CWD Daily: January 2021

January 31, 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.

An old, no longer available, article in Psych Central online listed “10 Excuses for Avoiding Psychotherapy.” The first was a doozy: “If I go into therapy it means I'm a loser and I'm weak and can't stand on my own feet. It's better to work on myself without a crutch so that I keep strong.”

There is actually not a smidgen of truth to that.

Just like you would if your car needed fixed, or your heart needed surgery, or you needed legal assistance, get professional help. You deserve to feel better.

HERE is an article from WebMD: What's Stopping You From Seeing a Doctor About 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

January 30, 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

One element of coping with depression is getting the proper nutrition, and one way to eat well is to cut out the crap you know is not good for you.

Potato chips are a common culprit. You can eat a snack-size bag (or two) every day, telling yourself that if they're “sun chips” or baked or low-salt they're okay.

Fine, anything is okay once in a while, but every single day? Nope.

If you are what you eat, don't be junk. Don't be fried. Don't have unpronounceable ingredients.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 29, 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 may come and go in waves. One minute you're feeling hopeful and positive, like you've made progress and today (or the rest of today) is going to be good. The next minute you're feeling defeated and like you will never rise above the tar-like ooze of depression.

That's the insidious, tenacious, sneaky nature of depression.

You have to stay on your toes if you want to get ahead of it!

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 28, 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

From Daily Calm on the website calm.com, this easy 10-minute Mindfulness Meditation – Be Present, HERE, is a great way to try meditation if you aren't sure what it's about.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 27, 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 is one of the best articles you'll read on depression.

7 Big, Stupid, Destructive Lies Depression Tells You. It begins with “Depression is a beast. It's an illness so insidious that sometimes you don't realize the scope of its life-threatening power until you're drowning under its waves.”

You will recognize some of these lies. Such as “You're not trying hard enough.” You may tell yourself these lies all the time, and not even realize it's the depression talking!

Metabolism may play a role in recurrent major depression

"Researchers have found that certain metabolites -- small molecules produced by the process of metabolism -- may be predictive indicators for persons at risk for recurrent major depressive disorder...

"Recurrent major depressive disorder (in lay terms, clinical depression) is a mood disorder characterized by multiple symptoms in combination: feelings of sadness or hopelessness, anger or frustration, loss of interest, sleep disturbances, anxiety, slowed or difficulty thinking, suicidal thoughts and unexplained physical problems, such as back pain or headaches.

"Major depressive disorder (MDD) is among the most common mental illnesses in the United States, with an estimated lifetime prevalence of 20.6 percent, meaning one in five Americans will suffer at least one episode during their lives. For patients who have recurrent MDD (rMDD), the five-year recurrence risk is up to 80 percent."

HERE is an article on metabolism's effect on depression. It's technical, but fascinating, and underscores the connection between physical health and mental health.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 26, 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

What others think about you does not have to be your reality.

Try to remember that the faith or lack thereof that people place in you is a reflection of their experience, beliefs and thoughts, not a reflection of reality.

Do Suicide Interventions Work?

An ARTICLE from FSU is inconclusive about suicide interventions. Well, isn't that special?

"Florida State University researchers, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Denver and Columbia University, conducted a meta-analysis of nearly 600 studies regarding treatments and interventions for suicidal and non-suicidal SITBs, or self-injurious thoughts and behaviors.

"The aim of this research was to analyze the effectiveness of treatment interventions among studies that include randomized control trials (RTCs), post-treatment outcome reports and interventions.

"According to the study, while treatment interventions were significantly effective when comparing control and treatment groups, they were only modestly effective on average. This meant that interventions only helped 9% of subjects who sought treatment across all the studies analyzed. Because of this, researchers question whether the lack of significant results could be because the treatments only effectively target one, or a few, causes for harmful self-injurious thoughts..."

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

Depression Army is a great blog and website – and although it may not be updated anymore, it is still up. The entries are written by numerous contributors who suffer from depression themselves.

Some article titles have been I Don't Want Your Help, Social Anxiety, and Why I Hugged Rock Bottom.

Surge of Student Suicides Pushes Las Vegas Schools to Reopen

"The reminders of pandemic-driven suffering among students in Clark County, Nev., have come in droves.

"Since schools shut their doors in March, an early-warning system that monitors students' mental health episodes has sent more than 3,100 alerts to district officials, raising alarms about suicidal thoughts, possible self-harm or cries for care. By December, 18 students had taken their own lives.

"The spate of student suicides in and around Las Vegas has pushed the Clark County district, the nation's fifth largest, toward bringing students back as quickly as possible. This month, the school board gave the green light to phase in the return of some elementary school grades and groups of struggling students even as greater Las Vegas continues to post huge numbers of coronavirus cases and deaths."

- nyt.com

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

Schools closed or hours reduced? Get help.

“Student anxiety, depression increasing during school closures, survey finds...

“More than half the students who responded to the survey said they’re in need of mental health support since the school closures began in mid-March [2020]...

“'We were calling this a mental health crisis before the pandemic. Now it’s a state of emergency,' said Amir Whitaker, policy counsel of the ACLU of Southern California. 'Our youth are really struggling... When schools reopen, we’re going to have to re-tool them significantly to address this.'”

CLICK HERE for the full article.

CLICK HERE for School Counseling and School Reentry During COVID-19.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

Nature calms anxiety.

HERE is a live webcam of Hawaii's Pipeline ocean waves.

Scroll down the webcam page for links to other webcams – Hawaii, Alaska and more.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

Sometimes your day is extraordinarily stressful for no apparent reason. Sometimes you just want to cry.

Even having socially-distanced, al fresco dinner with friends can be hard.

If you have a dinner out during a particularly stressful time, try to eat healthy and not have a sugary dessert. Wait – Yoda would say there is no try. So definitely have a healthy dinner and skip dessert!

(Or have dessert – just don't feel guilty!)

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

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

If just the words “de-clutter and get organized” fill you with anxiety, relax! There is help you can take in baby steps.

Flylady has a simple, step-by-step, little-by-little system to get you organized! No, really. It works. And it's free!

Give it a try. Take your first baby steps by checking out flylady.

And, if it just stresses you out more, then don't do it! See how this works?

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

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

Take a page from the AA Big Book and focus on what you can do today.

It's so easy to fall short on long term goals, and probably fine to do so, as our needs and desires change.

Don't set yourself up for failure – set yourself up for success! What will you do today? Be realistic.

“Today I will get out of bed and have one healthy meal” may be what you know you can do. That's fine. Focus on short-term goals.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

“Severe mental illnesses (SMI), including major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, are associated with increased inflammation. Given diet’s role in modulating inflammatory processes, excessive calorie-dense, nutrient-deficient processed food intake may contribute toward the heightened inflammation observed in SMI.” (Frontiers in Psychiatry, May 15, 2019)

Anti-inflammatory foods include:

salmon
tuna
flax seeds
tart cherries
oranges
strawberries
curry
edamame
green tea
whole grains
tomatoes
olive oil
blueberries
green, leafy vegetables
nuts

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

“King realized that to solve the problems of human life, especially the deepest problems – like racism, poverty, and war – we have to become, in a sense, abnormal. We have to stop going along; we have to stop accepting what everyone else believes. We have to become maladjusted if we are at all to become creative...

“King knew what it meant to be maladjusted, psychologically, because he was not normal, psychiatrically. He had multiple periods of severe depression, and twice made suicide attempts as a child. Near the end of his life, some of his staff tried to get him into psychiatric treatment, but he refused.”

Read the whole article from Psychology Today HERE.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

Get help.

If you are depressed, have been chronically depressed, or are in a crisis of depression and suicidal thoughts – please, get help.

You deserve to feel better. You deserve to get your life back on track. And you can and you will. You may just need some help from someone experienced in helping.

So, talk to your doctor or your spiritual advisor, minister or rabbi. Talk to a guidance counselor or teacher or trusted friend. Talk to someone and ask how to get the help you need. And then get it.

You deserve it.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

Turn off the news.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 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

Do you get depressed because you think your life will never get better and there is no way to make changes and you will always be underemployed and in debt and broke and unlovable and pathetic?

NOTE: You think these things because you're depressed.

They are not true.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 14, 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

Do you have hundreds of unread emails haunting you but can't delete them because “what if one of them is important?”

Delete them. If you miss something important, you'll find out sooner or later. And you are much more likely to miss important things if your inbox is perpetually full.

After that liberating act, check your email and clean up your inbox(es) daily. Don't read everything. If it's not important, delete it.

If you've signed up for way too many email lists, unsubscribe as they pop up.

You'll feel so much lighter, so much more together and on top of things. You are so virtuous and organized!

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 13, 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

“‘What do you think about self-hatred?’ I asked when it was my turn to bring up an issue for discussion. I was eager to get directly to the suffering I had seen so often in my students, a suffering I was familiar with myself. The room went quiet as all of us awaited the answer of the Dalai Lama, revered leader of Tibetan Buddhism. Looking startled, he turned to his translator and asked pointedly in Tibetan again and again for an explanation. Finally, turning back to me, the Dalai Lama tilted his head, his eyes narrowed in confusion. ‘Self-hatred?’ he repeated in English. ‘What is that?’”

CLICK HERE for the full article by Sharon Salzberg.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 12, 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 Rock on Depression and Decision: an Oprah's Masterclass video.

CLICK HERE to watch this surprising and inspirational video.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 11, 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 is so much going on in the world – COVID-19,domestic terrorism and a Constitutional crisis in the United States, vast global social justice activism, economic disaster... Things are vibrating at an extraordinarily high frequency and keeping many of us agitated.

It's crucial to regularly still your mind, even for short intervals. But it's difficult when you're on the computer at work and in your “down” time. So much information and stimulation constantly. Just breathing is wonderful!

Simple breathing exercises will do. Breathe deeply. Hold that for a few seconds. Release.

Calm your thoughts.

Repeat for a few minutes.

Daily Calm

Calm -- an app and youtube channel -- offers an array of free guided meditations on youtube, excellent for meditating when you don't have any idea how to meditate and don't have the time. Most are about 10 m3inutes long, and perfectly simple. (They have an expanded paid version which is excellent, as well.)

Click HERE to try this "10 Minute Mindfulness Meditation - Be Present".

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

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.

Therapy under quarantine?

“What are some of the ways that we can make the most of therapy or best manage our mental health while we're stuck at home?”

Licensed therapist Kati Morton offers practical ideas for getting help during COVID-19.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 9, 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

For over 25 years PsychCentral has been a trove of information. It's a great website!

Here's a short article from 2016: 12 Ways to Shut Off Your Brain Before Bedtime.

Simple but proven tips like “Busy your brain with mental exercises.”

They also have had a regular podcast for almost 5 years! What a user-friendly way to learn about all aspects of psychology.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 8, 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

“After years of experience dealing with anxiety, low-self esteem, an unfulfilling life path, I realized that my mental wellness was so much more than mental health.

“A large portion of mental health is overcoming negative thinking patterns, practicing mindfulness, and going to therapy and taking medication if you need it.

“BUT it's about taking care of your physical health, your dreams, nurturing your spirit, realizing your confidence and power, and so much more!

“That's why we also focus on personal development as part of a holistic approach to managing your anxiety.”

Check out THIS website for terrific tips to live an anxiety-free life.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 7, 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

In winter the nights grow longer and your mood may get darker.

“Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons – SAD begins and ends at about the same times every year. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody. Less often, SAD causes depression in the spring or early summer.” (the Mayo Clinic website, HERE)

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com

January 6, 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

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, mental health issues have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Average weekly data for June 2020 found that 36.5% of adults in the U.S. reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder, up from 11.0% in 2019.

“The states with the highest percentage of adults reporting symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder are Louisiana (42.9%), Florida (41.5%), Oregon (41.3%), Nevada (39.1%), and Oklahoma (39.0%).”

“The states with the lowest percentage of adults reporting symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder are Wisconsin (27.2%), Minnesota (30.5%), Nebraska (30.6%), North Dakota (30.9%), and South Dakota (31.0%).”

CLICK HERE to read more about mental health and substance use during the pandemic.

Contact: witchhazel2020@gmail.com