I was getting ready for the walk doing a great yoga stretch while munching on an incredible Amelie’s chocolate croissant.  I could not get enough of it.  It was heaven, and as I was doing my downward dog with one arm I realized maybe it was time for a break.

So I got to talking with Carol, and telling her how frustrated I was with my sugar cravings that had, once again, gotten the better of me.  The stress of work and life (a lot of it GREAT stress) had gotten me eaten without thought again and slowly the pounds have crept back on.  But more importantly, I don’t FEEL good.  And I like to feel good.

So here I sit, Halloween morning waiting for my first meal and lemons that I was supposed to have last night – but somehow did not find time to get to the store to get them.  I think I was spending my energy worrying about how I was going to make it through the week, as opposed to doing something productive with my angst like getting a lemon and salad.

So last night I had some potato soup and tortilla chips and polished it off with desert of an advantage bar (yes, I have to give these up), already feeling a failure and without having begun.  Thankfully, Carol sent me a wonderful, kind e-mail telling me FORGIVENESS and kindness to myself is most important.  Telling myself I am bad or a failure only makes things worse.  I so often tell others, but forget to tell myself.  So thank you Carol.

So I’m getting ready for the day realizing that not only did I start on Halloween and isn’t that incredibly significant and important, but that I actually put myself in a position where I have to BUY and HAND OUT treats to kids that I can’t eat!  The ultimate test, but one that if I succeed or fail will love myself and be proud of my effort the same.

To be continued!

There are really no miracle cures for anything.  There are tools that can help you overcome challenges in getting there, but the only thing that can truly make you stop something is yourself.  And then by surrounding yourself with people and things that support that type of healthy vs. unhealthy behavior.  I do think it is difficult for each and every person.

For example, I am not a personal fan of AA.  I went to the meetings, but hated standing up every meeting and saying ‘I am an alcoholic’.  I kind of felt right off the bat I was creating some kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. 

And the fact that I was powerless over my disease.  I didn’t agree with that, either, because I had the power to check myself in to rehab, go to AA meetings, look at myself in the mirror (faults and all), take medications to help cure the addiction, or live in a place where alcohol did not exist.  So I had the power, I just chose not to use it at the time, again my choice and an indication just how sick and tired I was of being sick and tired. 

I’ve read the actual rate of remission of people who are in AA is about equal to those that spontaneously quit alcohol.  I’m not sure what is true – statistics can be misleading and it is difficult to determine cause and effect.  I applaud those that use AA because it works for them, and for those that find it doesn’t, I encourage you to keep searching until you find out what does because what I do know is true, is that when you find your solution you will be able to stop.

The things that I have found repeatedly that help me get over my addictions include:

• Taking the personal responsibility for my addiction to the behavior, and the unhealthy consequence it is having on my life.
• substituting that negative behavior with positive ones, including; yoga, exercise, meditation, working, writing, animals, creativity, connecting with people, prayer, doing good things for others, going to church, apologizing, naps, and total self-acceptance.
• Medication that helps me remain stable and present enough to engage in those positive behaviors.
• Reconciling my past with the present – fully integrating emotional triggers from childhood into present day experiences – and understanding why I am triggered and how I can regulate those emotions in a positive way as opposed to wanting to escape them.
• Holding myself accountable for my behaviors, and being totally honest with MYSELF first about how / why I do them.  Honesty with others comes through time, trust, and their reaction to my honesty.
• Surrounding myself with people who support those behaviors.  And for those that don’t, communicate the need I have for them to support the behaviors, and if they refuse, set boundaries with them to protect myself for remaining true to my behaviors.
• Being ok about being in relationships with others that do not practice those same behaviors; I find totally accepting others for who they are / where they are also helps me accept myself and become a stronger person.
• Having core people in my life that truly want what is best for ME, not in any way, shape, or form adding me to their life so they can feel better about themselves.
• Trying to keep to the rule – “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”.  It often means I am boring and don’t talk at all.  And I feel boring and lots of people think I am boring.  I’m learning how to be OK with that boringness and find and give love where I am able to do so.

Fear ultimately drives us to addictions, and so much of our fear is irrational fear.  Coming to terms with that fear, and finding ways to replace it with unconditional love for both ourselves and others, is the thing that will ultimately free us all from addiction.

What scares you?  How do you feel loved?  What makes you feel temporarily good vs. intrinsically good?

I want to outline how I see it affecting people, and I encourage anyone to throw out numbers and I guarantee you that if we put prevention programs in place we would make billions of dollars AND have a much healthier nation.  I have no doubt in my mind, yet day after day we continue down the same road.  We need a revolution.

The way I see it, untreated depression and mental health care:

• Drives up crime.  At least 2/3 or people in jails have depression and other mental health issues.  And my guess is it is 100% – if you are killing or raping or stealing, you have issues with your self-worth and impulse control.  Period.  How much does it cost to house a prisoner? 
• Increases drug and alcohol abuse.  If you can’t control your emotions with learned skills, you will do it how you see others doing it; drugs, alcohol, cigarettes and sugar.  What do we spend on drug and alcohol rehab?  Family programs?
• Increases obesity.   Many people eat to deal with their feelings.  It is what we are taught as children and we get rewarded and punished with food.  We put good things in our mouths so we have momentary escape from the bad things in the world.  What are the costs of obesity?
• Increases illness.  Depression is so often misdiagnosed, and often we ourselves don’t want to say ‘we are depressed’.   Depression hinders our immune system, making us more susceptible to other illnesses and diseases. What is our healthcare system paying for misdiagnosis?   
• Increases hospital costs.  In the U.S., 30,000 people a year commit suicide, and 10X that attempt suicide.  Guess where they go?  To emergency rooms.  The cost of that emergency room visit?
• Increases addictive tendencies.  Overspending, overeating, gambling, sex addictions, texting while driving addictions, etc. etc.   The cost to treating all of this is, immeasurable, not to mention the emotional devestation from lost lives.

I really could go on and on and on.  Working in the field, I can’t tell you how many people have come to me saying ‘I want and need help, but have nowhere to go’.  Hospitals won’t treat me, Medicaid doesn’t cover it, and hospitals kick me out after 72 hours.  My brain isn’t working what can I do?

Do you know the helplessness these people feel?  Their brain already isn’t working, they already feel bad, and now we tell them you are not important enough to help?  How does that then trickle into society?

It just does not make sense to me.  If I am feeling like I want to kill someone, what do I do?  I hide in shame because I am not allowed to feel that way.  Imagine if instead it was encouraged that I go in and talk to someone, and work through my anger.  I could walk into any emergency room or hospital and could get an hour of therapy, free.  Instead, we just give these people a place to live after the fact, further shaming them and adding to the cycle.

Our brain is our most precious resource, yet we continue to ignore the fact that it isn’t perfect and can become sick, just like any other part of our body.  Further, we put laws and rules in place that discourage people who have a sick brain from getting help.  We ignore the problem, and spend all of our money cleaning up the mess it leaves.

How can this change?

This morning I woke up to a particularly horrid feeling from a bad dream, and literally thought nothing could break my sadness.  So I started working, thinking about just how much the feeling sucked while understanding I just needed to sit through it and feel it.  I had to remember I was lucky to have such depth of feeling, and work to feel the pain throughout my body in a positive way. 

And then I looked outside.  I usually hear frolicking birds in the morning, chirping away, eating food or taking a drink from the bird bath. Squabbling about life, in their brilliant red and blue and orange attire.  Only today it was unusually quiet.

So as I sat pondering these feelings and trying to find something to open my mind, I noticed a little lump on the ground.  Directly under the bird feeder.  Only it moved a little.  A cat.

I’m not sure why I found this so hysterical. Possibly the irony of it?  It just seemed to me so hilarious, this cat cuddled up against the pole holding up the no-bird feeder.  Waiting patiently for some spacey fluttery morsel to come down, so preoccupied flirting with its love interest in the next tree, oblivious to the fate below.    It just made me laugh.   And laugh.  And laugh some more.

Before you know it, I was doubled over laughing at the silliness of it all, not caring who else thought it might be funny or worried that someone might see me acting like a crazy chick, crying one minute laughing the next.  I simply embraced the humor and its healing properties, and its ability to change our total perspective and focus.  And all I had to do was ask the universe for it.  And then open my eyes.  Thank goodness for laughter.

To read an interesting summary at about.com on the physical and psychological benefits of laughter, visit:  http://stress.about.com/od/stresshealth/a/laughter.htm

I was thinking about this because I am thoroughly frustrated about my inability to explain to people how, just because you can’t see depression, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.  I mean, I’m pretty smart.  I have an MBA in International Marketing, a BA in Psychology, and have worked for some of the best companies in the world in communications and marketing.  My grammar / editing skills aren’t great and I definitely need some help on the organizational and financial management front, but in regards to this specific task of explaining the ‘realness’ of depression to others, I feel pretty well qualified for the reasons explained.  I also both have depression and have lost those close to me with depression. 

Yet day after day I talk or write about it, and we continue to chain people to trees in Africa, treating them like savages trying to force out some ‘deposed’ demon, because of their depression.  It seems people have this massive fear that people with depression are possessed or crazy or deserve less of a life than anyone else, so instead of working to help them we further isolate them, ostrasize them, and shame them for their ‘supposed’ pain.  We think that because we can’t see it, and haven’t figured out how to clearly define and describe it by science, it simply doesn’t exist.  This brings me to the stinging tree.

I remember the stinging tree because I was writing about one of my adventures in the deep, uninhabited rainforest of Australia, and felt a terror from an experience I had there years ago while researching the Spotted Tailed Quoll.  I just could not put my finger on the full reason why.  I mean, beyond being lost and exhausted, with no water, no phone, no GPS, no food, and an unlimited supply of deadly snakes and spiders frolicking all around, there was something else….  And then it came to me. there was a plant there that could paralyze me with pain for months on end.  I couldn’t remember what it looked like at the time, which didn’t help things.  And actually, had I run into it, I most likely would have been killed because of all the other challenges I was facing. 

Dubbed “The World’s Most Painful Plant” The Australian Stinging Tree has killed at least one human from exposure alone, and has killed many dogs and horses.  It has a painful neurotoxin it releases into your skin, and the interesting thing is that the pain can last for months after the actual brush with it occurs.  So your arm can look fine, but you can feel excruciating pain.  Do you understand this connection?  There is nothing visibally there.  Yet you still have pain.  And guess what?  We don’t know why.

What is even stranger to me is that some animals are not affected by the plant at all.  Insects and birds eat it.  Some marsupials scurry all over it.  Yet it can literally dehabilitate others.

Why can we easily accept that this pain occurs, but have such a hard time accepting brain pain occurs unless we are ‘intentionally’ making it hurt?  I’m the first to admit that people with depression do things that does not help them or their situation, but would you judge someone who was flailing around from the stinging tree, making it worse as they spread it over their body, because they were reacting so badly to the pain?  I doubt it.  If you are human you would most likely have compassion, empathy, and do whatever you could to create an environment where they were able to calm down, get well and heal from this unexplainable plant.

I’m sure if you interviewed anyone that had experienced a bad brush with the stinging tree, they would assure you that even though you could not see the stingers, and it had been six months, the pain was still there.  Maybe they would have to be in a hospital.  Not go to school.  Be grumpy and crabby to you because they hurt.  Stay in bed for days or even months.  While it would maybe stink to have to take over extra responsibilities, you would love and support them back to health.

Now imagine that the normal treatment for this stinging plant was to tied them to a tree, starve them, leave them in the hot sun to exorcise the evil stinging spirits.  Or that your neighbor did that.  Or they were doing this in Africa.   There would be outrage!  Picketing, protesting, news cameras, laws created, funds deployed, celebrities singing, talk shows bringing hope.  IMMEDIATELY.  Yet we do this same thing to people in Africa with depression, and so few people seem to really care.  I just don’t get it.

It seems that just because it isn’t ‘new’ means it is unimportant.  I protest.  We don’t need to have a crisis today to make it a priority.  Our inhumane treatment should have been addressed yesterday. 

If you haven’t dealt with depression, consider yourself lucky.  But if you know someone who has it, use your strength to overcome their weakness during the time of despair instead of taking that leaf and rubbing it all over them.  You have no idea what someone else has gone through unless you have walked a mile in their shoes.  And you never can.

If you can see they have been bitten by the plant but they don’t realize it or even know the plant exists, find your patience, love, and acceptance and bathe them in it as opposed to rubbing the pain in their face.  Believe me, when you rub, it hurts.  Maybe you can’t see it, but bit by bit it kills them.

There is help.  Depression exists.  People should not be chained to trees it only makes it worse.  Unconditional love heals.  It is up to 80% treatable.  How can I better relay this to the public so that we have more than 25% of those that need treatment getting it?  I wish I knew.  Someone out there has to be smart enough to figure it out.

The reasearch showed that kids reading to dogs had both improvements in both fluency and speed of reading.  How did this happen with kids?  The children reported:

• The dogs made them feel more relaxed
• The dog didn’t care or judge them if they made mistakes
• It was more ‘fun’

Kids reported a boost in self-confidence, worth, and esteem.  So while this is fantastic research about dogs and the benefit of animals on health and wellbeing, I think it also should serve as a lesson to other kids or adults teaching reading or other life skills; be patient and non-judgemental.  Perhaps the dogs in this study are not just teaching kids how to read – they are teaching people how to treat kids learning to grow up in this world.  In any event, enjoy!

General clinical depression 

Why should I consider exercise as a way to alleviate depressive symptoms? How does exercise help? 

Exercise provides a distraction or “time out” from the stresses of daily living. Most people also feel a sense of accomplishment, self-esteem, and increased self-efficacy as a result of exercise. 

Biochemical reasons: Endorphins and increased availability of brain neurotransmitters that are ordinarily reduced in depression cause immediate psychological benefits. 

Direct psychological reasons: distraction/”time out” from daily living; sense of accomplishment, increased self-esteem, and increased self-efficacy. 

Can exercise reduce my risk of experiencing depressive symptoms in the future? 

Yes, because exercise will keep your body healthy, leading to a healthier mind. People who exercise are less likely to experience diseases such as cardiovascular disease. People who experience such diseases often develop depression secondarily, so by preventing the primary disease, you prevent the potentially resultant depression. If you currently have a physical disease, exercise could help improve that condition as well as your depression. 

Can I exercise instead of taking medication? How does the effect of exercise compare to the effect of medication in treating depression? 

A number of studies have shown that the results of treatment by exercise or medication are often very similar. Even with antidepressant medication, some symptoms of depression still remain despite antidepressant treatment, such as fatigue and cognitive function. Exercise can improve these symptoms.  However, we always advocate talking to your doctor about if medication is right for you. 

How much exercise do I need to do in order to notice an effect? 

Any amount, even the smallest amount of exercise, such as walking for a few minutes. To maximize the effect, set attainable goals as you increase your exercise duration or intensity under your physician’s supervision. 

Nutrition and depression in the life cycle
Can exercise in children and adolescents reduce the risk of experiencing depression later in life? 

Yes, please see reasons above about preventing chronic disease and psychological benefits such as self-efficacy. 

Are there nutritionally related predictors of postpartum depression? 

The most active way to decrease your risk for postpartum depression is to manage your weight during pregnancy. Childbearing has been associated with obesity, which is associated with depression. Work with your physician or a dietitian to ensure that you gain an appropriate, healthy amount of weight during pregnancy. 

Can the elderly still benefit from the positive effects of exercise on depression? 

Yes. It’s never too late to use exercise as a way to alleviate depressive symptoms or prevent their onset. Again, it also doesn’t matter how much exercise is done or how intense, as long as they do something physically active that they enjoy. 

About Ann Haibeck 

Ann will soon complete her studies and clinical dietetic practice hours at the University of Illinois as Chicago with a major in Human Nutrition and a minor in Kinesiology. She will then pursue graduate studies focusing on exercise physiology and sport psychology. 

Resources: 

Daley, A. Exercise and Depression: A Review of Reviews. J Clin Psychol Med Settings.                     (2008). 15: 140-157. 

McDowell, MS, Hetrik S, Bir J, Muller N. Psychological and/or educational interventions          for the prevention of depression in children and adolescents (Review).  The   Cochrane Lirbary. (2008). Issue 4. 

Smith, TW and MacKenzie, J. Personality and Risk of Physical Illness. Annual Rev Clin           Psychol.(2006). 2:435-67. 

Suicide is such a mystery.  Sometimes there are signs, other times there aren’t.  No matter how hard we try, we can not save another person.  The bottom line is they must want and know how to save themselves.

The unfortunate thing is that most people don’t know how to ask for that help – don’t feel comfortable asking for it.  Instead they act out, running from the pain, in the end making it only worse because usually that acting out has negative consequences.

Or they push it down and try to resist it.  Unfortunately you can not escape emotions, if you don’t release them in healthy ways, it is most likely they will come out when you least expect it or want it.

Why don’t people feel comfortable getting help before they make the ultimate decision to leave this world?  Look at this picture.  We have used it for years to talk about depression, the leading cause of suicide.  Do you see any hope?  Why would you want to admit to this?  unfortunately, the number one reason people don’t get help is because of ‘stigma’, or negative branding, yet depression is treatable in up to 80% of cases.

You know how many people are actually getting help?  Less than 25% worldwide.  This is the damage we have done by associating such negativity with the brain / negative changes in brain chemistry.  It is an absolute tragedy as the brain is the most complex organ in the human body.  Do we really think we it is not affected by our biochemistry – like our heart, lungs, and livers are?

What does this have to do with Passionate grief?  Well, you can not bring a person that suicides back.  But what you can do is grieve the situation from your heart, passionately, exploring all of your emotions in a healthy way.

You can encourage others to do the same.  Some ways you can do this:

• Give them journals to write down everything they are feeling.  Encourage them to write daily about all the different things they are feeling.
• Bring them foods that are good for their brain - dishes high in Omega 3′s and Vitamin D.  Make sure to get them fruits and vegetables, as they need their brain to be fed the most nutritious meals to help the biological balance stay healthy.
• Find an online support group for them – http://www.inspire.com/groups/ifred-anxiety-and-depression/.
  

  A Community of Hope

• Express emotions through positive art, music, dance, and creativity.  Try to have them take this profound grief and make something beautiful out of it; a memorial of the deceased, a garden for healing, a room for prayer.
• Encourage them to move.  Exercise, walks, yoga.  Staying stagnant does not move the energy through your body – movement does.
• Find them an animal companion (www.deltasociety.org).  Animals have a tremendous capability for unconditional love, accepting all of your moods and emotions and pain. 
• Post a memorial for them on our blog here or our facebook page.
• Have them talk to a counselor or doctor if you believe that their grief is starting to take negatively take over their life, or call a suicide hotline should they themselves become suicidal. 

The day we all feel comfortable saying ‘I feel like killing myself.  Help me’ is the day suicides will be greatly reduced, if not eradicated.  People not saying it as a way to manipulate to get something they want, but instead out of a need to get help managing the tremendous pain being experienced in the body.  The necessity of getting help finding hope. 

Because you can be sure that the person that committed suicide was feeling an intense amount of pain when they left this world – a pain many of us will never experience.  And it is also likely they left behind a family with a different kind of pain, equally great, and often times loads of unanswered questions. 

The day everyone feels comfortable sharing their stories of how they found hope during a suicidal period is the day all people will understand that there is always hope, no matter how dire the situation may seem to that person.

Sending love and support to all.  Feel free to share your personal stories here, and on our facebook page.  xoxoxo

With the rising health care costs and overworked medical staff, there’s is greater demand, to fill the void between medical professionals and patients. With the increased acceptance of complementary medicine Art Therapists are filling the void.

As a mental health profession, Art Therapy can be found in many clinical settings with diverse populations. Art therapy is growing in popularity in non-clinical settings such as art studios and workshops that focus on creative development. Art Therapists work with patients of all ages who are living with cancer, burns, pain, post-surgery, HIV, asthma, emotional trauma and substance abuse. In order to assess and treat patients, Therapists use a variety of innovative, hands-on activities that involves materials, such as paints, markers and chalk.

They help patients gain insight, cope better with stress, work through traumatic experiences, increases cognitive abilities, build better relationships and to enjoy their life’s pleasures through the creative experience.

New Technology & Ancient Mysticism Merged

Art, color and design carry the potential for very powerful expressions of energy, wether positive or negative. Thanks to equipement, such as Kirlian photography, we can actually capture and evaluate what ancient sages have always believed; that the positive flow of energy around us brings a feeling of wellbeing while stagnant energy causes us to feel physically and emotionally low. 

For example, if the artist was going through an emotionally challenging point of his life, when creating the work as Pablo Picasso did in his “Blue Period’, the energy of his work would reflect it. Most likely, the viewer would feel somber. In comparison to Picasso’s “Rose Period”, where he featured comedic characters and circus people dressed cheery orange and pink hues. The energy of his work would feel optimistic.

“Colors, like features, follow the changes of the emotions”. Pablo Picasso 

 The Museum of Modern Art, is helping Alzheimer’s paients, by having Art therapy tours. With more than four million  Americans suffering with Alzheimer’s disease and with no cure in sight care givers are increasingly exploring art as a way of managing the disease. As a resuly of Art Therapy, patient’s memories, cognetive thinking and emotional disorders improve and for many their doctors have lowered their dosage for perscriptions.

 Geometric patterns, such as mandalas, have been used in temples across India and the far east as a physical form that expresses the vibration of meditation.  The physical body can actually sense the movement of energy around these forms and experience the benefit  without meditating themselves. 

Donna Johansen, of Divine As Design, is a health care interior designer of 20 years. She’s a trained energy healer and artist who  creates healing paintings for health care facilities, spas and personal use.  She incorporates the vibration of sacred geometric patterns, such as mandalas and healing Sanskrit symbols to bring in positive healing energy into the environment through the artwork. She created a collection of individual-scarves with vibrational designs for patients, in response to the current US health care crisis.    

“With the aging population we have more patients and fewer resources than ever before.  Alternative energy modalities are gaining acceptance in hospitals, but require trained volunteers.  I saw this scarf as an inexpensive way to bring the healing energy experience to people in a more accessible way.”

Patients and the medical staff love her work. They are experiencing amazing positive effects, such as a reduction of stress, depression and anxiety. Just think all those health benefits without a pill or shot.    

Health Care Facilities Getting a New Attitude

With the increased acceptance of complementary medicine combined with health care providers fighting for our business a new helath care philosophy has emerged.  This trend focuses on healing and nurturing body, mind and spirit. These models intergrate human carring with the best of scientific medicine and complementary healing traditions.

 Color & Art Therapy, Healing Vibrations of Art, Color & Design

By, Denise Turner, ASID, CID, CMG

Color Turners

www.colorturners.com

denise@colorturners.com

colorturners.blogspot.com

That may or may not be a sunflower, but it certainly looks like one.  How very appropriate.

Sending love out to you all.

xoxo

The Invitation by Oriah
It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

By Oriah © Mountain Dreaming,
from the book The Invitation
published by HarperONE, San Francisco,
1999 All rights reserved