Thanks so much for your open discussion on the important subject of mental health. Providing a forum such as this is tremendously helpful in reducing the stigma that has been attached to people who suffer from this very complex medical illness. I'll save my case for a possible future comment, as at the age of 84, I've had a lifelong battle with depression, anxiety and ADHD. But I am doing O.K. now!
Dear Dr. McBride: Thanks for your response to the earlier comment about my lifelong experience with mental health problems. I am a bit hesitant about conveying what I've been through in an open Internet newsletter forum such as this because of the obvious personal and confidential nature of the subject. However, I would be willing to write directly to you, and on a private email basis, with some recent experiences that you might find helpful and interesting to edit and describe in a subsequent newsletter, but without identifying me personally. If that would be of any interest to you, I will look forward to hearing you.
These two articles should be reprinted and we made readily available in doctor's offices. This would be a thousand times more useful than the existing depression screening questionnaire.
Too often is just done so that they can check mark. Even when taken seriously it's not a good screening test. I have honestly fill them out and having a low score. But at the same time I realized that I was depressed and asked the doctor for help.
Also the articles should be made available to the general public in places like schools, churches, unemployment offices, etc
Thank you so much Bill. I really appreciate and yes, I do believe we need more nuanced questions re: mental health, and the medical education/expertise to handle the answers!
"Awareness of the facts of our story"....who needed grad school?? Every theory I learned and every book I had to read don't compare to the absolute perfection of this statement!! Love it!! :)
Yes, it’s amazing what stories we *tell* ourselves.. that sometimes aren’t rooted in fact. Sometimes we cannot access the facts bc we were too young, we weren’t GIVEN the facts, or we have woven a tale that is more convenient for our perceived or actual wellbeing.
The truth hurts! But *not* knowing the truth is arguably worse in the long run
Thank you for your posts on this topic. I do appreciate them. I do wish care was easier to access though. Even with good insurance, finding providers is a real challenge.
Amen. I completely agree w you. I also think there are appropriate ways to build your mental health “team” even without a doctor or a therapist - however assembling a team requires guidance which can be hard to find. (FYI this is what my upcoming book is about… building your House of Health, which is distinct from DIY health care :))
Thanks you so much for these posts. I connect so much with what you said today. I have a family history of bipolar disorder. Having it happen to me was my worst fear. I have powered through low grade depression, anxiety and periods of mania for years using diet, exercise and meditation. A period of extreme stress caused me to realize I finally had to ask for help. I am in Canada and am fortunate to have a caring psychotherapist and family physician to support me. I am now on medication and am more balanced. I am still working on self-compassion and focusing on what is within my control - setting boundaries, reducing stress, prioritizing self-care, sleep and exercise 😀
THE GRAND VIZIER SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT (A.K.A. VLADISLAV BADISLAV) SUPREME LEADER AND CONQUEROR AND OVERLORD OF THE VISIGOTHS, THE VANDALS, TARTARS, THE HUNS, MONGOLS, AND THE GERMANIC TEUTONIC KNIGHTS OF TEMPLAR!
I am the sole wearer of the BIG FURRY HAT, so I command every writer on sub stack
Henceforth and Forever after is has been decreed that any one who uses the name
D****D T***P is required to call it Rumpelstiltskin!!!!
I know it’s hard to spell, but it is easier on your mental health and your overall well- being!
Bisogna ricordare che erano una popolazione molto fiera e guerresca i visigoti , i tartari i vandali i mongoli edei fantastici Cavalieri Teutonici germanici eredi dei Templari.
Your comments on Mental Health are so enlightening. I have written them down here on pen and paper. Oh yes, it still exists, I'm 67 yrs so I can write discursive. I had a couple of quotes -dealing with a different topic, so I hope you don't mind. You do great service here. It's my reality check!
“In nature, nothing exists alone. Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of friends who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just quite not fatal. We stand now where two roads diverge. But, unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s poems, they are not equally fair. The road we have been travelling is deceptively easy, a smooth, superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at the end lies disaster. The other fork in the road- the one less travelled by- offers our last, only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.” Naturalist Rachel Carson 1962
“Caretaking is the utmost spiritual and physical responsibility of our time and perhaps that stewardship is finally our place in the web of life; our work, the solution to the mystery of what we are. There are already so many holes in the universe that will never again be filled, and each of them forces us to question why we permitted such loss, such tearing away at the fabric of life, and how we will live with our planet in the future. Poetry has its own laws speaking for the life of the planet. It is a language that wants to bring back together what the other words have torn apart. We are looking for a tongue that speaks with reverence for life, searching for an ecology of mind. Without it, we have no home, no place of our own within creation. It is not only the vocabulary of science that we desire. We want a language of different yield. A yield rich as the harvests of the earth. A yield that returns us to our own sacredness, to a self-love and resolve that will carry out to others. What a strange alchemy we have worked, turning earth around to destroy itself, using earth’s own elements to wound it.” Linda Hogan
This topic is near and dear to my heart as I became a grandfather a year ago. I worry about the state of the world that they will inherit. Anyway, God Bless, Kind regards Colin
This is such a common issue yet so its something that we speak very little of. I presume the problem is something that very often not discussed much, partly because its a thing that is easy to hide. Its not like obesity with is plan for anyone to see. Nobody can tell by looking at you as you walk down the street, that you stuggle with negative thoughts. Speaking for myself, I have had my share of mental struggles and a depression. Now, years later, I have found peace and what was super helpful for my journey was mindfulness, meditation and the principles of buddhism. For anyone struggling today, I would recommend trying to embark on the same path :)
Thanks so much for your open discussion on the important subject of mental health. Providing a forum such as this is tremendously helpful in reducing the stigma that has been attached to people who suffer from this very complex medical illness. I'll save my case for a possible future comment, as at the age of 84, I've had a lifelong battle with depression, anxiety and ADHD. But I am doing O.K. now!
Thank you for writing, Albert. Would love to hear more about what helping you along the way … I am guessing you have a lot to teach others!
Dear Dr. McBride: Thanks for your response to the earlier comment about my lifelong experience with mental health problems. I am a bit hesitant about conveying what I've been through in an open Internet newsletter forum such as this because of the obvious personal and confidential nature of the subject. However, I would be willing to write directly to you, and on a private email basis, with some recent experiences that you might find helpful and interesting to edit and describe in a subsequent newsletter, but without identifying me personally. If that would be of any interest to you, I will look forward to hearing you.
Sincerely, Bert Shoemaker
These two articles should be reprinted and we made readily available in doctor's offices. This would be a thousand times more useful than the existing depression screening questionnaire.
Too often is just done so that they can check mark. Even when taken seriously it's not a good screening test. I have honestly fill them out and having a low score. But at the same time I realized that I was depressed and asked the doctor for help.
Also the articles should be made available to the general public in places like schools, churches, unemployment offices, etc
Thank you so much Bill. I really appreciate and yes, I do believe we need more nuanced questions re: mental health, and the medical education/expertise to handle the answers!
"Awareness of the facts of our story"....who needed grad school?? Every theory I learned and every book I had to read don't compare to the absolute perfection of this statement!! Love it!! :)
Thanks!
Yes, it’s amazing what stories we *tell* ourselves.. that sometimes aren’t rooted in fact. Sometimes we cannot access the facts bc we were too young, we weren’t GIVEN the facts, or we have woven a tale that is more convenient for our perceived or actual wellbeing.
The truth hurts! But *not* knowing the truth is arguably worse in the long run
Perception is reality and memories that process can seem like facts-especially when they seem to fit with our emotional states of being and coping. :)
You said it, sister 🔥
Thank you for your posts on this topic. I do appreciate them. I do wish care was easier to access though. Even with good insurance, finding providers is a real challenge.
Amen. I completely agree w you. I also think there are appropriate ways to build your mental health “team” even without a doctor or a therapist - however assembling a team requires guidance which can be hard to find. (FYI this is what my upcoming book is about… building your House of Health, which is distinct from DIY health care :))
Thanks you so much for these posts. I connect so much with what you said today. I have a family history of bipolar disorder. Having it happen to me was my worst fear. I have powered through low grade depression, anxiety and periods of mania for years using diet, exercise and meditation. A period of extreme stress caused me to realize I finally had to ask for help. I am in Canada and am fortunate to have a caring psychotherapist and family physician to support me. I am now on medication and am more balanced. I am still working on self-compassion and focusing on what is within my control - setting boundaries, reducing stress, prioritizing self-care, sleep and exercise 😀
THE GRAND VIZIER SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT (A.K.A. VLADISLAV BADISLAV) SUPREME LEADER AND CONQUEROR AND OVERLORD OF THE VISIGOTHS, THE VANDALS, TARTARS, THE HUNS, MONGOLS, AND THE GERMANIC TEUTONIC KNIGHTS OF TEMPLAR!
I am the sole wearer of the BIG FURRY HAT, so I command every writer on sub stack
Henceforth and Forever after is has been decreed that any one who uses the name
D****D T***P is required to call it Rumpelstiltskin!!!!
I know it’s hard to spell, but it is easier on your mental health and your overall well- being!
Bisogna ricordare che erano una popolazione molto fiera e guerresca i visigoti , i tartari i vandali i mongoli edei fantastici Cavalieri Teutonici germanici eredi dei Templari.
Your comments on Mental Health are so enlightening. I have written them down here on pen and paper. Oh yes, it still exists, I'm 67 yrs so I can write discursive. I had a couple of quotes -dealing with a different topic, so I hope you don't mind. You do great service here. It's my reality check!
“In nature, nothing exists alone. Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of friends who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just quite not fatal. We stand now where two roads diverge. But, unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s poems, they are not equally fair. The road we have been travelling is deceptively easy, a smooth, superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at the end lies disaster. The other fork in the road- the one less travelled by- offers our last, only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.” Naturalist Rachel Carson 1962
“Caretaking is the utmost spiritual and physical responsibility of our time and perhaps that stewardship is finally our place in the web of life; our work, the solution to the mystery of what we are. There are already so many holes in the universe that will never again be filled, and each of them forces us to question why we permitted such loss, such tearing away at the fabric of life, and how we will live with our planet in the future. Poetry has its own laws speaking for the life of the planet. It is a language that wants to bring back together what the other words have torn apart. We are looking for a tongue that speaks with reverence for life, searching for an ecology of mind. Without it, we have no home, no place of our own within creation. It is not only the vocabulary of science that we desire. We want a language of different yield. A yield rich as the harvests of the earth. A yield that returns us to our own sacredness, to a self-love and resolve that will carry out to others. What a strange alchemy we have worked, turning earth around to destroy itself, using earth’s own elements to wound it.” Linda Hogan
This topic is near and dear to my heart as I became a grandfather a year ago. I worry about the state of the world that they will inherit. Anyway, God Bless, Kind regards Colin
This is such a common issue yet so its something that we speak very little of. I presume the problem is something that very often not discussed much, partly because its a thing that is easy to hide. Its not like obesity with is plan for anyone to see. Nobody can tell by looking at you as you walk down the street, that you stuggle with negative thoughts. Speaking for myself, I have had my share of mental struggles and a depression. Now, years later, I have found peace and what was super helpful for my journey was mindfulness, meditation and the principles of buddhism. For anyone struggling today, I would recommend trying to embark on the same path :)