes any of us. Perhaps if they had been willing to look at the truth, they might have been able to hang around a little longer-or not. Nevertheless, our work is to continue waking ourselves and others up, which may be easier than it was five years ago, and meet everyone with kindness and empathy. It was very painful, yet sometimes a little bit fun to be called a lunatic, but now, the lunatics rest their case>>>

Clip Source: www.thepeoplesvoice.org

It's the same with everyone I speak to who's been watching the downward spiral of empire for any length of time: "I can't believe how fast things are unraveling", we all say to each other. The incessant mantra these days from people who haven't been paying attention is that "things are going to get better", but almost no one is denying that we are in uncharted waters beyond anything we've experienced since the Great Depression. The uninformed are traumatized, and traumatized people almost always revert to "it's going to get better" thinking in order to cope with their current plight.

Several internet sites this week have carried Barbara Ehrenreich's article "Suicide Spreads As One Solution To The Debt Crisis"

And yet, this is only the beginning. If you want the full flavor of the psychological devastations of collapse and the emotional wreckage amid the shambles of a former first-world society, read Jim Kuntler's World Made By Hand.

Tags: changing world

Junk Food and Depression

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:25:07 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Just an idea, of course.

Clip Source: www.edstrong.blog-city.com

[Video]

Our overconsumption of sugar-loaded, high-carbohydrate

food stems from ferocious cravings that are triggered by

low levels of a key neurotransmitter or chemical messenger

in the brain called Serotonin

- the feel good hormone that affects mood

The body instinctively knows that eating junk food will cause

the brain to produce a burst of this feel good hormone

Junk food acts like a psychoactive drug for this widespread

mild depression. That is why it is commonly referred

to as mood food, comfort food, or emotional eating

Contrary to what Americans have been led to believe, the epidemic rise of excess weight gain and obesity in this country is not the result of overeating fat laden foods.

The obesification of America is the direct result of a mild depression that causes people to savagely crave, and then overeat, junk food carbohydrate (sugar).

Tags: depression, junk food

The Tyranny of Niceness

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 10:27:14 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Related to passive-aggression as a cultural descriptor rather than an individual pathology. Fear of authority, chronic anger, bitterness, and the masochistic self-disempowerment of submission (see Fromm).

Clip Source: www.psychotherapy.net

niceness is the accepted way of being and interacting. In this article I express the view that rather than facilitating psychological and relational health, niceness stands in the way of personal satisfaction and healthy relating.

Through self-reflection and observations of others I made the connection between silencing/suppressing my authenticity and being nice. Later, I saw that the connection applied to many of my clients. I saw the same patterns: suppression of thoughts and feelings, deep wishes for acceptance with a concomitant fear of rejection or judgment, anxiety, depression, and erupting frustration. These features were bound together by guilt, shame and fear.

Niceness is a language of apology and politeness, ubiquitous and therefore familiar, as is any social norm, and it is a powerful deterrent to authentic relating, a mechanism of distancing rather than connection.

False altruism:

Rationalizations

Submissiveness:

Over- or under-acceptance of responsibility

Self-disempowerment

Tags: niceness

Delicate Line between Genius and Madness

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:05:21 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: A similar issue concerned psychiatrist Kay Radfield Jameson (see her Unquiet Mind), although she eventually found medication important.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

WHERE do you draw the fine line between brilliance and madness? That is the question raised by hotshot television producer Adam Boland, who has spoken for the first time about his diagnosis with bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder is the mental illness characterised by huge swings in mood and energy levels.

"When you're on a high, you feel you can do anything," says Boland, 32, director of morning television at the Seven Network. "Things that would normally take a week get done in an hour. There's no stopping you. It's an exciting state to be in."

"The question of medication is a really tricky one," he said yesterday. "It makes you normal, and while that shouldn't be seen as a bad thing, I have an issue with just being normal."

Boland believes the drugs blunt his creative edge.

He now has counselling instead of taking tablets and accepts that, along with the highs, he is subject to bouts of debilitating depression. "You have to trade off the downside because the upside is so good."

Tags: genius, creativity, bipolar, medication

This Human Being is a Guest House

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 10:05:36 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.wildmind.org

THE GUEST HOUSE

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

- Jelaluddin Rumi (Sufi poet, 1207-1273)

Tags: rumi

Can Chronic Insomnia Kill?

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 09:59:01 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.edstrong.blog-city.com

The celebrated Swedish physician Axel Munthe, who had more success treating the insomnia of his patients than he did his own, wrote in his 1929 bestseller, "The Story of San Michele":

"Insomnia does not kill its man unless he kills himself -- sleeplessness is the most common cause of suicide. But it kills his joie de vivre, it saps his strength, it sucks the blood from his brain and from his heart like a vampire."

"At least if I died, I'd get some rest," one insomniac said.

We've been taught to see insomnia as secondary to, as resulting from, depression, neurosis or other sorts of psychopathology. But there is increasing evidence that it may work the other way around:

Insomnia may be the cause and not the consequence of a person's emotional instability. Insomnia is now known to be a risk factor for depression, alcoholism and suicide.

on a growing list of conditions, including ulcers and migraines, that were once attributed to neurosis but are now known to have neurobiological bases.

Tags: insomnia, neurobiolgy, mental health

Fun Stuff for Jungians, Alchemists and Complexity Lovers

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:15:24 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: web.ukonline.co.uk

CONTROLLING DEPRESSION - The Wrong Paradigm for the Job?

A COMPLEXITY-BASED MODEL OF SCHIZOPHRENIA

RAPTURE - TWO TYPES OF FEELING GOOD

COGNITIVE SYMMETRY-BREAKING

THE 'SECRET ADDICTION'

PSYCHOLOGICAL ENTROPY

LIMITS AND CHANGE

The Urge to Fly : On the Inner Techne of getting Earth into Air (July 2000)

What is Rta? An inner force of law : From Jung's Psychological Types

On the nature of Tao : From Jung's Psychological Types

The Meaning of Psychology for Modern Man : From Jung's Civilization in Transition

A Review of Complex Theory : From Jung's The Structure and Function of the Psyche

C G Jung Analytical Psychology : its Theory and Practice The Tavistock Lectures (1935)

C G Jung The Transcendent Function : Para. 131 & 132, Volume 8 of the Collected Works (1957)

The Meaning of the Mandala - an Alchemical Treatise on the Opus Magnum

~ The New Alchemy Website ~

Tags: jung, analytic psychology, complexity, alchemy

Complexity Theory and Depression

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 11:12:43 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: web.ukonline.co.uk

Psychiatry constructs depression within the supposedly meaning-free paradigm of 'objective knowledge'. Depression is therefore said to be a wholly valueless experience, a 'disease'. This is part of a wider prejudice lying deep in the roots of the new global 'technoculture', a prejudice that sees all painful or undesired experience, even including death, as unnecessary evils which we will (hopefully) eventually eliminate by continually improving our understanding of ourselves and the universe we live in. Civilization - as a rational utopia - is thus identified with the power to have everything the way we want it. This is what Illich meant when he spoke of the 'anaesthetic society' - a society that uses pharmaceutical technology to blank out experiences that it does not value.

The model of depression that is outlined in the following article is constructed within the paradigm of Self-Organization, and is therefore a theory based on the new sciences of complexity.

Tags: complexity, depression, ideology, cognition

Treating SSRI-resistant depression

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:09:09 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Interesting

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

Philadelphia, PA, March 25, 2008 – When your antidepressant medication does not work, should you switch to a different medication from the same class or should you try an antidepressant medication that has a different mechanism of action" This is the question asked by researchers in a new report scheduled for publication in Biological Psychiatry on April 1st.

Papakostas and colleagues compared two strategies for treating symptoms of major depressive disorder that do not respond to treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressant: either switching to a second SSRI or to a non-SSRI antidepressant. Some common SSRI antidepressants are fluoxetine (Prozac), citalopram (Celexa) and sertraline (Zoloft), while examples of a few common non-SSRI antidepressants are venlafaxine (Effexor) and buproprion (Wellbutrin, Zyban). The authors combined 4 studies comparing these two types of treatment strategies and performed a meta-analysis on the pooled data.

Tags: medical, research

The Healthy Brain, the Happy Brain

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 11:42:05 GMT

clipped by: abailart

Clip Source: www.independent.co.uk

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, which is published later this year, shows how even regular brisk walks can boost memory, alleviate stress, enhance intelligence and allay aggression. John Ratey, an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School in Boston and the book's author, says that exercise stimulates our grey matter to produce what he calls "Miracle-Gro" for the brain. "I can't understate how important regular exercise is in improving the function and performance of the brain," he says. "It's such a wonderful medicine."

change the way our brains work to make us happier, or even stave off depression. "Exercise is as good as any anti-depressant I know," Ratey claims.

regular exertion affects the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for mood.

Stress

Intelligence

Aggression

Memory

Addiction

How much do you need?

Tags: brain, exercise and mood, exercise and mental health, brain-mind

One in Four Struggle with Anger

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 09:35:29 GMT

clipped by: abailart
clipper's remarks: Anger is related to anxiety is related to fear. Anger is hostile, aggressive, destructive in word and deed. It is a sign of our cultural values, our moral values and our spiritual values. People are frightened.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

A YouGov survey of 2,000 people found 12% of people say they have trouble controlling their anger.

One in four says they worry about how angry they sometimes feel and 64% think people in general are getting angrier.

Almost a third of 2,000 people polled said they had a friend or family member who struggled to contain their anger.

Chronic and intense anger has been linked to heart disease, cancer, stroke, colds and flu as well as depression, self-harm and substance misuse, the charity's Boiling Point report said.

It is the elephant in the room in mental health

Dr Andrew McCulloch, Mental Health Foundation

'I thought I was going mad'

And anger is more likely to have a negative effect on relationships than any other emotion.

Tags: anger