• Sharing – How building a support system helps my mental health

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    What I really enjoyed about the list of things Anya uses to support her own well-being is that some of them are simple activities, yoga, reading, knitting, etc.

    Many of us think of our support network when it comes to addiction, mental health, healing trauma, etc., in terms of the people around us. That’s an important part of it, yes, but there are also the things we do to support ourselves. Those are important too.

    My list of support activities doesn’t look at all like Anya’s, but it’s there. Getting out and taking photos, learning new technologies, writing, listening to podcasts, etc. Those things keep me connected and involved with the things that interest me, and they are an important part of taking care of my mental health.

  • Sharing – Depression in Kids: All You Need to Know

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Getting kids help as early as possible gives them a much better chance to have less depression and fewer effects as adults. Imagine how many people might have been able to develop mentally healthy strategies instead of devolving into worse conditions if it was common for kids to have access to mental health resources?

    Please, don’t ignore signs of depression and mental health struggles in kids. Yes, they can be resilient, but the research clearly shows that they aren’t as resilient as we think they are, and waiting to get access to help is doing more damage.

    In this case, it is better to be safe. The worst thing that happens is a kid gets some time to talk to a therapist who determines that it’s not depression but something else. This is not a bad thing, even if the stigma surrounding it says it is.

  • Sharing – Depression Without Sadness: What to Know

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    Numb is exactly the word I would use to describe what I felt. I didn’t look sad, and I didn’t cry. I didn’t talk about my negative emotions. I simply felt nothing. I had lost the ability to feel sad, happy, hopeful, angry, etc. Nothing made any difference, and nothing mattered.

    Often we describe depression as sadness, and our media depictions are of people looking and acting sad. We can’t forget that there are also times when depression doesn’t look like that, it might look like numbness, and it might look like anger and irritation.

  • Sharing – Getting Real About the Therapist Shortage

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    As she puts it, there’s a shortage of therapists in general, a shortage of therapists that take insurance, and a shortage of therapists with specialized training. None of that will change without significant changes to the mental health system, and even if it did, we still wouldn’t have enough therapists, especially in rural areas.

  • Sharing – Music Is Just as Powerful at Improving Mental Health as Exercise, Review Suggests

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    I have noticed that playing music around our house definitely raises my spirits in a similar way as exercise, so it’s nice to know that researchers are looking into some other options for helping our mental health above and beyond “get more exercise”.

    What I like more though, is a research article that contains this common-sense reminder about how we are all different:

  • Sharing – Why The Age You Experienced Trauma Matters

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    When we talk about the effects of child abuse and other childhood traumas that last well into adulthood, this is what we are talking about. The normal development cycle was simply disrupted and we now must play catch-up.

    It’s not impossible to learn and develop even as an adult, but first we need to stop blaming ourselves for both the trauma, and the effects of the trauma. We need to be open to learning new tools without judging ourselves for not already knowing how to fix ourselves.

    If it were that easy, everyone would do it. Clearly that isn’t happening.