Home Archives for Depression
April 29, 2011 2 Comments

The Connection Between Seafood Omega-3s and Mental Health

Alaska Salmon

About a year ago, the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute sent me a wonderful package of recipes and health information to use for my food blog. Last night I was looking through the recipes for one in particular for salmon. While sorting through delicious-sounding recipes, I came across a pamphlet titled “Seafood Omega-3s and Mental Health.”

Obviously, mental fitness and brain health are of the utmost interest to me, so I put my recipe search on hold and read the information front to cover.

Fascinating! If I didn’t already love fish madly, I’d certainly begin a love affair now. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to eat more fish? It’s delicious, low fat, usually low calorie, great for your heart, and now we learn just how great it is for our mental health.

I sat down to the computer to type in the wonderful article – then it hit me, I’m sure they have a pdf on their website. Lo and behold they didn’t let me down. If mental fitness and the health of your brain are as important to you as they should be, I hope you’ll click the following link and read the article. It’s short but it’s packed with great information, particularly in the areas of depression, postpartum depression, and Bipolar Disorder.

Even if these subjects aren’t relevant to you personally, you’ll learn just how vital omega-3s are to the brain’s functions. Read Seafood Omega-3s and Mental Health for more information.

Filed Under: Depression, Motivational, Must Reads Tagged: , , ,
August 9, 2010 Leave a Comment

Take Depression for a Walk and Feel Better

When people feel down, stressed out, or anxious, they immediately turn to something to make themselves feel, at least temporarily, better.  Unfortunately, from a physical health standpoint, many times they turn to food.

To compound the problem, feeling depressed drains an individual of their energy, leaving them completely uninspired to get any physical activity.  However, physical activity could be JUST the thing they need in order to lift,  not only their mood, but also the darkness that seems to be hovering over their life.

“Energy loss is one of the key characteristics of depression. Some people feel that it’s the key characteristic of depression,” says Robert E. Thayer, PhD, a psychology professor at California State University, Long Beach, an expert in managing mood, and the author of Calm Energy: How People Regulate Mood with Food and Exercise.

He points to exercise as one of the best ways for depressed people to lift their mood. “Exercise generates energy,” Thayer says.

According to Dr. Thayer, when depressed people begin to exercise, the following physiological changes take place: “There’s a whole series of things that happen when we begin to exercise. As we get up and begin to move and exercise, there’s a general bodily arousal state that occurs. It includes many different systems of the body — everything from metabolism to cardiovascular activation, various kinds of endocrine changes in the brain, various kinds of hormonal changes and shifts.”
What happens psychologically when people start to exercise? “It depends on the degree and level of exercise. With moderate exercise, [in our research] we’ve been working with short, brisk walks [of] five or 10 minutes. The primary mood effect in that situation is increased energy. Secondarily, sometimes — but not always — there’s a tension reduction.”

“With more intense exercise — for example, an hour of heavy aerobic exercise — there is a reduction in energy and a reduction in tension. But oftentimes, after recovery [from the workout], there’s an energy resurgence that occurs.”

The depressed person is, of course, delighted to see that the benefits come about  fairly quickly. When you take a short walk, you’ll notice that you begin to feel differently almost immediately. It doesn’t have to be a long walk and it doesn’t have to be at an intense, roadrunner pace!

Even those of us who have not faced depression, can’t help but recognize the “feel good” side effects of walking.  If you’re in a good mood, it’ll only heighten the way you feel. If you’re feeling down, the activity will lift your spirits – again, almost immediately.

The biggest hurdle an individual with depression faces when it comes to exercise is this:  Taking that first, all important, step.  When you’re depressed, you have no energy.   That’s not all in your head – depression, literally, zaps you of your energy and your will to do just about anything.

If you suggest exercising to someone who is depressed, they’re liable to think you’re either cruel or joking – or both!

In a situation such as this, it is all about taking that first step.  MAKE yourself get up, put down the remote control (or climb out of the bed or off of the couch – wherever it is that your depression has dumped you), and move.  Make a goal to walk down the street and back – or once around the yard.  Chances are, the instant you begin to feel your mood lift, you’ll want more where that came from and you’ll walk even longer.

Source: WebMD

Filed Under: Depression Tagged: , ,
February 21, 2010 7 Comments

10 Things You Might Not Know About Depression

I recently spent nearly 3 hours researching the areas of mental fitness, self improvement, and self help that people are the most interested in – the areas they’re seeking the most help with and information about.  I have several self help and mental fitness blogs and websites and I don’t want to fill them with subjects I want to write about, I want to fill them with subjects people genuinely want (and need) to read.  That’s why I have contact forms on TMFC, Out of Bounds, and Self Help Daily – I want to know what’s on people’s minds.

Consistently, the following subjects are popular:

  • depression
  • anxiety
  • relationships
  • overcoming shyness
  • losing weight
  • public speaking
  • gaining self confidence

During the 3 hours of research, I found that depression and anxiety are amongst the most searched for topics in the world self improvement.  Last month, over 11,100,000 searches were performed on Google for “depression.”  Over 6,000,000 searches were performed for anxiety and countless others were performed for “depression help,” “depression and anxiety,” “overcoming depression,” and so on.

I had an idea what the findings would be, based upon the e-mail I receive and the replies on the contact forms. But, I have to say, I didn’t realize the numbers would be this high.  The thought of this many people feeling so down and so unhappy – to the point that they actively are searching for advice (like a cry out for help) – makes me profoundly sad.  It also makes me feel pretty helpless.  What can you do to reach out to so many people and let them know that life doesn’t have to be like this?  How can you, in essence, put a hand on their back and encourage them to hang on and dig deeper?

I guess the answer is the same answer that holds true for most things in life – you start somewhere and take it one step at a time. 

One post at a time.

Suffice to say, there will be plenty of upcoming posts involving depression, anxiety, sadness, happiness, overcoming the blues, the difference between the blues and depression, treatment options for clinical depression, books about depression, and so on.  I’ll still post a regular stream of articles and posts about mental fitness, brain games, relaxation, and our other favorite topics as well – they’ll just have a lot of company…  articles with one thing on their mind:  Reaching as many people as possible and giving them a greater quality of life and a larger number of smiles!

We’ll kick things off with a list of 10 Things You Might Not Know About Depression.

  • All of us experience the blues, feelings of anxiety, discouragement, and profound sadness throughout our lives. Many times people mis-label how they feel as depression.  This is a grave error and only makes things worse!  If you feel sad due to a recent traumatic experience (a death in the family, problems in a relationship or at work, a huge disappointment, financial problems, an empty nest…..), keep in mind that this is perfectly normal.  Feelings are a natural thing, even when they aren’t positive.  If something has affected your mood and your feelings, you simply have to ride it out and find ways to cope with your unhappiness or feelings of anxiety.  If, after time, you simply can’t find your way out of the pit or if (even after seeing a great movie or spending time with people who normally light up your world) you can’t seem to remember how to feel happy or “normal,” then seek help.  As with any health concern, never diagnose yourself Chief!
  • Of the estimated 17.5 million Americans who are affected by some form of depression, 9.2 million have major depression – also known as clinical depression. That’s a pretty intense number and I suppose the only positive we can take away from it is this:  At least people who suffer from depression know they aren’t alone – not even close.
  • Two-thirds of people suffering from depression do not seek necessary treatment. It’s obvious what this means, right?  2/3 of people with depression never get better…. only 1 in 3 allows themselves to have a life filled with the love, laughter, and happiness that they deserve.  Ony 1!
  • Of the people with clinical (major) depression who are proactive enough to seek help, 80%  significantly improve their lives. Hopefully the other 20 percent realize they aren’t getting the care they deserve and they keep looking until they do.
  • Women experience depression about twice as often as men.
  • Always remember that depression is a serious illness, it isn’t a sign of weakness or a personality flaw, any more than being diabetic means you lack character or strength!
  • Seasonal depression (SAD) is depression that occurs only at a certain time of the year. SAD, which is often called “the winter blues” usually occurs during winter, when the number of daylight hours is lower. Although it is predictable and understandable, it can be very severe. It’s compounded by the feelings of being “let down” emotionally after Christmas. So much time and effort goes into the holiday season that people feel a little bit of an emotional roller coaster after the festivities are over. Many people also greatly miss loved ones (who have either died or moved away) during this time. Given all of these factors, it’s a wonder SAD isn’t more prevalent than it is.
  • Bipolar disorder is a very interesting branch of depression. Bipolar Disorder is sometimes viewed as its own mental entity, as many people fail to realize that it is (at heart) depression with tricks up its sleeve.  Bipolar Disorder involves episodes of depression, usually quite severe, which alternate with episodes of extreme elation called mania.  Bipolar Disorder was once known as manic depression.  The depression that is associated with bipolar disorder, which is a sever mood disorder, is often referred to as bipolar depression.  People who suffer with Bipolar Disorder are privy to the type of emotional turmoil that most of us, thankfully, can’t even begin to imagine.   People with Bipolar disorder need to find the best doctor they possibly can and then they need to be as loyal to him/her as they are to their own spouse.  Going it alone with any type of depression is completely and utterly ridiculous (and dangerous) – but never more so than with Bipolar disorder.
  • The biggest barriers to overcoming depression? Realizing you are depressed, seeking help, and doing what the doctor says.
  • Teen depression can be very hard to diagnose. After all, so many things go on with a teenager that they’re often written off as adolescent hormones. If the feelings or symptoms seem to be more intense than what other kids their age are going through, it might be time to find out why.

The Symptoms of Depression

  • a persistent sadness
  • feelings of being anxious or on edge
  • feeling empty or “not yourself”
  • sleeping too little
  • sleeping too much
  • reduced appetite and weight loss
  • increased appetite and weight gain
  • loss of interest in activities you once enjoyed
  • restlessness
  • feelings of irritability
  • a tendency to snap at people for no reason
  • a tendency to tear up often
  • persistent physical symptoms and ailments that don’t respond to treatment (such as headaches, chronic pain, or constipation and other digestive disorders)
  • difficulty concentrating
  • inability to make even simple decisions
  • fatigue and loss of energy
  • feeling guilty, hopeless or worthless
  • wanting to be alone and finding ways to be alone
  • thoughts of death or suicide

Again, there are many times during our life when we feel most of the feelings named above – there are even very low times in our lives when we may feel a combination. For example, if you’re going through a personal crisis (death of a loved one, divorce, strained family relationships….), you will cry more often, you will want to spend more times alone (trying to wrap your mind around everything), you will lose interest in things that once interested and even delighted you, and you may feel guilty or hopeless. Your sleep and eating patterns will also be affected. The difference is, most of us come out of this valley – often stronger than before! – but people who suffer with depression simply can’t find the way out of the valley by themselves.

What Causes Depression?

  • Biological Factors. People who suffer with depression may simply have an excess of or a deficiency in certain brain chemicals.
  • Cognitive Factors. People who tend to think negatively and possess very low self-esteem are more likely to develop clinical depression.
  • Gender. Women experience clinical depression nearly twice as often as men. Experts point to hormone problems as a factor.
  • Co-occurrence With Other Diseases. Depression is more likely to occur along with certain illnesses, such as heart disease, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, Epilepsy, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, respiratory disease, and hormonal disorders.  Understandable, right? Any type of disease brings extra stress, worry, fear, and burdens into a person’s life.
  • Medications. Some medications have depression as a side-effect.  Needless to say, if you ever take any medication that throws you into an extended period of sadness, speak to your doctor about alternative medication.
  • Genetic Factors. A family history of clinical depression increases the risk for developing the illness.
  • Situational or Life Factors. Difficult life events, including divorce, financial problems or the death of a loved one can contribute to clinical depression.

If you believe that you (or someone you love) may have depression or seem to be headed in that direction, please don’t expect it to get better on its own and never, ever think you have to just live with it.  Your tomorrows can be brighter than today but you have to be proactive and determined.

***********************

Here’s something I found pretty interesting: There’s a direct correlation between fish consumption and lowered levels of depression. A glance around the world really drives the fact home:  The United States has 24 times the incidence of depression as Japan, for example, where fish intake is much higher.  24 times!

Filed Under: Depression Tagged: , , ,
February 17, 2010 Leave a Comment

Bring Change to Mind Vs. Mental Illness Stigmas

Here’s a statistic to wrap your mind around:  1 in 6 adults and almost 1 in 10 children suffer from a diagnosable mental illness.  One out of every 6 adults.  One out of every 10 children.

Can you imagine the lives that could be changed, even saved, with early diagnosis and help?  How many people could be given a new lease on life?  How many people could keep from turning to alcohol, drugs, sex, or even crime due to a war that’s going on inside their heads?  It’s time, in my humble opinion, for people to start making as much noise about mental illness as breast cancer, heart disease, lung disease, hunger, and diabetes.  I’m not saying make LESS noise about these monsters (my own family has been visited by all but one of these physical monsters – suffice to say, none of us have ever been hungry but many loved ones have stared down the other nightmares).

All I’m saying is more attention needs to be given to mental illnesses as well – in addition to physical illnesses.  I think we can all agree on that.

It’s way past time for the idiot stereotypes to be thrown aside.  It’s time that people face the truth:  Mental illnesses are just like other illnesses – they can not be helped.  The individual who suffers with something such as schizophrenia is just as much a victim as the one who suffers from diabetes.  The individual who lives with depression needs sympathy and understanding just as much as the individual who lives with asthma.

If you know, or if you are, an individual who’s personal monster lives in their head as opposed to another physical location – I want to point you to a wonderful website and community where understanding, friendship, help, and heroes reside:  Bring Change 2 Mind.org.  I’m pleading with everyone connected in any way to mental illness to visit this website, reach out to them, and allow them to reach out to you.

In their words:   This is where the misconceptions stop. This is where bias comes to an end. This is where we change lives. Because this is where we Bring Change 2 Mind.

Smell that?  That’s the sweet smell of hope.

Filed Under: Mental Fitness, Motivational Tagged: , , ,
April 19, 2009 Leave a Comment

The Extreme Dangers of Labeling Yourself With Mental Disorders

Getting rid of dangerous labels

Many words in the mental fitness field are overused and misused.  Take, for example, depressed and depression.   These words, when used properly, describe a feeling that is completely overwhelming and generally horrific.  Depression is a serious condition that often requires a doctor’s treatment. Yet, most people use them to describe how they feel after their favorite sport’s team loses a game, after a breakup, or when having to move to a new city.  The same can be said of the word anxiety.  People also throw this word around loosely – but, clinically speaking, it can be very serious.  Clinical anxiety can disrupt one’s life as much as any illness.

While I can’t say for certain, since I don’t have first-hand experience, I would imagine that individuals who do live with actual anxiety and depression would be greatly annoyed with everyone’s misuse of the terms.   To a lesser degree, as an asthmatic who has often fought (literally) for breath, I’ve often wanted to say something when someone gets halfway through a smoker’s cough and bemoans their “asthma.”

You can certainly add Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder and paranoia to the list of mental health disorders that are used far too often.  It seems that people want to give a grand name to even the smallest feelings and issues, but sometimes they’re just that – feelings and issues. Feelings and issues that will pass, unless the individual invites them to stick around by feeding them and naming them.

When you feel down, make a point to say JUST THAT:  I feel down.  When something negative rolls into your life, label it as the intruder, not yourself as its victim. It’s important to keep the negative attention on the occurrence and not the individual.  After all, the occurrence will pass, or at least lessen it’s grip, in time.

Never, ever, ever sign on to be anyone or anything’s victim.  Bad things happen each and every day – to all of us.  We all know disappointment, discouragement, and even disaster.  But few of us, thankfully, actually know the depths of depression.

More times than not, those who say, “I am so depressed.” are actually simply experiencing a depressing situation – and the cloud will lift in a day or two.  Those who try to give more weight to the fact that they are simply a nervous type person will often refer to their anxiety disorder.  Yet if they had to trade bodies with an individual who actually lives with an anxiety disorder, they’d RUN back to their own body.

To me, the dangers of throwing these terms around too loosely are the following:

  1. First of all, I believe it lessens a lot of people’s understanding of and compassion for those who truly suffer from mental or emotional disorders.  Take for example a woman who, rightfully, seeks a doctor’s help for her severe depression.  Another person may scoff and say, “I handle my own depression.”  It’s highly doubtful that she even has mild depression, let alone severe depression.
  2. Labeling yourself with a disorder is dangerous.  What we think of ourselves, for better or worse, affects who we actually are.  If one tends to paint themselves, consistently, in a negative way – they’ll begin to live up (or down) to their expectations.
  3. Third of all, labeling yourself with an improper mental disorder can keep you from seeing what the REAL problem is.  I knew a woman once who was convinced that she suffered from depression.  Any and all symptoms she experienced, she chalked up to her depression.  At a routine doctor’s visit, it was discovered that she was diabetic and had been for some time.  The doctors were amazed that she was even alive and that she had not gone into a diabetic coma before being diagnosed.  They told her that if it had been caught earlier, she could have been treated differently and would not require daily shots of insulin.  No one will ever know how much damage was done to her body during the time she did not seek help for the way she felt.  Most of her doctors believe that the damage to her heart during this time was profound.  Ironically, a few years ago, it was heart failure which killed her.
  4. Lastly, it may sound harsh, but many people use these terms as crutches.  What they actually ARE  isn’t terribly appealing, so they simply grab an “excusable, respectable” term from the medial field and think they’re excused for their behavior.  Yes, many people have anxiety disorders – but some are just nervous and drink too much coffee!  Absolutely there are some people who have personality disorders, but some are just loud mouthed bullies who never left their emotional schoolyard.  Granted, some individuals suffer from the legitimate attention deficit disorder, but many are simply lazy and undisciplined.   Which do you think is easier for a parent to live with?

When it comes to using these disorders, especially depression, as a crutch, many people fall into the rut.  It takes will power and strength to pull yourself up out of a rut.  It’s simply easier to lie in the rut feeling sorry for yourself and excusing your behavior.  But it’s also extremely dangerous – for the individual as well as others.  Realize that some people simply feel sadness, tension, anxiety, and anger to different degrees than others.  This doesn’t make them ill, it makes them an individual.

Not every person who blows things out of proportion and has temper tantrums is manic depressive or has a personality disorder.  They could just have a nasty temper!   Not everyone who cries easily is depressed, she could simply feel things more than others feel them.  That, if you ask me, isn’t always a bad thing.  If a child has trouble concentrating in the classroom, he may simply need to spend more time away from the television or video games.

Remember the importance of words, especially the words we call ourselves and others.  I’d love for people to use the following:

  • She has a horrible temper instead of She’s a psycho.
  • I feel down today instead of I’m depressed.
  • This is my son, John, sometimes he has trouble sitting still instead of  This is John, he’s hyperactive.
  • I need to help my daughter with her attention span instead of  My daughter has ADD.
  • That was a nerve wrecking experience instead of I’m having an anxiety attack.

Bottom line:   Labels stick – so be very, very careful how you label yourself and twice as careful how you label your child. Ask yourself the hard questions.  Is it a mental disorder or could it simply be a lack of discipline, focus, and will power?  Have you succumbed to a label you stuck on a long time ago?  If so, why not take it off today?!

I’ve got a new label for you:  FIGHTER.  You’ve been through 8 long rounds, but you’re willing to get up off the mat, dust yourself off, and get back on your feet.  You’ve learned from your mistakes and want to see the view from this position from now on.  The view from the mat sucked fermented cabbage through a straw.

You won’t be seeing the mat again anytime soon.  After all, you’re a fighter.  The label says so.

Make each moment count double,
~ Joi

Filed Under: Mental Fitness Tagged: , , ,
April 2, 2009 1 Comment

The Pursuit of Happiness or How to Be Happy

I’ve been thinking and writing a great deal about happiness lately.  As I explained on another blog (Self Help Daily), I’ve received a great number of e-mails from people lately dealing with the blues, depression, and the pursuit of happiness.

One of the things that strikes me the most about happiness is that most people think of it as something they have to earn or “attract.”  There are a lot of different approaches to happiness and, like most of my approaches, my own are pretty simple.  I believe that happiness begins and ends in your mind and in how you approach life.

Think about it, happy people are no better or worse than unhappy people.  Happy people aren’t always the richest and unhappy people aren’t always the poorest.  Happy people aren’t always the prettiest or brightest and unhappy people aren’t always the homeliest or dimmest.

Unhappy people aren’t always battling a weight problem and happy people aren’t always their ideal weight.   Not all happy people have perfect spouses and many unhappy people are married to saints in training.

What we see in the world around us doesn’t determine our happiness, it’s how we look at what’s around us that counts.  If we choose to dwell on the negative things, we will be unhappy.  If we choose to concentrate on the things we don’t have and aren’t able to do, we will be unhappy.

I know I’ve told you this umpteen dozen times,  but I have a great and varied number of bad traits.  I never keep any of them covered up.  My feeling is this:  If you cover your bad traits long enough, you’ll forget about them and never do anything about them.  But if you keep them in plain sight so you can remind yourself, daily, to work on them.

Anyway, having said that – one of my good traits is I’m a happy camper.  I am a genuinely happy person and my conditions and/or circumstances simply do not affect that.  Like most people, I’ve been on mountain tops that were so high that I felt like I walked on clouds and I’ve been in valleys so low that it was like, “What sky?  Are you sure one still exists?”

On one end, I was fortunate to find and marry Mr. Right, have three beautiful daughters, and a non-ending parade of pets I cherish. My family is close and we laugh on an hourly basis (always a good thing!).  However, I have also lost both of my parents far sooner than they should have died – my dad was only in his 50′s and my mom was in her early 60′s.  We also lost my husband’s mother as well as his sister, at a very young age.   I lost my dream house (when my husband’s company got hit extremely hard after September 11th and we had to move), and have had to move from several places that I loved muchly.

I’ve had a few illnesses and I get to take medications regularly, I’ve lived through two bad car wrecks (neither of which was my fault, believe it or not), and we witnessed a total upheaval at a church we’d attended for a very long time (also not my fault!) which cost us some of the closest friends we’ve ever had.

In the span of one particularly nasty year, we had to pack up and move out of my beautiful dream house (it was a new, beautiful home that was all I’d ever hoped it’d be) AND I watched as a  picture postcard type scene got smaller and smaller in my rear view mirror when we moved away from a remarkable place we lived on the beach in the Gulf of Mexico.

At one point in the second moving process, my husband said that I was “tough.”  I thought, ‘Not really.  Just happy and I refuse to be any other way.”  Having to move several times in a row like that was all part of his job.  It wasn’t life, nature, fate, or God picking on me.  I knew that.  I kept focusing on the fact that my family was all together,  healthy and happy.  When the blues came into the picture, I willed myself to focus on something else instead.  When I found myself missing pelicans and dolphins, I’d hustle to the nearest window to watch cardinals and robins.  They always made me smile, which was pretty much the plan.  I made sure to chase away negative feelings as soon as they showed up.

It’s honestly what kept me from crying a river.  It also kept me, you guessed it, happy.

I think that this is the secret.  You have to focus your mind on the positive and not sit, staring at the negative with tears in your eyes.  You have to look at what you have instead of what you don’t have – what life has given you rather than what it has taken away.

When you search the words “How to Be Happy” in Google, there are more than 92,500,000 results. Obviously this is a very popular and often talked about subject.  Ironic, isn’t it, that the answer to the question “How can I be happy?” is found inside of the person asking the question – not outside.   You can’t search for the answer “out there.”  The answer lies in a place that isn’t visible to the naked eye – it lies inside of each one of us.

We can be as happy as we choose to be – as happy as we make up our minds to be.  If an individual chooses to look around them and only see, or acknowledge, the things that he/she doesn’t have or can’t do, they aren’t ever going to be happy.  But if they dwell on the things they do have and the things they can do, they will have more happiness than they know what to do with.

Now let me point this out – I’m not saying to ignore the bad things, certainly not if they’re things you can do something about.  For example, if you despise your 35 year old sofa, save up money for a new one (or at least one that’s newer than the one you have).  We should all want nice things and there’s nothing wrong with wanting the best.  What I am saying is this:  Don’t sit on the maligned sofa feeling sorry for yourself.  Don’t keep saying how unattractive it is, how “embarrassed” you are by it, or how it just isn’t fair that other people have new sofas while you have to sit on a golden oldie! Thoughts like these are heartless thieves,  they’ll rob you of smiles, laughter, and happiness.  In the end, they’ll rob you of your quality of life.

Run negative thoughts out of your mind and you’ll be amazed by how much better you feel.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with wanting nice things – but I’m noticing that nothing seems to be enough for a lot of people these days.  They want more, more, more and new, new, new.   Instead of focusing on clicks and whistles, I wish more people would focus on their relationships and their enjoyment of life.   Quality of life is not determined by the quality of your home, furniture, car, clothes, etc.  Quality of life is determined by how well you get along with the people in your life, how often they make you smile and how often you make them laugh.

If you want a happier life, change the way you view the world around you.  Take off the negative glasses and put on the positive ones.  The view is so much better!  Be thankful for what you have but be even more thankful for who you have.

Make each moment count double,
~ Joi

Filed Under: Inspiration, Motivational Tagged: , ,
October 12, 2008 Leave a Comment

A Study Finds St. John’s Wart to Be a Great Weapon Against Depression

St. John's Wart - Good For Treating Depression

A German study shows that taking St. John’s Wart is as Effective as Antidepressants for Depression. Most people find this sort of news exciting because, frankly, just about anyone had rather take herbal supplements than antidepressants.

Click HERE to read the full story.

Filed Under: Brain Food, Mental Fitness Tagged: , , , , , ,
August 25, 2008 Leave a Comment

Active-ly Chase the Blues Away by Walking into a Better Mood

I’m not sure why, exactly, but when the weather lowers its thermostat and autumn begins to push summer off the horizon, many people come down with a nasty case of the blues.  The older generation often refers to this time of year as a “lonely time.”  I’m not sure if the reasons boil down to young people going back to school, less sunshine, or neither or both – but the reasons aren’t nearly as important as putting a smile back on life’s face.

The problem is, most people, when they’re down, tend to stay down.  Literally.  They’ll hit the couch or maybe even the bed and figuratively pull the covers up around their ears.  While it sounds pretty cozy, it’s the worst possible thing to do when you’re out of sorts, emotionally.  If you’re sick or tired, going to bed’s a brillaint option, but if you’re down in the dumps, it seals your fate.

One of the best things you can do when the blues hit is to hit them back with activity.  Activity actually works, not only on the lightest shade of “blues,” but on mild to moderate depression as well. 

It’s not clear just how exercise improves depression. It seems to raise the levels of chemicals in the brain that elevate mood.   Even endorphins, natural pain killers, rise with sustained physical activity!

There’s more to it than just a rise in feel good chemicals, though.  Exercise makes you feel as though you are in control of your life.  When you regularly exercise, you realize that you’re taking active steps in improving your health and appearance.  This realization, alone, has been proven to make people feel better about themselves.

You should look for an aerobic activity that’ll raise your pulse for at least 30 minutes a day. If you’re just beginning to exercise, for the first few days, you should start out fairly easy - just exert yourself until you feel tired.  Then, move toward the stage where you exercise until you’ve worked up a sweat.  That’s when those feel good chemicals will start to buzz all around you!

Try to get at least 30 minutes of activity at least 4 days a week.  If you can do more, all the better.

Most importantly, choose an activity you enjoy. If you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, you probably won’t keep it up very long. You want to engage yourself in an activity that you love so much you actually look forward to doing it.  For me, I love walking and yoga.  If I know I’m going to do one or the other at a particular time, I look forward to it all day.

A really, really great idea would be to start TODAY.  Why not hit the pavement now???   If you’re nowhere near the doldrums, don’t let that stop you.  Think of it as a preventive measure:  If you start getting more activity right now, maybe you’ll be able to avoid the blues altogether.

Wouldn’t that put you ahead of the game?!

Make each move count double,
~ Joi

Photo Credit: Photo Everywhere

Filed Under: Motivational, Tough Love! Tagged: , , , , , , ,
August 6, 2008 Leave a Comment

A Collection of Powerful Quotes About Depression

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The term clinical depression finds its way into too many conversations these days. One has a sense that a catastrophe has occurred in the psychic landscape. – Leonard Cohen

Depression is rage spread thin. – George Santayana

Depression is nourished by a lifetime of ungrieved and unforgiven hurts. – Penelope Sweet

Remember sadness is always temporary. This, too, shall pass. – Chuck T. Falcon

Depression is the inability to construct a future. – Rollo May

Just as despair can come to one only from other human beings, hope, too, can be given to one only by other human beings. – Elie Weisel

Concern should drive us into action, not depression. – Karen Horney

I cry a lot. My emotions are very close to my surface. I don’t want to hold anything in so it it festers and turns into pus – a pustule of emotion that explodes into a festering cesspool of depression. – Nicolas Cage

If I had not been already been meditating, I would certainly have had to start. I’ve treated my own depression for many years with exercise and meditation, and I’ve found that to be a tremendous help. – Judy Collins

Trials give you strength, sorrows give understanding and wisdom. – Chuck T. Falcon

Just like other illnesses, depression can be treated so that people can live happy, active lives. – Tom Bosley

For me being depressed means you can spend all day in bed, and still not get a good night’s rest. – Unknown

Good humor is a tonic for mind and body. It is the best antidote for anxiety and depression. It is a business asset. It attracts and keeps friends. It lightens human burdens. It is the direct route to serenity and contentment. – Greenville Kleiser

A lot of what passes for depression these days is nothing more than a body saying that it needs work. – Geoffrey Norman

That’s the thing about depression: A human being can survive almost anything, as long as she sees the end in sight. But depression is so insidious, and it compounds daily, that it’s impossible to ever see the end. The fog is like a cage without a key. – Elizabeth Wurtzel

Depression is a prison where you are both the suffering prisoner and the cruel jailer. – Dorothy Rowe

If depression is creeping up and must be faced, learn something about the nature of the beast: You may escape without a mauling. – Dr. R. W. Shepherd

In a strange way, I had fallen in love with my depression. Dr. Sterling was right about that. I loved it because I thought it was all I had. I thought depression was the part of my character that made me worthwhile. I thought so little of myself, felt that I had such scant offerings to give to the world, that the one thing that justified my existence at all was my agony. – Elizabeth Wurtzel

Hope is grief’s best music. – Anonymous

Depression is a treatable medical illness like cancer and heart disease. – Judith Peacock

Fall seven times, stand up eight. – Japanese proverb

I’m a strong believer in affirmations and motivational quotes. I have quotes written on everything but my cats. My husband and I were having lunch in a restaurant on Kentucky Lake a few days ago when I saw a quote hanging near the register. I grabbed a pen and copied it on a napkin. Ironically, enough, it fits very well with the topic we’re focusing on this week: Depression. It’s the quote you see in the yellow box below.

“Better keep yourself clean and bright, you’re the window through which you must see the world.” – George Bernard Shaw

My shelves are filled with motivational and inspirational writings and quotes, from the pens and lips of the most brilliant men and women to ever live. I have volumes of biographies, historical textbooks, encyclopedias, novels, etc. Yet one of the most profound, genuinely true, and beautiful quotes I’ve ever read was hanging by a register in a bayside grill.

The lesson this quote teaches and the sermon it preaches is powerfully simplistic. If we want our world to be more beautiful, we have to do something about the way we look at it. It’s like having a dirty kitchen window. The world outside isn’t the problem – the trees are as green as they ever were, the birds are as colorfully beautiful as ever, and the sky? Still blue.

But if the window is dirty, the outside world looks gray and unattractive. Action…proactive efforts… have to be made to clean the window. Once clean, the beauty of the world will, literally, come shining through.

These efforts may include meditation, prayer, exercise, talking it out with a family member or friend, walking in the fresh air (But not during the hottest part of the day, please!), gardening, taking up a great new hobby, adopting a pet or showering yours with more attention, watching an uplifting movie or television show, etc. Keep in mind, also, that if the suggestions above, or similar efforts, don’t make a difference in your condition – you may need medication, even if it’s just for a short period of time.

If that’s what it takes for you to be able to see the world as the beautiful place that it is (the one you remember it as) rather than the gray, dismal space that it’s become – it’s more than worth it. You have NOTHING to be ashamed of. Clinical Depression is a physical illness just like diabetes, asthma, heart disease, etc. If you had any of those, you wouldn’t hesitate to go to the doctor, right? Of course not! After all, going to the doctor would make you feel better, no eed suffering when you don’t have to. Heck it might even save your life.

You can say the same exact things about going to the doctor for depression. After all, going to the doctor would make you feel better, no eed suffering when you don’t have to. Heck it might even save your life.

Make each day count double,
~Joi

Filed Under: Inspiration, Motivational, Quotations Tagged: , , , ,
August 3, 2008 1 Comment

How to Know if What You’re Feeling is Depression

Quote About Depression In the same way that when most of us say we’re “starving,” we’re simply hungry – many people say they’re depressed when they’re simply feeling down. Generally, it’s a feeling that’s the result of something that has happened in their life, and when enough time passes, the feelings will heal.  While feeling sad is a horrible feeling that we wouldn’t wish on anyone, we know that better days and sweeter emotions are around the corner. 

However, for those who ARE depressed, better days and sweeter emotions are positively unthinkable.  A depressed individual honestly can’t even phantom smiling again, let alone laughing.

So, how do know which category you fall into?  Ask yourself the following questions:

  1. Do I feel sad every day for most of the day?
  2. Have I lost interest in things that once delighted me?
  3. Am I sleeping either much more or much less than I once did?
  4. Am I restless?  Do I have trouble sitting still or shutting my mind off?
  5. Do I feel tired and lethargic most of the time?
  6. Do I feel worthless? Does it seem to me that I don’t serve a purpose to anyone or anything?
  7. Do I feel like I’ve been abandoned by everyone?
  8. Am I having trouble making decisions?
  9. Am I either eating more than usual or less than usual?  Is my weight up or down?
  10. If someone asked me if I liked myself, would my answer be NO?

Another symptom of depression is so fundamentally important that I didn’t want to list it above.  It deserves its own paragraph, because I can’t emphasize it enough. If you EVER have thoughts of suicide or thoughts of hurting yourself in any way – get to a doctor as soon as possible.  Whether it’s 4:00 in the morning or 12:00 at night, emergency rooms are always open!  People want very much to help you, please let them.  Never do anything to yourself or your body that you wouldn’t want done to someone you love.

Look back over the symptoms again.  If you answered “Yes” to 2 or 3 questions, you may be experiencing a “mild” form of depression.  If you can “pin” these feelings to a particular event, chances are good that what you need is time.  Don’t feel guilty for feeling down and don’t make the mistake of allowing these temporary feelings to identify you.  You are a vibrant and happy person who is simply feeling down at the moment.

If you answered “Yes” to 5 or more questions – you are a vibrant and happy person who probably needs help finding that person once more.  The thing many people don’t realize is that doctors can help with depression.  But you have to go!  And you have to keep going when they tell you to – if medications are involved, you have to work with your doctor to make sure your dosage is where it needs to be.

Never, ever try to doctor yourself.  No good ever comes from that.

If you have been thinking about suicide, or hurting yourself in any way - please see a doctor immediately.  Your world doesn’t have to stay dark, there are plenty of wonderful people who can help you find the light again.

If you are on the “mild” end of depression or if you are simply feeling blue, begin (as in RIGHT NOW!) looking for ways to make you feel better. The next post will contain a long list of ideas for you to pull from – from meditating to exercising, you’ll find so much to do you won’t have time to feel anything but busy!

Make each moment count double,
~Joi

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Filed Under: Inspiration, Mental Fitness, Motivational, Quotations Tagged: , , ,