Flipswitch

This Weeks Stories

1.  Group Culture Protects From Depression

2.  Thoughs of Suicide Long After Childhood Cancer

3.  Antidepressant Drugs Aim At Wrong Target?

4.  Significant Weight Gain, Metabolic Changes Associated with Antipsychotic Use in Children

5.  Mediterranean diet cuts depression risk

6.  Twitter Feud: A Bit of Fry Without Laurie

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You don’t have to point it out.  I am well aware—Magic Bullets do exist. Although, what I want to talk about here is not about how to make a healthy, delicious smoothie. What I want to talk about is health; and while a Magic Bullet can make a smoothie that’s a healthy option for a quick treat, there’s no magic bullet to keep you in good health.

We have all been taught throughout our years in school that health is based on, roughly, two important principles:

1.  a good diet and

2.  regular exercise.

To the surprise of many, these principles aren’t lies. Both diet and exercise DO provide our bodies with the necessary nutrients and activity to keep us living a balanced life. In addition, getting good amounts of sleep and staying away from harmful chemicals (Drugs and Alcohol) can add to our health. These are indisputable facts, so live with it. If you want to be healthy, do these things. Based on the observation that you are surfing this website, I am assuming two things: 1) you are in some aspect of your life affected with Bipolar Disorder or depression and 2) you want to learn how to successfully live with either of them.

Well, believe it or not, it involves everything about health mentioned above.   Not only useful for people not afflicted, if you are dealing with Bipolar Disorder or depression,  these facts about healthy living become exponentially more important to you. Bipolar Disorder is, at its nature, a disorder that involves disrupted biology in the brain, which in turn causes the mania and depression swings that make life difficult. Sleeping, eating, exercise, drugs and alcohol all play into this biology.

I could go into some of the biological mechanisms of each of these factors, but let’s keep it simple.  When you don’t get enough sleep, how do you feel?  Crabby, sluggish, and worn-out?   How do you feel when you go to walk upstairs and you have been sitting on the couch watching TV and eating McDonald’s? Exhausted?  The slightest over exertion can actually make you feel sick.  In the case of alcohol, it is by its very definition a poison.   Alcohol has the potential to kill you, your body doesn’t want in you and it has a huge effect on your biology—the same goes for most drugs, as well.    So, it makes sense to treat your body right by getting adequate sleep, exercising regularly, eating right, and not putting drugs or alcohol into your system, but the fact of the matter is this can be tough to do.  School work, daily chores, and myriad of other things can get in your way of staying healthy. Plus, playing video games and other extra curriculars can be a lot of fun too.

So, the question is: how do you incorporate healthy ways of living into your daily life?   One way is to rely on schedules and routines, which aren’t all that fun all the time.   For instance, you can start by setting a bed time, and then add into that schedule a time to exercise, do homework, have a snack, take medication, etc.   By doing this, you are allowing your body to learn what is normal (and healthy) and setting a consistency that will not disrupt your biology.  We at Flipswitch call it “Regimented Living” and it is a large component of what we call “dealing with your disorder effectively.” Here at Flipswitch, we have a motto that says, “You’re either dealing with your disorder or your disorder is dealing with you.” No matter what, then, you are dealing with Bipolar Disorder.   When you wake up in the morning, it’s a part of you.  When you eat, it’s a part of you.  When you exercise, it’s still there.   Any decision you make during the day will not only have an impact on you, it will also influence the Bipolar Disorder  or depression you are dealing with. So, in order to deal with your disorder and limit the negative effects it has on your life, you have to try and live as healthy as possible. While this isn’t the easiest thing in the world, it’s the only tried and true method, because like I’ve said, there are no magic bullets to living a healthy life.

Ryan

On this short discussion, Ryan and Chris talk about the central message of the blog and show: taking control of your health while you can.

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So what are we talking about this week?  What’s our first big issue?  What is on tap, so to speak?

To get us all moving on our new format, it’s important to get back to the basics….the very foundation of the whole endeavor.

I ask the question: If nothing else is learned from Flipswitch save one thing and one thing alone, what would that one thing be?

I think I definitely have the answer to that question.  It was part of our first show.  It is the thing that unites all other aspects of show, all other issues.  I am certain that every show we do in the future will be, underneath, really about this one basic message.

That message is our issue for this week. Let’s state it explicitly.

YOU’RE EITHER DEALING WITH YOUR DISORDER OR IT’S DEALING WITH YOU!

That’s a nice bumper sticker way of stating our issue this week,  and it’s all shiny and catchy and whatnot, but it really is meaningful for each and every person out there trying to come to terms with their own dark depression or out of control recurring manias.  It does roll off the tongue, but stop and think about it: what would happen if you did absolutely nothing at all to deal with your depression or bipolar disorder? Likely, not a very good outcome, I bet. Worse, probably a pretty scary and just outright painful outcome including more of the same deep well of pain that comes along with feeling so low in depression or the out of control manias and morbid lows that come with bipolar disorder.

Now stop and think, REALLY THINK about it.  What would happen if you did EVERYTHING possible to deal with your mood issues? Yeah yeah yeah. I know a lot of you are mumbling, “It’d all still be horrible.  Nothing matters.  I can’t do anything anyway.”  That’s the sadness talking, and it’s founded on an error of logic.

No, I’m willing to stake virtually anything on one simple fact:  I bet that you’ll do remarkably better by dealing with your disorder rather than doing nothing. And I’m willing to bet you’ll feel at least a little better.

The reason I’m so confident about this central message is simple:  if you don’t deal with your disorder, it will continue you unabated (that means full steam ahead, smartypants). It will fester and thrive, at least being as powerful as it ever was.  Unchecked, you’re playing a dangerous game.  In short, your issues will deal with you if you don’t deal with them.

But that’s a larger point that we’d like to make, part of that central theme of our show.  Our whole point out of all of this is that as bad as you feel, as hopeless as things seem, as painful as it all can be, the indisputable truth of the matter is that you CAN effectively fight against mood disorders.

Depression, bipolar disorder, dysthymia, cyclothymia, etc….these things work along a certain set of principles just like everything else.  And if that is true, then there are certain conditions that must be present for these disorders to thrive and get worse, conditions that if thwarted (ie if you actively take charge of your health and act against them) it becomes more and more difficult for them to continue to exist.

Now, that, of course, is a LOT easier said than done.  A LOT.  But the alternative is to let your  mood disorder ravage you which likely entails you feeling awful and out of control of your own life.  It doesn’t have to be that way.  You can change things.

So that’s it. That’s what we’ll be pounding on this week:  You have the power to control your health.  Deal with your issues or they’ll deal with you.

What do you think?

Let us know,

Chris

Hey folks!

We’ve got some interesting changes coming down the pipe here on Flipswitch.

From here on out, we’ll rarely be doing 30 minute shows anymore.  Instead, we’ll be doing something a bit more concentrated.  We’ll be rolling out a new issue here on the blog each week.  That’s one new issue each week.  And we’ll be publishing both blogposts as well as segments in support of that issue over the course of the week.

Think of it like this:  on Monday, we post a blog at 10 am about our issue of the week, let’s say for “catastrophic thinking” for instance.  The blog post would roll out some thoughts on that issue that we’ll be looking at over the course of the week.  At around 2pm or so that day, we might publish our learning the terms segment where we’ll define exactly what catastrophic thinking actually is.  On Tuesday, one of the co-hosts would do another blog about the topic of the week, while on Wednesday, we’d publish a segment giving practical examples of catastrophic thinking.  Thursday, yet even another blog post or segment.  And on and on until the end of the week.  Then, on Monday, we’d start with an all new issue, doing the whole thing all over again.

So, our new method of doing the show will have much shorter segments published more often and we’ll be making more use of our blog as well.  Stay tuned. It’s going to be quite interesting!

In other news (literally!), we’ll be making Mood Disorders In the News its own recurring weekly segment, typically posted on Wednesdays or Thursdays.   Things happen every day in the world of mood disorders.  It only makes sense that as part of our podcast we consistently bring you the current happenings in the world of mood disorders.

To sum up, more blog centric podcast spaced out in shorter segments over the week with a stand alone Mood Disorders In the News every week!  It’s going to be something.

The Flipswitch Team

What’s going on in the world of mood disorder in the 3rd Week of October 2009.

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On this episode, we take a closer look at the experience of loneliness and go over one clear method in order to deal with it.  In addition, we introduce our new co-host, Catie.

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Emily’s final show.  Take a walk down memory lane with Emily and find out what she’s learned and experienced in her time on Flipswitch.

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On this show we go over several ways to get involved fighting stigma on campus.  We also interview Active Minds founder, Alison Malmon.  Activeminds.org is an organization with over 200 chapters on campuses across the nation that fights stigma and gets conversations started about mental health.

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On this episode we give some common responses to some common anti-psychiatry claims.  On our last episode, we went over five common claims made by the anti-psychiatry/anti-psychology movement and this time we aim to answer them.

We also introduce guest co-host Jenn.

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It’s Emily here, about to go off to college…scared out of my mind. So far, I’ve just been worrying about packing, putting the actual packing off.  Procrastination is something I may never cease to do.

Recently, we did a show on Anti-psychiatry. Twice. So far, I think this has been my least favorite show–partly because it causes me stress leading to a headache which mostly stems from the frustration that I get from the topic in general.

Anti-psychiatry -> stress –> symptoms of stress –> frustrated/sad/unhappy Emily

I think the most frustrating part about the Anti-psychiatry movement is that I don’t necessarily disagree with everything about it.  It’s hard to be one-sided with this matter.

It’s like this: I know what’s right in my mind and I agree with almost everything having to do with psychology; BUT then there’s that smidge of opposition in my mind. For example, the 3rd argument of the Anti-psychiatry movement: Drugs are bad. A lot of the time when dealing with prescription drugs of any kind, the whole process of prescribing in itself is sort of an experiment because a doctor doesn’t really know whether a particular drug will work for that specific person or not. What the doctor and patient have to do, though, is try it out, because there is a chance the drug may help. However, sometimes a drug can do more harm than good. It’s very difficult to pick sides with this issue, because sometimes, the Anti-psychiatry movement does have a point, especially when they say drug companies aren’t solely motivated by caring and health, but also profit.

Despite all of the headaches this topic has caused me, I do think it’s important to talk about it because if it isn’t brought up, if people don’t hear both sides, then they won’t be able to determine what they believe in or agree with on their own; and then they’ll just settle with the only side they’ve heard, and THAT certainly isn’t fair.

Emily

One of the clear things that keeps being returned by the critics of psychology is the number of abuses that have been done in its name over the years.  Some of these arguments are simply undeniable history.

Here’s a quick list of some bad mojo that’s gone on in the name of psychology:

Drapetomania: slaves are messed up because they don’t like being slaves.

Homosexuality: Up until at least the 70’s and actually even the 80’s, the gender of the person you had sex with could determine if you were mentally ill or not.  It took years of political activism by homosexual advocates to get the American Psychological Association to reverse its position.

Lobotamies: They used to push a spike into your frontal lobe, making you into little more than a zombie.  At the time, the inventor of this process was hailed as a genius for his “humane” treatment of mental illness.

Institutionalization of undesirables: At one time, it was not uncommon for unwed teen mothers to be such a shame to their families that they would be shipped off to mental institutions.  It was also not uncommon for “unruly” wives to be deemed mentally ill.

The horrid nature of institutions: In the 1970’s, an institution serving the mentally ill named Willowbrook was investigated for it’s horrid conditions.  It was one of the first times that photographic evidence of the nature of just how bad things were at such institutionswas recorded.  Films on Willowbrook are still available and it was the case that made Geraldo Rivera a household name.  Sadly, this was not an isolated incident.

And on and on.  There are a million of these little factoids in the annals of psychology.  The critics say these alone should be sufficient cause to cease and desist all psychological practice.

But the greater point that such critics make is that, all too often in the past, society has used the word “mental illness” to do horrible things to people that had done nothing wrong save make society a little uncomfortable.  Further, they point out that it is a society that would ship pregnant women to asylums in shame that are disordered.  Today, this is only a matter of degree.  These positions have been made quite public by philosophers and psychiatrists such as Michel Foucalt and RD Laing.

“You’re messed up because you’ve got depression.  It’s you.  It has nothing to do with the fact that you can’t get a job because the economy has tanked.  No, it must be you.”

You know what, say the anti-psychology people:  It’s all a scam!!!

The anti-psychology crowd is quite divided on this general claim: Psychotherapy doesn’t work.

On the one hand, they claim there is no such thing as mental illness, and so, any therapy that looks to cure it is simply wrong headed.  In addition, this side claims, the idea that simply talking to someone for one hour a week is somehow changing all that much is kind of ridiculous, and they point to a certain segment of studies that support that notion.  Oh wait, one thing does change, they say:  you’re out a hundred bucks after a visit to the learned “talker.”

On the other hand, another section of the anti-psychology crowd, claims that while there are no mental illnesses, we cannot deny that people have problems, be they life problems or whatever, and helping people come up with ways that they can overcome these problems is valuable.  This side of the argument points to the fact that, throughout time, there have been various versions of what are now known as psychologists or counselors; someone you would talk to about the issues you’re dealing with.  As well, they recount the myriad of instances of people that have been helped.

That being said, both sides of the anti-psychology crowd agree that in a better world, psychotherapy would look quite different.  It would, if it existed at all, focus on ways to be honest with one’s self and ways to take responsibility for one’s own behavior and would never in any way be forced upon anyone.  And certainly, it would not just always be about sitting in a room simply talking.

Still there remains a huge contingent that just says, “Look, save yourself all that money and just go and get a good friend to listen to you complain.  Then straighten up and take responsibility for your life.”

Interestingly, supporters of anti-psychology share much in common with the old anti-illegal drug campaigns of D.A.R.E. with their slogan “Just say no to drugs”, only in this case, they mean “Just say no to psychiatric drugs of any kind.”

If you couple this argument with the previous argument that disputes the existence of mental illness, this position isn’t that surprising.   After all, why would you take a mind-altering substance for an illness that doesn’t exist?  And of course,not to mention, it’s all a scam!

But the anti-psychology supporters don’t just rest there.  They take their case a step further by claiming that drugs are not only useless but actively harmful long-term to the average person.  They claim that drugs alter the brain in such a way that it was never meant to be altered, thereby, setting up the brain to react negatively biologically to the intrusion of these drugs.

Think of it this way: if you keep throwing little pieces of metal into a running engine, that engine may continue to run for a while, but it will, sooner or later, get bent out of shape and just kind of stop all together after a while of running very poorly.  So it is with the claims of the bad effects that psych meds have on people.  Each medication, so the claim goes, is like throwing little spikes into the pathways of your brain, slowly but surely causing your brain to burn out.

Plus,  they say, there are a huge amount of side effects that can cause problems at least as bad as the original reason for seeking treatment.  If an anti-psychotic makes you unable to walk well or makes you gain 40 lbs; then, not only will you be upset about what was going on in your life, but you’ll be upset that you’re overweight and having trouble walking as well.  And in some cases, the side effects can even kill you.

But mainly, so the anti-psychology argument goes, psych meds just don’t work.  They have little effect that’s better than a sugar pill and what studies do show benefit from them were done with questionable science conducted mainly with large amounts of money from the drug industry that just wants to, once again, separate the sucker from his hard earned cash.

In this supplemental, the crew mulls over some of the arguments we discussed in our first anti-psychology/anti-psychiatry.

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Popularized by a slew of old school psychiatrists, most notably, Thomas Szasz, this is another oldie but goodie from the supporters of anti-psychology:  there is no such thing as mental illness.

As the argument goes, illness is a medical concept based on the biology as used in medical practices, practices that have the ability to confirm and deny the existence of illness based on very strict physical scientific tests.  Yet, psychology can identify conclusively no causative origin of “mental” illness in the body.  Psychologists can’t look at the brain and say, “that’s where the depression comes from. take that part away and people will go back to a nice happy state of being.”  Nope, it’s a sham!

Instead, say the anti-psychology crowd, what they’re doing is suggesting that “acceptable” behavior is what the body must be like when it’s working, and if someone misbehaves, it must be because their body is out of whack.  So, to the anti-psychologist crowd, what we’re talking about is not “illness” in the traditional sense, but “behavior” and the ordinary natural problems of life that occur.  And this goes all the way to even the most extreme of cases.  The mania of bipolar disorder?  Not an illness but an expressed choice.  The disorganization of word salad versions of schizophrenia?  Not a an illness but a bad way of dealing with the world.

So, to these people, there is no reason to stigmatize people as somehow “disordered” or “mentally ill” if their grief over the loss of a loved one lasts a long long time.  Grieving is normal even if it takes a long time.  There is no such thing as a mentally ill slave that want to escape the slave master.  And there is no such thing as depression clinically.  It’s just people understandably getting upset about natural life problems, even if they have a hard time expressing it.  Unfortunately, they say, we’ve chosen to use medical metaphors to describe behavior, metaphors that we have come to believe are real; falling for our own hype about being psychologically scientific with diagnosis.

Argument number 1:   All psychology is a scam!!!!! If there is one mantra that arises from the anti-psychology/anti-psychiatry movement over and over again, it is one simple idea:  All psychology is a scam.

Flim-flammery!  Shennanigans! Hocus pocus!  Baloney! Snake oil! Hoax!  Fraud! Suckers’ game! and on! and on! and ON!  Yep, this is THE central thing that anti-psychology types keep coming back to over and over again.

Psychology is “supposed” to be full of learned experts that can peer into the human mind and unravel it for you in intricate ways that they can offer to you in order to tell you quote “the truth” unquote and “heal” you.  Just one problem, they say.  None of that is true.  After all the years of training of your average psychologist, there is virtually nothing that they know that can’t be learned over a weekend with a send away kit from the ACME “Make Me a Psychologist” Company.  Their so-called “treatments”  don’t work, and never have, all too often making things at least worse if by nothing else than separating the unsuspecting sucker that buys into this smoke and mirrors from his or her hard earned cash.  Nope, these people are simply trying to feel superior to the rest of us by saying they’re experts of the mind, while stigmatizing normal behavior by saying it’s a “brain abnormality” when what they really mean is that society simply doesn’t like such normal behavior.  They cozy up to drug companies who are all too happy to dope us all up on the prozium du jour so that we sleep instead of take charge of our own lives.

And the antipsychology crowd turns to the past for its arguments as well.  “Have you even seen the horrible abuses that happened in the past because of psychology?  They used to say slaves were “mentally disordered” because they wanted to escape slavery.  We’re supposed to trust these folks?”  And much much more.

No, these people are modern day priests in a growingly secular society.  You see, it used to be the preacher that told you what was okay in the religion practiced by a society.  Now, with the rise of science, it is a psychologist that determines what reality is and, more important to our discussion, what it is not.  But of course, they have no more insight than did the charlatan preachers of old.  Perhaps much less in fact.

Instead, the anti-psychology crowd say two things: first of course is our trusty old mantra of “it’s all a scam!”  But further, to them, the ultimate goal of this scam is social control of people by a small group of elites and the apparatus of the state.  Not to mention, separating a sucker from his money!

Our last show was on the basic arguments of the anti-psychiatry/anti-psychology movement. This movement has been highly critical of psychology, sometimes calling for abandonment of medical terminology in diagnosis, sometimes calling for an end to psychopharmacology, and sometimes calling for the ceasing and desisting of the whole enterprise of therapy.   The whole reason we’re doing these two episodes is to give people a familiarity with the very bare basics of the movement and some responses to it.

Why?  Because sooner or later, someone dealing with a chronic mood disorder will run into someone listing many of these same arguments or at least some variation of them.  If the average person has never considered some of these arguments, it can be tempting to unadvisedly completely discontinue treatment, even when discontinuing that treatment may have disastrous consequences.  In addition, such claims often make people feel quite guilty (guiltier than is already common with a mood disorder) for not being able to adequately and quickly come up with responses to such claims.  A person dealing with bipolar disorder may feel in their heart that they well are aware of what effect their medications are having on them and how well they’ve helped, but simply cannot express well enough anything to counter such claims.

But it’s also important for everyone to decide for themselves what is right and wrong.  The anti-psychology movement has made good arguments here and there that must be considered, regardless of views of the movement in totality. Unfortunately, the little war that the anti-psychiatry movement has with the mainstream anti-psychiatry movement has all too often been marked by the mainstream simply ignoring any points of the anti-psychiatry movement regardless of their merit, while, in turn, the anti-psychiatry community has amped up its rhetoric, making outrageous charges at times that can only lead to people dismissing them as cranks.

With that in mind, we’re doing this series to roll out five of the biggest claims of the anti-psychology/anti-psychiatry movement.  These are by no means all of the arguments that their movement makes, but they are the most representative of the flavor of arguments to which one will find one’s self responding.

Here at Flipswitch, we openly admit that we have a bias against many of the more outlandish claims of the anti-psychiatry movement.  We are disturbed by the seeming hero worship in that community, the use of linguistic gymnastics to make points and the vast oversimplification of complex issues that occurs all too often with some of their claims.  That being said, we still will try to be as fair as possiblto the spirit of their arguments.

We will by no means go to the extreme depths of detail that some of these positions entail, instead giving you broadbrushed strokes of ideas.  In that spirit, we’d like to emphasize that this is not a forum to proselytize for or against the movement.  Instead, we’re much more interested in how such discussions affects a person with a mood disorder, how the rhetoric of such conversations can be ratcheted down, and how one can move forward to take control of their own health.

In the end that’s what it’s all about.

In the next few day, each day, we’ll roll out one of the arguments from our show that we highlighted in text form, so you can get a flavor for the intormation.

The Flipswitch Crew

On this episode, we open up the Anti-psychology/Anti-psychiatry can of worms.  People with any kind of mood disorder are going to run into these ideas sooner or later; so, we unpack some the arguments and see what the Flipswitch crew thinks.  This episode is the 1st of a 2-part episode on the anti-psychology movement.  On this episode we focus simply on laying out the in broad strokes what some of the major arguments of the movement are.  On the next episode, we’ll focus on some of the common responses to the the anti-psychology movement.

We always defer to the knowledge of your doctors, and suggest you consult him or her if any of these arguments resonate with you.  Asking questions is always a good thing, but get another informed opinion before you start making any major decisions like discontinuing treatment.

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We interview author Andy Behrman, better known as Electroboy, a moniker given to him by a nurse after one of his many experiences with electroshock therapy (ECT).  He is also author of a book by the same name, Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania. He also has an upcoming book about his time as a spokesperson for a drug that ended up havng extremely serious effects on his health.

Andy talks with us about everything from his own struggles with compulsive buying and compulsive sex, to his experiences with the pharmaceutical industry.  Andy minces no words in his brash, in your frace style.

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In this supplemental to episode 48 about disclosure, Chris rejoins the crew to discuss more about the topic of when and what to disclose about one’s disorder.  The team uses Emily’s upcoming enrollment in college as a prime example of a situaton in which someone gets to decide exactly how much and what to disclose to others.

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Hey all, it’s me, Ryan, again!

I was just surfing the internet, for something to do when I found myself at CNN.com and an interesting article on the United States Representative Patrick Kennedy was highlighted. According to the article, he has been struggling with Substance Abuse for most of his life in conjunction with depression, which any of you who are continual listeners of Flipswitch will know is very typical, and has decided that he needs to check himself into his local hospital to better treat his illness.

Kennedy commented in the article that he decided to make this public because it is going to be a significantly longer stay than he expected. He felt his admission could also help to alleviate some of the stigma that a lot of people struggling with mental illness and addiction face when getting help. I think this is very courageous on his part, if he is doing it for the right reasons, and I also feel that his admission can help all of you to realize something important when dealing with your own illness.

You can be successful and still suffer from mental illness. It is not an easy road, but most things in life aren’t easy. You may have a more severe form of Bipolar Disorder or Depression, which may limit the successes in your life; however, there are still things that you can accomplish and be successful at no matter how severe your illness.

Anyway, here is the link to the article.

It’s not long. Take a read. You may find yourself thinking, as I did, that he has a sense of pride in admitting he needs to enter the hospital’s program. This may seem strange to you, but I think what you must realize is he is proud that he is dealing with his problems. He is happy he is getting help and confronting his issues head-on. It’s the appropriate feeling he should have, too. Each and every one of us should feel happy and proud when we face the issues in our lives, no matter what they are, because we are making ourselves better and taking personal responsibility.

Peace Y’all! Ryan

Guess who’s who of the co-hosts.

Just in case you haven’t noticed, Flipswitch has a new flash player on depressedteens.com that has all the episodes available.  Here’s what it looks like:

You can embed it on your own page or just check back to the depressedteens site online.  Also, friend us on myspace where we also have a player.

Of course, there are invididual episode players on the depressedteens.podbean.com page and you embed them as well.  Now, more Flipswitch easier!  Hooah!

Hey everyone,

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written here. Part of that was because of school…finishing up senior year being a bit stressful, and part was because of my laziness, but that’s finally ALL OVER NOW (maybe not the laziness). Yes, I graduated high school! Wooo party!

But not really. I’ll actually be spending most of my summer having to be responsible. In other words, I got a job (as a day camp counselor). But there’s still fun to be had this summer, and before I know it, I will be starting out as a freshman all over again in college.

That aspect about the near future has got me thinking. I remember my friend Andrew said something referring to this in his salutatorian speech at graduation; he said something along the lines of, “I remember just four years ago that we were all starting off as nervous little freshmen. And to most, we’ll be doing that all over again.

Now, I remember I loved being a freshmen in high school…I thought it was the coolest thing ever and I never really knew why the other kids hated freshmen so much. I’d say we were pretty awesome. Later on, I “saw the light” so to speak, and I grew to hate freshmen. They all just seemed so immature and annoying…which made me start to think: are the older students in college going to think the same of me when I start this fall?

Now, I know that I shouldn’t really care what people think because “it’s not supposed to matter.” I am my own person…I guess. But the people in college aren’t going to be like my parents; they’re not going to love me “no matter what.”

So, I guess what I’m trying to say…or more so ask is: why do I constantly hear the same advice about how I shouldn’t care what other people think about me? Right off the bat, I know that advice is complete nonsense. I mean, I judge people daily, so how can I expect people aren’t doing the same with me? That’s right, I can’t.

Also, I think my first question should be restated, because, really, I could care less what the older kids in college think about me. I’m going to care about what the people my age think. They’re the ones that I’m going to have to make a good impression on. They’re the ones I’m going to want to be friends with. They’re the ones that I’m mostly going to talk to for the next four years.

Unfortunately, this is a blog mostly comprised of questions, and I can’t really give advice on the matter since I’m going through it myself, (which is why I’m writing about it here right now). I guess all I’d have to say is, yes, that you should be your own person and not try to conform to other people too much. Hang out with who you like and try to avoid those that you dislike; it’s worked out for me pretty well so far. And also, I think it’s good if you don’t go out of your way to impress someone…because then you or whoever else looks like you’re/he’s trying too hard and that’s kind of lame. So, (yeah, people give this advice alot too, but really) be yourself, and  you’ll fin d your own niche. People aren’t always going to like you, me, or that other guy. That’s just how life is.

Emily

On this episode:  NO CHRIS.  Emily, Gopi, and Ryan talk about disclosure; when to tell someone about what’s going on in your life, be it about a disorder or otherwise.  They talk about when to tell someone, how to tell someone, and how to know who to trust.   They don’t have any concrete answers, but offer some things you might want to think about. As well, they revisit some of the ideas of past guests on the topic of disclosure

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Hey everyone,

How is everything going? I hope everyone is enjoying their summer break even though it’s still a little chilly out here in the Sunny (read sarcastically) Midwest.

On this week’s show, we did a show on disclosure. Emily, Ryan, and I discussed the different questions and concerns we had regarding when to tell someone about your depression or bipolar disorder. Disclosure entails how much information to tell, who to tell, and when to tell. We didn’t have a clear-cut answer for you guys, but WE DID say that you should tell someone who you trust. Telling someone about your problems helps relieve some of the stress you hold in while worrying.

The reason I am talking about disclosure today is this weekend my sister’s friend’s fiancé had a drug problem and the day before his wedding he overdosed on cocaine.  When we talk about disclosure, we don’t just limit it to depression and bipolar disorder. You should find someone you trust to disclose any information to. Telling someone your problems helps you; it is all about self-help!

I hope you guys take this into consideration and please let us know about any questions or concerns you may have. Enjoy the rest of the week guys!

Gopi

On this episode, we talk about the ins and outs of procrastination.  The bad habit of procrastination is devastating to many people and can be a stressful trigger for many people already dealing with mood disorders.  We go over some facts and theory about this specter.  Also, we talk about just a few ideas on what might help you to get started addressing your own procrastinating ways.

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Hey there, It’s that summertime that’s hitting everywhere now.  Summer is an interesting time.  Everyone’s planning vacations, kids are getting out of school for summer, the really stand up college folks are starting their summer classes to get ahead, people are moving out of their apartments more around that time, and on and on.  It’s just a  time of change.

It’s ironic that it’s six months earlier around January 1st, then, that people start making resolutions for the year.   Not that there isn’t a lot going on then too, but the change in the air of summer just seems to much more palpable.

Perhaps it has something to do with the sunny, warm, relaxing nature that is so often associated with the season.  Flowers in full bloom, beach trips, fun with friends; there are a ton of different things going on that all point to growth and vitality.  Maybe under such rosy conditions, the world calls for us not to think too hard about things.  After all, why think about the future or doing things better at all?  Things are rosy.

But I’d suggest that, indeed, summer is the perfect time to review one’s patterns in life.  It is a perfect time to recommit one’s self to living a more scheduled structured life that fights against the onset of depression or the exacerbation of cyclic bipolar disorders. Think about it.  Conditions are perfect.   Need to get into a good exercise program?  You’ll feel a lot more like doing that in the warm weather than the freezing cold.  Need to refocus on planning for the coming year?  A lot of people are getting out of school with a little time on their hands perfect for planning.  And on and on.

In addition, the summer offers an often unique set of challenges that are practice for staying committed to one’s own health.  For instance, the summer is a time when many people fall into the habit of not going to sleep at a good time, since there’s often no early class in the mornings or new friends demand that you go out with them at night.  As well, new changes in time commitments often cause people to fall into a pattern of aimlessness in how they manage their time.    And woah, the parties that often happen.  It’s a microcosm of the pitfalls of all life wrapped up in one season.

But this is no time to slack.  It’s an exciting time to put your commitment to your own health into practice.   It’s a great time reaffirm that you are in control of your own life and your health by doing what you know is best for you.  It’s a great time to reassess how your decisions related to health are doing and figure out what else you might be able to do to get further down the road to good health.

Remember, you can never reach the point where there is absolutely nothing you can do to get better.  That goes for everyone.  Nobody is perfect, but we can try to always get better.   And as I always say, if you focus on taking control of your health, in the end, you’ll feel better than if you hadn’t taken control of your health and just ignored doing what you can to get better.  That’s just the way it is.

Good luck out there.

Chris

Aloha, listeners!

So, the other day, I’m at work and it’s getting to be around lunch time, so I want food. I didn’t bring any lunch with m like I should, because money is always an issue in college. Thus, my options were limited to being hungry, getting McDonald’s, or getting Subway.

To let you all know, I don’t make decisions very easily and choosing between McDonald’s and Subway became the difficult decision of the moment. I weighed the pros and I weighed the cons—McDonald’s is tasty and unhealthy, and Subway doesn’t put enough ingredients on and is healthy (depending on what you get).

After choosing Subway, eating it, going home, sleeping, waking up, and then thinking about a blog topic, I realized this is a perfect example of life. We make choices constantly, most of the time subconsciously, and they affect the way our day goes, who we see, what we say, and how we act. My decision to go to Subway consequently did all of these things. I was no longer able to say to someone, “I had McDonald’s for lunch.” I also missed the chance to run into a friend at McDonald’s, though I also allowed for the chance to run into one at Subway.

This all may seem trivial, and kind of silly, but it’s true. If you are suffering with depression, you don’t even want to make daily choices, but in reality that is a choice—you chose to not choose. What are the results? Sometimes you are stuck in bed all day, you don’t run into friends, you don’t get the chance to talk to people, and you don’t get the chance to actively deal with your illness. If you are suffering from Bipolar Disorder, you may be making the wrong choices. What happens when you decide to go over to a friend’s house or dorm and you know they drink a lot? You take away the options of hanging with other friends who don’t drink, and increasing the likelihood you will drink, dealing with your disorder in a negative way.

Whatever the situation, I now realize that even simple decisions are affecting my life in pretty significant ways. Like this morning I chose to sleep in a little extra, giving myself less time to do what needs to be done.

Cheers, Ryan