Archive for the ‘Mental Health’ Category
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
by David
At first, the phrase "being too good" sounds cruel to me because being too good to others is so very special. People who are good to others sometimes can't control how good they are. It's very disappointing but half the world gives and half the world takes. If you only give all of the time and haven't learned to expect something in return by accepting goodness from others, you will be taken advantage of by most people. It is a rare person who sees the special light that shines in you and doesn't take the mile when you give so much already.
Being too good, or not looking out for yourself can lead to manipulation as well as mental or physical abuse by others. Look out for yourself in your relationships and don't allow these negative things to happen to you. We all need to show love but all of us also need to receive love in return.
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Ozzie's Place 
Posted in ABUSE, depression, Mental Health, Ozzie's Place, ozzieblackcat, Relationships | Comments Off
Saturday, July 12th, 2008
I didn't get the memo when it was discovered that depression isn't caused by a chemical imbalance. The current theory is that depression is caused by a problem in the brain neuronal network. This is going to be even more difficult for some of us to understand and accept.
I read an article by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. called
"Another Brain Fad For Depression?"and I wonder how long this new theory will hold up. Supposedly, according to scientists, anti-depressants have little to do with the amount of serotonin in the brain. The drugs work because they help heal our neurons, which have been shrinking and dying.
I really don't like the sound of this new theory because it sounds just a wee bit like what happens to the brain when you develop Alzheimer's. As some of you know, both of my parents had Alzheimer's. Both of them also had depression. I'm getting more depressed just thinking about this!
I certainly hope John M. Grohol, Psy.D was right when he said, "Neuroscience will one day provide us the “keys to the kingdom†of understanding our brains." I hope it happens soon!
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Ozzie Reviews Avon Posted in Alzheimer's, Anti-Depressants, chemical imbalance, depression, His and Hers, Mental Health, ozzieblackcat | Comments Off
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
My youngest child has moved out and is now married. I am feeling depression as a result of this Empty Nest. The wedding was beautiful and it was so good to have all of my family together again. My oldest son left Sunday for his home and I've really felt a lot of sadness since he left. I apologize for not updating this blog for so many days.
I reminded my husband this evening that in the nearly 42 years of our marriage there was only one time when I didn't have a child living at home and that was the first 9 months we were married. His response, "would it help if I started acting like a kid?" ha! No, I don't think it would help. My family has been my life!
I felt the depression that goes along with Empty Nest Syndrome each time one of my four children moved out. It never lasted too long and I'm hoping it won't with the last one either. I have good relationships with my children and see most of them pretty often. It makes me happy to see them happy with their lives. Maybe that is what has cured me of this sadness and depression each time I have experienced the Empty Nest Syndrome.
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Ozzie Reviews Avon Posted in depression, Empty Nest Syndrome, Family, His and Hers, Mental Health, ozzieblackcat, Relationships, sadness | Comments Off
Thursday, June 19th, 2008
In a previous post I wrote about the mental and physiological benefits of drinking adequate amounts of water each day. Our bodies are made up of 75% water and our brains 85%, so it’s a no-brainer (sorry) that we must continuously replenish our stores. Fluid intake, adequate or otherwise, has a big impact on mood. Unfortunately 75% of Americans are suffering from chronic dehydration, and many are suffering the consequences daily.
I have always struggled to drink the quota of 6, 8 or 10 glasses a day (which depends on your source). I have my own target, clear urine by midday, which is equally difficult to achieve. As far as I know this target is not scientifically based, but my own empirical evidence has shown that it’s a good measure of progress part way through the day.
I made a significant personal discovery a couple of weeks ago. I started adding a small amount of Apple juice to each glass of water, about 1 part juice to 4 parts water. My initial motivation was weight loss but I quickly began enjoying the taste and sweetness, and I found it very refreshing and hydrating. No surprises there. It is now the only thing I drink apart from coffee, and for the first time ever I’m meeting my midday target.
Posted in dehydration, depression, fluid, Food and Drink, Mental Health, mood, water | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008
I'm having some anxiety disorder symptoms this week and I know why. This coming Saturday, June 21st, my youngest of three sons is getting married. He will be moving out of our house and I dread the initial empty nest feeling I know I will experience. My oldest son will be coming home for the wedding and I feel a lot of anxiety about that as well. I have no explanation for this other than I am so happy and excited to see him that maybe my feelings are getting all confused inside.
My middle son and my daughter will be coming for the wedding too and this will be the first time all of us have been together for over four years. My husband and I are busy scurrying about getting things ready for the family gathering at our home. Today my husband and I bought, hauled and put away what seemed like tons of groceries. Tomorrow we'll clean house and mow the yard. Not bad for senior citizens.
The anxiety disorder symptoms I'm experiencing are headache, nervousness, sleeplessness and worrying. I'll do much better after the festivities begin......it's the anticipation and preparation that get me all flustered. I just hope I won't be shaking when I have two of my sons walk me down the aisle for the third one's wedding.
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Ozzie Reviews Avon Posted in Anxiety, depression, Family, His and Hers, Mental Health, Relationships | Comments Off
Friday, June 13th, 2008
Many of us blog about our problems with depression in hopes of helping ourselves and others. Have you ever used texting as an aid in dealing with depression or any other mental health problems? I can't say that I have would be my first response........... but, I do remember sending an occasional text in an effort to solicit support from a love one.
Texting is a great way to stay in touch with family and friends because it's so fast. You can quickly share an interesting idea or picture. Can you also convey your emotions while sending texts? I certainly think so. It only takes a few words to let someone know you need help, support or friendship. I imagine it would be a bit harder to explain the depths of ones feelings in a text. It might also be a little difficult to receive a feeling of empathy from the recipient of our text. Maybe the quality of help depends on those who are doing the texting.
I read a recent article about texting and would like to share it with you.
Texting Through Your Grief by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. says texting is a great way to communicate with others when you don’t feel like talking or using some other technology. In my opinion, talking is the best way to communicate our feelings and problems to either a professional or a loved one. However, I think journaling, blogging, telephoning and texting can all be useful tools we can use to help ourselves when we need to reach out to others. I use them all.
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Ozzie Reviews Avon Posted in Blogging, depression, His and Hers, Mental Health, ozzieblackcat, Texting | Comments Off
Saturday, June 7th, 2008
Yesterday I learned of yet another secret that my spouse kept from me. He has had a need for over 40 years to keep secrets about things.....lots of things. I don't think it's good for our relationship, but this time I was prepared mentally to
not stress out about his latest secret. His secrets usually involve hoarding money but there have been plenty of other things too. I calmly told him what I thought of his latest secret and went on about my business. Today it's bugging me.....so here I am blogging about keeping secrets in our closest relationships.
In my opinion good mental health involves having good relationships in our lives. It's not everything but it's pretty darned important. I think trust and openness in a relationship are vital to it's success and yet.....how has my relationship lasted over 40 years without these key ingredients? I think it is because for the most part, I've accepted this person for the very private and secretive person. However, by accepting this about him, I've also accepted a much lower level of intimacy in our relationship and therein lies one of the reasons for the anger, stress and anxiety I often feel.
I did an Internet search on keeping secrets and found an interesting
article. The article weighs the pros and cons of keeping secrets in a relationship. My conclusion is that if you want intimacy in your relationships, reveal the secrets when it feels safe to do so.
I may have a problem in revealing too much about myself and my feelings.....I'm kind of an open book, so to speak. However, it feels like a good, honest way for me to be, so I guess I'll continue on my path while others 'keep on' keeping their secrets. Thanks for listening.
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Posted in Anger, Anxiety, depression, His and Hers, Mental Health, ozzieblackcat, Relationships, stress | Comments Off
Friday, June 6th, 2008
Some of you know I recently wrote an article for
Bloggers Unite for Human Rights. Shortly after writing that article, I happened upon a blog that caught my attention. I'd like to introduce you to this blog. The author is a fairly new blogger, is 36 years old and living in Australia. Her blog is called,
Svasti: A Journey from Assault to Wholeness. She is attempting to unravel the mess that was created in her life by a single incident of violent physical assault in 2005.
According to the blogs author, "Fortunately, I've been prompted to deal with this situation head-on. The messages weren't gentle and they weren't easy to understand (initially at least). I feel so much gratitude for this 'prompting' because many people go through their lives and never get the opportunity to face the traumas they've experienced. Suppressed trauma can and will come out in other ways - such as physical or mental illness. So as much as it hurts, I'm now strong enough to handle whatever needs to come out."
I think her writing is very open and heartfelt. She said, "one of the reasons it has taken me so long to confront what happened to me is because I was very busy telling myself that it wasn't so bad....compared to what others have gone through." I'm looking forward to reading more by this blogger.
You can find a link on the blog to another site, Women Against Domestic Violence, which can provide good information for anyone coping with domestic violence and the accompanying depression and other mental health problems.
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Ozzieblackcat's home page Posted in Bloggers Unite, depression, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, Mental Health, ozzieblackcat | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008
Someone asked me recently, "what do you get from blogging and how has it helped you?" I had to give that one a lot of thought before arriving at my answer. I had to evaluate my reasons for blogging about depression first. There are a lot of reasons why I blog. One very important reasons goes back to the years of professional help I received from my Psychologist. He suggested writing as a form of expression in an effort to understand and express my feelings. For quite some time I wrote poetry or letters and then I graduated to the Internet and blogging.
Another reason I blog about my mental health, namely depression, is to let my readers know they aren't alone. I'm very aware of how so very many people suffer from depression, anxiety and relationship problems. I always found it helpful to know I wasn't the only one and I'm betting you feel the same way. Somehow, having this knowledge helps us all to stop feeling like an oddity of some kind.
My final answer to the question, "what do you get from blogging and how has it helped you?" is this: I get empathy and encouragement from my readers through their comments on the blog and their other contacts with me either by email, in person or at various websites that I visit on a regular basis. Empathy, or understanding of what another is feeling, is an important thing for all of us to receive. Encouragement is sometimes vital to a persons survival and recovery of an acute episode of depression or anxiety. I appreciate immensely how you have all helped me and my brother with your support.
I had to add this statement to my answer "what do you get from blogging and how has it helped you?". In addition to getting something from blogging at
"His and Hers", David and I hope we are also giving something to you, our readers. We hope we are helping you in some small way to realize you are not alone in your battle with being Bipolar and you are not alone in your struggle against depression.
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my homepage at
http://ozzieblackcat.com My blackcat, Ozzie
Posted in Bipolar, Blogging, depression, His and Hers, Mental Health, ozzieblackcat, Professional Help, Relationships | Comments Off
Saturday, May 31st, 2008
Yesterday I saw my brother, David who is bipolar. If you are a regular reader of this blog you know I've been concerned about him recently. He's been suffering a great deal with depression lately even though he sees a mental health provider and takes his prescription medication on a regular basis.
I'm happy to report David was a bit better yesterday as we visited over lunch and went to one of our favorite flea markets. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a good time, which reminded me of something I wrote about depression several years ago. I'm a firm believer that in addition to professional help and medication, sunshine and fresh air are some of our best friends in battling depression. David makes it a point to take advantage of all of these helpful ways of dealing with depression and I believe his efforts are once again getting him through a difficult time.
The Sun Shines on Me
by Susan King
The sun shines down upon my empty soul today
just one small ray lifts my spirits up
my depression eases and I somehow find a way
to make progress and then fill my cup
with hope of peace.
The sun shines light into my lonely heart today
I feel it's warm glow as if I were near a fire
my anxiety slowly, slowly seems to melt away
I once again want things I dearly love and I desire
to pursue my dreams.
The sun shines bright upon my troubled mind today
the enlightenment I feel is quite intense
my worries drift off to the shadows by the way
and I can finally think more clearly and make sense
as I live my life again.
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Posted in depression, His and Hers, Mental Health, Ozzie, ozzieblackcat, Poetry, prescription medication | Comments Off