August 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

Get help.

Participate in a Clinical Trial.

The National Institute of Mental Health supports research studies on mental health problems. Clinical trials are scientific studies to find better ways to prevent, detect, or treat illnesses.

NIH-funded studies recruit participants on a variety of mental health topics.

THIS WEBSITE provides answers to common questions about volunteering for mental health clinical research.

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  

August 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

Starting to feel better can be dangerous. When we begin to feel better we may make bad choices.

We take on more, even if what we're already involved in is not complete, because we have renewed energy and because once everything is not so gray we begin to see possibilities, which lead to more ideas.

We think we ARE better and will always be better so we don't have to take our medications or do any of the things we've been doing to GET better.

We take our eye off the ball.

Recovery is a process, and interrupting that process is counterproductive. Stay focused!

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  

August 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

There was a brief trend of following studies that linked eating pasta with higher incidence of depression. We were all doomed.

However, the researchers responsible for the study (singular) linking pasta to depression have said that the press over-simplified it, and it's actually inflammatory food that may be linked to depression.

Dr. Andrew Weil's anti-inflammatory diet includes pasta up to 3 times a week. Reasonably sized portions, of course.

Take a look at the anti-inflammatory diet’s food pyramid, HERE.

HERE is a brief video of Dr. Weil discussing the anti-inflammatory diet.

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  

August 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.

Tip of the Day

Make 2 lists:

What jazzes you? Revs you up and gives you energy? I'll go first...

Tangerines
Fresh air
Music
Accomplishing a task
Art
Travel
Nature
Family
A good cup of coffee
Conversation with good friends

What saps your energy and makes you feel burdened, weighed down?

Tasks undone
Too much to do
Stuff
Sugar
Internet idiots
Meanness
Violence
Screwing up
Not enough sleep
Too much sleep
A messy environment
Too much computer time

Try to bring a little more of the first into your life, and release some of the second.

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   

August 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.

Tip of the Day

Depression feels like failure, like weakness, like defeat. It feels like a cop out, an excuse. It feels like a waste of a life that once showed such promise.

None of that is true, but that's how it feels a good bit of the time.

You may work on overcoming your depression, but there's a part of you that feels like a loser because you're not better yet! Of course, it doesn't work that way, unfortunately. Getting better, whether mentally or physically (or spiritually) takes time and it takes practice.

And, yes, that sucks!

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  

August 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

Is your messy environment depressing you?

Working under the assumption that depression is not a lack of happiness but rather a lack of vitality, there may be a little something to that, as a seemingly insurmountable clean-up job is dispiriting.

Straightening up is not impossible, and you could spend just 10 minutes today and make a huge difference.

Plus, a lot of messy people are extremely successful – they simply have housekeepers or children to do their dirty work!

Depression doesn't come from the environment, it comes from your thoughts. Focus on changing your thinking rather than worrying about any other side issue that is a distraction.

Your life isn't a mess just because your house is.

And your house being a mess is just a problem, not a character flaw.

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  

August 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

Meditation may help ease depression.

Quieting the mind and being “mindful” – being present and being aware of your body and how you feel in the environment – would logically seem to be useful on so many levels.

And just disrupting the pattern of negative thoughts might help, as well.

Give it a try. How to Meditate: Simple Meditation for Beginners.

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  

August 16, 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.

Current and former military service members may face different mental health issues than the general public.

Check HERE for a comprehensive list of resources for service members and veterans, with full contact information.

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  

August 15, 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

“There’s too much poverty and not enough self-love. If you don’t love yourself, you’re in a world of trouble.”

    – Dr. Cornel West

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