Month: December 2018

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Perhaps you have heard of cognitive behavioral therapy, also known as CBT.  Maybe you have not heard about it, but you have experienced it without it being called CBT.  Today I want to touch on what CBT is and how it is used.

According to the Mayo Clinic website (https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/cognitive-behavioral-therapy/about/pac-20384610), CBT is a common type of talk therapy.  You work with a mental health counselor in a structured way, attending a certain number of sessions.  CBT helps you become aware of inaccurate or negative thinking so you can view challenging situations more clearly and respond to them in a more effective way.  CBT can be a very helpful tool in treating depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), or an eating disorder.  But not everyone who benefits from CBT has a mental health condition.  It can be an effective tool to help anyone learn how to better manage stressful life situations.

Also, according to the Mayo Clinic website CBT is often the preferred type of psychotherapy because it can quickly help you identify and cope with specific challenges.  CBT is a useful tool to address emotional challenges.  For example, it may help you: manage a mental illness, prevent a mental illness relapse, learn coping techniques, identify and manage emotions, cope with grief, resolve relationship issues, and overcome emotional trauma.

As you can see, CBT can have many benefits and can be very helpful for depression.  Does this sound like anything you have ever experienced before?  Was it helpful or beneficial in any way?  What did you learn from receiving CBT?  If it doesn’t sound familiar, I would encourage anyone touched by depression to look into this as a part of the treatment plan for depression.  It may not cause every depression symptom to go away, but CBT can be very useful when combined with other treatments for depression.

Emotional Labor

Today I want to talk about another topic that I have heard about only recently.  I am guessing that most of us have heard about physical labor, but are you familiar with the term “emotional labor”?  Although you may not have heard the term before, my guess is that you will be familiar with the concept.

So, what is emotional labor?  As usual, the term can have different definitions, but I take a very broad approach to it.  Emotional labor can be done anywhere and anytime, and it can involve regulating emotions and performing mental activities related to nurturing and caring.  Here are some examples: making appointments for yourself or others, buying and sending gifts or cards, delegating tasks to others, planning outings and trips, arranging care for children or other dependents, and working around the emotions of others.  Some examples of jobs that include a lot of emotional labor are flight attendants, hotel desk clerks, secretaries, and child care workers, who are typically expected to put on a smile every day and make sure everyone around them is happy and comfortable.

When it comes to depression and mental illness, you can imagine there is a lot of emotional labor that happens in these settings.  Mental illness can disrupt a person’s typical emotions, and caregivers also face a range of emotions.  And, while emotional labor has some plusses and can play an important role in caregiving, it is also important to note that just like any other types of labor, it can take a toll on those who perform it.  In my mind, a good first step is that no matter the setting, we recognize what emotional labor is and who is doing it.  Then we can begin to see how and when this labor can be redistributed or improved for everyone.

Screening

Today I want to touch on a topic that I think could be very helpful in the future of mental illness prevention.  It is fairly straightforward, and on paper seems like a fairly simple thing to do.  I am talking about mental health screening for children.

When I think about screenings, I remember some of what I experienced as a child.  I know we had vision screenings and hearing screenings at school, and I think we had some screenings and vaccines done in different health care settings.  The primary goal was to prevent or catch a problem early on and do something about it before it became a bigger problem, and I assume these still happen today.  But, all of the screenings that I have mentioned had to do with physical health – what if there were screenings for mental health?

As it turns out, mental health screening for children is possible.  I do not know if and where it is currently available, but in the state I live in they are recommending universal mental health screenings from birth to at least age 18.  Not all of the details have been worked out yet, but overall the intent is to screen all children.  To be honest, until I heard about this I had never thought about universal mental health screening for children, but now I am a big fan of this idea.  Why not screen all children and possibly prevent or catch problems early on?  I think it sounds like a great idea.

What do you think?  Should all children be screened for mental illness?  How do you think it should be done?  My hope is that this will one day become standard for all children all over the world, and I look forward to seeing this become a part of the care that all children deserve.

Survivor Day

As I write this entry, we are getting close to Thanksgiving, and with that comes another day related to suicide.  The Saturday before the United States of America’s Thanksgiving is International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day.  This day is meant to unite survivors of suicide loss around the world, and many countries and communities have events to remember loved ones and offer support for suicide loss survivors. The AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) is a big sponsor of this day, and their website (afsp.org), is also a great resource for education and information related to suicide.

In the past I have attended events on International Survivors of Suicide Loss day.  In fact, where I live there is an event held every year. But, after going for a couple of years I did not feel that I needed to keep attending the events.  I think that this decision is personal for everyone. You may want to go only once, or you may want to go every year.  Or, you may not ever want to go.  However, that is the beauty of these events – they are there if you need them and want to gather with others who have experienced a suicide loss.

What are your thoughts on International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day?  Do you feel that having a day for suicide loss survivors is a good idea?  Do you think it is important?  Do you think it is helpful for suicide loss survivors to come together and support others who have had similar experiences?  While I don’t always attend an event, I think it is helpful to have a day recognize the (sadly) ever growing group of us who have experienced a suicide loss.  It is not a group anyone wants to be a part of, but there is comfort in knowing that we are not alone in our grief.

Visualization

Today I want to touch on the topic of visualization.  As usual, there are probably lots of definitions out there, but to me visualization is closing your eyes and picturing something in your mind.  You can visualize many things – your future self, a wonderful place you want to be, running through a particular situation – it would seem that the possibilities would be endless.  And, as I am referring to it here, visualizations are thought of as helpful or beneficial.  Of course people can visualize negative or disturbing things, but when I talk about visualizations my hope is that they are positive and valuable to a person.

Can visualization be used in depression or for caregivers?  I think so.  Visualizations can be pretty straightforward and easy to access, and they can be done whenever and however you want.  People can do visualization on their own or with others, and there are also resources available online and in books.  Of course, with depression, it may be hard to initiate visualization, but it also may be helpful to try. 

What should you visualize? That is up to you as well.  For depression or caregiving, can you think about what recovery would look like?  Can you think about what things you might want to do again?  What about new things you would do?  Is there a place you can visualize that makes you feel safe?  A place that makes you feel cared for?  A place of healing and hope?  I am sure there are many other ideas out there as well.

Overall, what do you think about the idea of visualization?  Does it seem worth a try?  Honestly, I have not had a lot of experience with it, but when I have used it I feel that is has been beneficial, and many people have found it useful.  My hope is that you consider giving visualization a try.

Voting for Mental Health

As I write this entry, today is Election Day in the United States of America.  Up until today everyone has been bombarded with mailings, phone calls, texts, TV ads, and social media posts telling us who we should vote for and why.  Then, as the day has unfolded I have seen a lot of people letting others know that they had voted.  I am grateful to live in a country with free elections, and I am proud to participate in the process.

Of course, when I vote, I think about issues that are important to me, and mental health is one of them.  Honestly, I think that mental health is related to every other issue out there, but I tend to focus mostly on prevention, education, support, treatment, advocacy, and recovery.  I look for candidates who seem to support mental health and treat it like the serious matter that it is.  The good news is that I think most politicians support mental health – it seems like an easy stance that caring about mental health means caring for other humans.  However, if you go below the surface, you find that there are lots of differences on what services are available and how they are paid for.  Unfortunately, money is always a concern, and different politicians aren’t willing to spend as much on mental health as others.  Of course, there are other priorities that also need funding, so it isn’t always easy to make these decisions.  But, when I vote, I look for candidates that I think are truly willing to go the extra mile for mental health.

Luckily, in the internet age, there are many resources available that can help you research the candidates and give you an idea of where they stand on major issues.  My hope is that when you vote, you think about supporting mental health as well. 

Block

Luckily, this hasn’t happened to me for awhile, but I am really struggling today to come up with a topic for today’s blog post.  Admittedly, I usually try to think about it ahead of time, but I didn’t do that either.  So, maybe I will talk about what I am experiencing – a block in my creative and/or thought process.

I think “blocks” can come in many forms.  You may struggle to find something to write, like I started with today.  But, maybe you are struggling to find something to speak about or say.  Maybe you are struggling to read or interpret something.  Maybe you are struggling with another subject, like math or science or history.  No matter what the “block” is, it can be very frustrating.  You know you need to get something done, yet your mind seems to be blank.  Or, you are distracted by everything but the task you set out to accomplish.  I am fairly confident that we have all had this experience at some point in our life, and it can be hard to predict when it might happen.

For those affected by depression, my guess is that “blocks” are even worse.  Depression can affect your ability to focus and complete tasks, and it can deplete any motivation to get things done.  Blocks probably are not something that comes and goes in depression, but is something that can stay pretty constant.  So, for those of us (including me) that have not experienced depression first hand, blocks may lead to some insight on what depression may involve for some people.  When you have a block, think about how it affects you and empathize with others who may have similar perceptions occurring.

How about you?  Do you recognize the experience of “blocks”?  If so, how do they make you feel?

Abundance Mindset

I have just returned from a 4 day trip, and I have a full list of to-dos – both things I need to catch up on as well as the things I usually do during the course of a regular week or month.  Honestly, those lists can get intimidating and overwhelming, but I am trying to take it all in stride.  One thing that has been helpful to me recently is slowing down to tell myself that there is enough time to get it all done.  I have found that when I do slow down for even just a little bit, it seems that time expands and slowing down does seem to help me get things done.  This is just one example of using an abundance mindset.

Although different people might define it in different ways, to me an abundance mindset is thinking that there is enough of everything.  There is enough time.  There is enough money.  There is enough food, clothing, and shelter.  There is enough of any positive resource that you need.  I understand this might sound overly optimistic, but it can be helpful sometimes to think there is enough for everyone, including you.  How do you feel when you think there is enough of something as opposed to thinking that there is not enough?

For someone affected by depression, an abundance mindset may be tough to channel.  But, again, if you are able it can be helpful to think that there is enough healing and treatment for everyone, including the one affected by the depression.  What other resources could you think of as being abundant in the depression journey?  Abundant support?  Abundant compassion?  Abundant strength from a higher power?  I challenge everyone to think about how an abundance mindset might be a helpful way to look at situations and the world.