Clipmarks | dmegivern's 'depression' clips

Ten cognitive distortions that mess you up

Sun, 21 Jan 2007 16:45:26 GMT

clipped by: enbar
clipper's remarks: David Burns is a pioneer in popularizing the cognitive-behavioral approach to mood therapy developed by Aaron Beck. As someone who has struggled on and off with crippling depression my whole life, I have found this list of "cognitive distortions" pretty useful in reframing certain elements of my thinking.

Clip Source: www.spiritsite.com

The Ten Forms of Twisted Thinking

All-or-nothing thinking

You see things in black-or-white categories. If a situation falls short of perfect, you see it as a total failure. When a young woman on a diet ate a spoonful of ice cream, she told herself, "I’ve blown my diet completely." This thought upset her so much that she gobbled down an entire quart of ice cream!

Overgeneralization

You see a single negative event, such as a romantic rejection or career reversal, as a never-ending pattern of defeat by using words such as "always" or "never" when you think about it. A depressed salesman became terribly upset when he noticed bird dung on the windshield of his car. He told himself, "Just my luck! Birds are always crapping on my car!"

Mental filter

You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively, so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that discolors a beaker of water. Example: You receive many positive comments about your presentation to a group of associates at work, but one of them says something mildly critical. You obsess about his reaction for days and ignore all the positive feedback.

Discounting the positive

You reject positive experiences by insisting they "don’t count." If you do a good job, you may tell yourself that it wasn’t good enough or that anyone could have done as well. Discounting the positive takes the joy out of life and makes you feel inadequate and unrewarded.

Jumping to conclusions

Magnification

Emotional reasoning

You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reject the way things really are: "I feel terrified about going on airplanes. It must be dangerous to fly." Or "I feel guilty. I must be a rotten person." Or "I feel angry. This proves I’m being treated unfairly." Or "I feel so inferior. This means I’m a second-rate person." Or "I feel hopeless. I must really be hopeless."

"Should statements"

Labeling

Personalization and blame

Tags: psychology, depression, personal

Mother of The Year

Thu, 09 Nov 2006 08:22:23 GMT

clipped by: Deepti

Clip Source: moronland.net

In a zoo in California, a mother tiger gave birth to a rare set of triplet tiger cubs. Unfortunately, due to complications in the pregnancy, the cubs were born prematurely and due to their tiny size, they died shortly after birth.

The mother tiger after recovering from the delivery, suddenly started to decline in health, although physically she was fine. The veterinarians felt that the loss of her litter had caused the tigress to fall into a depression. The doctors decided that if the tigress could surrogate another mother's cubs, perhaps she would improve.

After checking with many other zoos across the country, the depressing news was that there were no tiger cubs of the right age to introduce to the mourning mother. The veterinarians decided to try something that had never been tried in a zoo environment. Sometimes a mother of one species will take on the care of a different species. The only orphans" that could be found quickly, were a litter of weaner pigs. The zoo keepers and vets wrapped the piglets in tiger skin and placed the babies around the mother tiger. Would they become cubs or pork chops?? Take a look........ you won't believe your eyes!!

Tags: animals, photo, mother, tiger, pigs

6 Key Social Skills

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 17:33:33 GMT

clipped by: firebird
clipper's remarks: Obvious? Perhaps not - judging by how people often respond in social situations - where 'me' is the most important subject

Clip Source: www.self-confidence.co.uk

6 Key Social Skills

Social skills are arguably the most important set of abilities a person can have. Human beings are social animals and a lack of good social skills can lead to a lonely life, contributing to anxiety and depression. Great social skills help you meet interesting people, get that job you want, progress further in your career and relationships.

Happily, like any skill, social strategies and techniques can be learned…

The main social skills are as follows:

1) The ability to remain relaxed, or at a tolerable level of anxiety while in social situations

Regardless of how skillful you are in social situations, if you are too anxious, your brain is functioning in way unsuited to speaking and listening. In addition, if your body and face give the unconscious message that you are nervous, it will be more difficult to build rapport with others.

2) Listening skills, including letting others know you are listening

3) Empathy with and interest in others' situations

A major part of social anxiety is self consciousness, which is greatly alleviated by focusing strongly on someone else. A fascination (even if forced at first) with another's conversation not only increases your comfort levels, it makes them feel interesting.

4) The ability to build rapport, whether natural or learned

Rapport is a state of understanding or connection that occurs in a good social interaction. It says basically "I am like you, we understand each other". Rapport occurs on an unconscious level, and when it happens, the language, speech patterns, body movement and posture and other aspects of communication can synchronise down to incredibly fine levels.

Rapport is an unconscious process, but it can be encouraged by conscious efforts.

5) Knowing how, when and how much to talk about yourself - 'self disclosure'

6) Appropriate eye contact

Tags: social skills, psychology, self-development

Ten common self defeating beliefs

Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:57:48 GMT

clipped by: deanknows
clipper's remarks: I think I have pretty much all of these beliefs.

Clip Source: web.archive.org

Here are just a few of the self-defeating beliefs that lead to depression, anxiety or anger. Are any of them are similar to the way you sometimes think and feel?

Ten Common Self-Defeating Beliefs
emotional perfectionism	I should always feel happy, confident, and in control of my emotions.
emotophobia	I should never feel angry, anxious, inadequate, jealous or vulnerable.
conflict phobia	People who love each other shouldn't fight.
entitlement	People should be the way I expect them to be.
low frustration tolerance	I should never be frustrated. Life should be easy.
performance perfectionism	I must never fail or make a mistake.
perceived perfectionism	People will not love and accept me as a flawed and vulnerable human being.
fear of failure	My worthwhileness as a human being depends on my achievements (or my intelligence, status, or attractiveness).
fear of disapproval or criticism	I need everybody's approval to be worthwhile.
fear of rejection or being alone	If I'm alone, then I'm bound to feel miserable and unfulfilled. If I'm not loved, then life is not worth living.

Continue

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Tags: beliefs, psychology, depression

13 Photos that changed the world

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 21:53:12 GMT

clipped by: NoRest

Clip Source: www.neatorama.com

13 Photographs That Changed the World.

1. The Photograph That Raised the Photojournalistic Stakes:
"Omaha Beach, Normandy, France"
Robert Capa, 1944

2. The Photograph That Gave a Face to the Great Depression
"Migrant Mother"
Dorothea Lange, 1936

Tags: photos, history

Can watching movies improve your mental health?

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 20:58:05 GMT

clipped by: Nefer

Clip Source: www.associatedcontent.com

Cinematherapy: Can Watching Movies Improve Your Mental Health?

Cinematherapy is the practice of watching movies to improve mental health. Though, motion pictures have been around for several decades, it is only recently that the mental health benefits of movie-watching have begun to show promise. Movies often have the uncanny ability to temporarily deliver our minds to a place where we can express a wide range of emotions in a way that connects us with the main characters or movie theme without the concreteness of our own life dilemmas.

Clip Source: www.associatedcontent.com

A few hours of laughter with one of your favorite comedies can help to get you through the work week or ease your own worries. Sad movies often bring up feelings that we have left dormant, giving these feelings a chance for release. The therapeutic benefits of watching movies might even save you a trip to the doctor when your stress levels decrease.

Tags: film, mood, depression, sad, help

Crying Over Spilled Semen

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 22:26:40 GMT

clipped by: NightInhales

Clip Source: psychologytoday.com

The finding that women who do not use condoms during sex are less depressed and less likely to attempt suicide than are women who have sex with condoms and women who are not sexually active, leads one researcher to conclude that semen contains powerful—and potentially addictive—mood-altering chemicals.

Study author Gordon G. Gallup, Ph.D., a psychologist at the State University of New York in Albany, also found that women who routinely had intercourse without condoms became increasingly depressed as more time elapsed since their last sexual encounter. There was no such correlation for women whose partners regularly used condoms.

Semen contains hormones including testosterone, estrogen, prolactin, luteinizing hormone and prostaglandins, and some of these are absorbed through the walls of the vagina and are known to elevate mood.

Tags: semen, depression, condoms

6 of 10 scientific reasons to have sex

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:07:07 GMT

clipped by: grammydjb1
clipper's remarks: My husband has been telling me this for years!

Clip Source: www.despardes.com

1. Scientific tests find that when women make love, they produce double amounts of the hormone estrogen, which make hair shiny and skin smooth.

2. Gentle, relaxed lovemaking reduces your chances of suffering dermatitis, skin rashes and blemishes. The sweat produced cleanses the pores and makes your skin glow.

3. Lovemaking can burn up those calories you piled on during that romantic dinner.

4. Sex is one of the safest sports you can take up. It stretches and tones up just about every muscles in the body. It's more enjoyable than swimming 20 laps and you don't need special sneakers!

5. Sex is an instant cure for mild depression. It releases the body endorphin into the bloodstream, producing a sense of euphoria and leaving you with a feeling of well-being.

6. The more sex you have, the more you will be offered. The sexually active body gives off greater quantities of chemicals called pheromones. These subtle sex perfumes drive the opposite sex crazy!

Tags: health;

Have Sex, Live Longer

Sat, 04 Nov 2006 11:52:11 GMT

clipped by: haraya
clipper's remarks: Sequel to the Eat Less, Live Longer article. Now I wish I clipped the Drink Wine, Live Longer clip, hehe.

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

According to a spate of news reports on life extension that have spread across the internet like influenza just about everything out there ads a little time to your mortal coil. Wine, calorie reduction diets, low body temperatures have all made news for their ability to give you a few more good years on earth, and now, so too does sex. According to a 1997 study in the British Medical Journal men who have regular orgasms live longer. The also have a better sense of smell, reduced depression and improved heart function.

This article in Forbes list a few good reasons to keep knocking boots until your boots can knock no more.

So with pot helping Alzheimer's, red wine helping you age gracefully, and sex improving just about everything else, you have to like the direction modern medicine is going.

Tags: health, science, medicine, body, biology, sex, life

The Girls 'Sexualised' At Age Of Five

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:08:42 GMT

clipped by: Sorgalim
clipper's remarks: Researcher Dr Eileen Zurbriggen said that girls as young at four are at risk.

"The consequences of the sexualisation of girls in media today are very real and are likely to be a negative influence on girls' healthy development," she said.

"As a society, we need to replace all these sexualised images with ones showing girls in positive settings.

"The goal should be to deliver messages to all adolescents - boy and girls - that lead to healthy sexual development."

Michele Elliot, of child protection charity Kidscape, said: "Bratz dolls are little sexualised creatures which give the wrong message to kids.

"Let them be kids. We have got children of 12, 13 and 14 who are ashamed that they haven't had sex yet. They think sex is the be all and end all."

A spokesman for Bratz said that children see the dolls as being pretty rather than sexy.

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

A generation of girls is being psychologically damaged by the sexualisation of toys, clothes and cartoons, experts have warned.

Exposure to sexy images from an early age as a devastating impact on mental and physical health, leading to low-self esteem, depression and the onset of eating disorders such as anorexia, research has shown.

It could lead to girls under-achieving in school and in the workplace and even contribute to paedophilia, a report by leading psychologists warns.

Of particular concern are Bratz dolls - mini-skirted mannequins which outsell more conservatively-dressed Barbie dolls by two to one.

The report warns: "Doll play is a popular activity for children, especially girls. It is therefore of concern when sexualised dolls are marketed to girls.

"It is worrisome when dolls designed specifically for four to eight-year-olds are associated with an objectified adult sexuality."

Tags: low-self esteem, depression, eating disorders, paedophilia

depression and dreaming link

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 17:39:36 GMT

clipped by: mexitalian
clipper's remarks: very interesting article, these are just quick snippets.
even if you have never been seriously down it's good to know.

stay preventative people!!

Clip Source: www.clinical-depression.co.uk

Depression, Dreaming and Exhaustion:
The New Link

"Depressed people dream up to three times as much as non-depressed people."

Key Understanding

Dreams and Depression

When unfulfilled emotional arousal remains in the brain's limbic system at sleep onset, the brain creates scenarios that allow those loops to complete.We call them dreams.

The dream acts out, in metaphor, a situation that will allow the emotional loop to be completed and therefore 'flushed' from the brain.

In other words, an imaginary experience whose pattern resembles the 'real life' one closely enough to create the same emotional reaction.

For example, during the day you worry about what someone has said to you, thinking that they were perhaps criticising or making fun of you. That night you have an anxiety dream where someone stabs at you with daggers and you try to run away. The dream allows your system to complete the loop started by the emotional arousal.

Tags: depression, learning path, ruminating, rumination, tired, sleep, dream, dreaming

BBC: Bush's Grandfather Planned Fascist Coup In America

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 22:26:03 GMT

clipped by: 911INSIDEJOB144
clipper's remarks: According to the BBC, the plotters intended to impose a fascist takeover and "Adopt the policies of Hitler and Mussolini to beat the great depression."

Clip Source: www.prisonplanet.com

New investigation sheds light on clique of powerbrokers, including Prescott Bush, who sought to overthrow U.S. government and implement Hitlerian policies

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Tuesday, July 24, 2007

A BBC Radio 4 investigation sheds new light on a major subject that has received little historical attention, the conspiracy on behalf of a group of influential powerbrokers, led by Prescott Bush, to overthrow FDR and implement a fascist dictatorship in the U.S. based around the ideology of Mussolini and Hitler.

In 1933, Marine Corps Maj.-Gen. Smedley Butler was approached by a wealthy and secretive group of industrialists and bankers, including Prescott Bush the current President's grandfather, who asked him to command a 500,000 strong rogue army of veterans that would help stage a coup to topple then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Tags: bush, 911, conspiracy, facsism, martial law, news, politics, prison planet

20 Reasons to have sex even if you don't feel like it

Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:15:34 GMT

clipped by: readmore

Clip Source: libido-pill.com

Studies show that, when things are going well, sex contributes only 15 percent to the overall satisfaction of a relationship. But if things aren’t going well, it contributes 85 percent to the overall dissatisfaction.

Sex has many advantages to both people involved. Here are just a few.

Because you said so

Imagine how the marriage rates would go down if people said, “I’ll marry you, but don’t expect sex.”

Sex helps you forget

Women get an additional benefit. During orgasm that parts of the brain that govern fear, anxiety, and stress are switched off.

Sex rewires you for pleasure

Every time you share a positive experience with your partner, your brain comes to associate him or her with pleasure.

Sex puts the “P” back in partnership

Passion is what separates your relationship with your intimate partner from those with girlfriends and buddies.

Heightened sense of smell

Weight loss

Reduced depression

Pain relief

Healthier heart

Cure for the common cold

Better bladder control

Peppy prostate

Calming effect

Tags: sex, sexual health, marriage, relationships

Dirt for Depression?

Sat, 23 Jun 2007 17:24:13 GMT

clipped by: sylvan3
clipper's remarks: I always wondered why I felt so good while playing in the mud. It all makes sense now.

Clip Source: www.sciencedaily.com

Getting Dirty May Lift Your Mood

Science Daily — Bacteria found in the soil activated a group of neurons that produce the brain chemical serotonin.

Treatment of mice with a 'friendly' bacteria, normally found in the soil, altered their behavior in a way similar to that produced by antidepressant drugs, reports research published in the latest issue of Neuroscience.

Dr Chris Lowry, lead author on the paper from Bristol University, said: "These studies help us understand how the body communicates with the brain and why a healthy immune system is important for maintaining mental health. They also leave us wondering if we shouldn't all be spending more time playing in the dirt."

The new research supports this hypothesis, but future studies will be designed to determine if M. vaccae, other bacteria, or pharmaceutical compounds have antidepressant properties through activation of this group of serotonin neurons.

Tags: depression, dirt, bacteria, happiness, life, psychology

Lonely? Your immune system is in overdrive.

Fri, 14 Sep 2007 04:06:43 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Maggie Fox

Lonely people's immune systems go haywire, so no wonder they are more likely to get sick and die young, researchers say.

They used a gene chip to look at the DNA of isolated people and found that people who describe themselves as chronically lonely have distinct patterns of genetic activity, almost all of it involving the immune system.

The study does not show which came first: the loneliness or the physical traits.

"What this study shows is that the biological impact of social isolation reaches down into some of our most basic internal processes: the activity of our genes," Cole says.

"We have known for years that there is this epidemiological relationship between social support - how many friends and family members you have around you - and a whole bunch of physical outcomes."

Some 200 genes controlling lonely people's immune systems seemed to be active

All 22,000 human genes were studied and compared, and 209 stood out in the loneliest people.

Tags: lonliness.depression, gene, human, immune, system, people