“Sea glass is beautiful. Everyone loves sea glass, and everyone wants to find sea glass, but no one wants to become sea glass. It is worn and shaped by the forces around it. It is beautiful because of what it has endured. The original colors change, but become something even more beautiful. But sea glass is never bright and shiny. It is not perfect glass. In fact, it is broken glass – the furthest thing from perfect.”
Get help: Medication
“Please Note: Although antidepressants can be effective for many people, they may present serious risks to some, especially children, teens, and young adults. Antidepressants may cause some people, especially those who become agitated when they first start taking the medication and before it begins to work, to have suicidal thoughts or make suicide attempts. Anyone taking antidepressants should be monitored closely, especially when they first start taking them. For most people, though, the risks of untreated depression far outweigh those of antidepressant medications when they are used under a doctor’s careful supervision.”
The National Institute of Mental Health provides clear information on recognizing and treating depression.
Thank you to HuffPo for this great column, and to Liv Raimonde for her inspiring piece, Open Letter to My Depression: 4 Ways I Defeat You Every Day!
“Dear Depression,
“I must say you have put up quite a fight. You insidiously infiltrated my life years ago completely unbeknownst to me. For years I blamed myself for the rage, despair and deep emptiness that consumed my life. But it was you all along, hiding cowardly in the shadows, vehemently inflicting pain on my existence. You tore my confidence to shreds, destroyed relationships that I held dear and stripped away my appreciation for life...”
Read the entire letter HERE.
“Despite increased awareness of what bipolar disorder is and how it affects people's lives, often thanks to movies and shows like Silver Linings Playbook, Homeland, and Michael Clayton, there are still strong stereotypes that influence how we define and recognize the condition in ourselves and in loved ones.”
Decreased need for sleep
Racing thoughts and accelerated speech
Restlessness and agitation
Overconfidence
Impulsive and risky behavior
Hopelessness
Withdrawal from family and friends and lack of interest in activities
Change in appetite and sleep
Problems with memory, concentration and decision making
Preoccupation with death and thoughts of suicide
Yippee! It's Tax Day! (Said no one, ever.)
“There’s no need to go it alone as you deal with tax-based stress. While chatting with a trusted friend or family member may help, there’s no substitution for a series of sessions with a licensed therapist. You’ll gain valuable skills for dealing with symptoms and just might uncover factors exacerbating your tax situation and further harming your mental health.
“Help can come in many forms. While a therapist may be critical for dealing with feelings of hopelessness, you’ll also want to tackle the problem head-on. Working with an attorney may help you feel more in control of your tax situation – and therefore less vulnerable to the symptoms of anxiety or depression.”
And if you fall behind on your taxes, the stress grows. Here are some tips for dealing with tax issues before they completely stress you out.
Irritability and Depression
If you seem to be annoyed and irritable a lot of the time, know that there is a connection between depression and irritability.
A 2013 article in the JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) Psychiatry online begins:
“Although symptoms of irritability or anger are not central to the diagnosis of unipolar major depressive episodes (MDEs), these symptoms have been found, in cross-sectional studies, to be highly prevalent and associated with increased comorbidity and depressive illness burden.”
An article in a different online newsletter is entitled Irritable Depression: When Sadness Feels Like Anger.
With mental illness and several suicides in her family, including her famous grandfather and sister, Mariel Hemingway had some tough choices to make. She successfully chose to actively work at keeping depression at bay.
Check THIS insightful interview with the actress and author.
Get Help
Self-medicating:
Alcohol
Tobacco
Sex
Food
Sugar
Chocolate
Sleeping
Exercise
Cannabis
Drugs: Cocaine, Amphetamines, Opiates such as Codeine, Heroin, and Methadone
Any of these certainly may make you feel better, but in some circumstances they each may also be more harmful than helpful. Most can be addictive and all can create real physical, emotional and social problems, especially if overindulged. Well, except perhaps chocolate.
If you feel you have a problem, please seek help.
Some studies show a correlation between low salt intake and depression. However, the vast majority of people with Western diets get far more salt than they need, and research is inconclusive.
If you suffer from depression and are restricting your salt intake to below 6 grams per day for adults or 2 grams per day for children, ask your doctor to look into any possible connection between the two.
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