Is Depression Really a Mental Illness?

Not according to Jaime Flexman of Huffington Post UK. He writes"

"The media, bless 'em, do their best to paint any form of mental illness in a positive light. Explaining that depression, anxiety, addiction and anything related to those three are now legitimate diseases that deserve the same respect and attention as anything physical.

Well thanks but the last I heard, the brain was a part of the body, and a damn important one at that.

As long as we treat an illness of the brain as something different from the rest of the body then it will never receive the same amount of attention."

There are some other great insights in the piece, which you can read in its entirety here.

10 Tips for Happiness Backed by Science from Lifehacker

I love Lifehacker.

Their articles on, well, hacking your life to make it better have really useful and practical tips. That's why, when I found this article, I knew I had to put it up here. The tips themselves (exercise, sleep, smiling, meditation, etc.) are probably not anything you haven't heard but the perspective and research in the article is what makes them useful.

Below is an excerpt on helping others more.

One of the most counterintuitive pieces of advice I found is that to make yourself feel happier, you should help others. In fact, 100 hours per year (or two hours per week) is the optimal time we should dedicate to helping others in order to enrich our lives. If we go back to Shawn Achor’s book again, he says this about helping others:

…when researchers interviewed more than 150 people about their recent purchases, they found that money spent on activities—such as concerts and group dinners out—brought far more pleasure than material purchases like shoes, televisions, or expensive watches. Spending money on other people, called “prosocial spending,” also boosts happiness.

There you go. Sometimes we just need to live outside of ourselves for a bit. Please read the full article here.

Have a happier day.

The Onion Satirizes Depression with "Son, We'd All Like to Lie Around All Day Being Depressed"

Ah, The Onion. An American Institution. If there's one thing I've learned from my own battles with depression it's that humor can be just what is needed. Sometimes it's nice to laugh, sometimes it can save your life. This story from The Onion is funny because it focuses on a problem that many people have with those suffering from depression. Click the link, check it out, and come back and comment. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Full article here:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/son-wed-all-like-to-lie-around-all-day-being-clini,11095/?ref=auto

Comedian Rob Delany on His Own Depression and His Advice to Others Struggling

Porpoise Delaney by @jtmcgillicuddy

Today we feature a powerful piece about a person's struggle with depression from one the funniest—if not one of the most crass—comics making the rounds today, Rob Delaney.

While he's a funny guy, he takes his and other's depression seriously. Here's an excerpt:

"The sole reason I’ve written this is so that someone who is depressed or knows someone who is depressed might see it. While great strides have been made in mental health over the years, certain stigmas still exist. I strongly resisted medication at first. But after having been through depression and having had the wonderful good fortune to help a couple of people who’ve been through it, I will say that as hard as it is, IT CAN BE SURVIVED. And after the stabilization process, which can be and often is fucking terrifying, a HAPPY PRODUCTIVE LIFE is possible and statistically likely. Get help. Don’t think. Get help."

Great advice. Read the full heartfelt blog post here.

11 Refreshingly Different Tips for Managing Anxiety

Today I found a post by Therese Borchard with more (and refreshingly different) tips for managing anxiety specifically. Here's the list:


1. Recognize the reptilian brain.
2. Exaggerate your greatest fear.
3. Distract yourself.
4. Write twin letters.
5. Sweat.
6. Watch the movie.
7. Eat super mood foods.
8. Return to the breath.
9. Break the day into minutes.
10. Use visual anchors.
11. Repeat a mantra.


I can vouch for trying and seeing good results from 3, 5, 10, and especially 7. Have any of these helped you?

These are just the tips so make sure to click and read the full article here for the more helpful details.

To learn more about how to control depression and anxiety through drug-free supplements, go here.

Some Stats from the World Health Organization

I found this very informative.

• One hundred and twenty one million people suffer from depression.
• Less than 25% of those individuals have access to medicine for relief.
• In the United Stated an estimate of 14.8 to 19 million suffer from some kind of clinical depression.
• Today the estimate is 26.2%, or approximately 58 million people in this country suffer from mood disorders (up from 6% in the past).
• Woman  have more cause for depression than men.
• 65+ year olds commit suicide at a higher rate than ever before.
• Addiction problems begin with people who suffer from some type of depression.
• Men are more likely to be addicts than women.
• Drinking is a symptom of depression.
• 90% of suicides have a diagnosable mental condition.

"Really, what this all boils down to is that there is chemicals lacking in the brain. It is a fact that the stress and issues with the brain just do not get better or go away. They continue to get worse over time, if they are not addressed."

We should remember that it is not our fault and that we do not have a weakness. It is a lack of minerals in the brain.

Depression is a feeling of sadness “blue,” miserable, angry. Stress continues to work on chemicals of the brain, causing it to accelerate. Ninety-nine percent of people, at some point, feel this way. They feel agitated, difficulty concentrating, lack of energy and trouble sleeping.

People are looking for help:

• 2.5 million websites talk about post-partum depression.  
• 73 million websites talk about mood disorder vs. 63 million that talk about diets

People just like us want to feel better.

7 Tips for Fighting Anxiety

CareClinic writes:

"Anxiety is a constant struggle. You need to get it under control in order to live an enjoyable life, and that means you need to fight anxiety as best you can so that it doesn't overwhelm you and cause you to lose out on great experiences.

But you have to be careful. The truth is that the act of fighting anxiety can bring more stress. One of the biggest problems for those that have stress in the workplace is that they try to fight their anxiety every day, and it forces them to focus on their anxieties too much, creating more stress."

The full article has several tips and tools for reducing anxiety in ways that won't bring about additional stress: http://www.calmclinic.com/anxiety/treatment/how-to-fight-anxiety