February 25, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Try not to take ANYTHING personally.

Most of the time – like 99% of the time – it's not about you.

While that itself might seem depressing, instead choose to see it as liberating!

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com 

February 24, 2021

 CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Try not to take everything personally.

When friends, family or co-workers cancel plans with you, you could get upset and take it personally. The truth is things often have nothing to do with you.

People get sick, or need family or alone time, or have to work. Whatever. People have their own full lives and – sorry – you probably aren't the focus of them a lot of the time.

Or they may be suffering from depression, as well, and sometimes need to flake out whether they really want to or not.

You're probably quick to assume that the positive stuff isn't about you. So, figure the negative stuff isn't about you, either.

Rumination

I recently had brain surgery, and afterward for several months I could not stop ruminating. The same thoughts kept going through my mind over and over again. That experience tipped me off that rumination is a biological response, as surgery had triggered it. (Thankfully it has passed. I still ruminate sometimes, but not obsessively and constantly like I did before.)

This VIDEO describes rumination and some behavioral techniques to break through it.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com 

February 23, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Anxiety and depression are often closely related – kissing cousins, if you will.

Buzzfeed has a helpful list of 17 Things Anxiety Sufferers Need to Remember.

One tip: “Never feel bad for feeling bad.”

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com 

February 22, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

The actress Patty Duke was a pioneer and early advocate of depression awareness.

Linked HERE is a wonderful, informative interview with her about her bipolar disorder and how to recognize and overcome manic depression.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com 

February 21, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

Get help!

Quarantine can create social isolation, and social isolation is a key factor in suicide.

“Feelings of isolation, depression, anxiety, and other emotional or financial stresses are known to raise the risk for suicide. People may be more likely to experience these feelings during a crisis like a pandemic... However, there are ways to protect against suicidal thoughts and behaviors... Support from family and community, or feeling connected, and having access to in-person or virtual counseling or therapy can help... particularly during a crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic.”

If you are in a suicide emergency, call 
1-800-273-TALK (1-800-273-8255)
or use the online Lifeline Crisis Chat.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com 

February 20, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

More Insight from Therapist Kati Morton

Check out "Ask Kati Anything" on facebook -- today's topic is PTSD and how to work through it.

PTSD isn't just about combat trauma. Any traumatic event -- like a car accident, major storm or evacuation, a loved one's death, abuse or rape -- even and importantly COVID-19. Whether you've had COVID or not, you may have been traumatically effected by it.

Kati's youtube channel is linked HERE. 

Tip of the Day

“AOL Lifestyle Expert and life coach Iyanla Vanzant discusses the experience of being stuck mentally, emotionally and physically, and offers advice on how to get out of your rut.”

With life-affirming, inspirational advice, Iyanla can lift you up!

How to Get Unstuck is one wonderful video.

She put out a daily pandemic anti-viral video through the early COVID-19 crisis, including Living Beyond the Virus.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com 

February 19, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Hitting the Pandemic Wall

Here's an excerpt from a resonant article from the website The Shine:

In 2020, "social distancing" creeped into our lexicon—and today, "pandemic wall" is a new go-to phrase for folks looking to explain the fatigue that's set in after a year of navigating COVID-19.

Coined in a now-viral tweet by WNYC radio host Tanzina Vega, “pandemic wall” encompasses the exacerbated depression, anxiety, grief, fatigue, and utter exhaustion directly related to the toll of this pandemic.

“Lots of people - including me - are hitting what I’m calling the pandemic wall this week,” Tanzina wrote. “The burnout from working non stop, no break from news, childcare and isolation is hard.”

While it may not be a medical term yet, the struggle of navigating this time is showing up in data. A new study shows that 1 in 3 adults are anxious or depressed due to COVID-19. And for young adults, the numbers are even more jarring, with the prevlance of anxiety three times as high in 2020 than in 2019 and depression four times as high.

Tip of the Day

Did you take your pills?

It's so easy to forget medication, especially as depression saps your will to do anything, your ability to care about self-care, and your memory.

Daily alarms on your phone, sorting your pills into daily units and putting the pillboxes on your bathroom counter, post-its on the bathroom mirror, phone apps...

Find a way to stay consistent. It's key to monitoring and maximizing the effectiveness of meds.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com 

February 18, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

THIS extremely informative slideshow on healthcentral.com answers a lot of questions about bipolar disorder in clear, simple terms:

Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder.
Bipolar disorder always includes mania.
Unipolar depression is not bipolar disorder.
Borderline personality disorder is not bipolar disorder.
Narcissistic personality disorder is not bipolar disorder.
Schizophrenia is a psychotic disorder, not a mood disorder.
Dissociative identity disorder is not bipolar disorder.

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com 

February 17, 2021

CWD Daily

Tips for Coping with Depression

If you are in a suicide crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline - 
1-800-273-8255.

Tip of the Day

When you're depressed you may constantly remind yourself of everything negative you do and everything negative that happens around you. It's a lousy habit, but a persistent one.

It seems only fair, then, to acknowledge the positive things that happen, too.

Make a list.

Did you stick to your diet today? Run errands? Clean out your emails? Spend quality time with family? Do the dishes? Refill your prescriptions? Do your online banking? Take much needed time to do nothing?

Then today was a good day!

CWD Daily is written by Julie Aiken, a layperson whose only authority lies in 40 years of coping with depression. Nothing in the newsletter should be taken as medical advice. Please do no self-diagnose or self-prescribe. Above all, please get help if you need it. 

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com