Depression Talk

This blog might be a little somber lately since I haven’t been well and my Mom was hospitalized this week. Then again, the whole world is probably a bit somber lately. So, I looked for a snarky but kind of funny video which somehow has to do due with mental illness. And this was the best I could find. (Hey — it’s been a hard week).

This is one of those traditional YouTube video clips where someone is talking to the camera for ten minutes. The fellow in question is Dr. Breeding. I’m not sure what he has a doctorate in or even if Dr. Breeding is his real name, but he does that touch of maladjusted charism that makes for interesting YouTube viewing. He mentions a website called Mindfreedom.org several times, but I don’t know his association with that website. I’ve never heard of the website before today, so I don’t have an opinion about it yet.

Come to think of it, there’s a lot I don’t know…

WARNING: This video is NOT to be used in the place of your therapist’s or doctor’s diagnosis. Although I do agre that there are a lot of therapists and doctors who don’t know what they’re doing and look for pills as a quick fix, there are also a lot of doctors who DO know what they’re doing and can really help someone with major depression, bipolar disorder, post-partum depression or extreme grief.

If you work in the mental health field, then perhaps you might want to skip this video and go have a cookie, instead.

It’s hard to have a “normal” day when you have depression. You are either having the best day ever or you’re having the worst day ever. One of the problems many people with any type of depression face is these swings in perception. With major depression, you tend to swing from horrible to terrible while with bipolar disorder, the swings are a little more dramatic. This extreme in perception can make people with depression not get any help for depression.

“What’s The Point?”

Because you feel so bad, you feel as if you are the only person in the world that has ever had depression as bad as you. You are positive that you’re a unique case that your doctor has never seen before and therefore will not be able to help you in any way, shape or form. So, what’s the point of trying to get any help if there’s no help out there to be had?

This viewpoint is nonsense, but not at the time when you are going through it. You are positive that you have been cursed with the worst life a human being could possibly have. If anyone urges you to go to a doctor or even take any medication the doctor prescribes, you are positive that they are wrong. This isn’t an arrogant feeling or a paranoid feeling. It’s a feeling so strong and so centered within yourself, just like the knowledge of whether you are standing up or not.

Spotting This Behavior

You do need to see your doctor if you have depression. You do need to take the medication prescribed. You also need to heed other advice such as getting regular exercise, getting regular sleep and learning non-chemical ways of dealing with stress such as with yoga, medication or watching the birdies fly by.

Medication can take a couple of weeks in order to make any noticeable change in your thoughts and perceptions. I remember when I first was prescribed fluoxetine (generic Prozac). I was really groggy for two weeks, and then things began to change. I also had a regular appetite for the first time in years.

While waiting for the medication to kick in, you can use your logic to spot extreme thinking. Every time you start to think, “Nobody can help me” or something like that, say, “Stop. That’s just the depression talking. I can be helped.”

For more inforamtion about spotting please check out Recovery, International’s website or the books of Dr. Abraham A. Low.

Murder, mayhem, monsters — you wouldn’t normally prescribe books dealing in those subject matters to people with various types of depression. But horror books can certainly help lift the spirits of many people with major depression. Not only are they distracting and entertaining, but they also reinforce the notion that all bad guys loose … well, loose some bits of themsleves, anyway.

Books and Not Movies

Although some people with depression can find horror movies relaxing (especially the bad ones where everything is obviously fake), I find horror movies to be too intense. Also, I feel a little less in control of how I want the story to come at me with a movie than with a book. A book I can hold in my hands and imagine what I want to imagine.

A movie — even on tape or DVD — throws a bunch of images at you without much warning. You can be so caught up in the story that you don’t realize that there is a remote control with a STOP button sitting right next to you. With a movie or DVD, you’re more willing to let the story take over — even to the point where you ignore phone calls and your bladder screaming at you that you have to go potty. With a book, you have a better sense of perspective that “it’s just a story” and you can put it down and pick it up again any time you like.

What Stephen King Said

People have often ask Stephen King why he writes “just” horror or fantasy books when he has the storytelling ability to succeed in any genre he wants. King has gone to great length expalining not only the craft of writing, the great tradition of the horror genre but also why he just plain likes writing scary stories. Check out Danse Macabre and On Writing for details.

King points out that horror stories tend to be the most moralistic genre around, loaded with traditional family values or whatever the prevailing culture’s values are. The horror is partially in distorting what you hold to be good and true. In a usual horror story, or even a cautionary tale about the bogeyman to kids, bad behavior gets punished and good more or less prevails.

This is a lesson that can bring great comfort to those with depression. Perhaps Stephen King books should be studied just as much as serotonin in future clinical trials.

I guess it’s just my luck. I just posted an article about how St. John’s Wort does buttkiss for major depression and now there’s a new massive clinical study out by the Cochrane Review that claims just the opposite. But still, you never want to take St. John’s Wort AND antidepressants. Not unless you really get a thrill out of wasting your time and your money.

Of course, you should never take any kind of herbal remedy without first consulting your doctor. There are many other medicines that can react badly with St. John’s Wort.

Study Details

This wasn’t just one clinical trial but 29, bringing the number of human guinea pigs with major depression up to a staggering 5,489. The form of St. John’s wort used in these trials was an extract. A placebo and an antidepresant were the other things used to help treat the human guinea pigs. All of the human guinea pigs were diagnosed with major depression as according to the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. (There’s a scale for depression? I guess it’s like Do, Ray, Me, Fa, So — Ah, The Hell With It).

The study also noted that most of the human guinea pigs taking the St. John’s Wort extract were able to particupate in the entire trial length and didn’t need to drop out due to bad side effects.

Several of the 29 studies were done in Germany, where doctors normally prescribe St. John’s Wort for major depression. It’s considered a normal medicine in German culture. Not suprsingly, the best results for St. John’s Wort came from the German studies. This does imply just a wee bit that what we believe can often make a medicine more potent.

How Does It Work?

It’s thought that St. John’s Wort works just like an antidepressant in that it effects your brain’s serotonin. It helps increase serotonin, which helps you feel a bit better. Serotonin is also thought to be responisble for migraines and epilepsy, but just exactly how is still unknown.

One of the reasons why more attention is being taken to St. John’s Wort is that it can offer some people the benefits of a man-made antidepressant, but without some of the side effects.

WHINING ALERT

(You have been warned.)

Although you always have depression, some days it’s far more intense than others. This is one of those days for me. The international news is grim, the bad guys always seem to win and my Mom lost a good chunk of her retirement life savings on the stock market. (Hey, during the 1990’s, it seemed like a good idea to invest). My migraines have worsened and I cannot afford to buy triptans, which can help the pain. I wish I never had that free sample so at least I wouldn’t now know what I’m missing.

This is a setback. Setbacks are inevitable with any kind of mental illness. I call these setbacks “jags”. I have no idea where I picked up that term, but it’s stick in my tiny little mind and there you have it.

I’ve Done This Before

I keep reminding myself that I’ve been through these jags before and so can, logically, get through this one. That being said, I wish I could just spend the rest of my life curled up under the blanket with my dog.

I guess Mr. Spock wouldn’t approve that plan of action. Then again, I don’t think Mr. Spock ever had endogenous recurring depression. Yes, I know he’s a fictional character, but Hamlet was also a fictional character and he darn well showed all of the signs of clinical depression, so fictional characters can get depression, too.

So, I have Hamlet on one side talking to me and Mr. Spock on the other and my dog is at my feet looking at me for a Milkbone. How am I going to pay for her milkbones if I don’t get out of bed and off to work?

I Can Do This Again

Although it’s extremely hard, I’m trying to slog through the day, anyway. My problems are still going to be there, whether I put in a day’s work or not. If I don’t work, then I loose the day’s pay — on top of all my problems. That would make my problems a much bigger pile than before.

And, eventually, this latest jag will go away.

I just wish “eventually” would hurry up and get here.

When Mary Jo Codey, the former First Lady of New Jersey, admitted she had postpartum depression, money was allocated to make educational videos about this powerful disorder. This YouTube clip is one of the results. In my humble opinion, it’s one of the best educational videos on the subject ever made, as it’s not fear-mongering and rather hopeful. It also has a very nice soundtrack.

One of the nice things is that they showed testimonies of women with postpartum depression from a few races. Generally, when I see a video or news story on post partum depression, it’s only white women who talk. Unfortunately, post partum depression is not a white woman’s burden. No matter what your ethnic background or genetic makeup, if you’ve got ovaries, you’ve got a chance of getting post partum depression.

Yet another reason not to have kids, folks.

My only quibble is that the video never explains what a “partum” is. What is a “partum”, anyway? Let’s look it up. The Free Dictionary says it means post partum“>”after parturition”. Great. What’s “parituition” mean? It’s a fancy word for “childbirth”.

I guess when you’re born, you’re parted from your mother. So, birth “parts ‘em”. Oh, never mind. Just watch the video and see you next week.

Although facing housecleaning is a prospect to get anyone depressed, cleaning can help those with clinical depression in many ways. Cleaning therapy is also good for those with chronic pain who have some mobility. I’m not talking about the scrubbing the house from roof to basement every day — I mean just looking at one chore and taking that on when you feel down or even when you don’t feel so down. Lord knows, my home isn’t exactly spic and span, but you can walk around in it easily enough.

What are some of the benefits of cleaning therapy for clinical depression? Glad you asked.

Raises Self-Esteem

For me, this is the biggest benefit to cleaning something. I can see immediate results to my actions. It’s quite satisfying. All I have to do is organize the mail on the desk, or wash the dishes or clean the kitty litter and I feel a little better about myself. (Well, maybe not after dealing with the kitty litter.) I walk in to a mess and –tada!– I manage to fix it. I have power.

Gives You Exercise

I don’t know about you, but I find doing exercises or working out incredibly boring. I tend to cringe whenever I hear the word “exercise”. But there are many activities we do that counts as excerise. Doing the laundry, walking the dog, sweeping the floor — they all take bending and lifting and all that ofther good stuff.

One of the reasons that regular exercise is so good for people with clinical depression is that the exercise helps the body keep a regular sleep routine. When your body is physically tired, you have a tendency to be able to fall asleep easier and stay asleep. Oddly enough, it also makes it easier for you to get up when you have to, just because you’ve had a decent night’s sleep.

Being groggy can intensify feelings of helplessness, grief, confusion and desolation. These fellings that people with clinical depression already have an aboundance of and don’t need any more. Getting regular sleep can help keep the emotions on a more even keel.

Gets Stuff Clean

Oh, yeah, there’s that, too.

Although clinical depression is often seen in illnesses like migraine disease and epilepsy, it’s now thought that it’s common in patients with heart problems, too. This is the finding of the American Psychiatric Association, anyway. It is unknown why heart disease and clinical depression seem to pop up together, just like it’s unknown why migraines and depression often pop up together.

The Findings

The APA claims that about 20% of all people with heart disease also have all of the signs of clinical depression and yet are not diagnosed with clinical depression. So far, they are not sure if the clinical depression sets in before or after the heart problems manifest. But the APA strongly recommends that anyone that has been diagnosed with cardiovascular problems should also seriously consider that they have clinical depression, too and get treatment. This is especially important in men, who are reluctant to admit that they might have clinical depression. African-American men seem to be the most reluctant to get help for depression.

Diagnosis Problems

That people with clinical depression haven’t been diagnosed shouldn’t be a surprise. Although there is still a stigma attatched to having a mental illness, it’s the thought of having to pay for treatment which puts many people off. “I already have an expensive condition with cardiovascular disease — I can’t afford to treat anything else.”

If you really can’t afford therapy or metal health help, you can ask your social worker or your local Respresntative if there are any state-run programs that could help you get access to low cost or free mental health services. That’s what I did. Big thanks to the kind staff at Representative Nick Micozzi’s office in Clifton Heights. (Micozzi — the only Republican I’ve ever voted for).

When you have clinical depression, you just assume that you can’t afford to get help. You also might think that you CAN’T be helped. I had both of those assumptions, but have been helped. Of course, I could have been helped sooner if I had just went to get help sooner than I did. But, well — you live, you learn.

And I don’t have heart disease (knock on wood).