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You Really Can Be High-Functioning With A Severe Mental Illness

We are all around you. We are the walking wounded, the invisibly battle-scarred. You see us every day — in the grocery store, at carpool, at school pickup and dropoff, at PTA meetings, at the gym and at work and at the playground. You probably don’t know that we have a severe mental illness.

We don’t plaster in on our foreheads, or go around announcing it. But it’s there. It’s always there. And even as we smile, even as we make small talk, even as we nod along with you; as we raise our kids and do our jobs and have our fun, it’s always there. Always looming. Always dominating everything.

 

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Depression Doesn’t Happen Just In the Winter. S.A.D.

Here’s What to Know About Summertime Sadness (S.A.D.)

June 5, 2018 – While classic winter S.A.D. is confusing, summer SAD is even trickier. By most estimates, between 5% and 10% of the U.S. population experiences S.A.D.,,Seasonal Affective Disorder.  But only a small portion of Americans, somewhere around 1% of the total population, have flare-ups in the summertime, says Dr. Norman Rosenthal, a SAD expert and a clinical professor of psychiatry at the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Whenever it occurs, SAD can be a difficult condition to diagnose. It’s defined as major depression that follows a seasonal pattern for at least two years, according to the National Institutes for Mental Health. But since it’s a subtype of @depression, rather than a completely distinct condition, it can be hard to tell whether symptoms such as dips in mood and energy, sleep issues, feelings of hopelessness or worthlessness, changes in appetite and difficulty concentrating point to SAD or another type of depression. It can also be difficult to distinguish between true SAD and the less severe “winter blues.”

 

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What Causes Anxiety and Depression?

 DepAnx
The Epidemic of Depression
We need to change the nature of work, community and wealth distribution.
By Michael Bader / AlterNet February 23, 2018, 2:27 PM GMT What causes depression and anxiety? I have been a practicing psychologist and psychoanalyst for almost 40 years and have seen hundreds of patients suffering from both. In my experience, some factors are obvious. People who suffer from depression and anxiety have experienced stresses and traumas in their development that predispose them to mood disorders.
 
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Why Sleep Loss Is Linked To Depression As Well As Anxiety
 
   
New Clues About Why Sleep Loss Is Linked To Depression, Anxiety
 sleepdrp
 #Depression and #sleep problems are intimately connected, as many people know, and the relationship seems to go both ways. Sleep disturbances, of various types, are central symptoms of depression; on the other hand, chronic lack of sleep seems to predispose one to developing depression.
 Continue reading “Why Sleep Loss Is Linked To Depression As Well As Anxiety”
 
 
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Reasons Not To Break Your New Year’s Resolutions
 
   
Res
By Karol Markowicz
January 7, 2018 | 8:44pm
Here we are, a week after New Year’s, and let’s be honest: You’re a failure.
This was the year you were going to join the gym, change your diet and lose some weight. By now, though, many people — probably you included — have failed at their resolutions and soon, like all the years before, most of the other resolution-makers will join them in that failure. A study out of the University of Scranton found that the great majority of people, around 80 percent, ultimately break their New Year’s vows.
 Continue reading “Reasons Not To Break Your New Year’s Resolutions”
 
 
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When depressed gay men turn to each other for help
 
   
 
When depressed or suicidal
be a good wingman:
Having a friend ask if you’re OK can make the world of difference
 
When depressed, gay men turn to each other for help
16 July 2017
by 
Gay men are most likely to reach out to other gay men when they’re depressed or anxious and new resource will make it easier for men to support their friends.
LGBTI are more likely to experience depression and anxiety than the broader population. They are also at a greater risk of suicide and self-harm.
 Continue reading “When depressed gay men turn to each other for help”
 
 
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Men who do Cardio Fitness had Lower Risk of Depression
 
   
 
cardiomen
It is proven that men who do not exercise definitely have an increase in high blood pressure, weight gain, depression, and generalized risk of overall poor physical and mental health.
Getting regular exercise may boost more than just your endorphin levels. A new study, published in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings earlier this month, found that men with mental-health issues who were in better cardio respiratory shape had a lower risk of death than those who were less fit. Continue reading “Men who do Cardio Fitness had Lower Risk of Depression”
 
 
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Men Can Defeat Depression; Boost Mental Health!
 
   
 
There seems to be a new trend now, whereas everyone seems to be opening up about depression and Mental Health.  I do think it is wonderful and healthy for women and especially for men who are now coming forward in droves to talk about themselves and their depression to their peers,Therapists and Psychologists. This is the healthiest we have seen men open up about Mental Health in a decade, which is fabulous!  Below is a helpful article for men about having to deal with depression!
~Lindsay, Forum Administrator
 Continue reading “Men Can Defeat Depression; Boost Mental Health!”
 
 
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Women, Men and the Way We Write About Depression
 
   
Happy
Daphne Merkin is the author of the forthcoming book This Close to Happy: A Reckoning with 
Depression 
A woman is standing in her kitchen, making a pot of coffee, spooning out the pungent overpriced ground beans from their snappy little aluminum bag into a paper filter, trying to remember what number tablespoon she was on—four? six? three?—before the dark thoughts began tumbling in, doing their wild and wily gymnastics: You shouldn’t, you should have, why are you, why aren’t you, there’s no hope, it’s too late, it’s always been too late, give up, go back to bed, there’s no hope, the day is half gone, no, the day ahead is too long, there’s so much to do, there’s not enough to do, everything is futile, there is no hope.
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This Artist Depicted Depression Through Photography & Her Work Will Leave You Speechless
 
   
By 
 hanging to dry
Describing depression isn’t easy. It’s more than sadness. It’s emptiness, hopelessness, a place so deep and dark that trying to explain it to someone who hasn’t experienced it can feel impossible. But one artist described depression through photography, though, and it might give you a glimpse into the mind of people suffering from this oftentimes debilitating illness.
 Continue reading “This Artist Depicted Depression Through Photography & Her Work Will Leave You Speechless”