Category: Mental

If you have read my blog in the past, you might remember that at first I focused on mental health for several years.  Then for over the last year or so, I have been all over the place, without a consistent theme to my blog entries.  Now, I am ready to change it up again.  After some thought, prayer, discussion, and inspiration, I have finally decided on a path that I would like to focus on for now.  So, without further ado, I want to introduce you to my new blog theme: suicide prevention. 

Hello everyone!  This month, I have decided to copy an email I have sent out to others describing one of the big mental health related activities I am planning to participate in this year.  Please consider supporting this wonderful event and have a great month! 

Dear Friend,

As you know, I’ve been spending the past few weeks preparing for the Out of the Darkness Overnight Walk. This year, I will be joining with hundreds of people to walk over 16 miles through the night to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

I will be walking to take a strong stand against suicide, and my personal fundraising goal is $1,000.00. I’m hoping to not only meet, but exceed my goal before the walk, and I need your support to do it. I will be collecting donations online and via check until the day of the walk.

To those of you who have donated – thank you!  I have raised $275.00 so far, and I am excited to keep the momentum going!

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is the leading national not-for-profit organization exclusively dedicated to understanding and preventing suicide through research, education and advocacy, and to reaching out to people with mental disorders and those impacted by suicide. With more than 40,000 lives lost each year in the U.S. and nearly one million worldwide, the importance of AFSP’s mission has never been greater, nor our work more urgent.

I hope you will consider supporting my participation in this event. Any contribution will help the work of AFSP. Checks should be made payable to AFSP and are 100% tax deductible.

As I continue to prepare for the event, I thank all of you for your support and encouragement. If you have any questions about the Out of the Darkness Overnight or AFSP do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Dawn Grittmann

Please visit my Overnight fundraising page if you would like to donate online or see how close I am to reaching my personal goal: https://www.theovernight.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donordrive.participant&participantID=34984

As I write this, it is a Saturday morning.  It is currently quiet, and I have been able to take a few minutes to reflect on the last week.  And, as usual, it seemed to be as busy or busier than the last week or the week before.   Next, when I think of the emotions I have experienced recently, they have been all over the place.  Even in one day I could go from confident to apprehensive; excited to scared; hopeful to sad.  It has been all over the place, but if I think about it I doubt it is all that different from many days or weeks in my life.

At least in the United States, there is this intense focus to “be happy”.  What exactly does that mean?  My guess is your happy is different than my happy.  The other part of that intense focus is that you need to be happy all of the time.  It’s the notion that sadness or anger or doubt are emotions to be avoided.  Why?  What meaning can we assign to life if it is “happy” all of the time?  When I stop to reflect, I realize how unrealistic it is to be happy at all times.  That’s not real.  That’s not human.  The reminder and takeaway for me is to look at all of my emotions as ways of giving me information and helping me understand and navigate life. 

Of course, emotions can potentially go too far and lead to illness or impairment.  I’m not saying that piece is helpful.  However, things like sadness, anger, frustration, and others should not necessarily be shunned at all times.  I would argue that they are part of our daily lives, and need to be recognized for the value that they can bring in certain life experiences.

In today’s entry I want to discuss another resource that I have heard about – Mental Health America.  Most of my information can be found at their website, which is https://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/

Mental Health America was founded in 1909, and is a community-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the needs of those living with mental illness and to promoting overall mental health.  Their work is driven by a commitment to promoting mental health as a critical part of overall wellness, including prevention services for all, early identification and intervention for those at risk, integrated care, services, and supports for those who need it, with recovery as the goal. Much of their current work is guided by the Before Stage 4 (B4Stage4) philosophy – that mental health conditions should be treated long before they reach the most critical points in the disease process.

If you go to the Mental Health America website, you will find lots of great information on programs, finding help, doing more, learning more, donating, policies, news, and events.  What I find particularly interesting about the website is that it currently contains 10 screening tools for the following: depression, anxiety, bipolar, psychosis, PTSD, eating disorder, parents, youth, work health, and addiction.  Although these will not give you definitive diagnosis information, they can be helpful to guide decisions on when to seek help. 

While I currently do not know much about Mental Health America, it seems like another great organization dedicated to addressing and improving mental health for all.  My hope is to spend some more time looking into their activities, and I encourage you to do the same if you are not already familiar with it.

How about you?  Have you heard of Mental Health America before?  If so, what are your thoughts on their organization?  If this group is new to you, are you interested in learning more?

Earlier this year, the FDA approved the first drug for postpartum depression, and I would like to share some information on it today.  The brand name of the drug is called Zulresso, and the generic name is called brexanolone. 

Zulresso has many interesting features.  First of all, the drug has a unique mechanism of action, so it can target depression in a way that is different from all of the other current options.  Also, Zulresso is given as a one-time infusion over 60 hours, which is pretty unique as well.  Zulresso can cause excessive sedation, among other side effects, and requires administration and monitoring in a health care facility.  In addition, the drug will be very expensive, running in the tens of thousands of dollars.  One potential benefit from the drug is that depression symptoms can improve within 24 to 48 hours after starting the infusion. 

Based on the limited overview I have provided here, I am personally hesitant about how this drug will be utilized.  It is an infusion that requires hospitalization, and it is very expensive to administer.  Also, since it is a newly approved drug, the evidence is limited.  This means that we will probably see more side effects and get a better idea of its efficacy as it is used in a greater number of patients.  Hopefully it will really help women struggling with postpartum depression, but I am a little skeptical at this point.  While I applaud the fact that there is now something indicated for postpartum depression, I do not know how many women it will truly help based on some of the issues I already noted.

What do you think?  Are you excited about the first treatment indicated for postpartum depression?  Does its limitations concern you or should that be an issue at all?  I plan to continue to watch to see what happens with this new treatment.

Awhile ago I did a post on postpartum depression, but today I would like to go further and talk about maternal mental health, which can involve more than depression.  As I write this entry, some important events are happening, and even though this will likely be posted after they are done, I think it will be helpful to know what is out there. 

First of all, the week of April 29 to May 3 is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week.  The name of the week tells you what you need to know – it is a week to raise awareness about maternal mental health.  Maternal Mental Health Week comes from the Blue Dot Project, and their website can be found here: https://www.thebluedotproject.org/  Another website associated with this week is 2020 Mom, which can be found here: https://www.2020mom.org/

In addition to Maternal Mental Health Awareness Week, there is World Maternal Mental Health Day, which is on May 1 this year.  You can find out more information here: https://wmmhday.postpartum.net/

While these events are new to me and they seem to be fairly new in general, I am very excited to hear about them.  All populations face mental health challenges, but I think mothers can be forgotten quite a bit.  I really applaud the work that is being done to help educate, support, and bring awareness to the public about maternal mental health, and I look forward to seeing more of this in the future.

How about you?  Have you personally experienced any struggles with maternal mental health?  Do you know someone who has?  I hope you can spread the word about these various campaigns and websites that promote awareness of moms and mental health.  After all, we all know someone who is a mom, and moms deserve to have their mental health concerns considered.

As a mother, I really can not believe it has taken me this long to write about today’s topic – postpartum depression.  This is very common, and I want to give a general overview of it today.  My information for this topic comes from the following link from the Mayo Clinic:  https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/postpartum-depression/symptoms-causes/syc-20376617

Perhaps you have heard of the term “baby blues”, which can involve anxiety, crying, feeling overwhelmed, irritability, or sadness, among other things.  Baby blues typically lasts for a few days or a week or two, and tends to be less intense.  Postpartum depression might initially be mistaken for “baby blues” but postpartum depression tends to be more intense and last for two weeks or more.  Another thing to note is that postpartum depression can show up right away, or it might occur for up to a year after a baby is born.  Finally, while not discussed as much, postpartum depression can occur in fathers as well and needs to be considered.

Postpartum depression can include, but is not limited to, the following: depressed mood or severe mood swings, excessive crying, appetite or sleep changes, withdrawing from family and friends, difficulty in bonding with the new baby, fatigue, severe anxiety or panic attacks, and thoughts of harming yourself or your baby.  Regardless of whether you think you may have postpartum depression or the baby blues, any sign of a change is an indicator that you need to talk to your doctor about what you are experiencing.  In my opinion, it is best to err on the side of caution and reach out to make sure you are doing ok. 

Overall, postpartum depression needs to be taken just as seriously as any other type of depression.  Symptoms can be similar, and unaddressed postpartum depression can lead to very negative outcomes.  So, if you know anyone who is having or has had a baby in the last year, help them understand what they need to watch for and when to seek help. 

Again, today’s post is solely going to be based on my opinion, but I think it is an important topic that applies to me on a personal level.

I have been a mom for almost 3 years, and it has been an adventure.  There are have been the highest of highs, the lowest of lows, and everything in between.  It has come with lots of worry and guilt, but on the other hand I have never loved anyone as much as I love my child.   I could go on and on, listing many clichés along the way, but I think most people can understand the emotional rollercoaster that is motherhood.

 As you can imagine, with all of that emotion, it can take a toll on your mental health.  While I won’t go into detail here, postpartum depression is one very serious concern that many moms face, and it is important to screen and treat for this.  In general, though, I have had many moments where I have so much anxiety or guilt or sadness or frustration that I can’t help but wonder if I am losing my mind or if I need to get help.  I think that is common, and I think it is important to assess if seeking help makes sense to you.  While I have been fortunate enough to have these emotions pass fairly quickly, if any of them start to persist I plan to seek therapy, because I don’t want those negative emotions to get ahead of me.  Currently, when I do get these emotions I do things like exercise, read, listen to music, or talk to a friend or family member.  I have found that talking to other moms can be extremely helpful, because a lot of times they “get” what you are thinking.  Of course, this list may not be helpful for every mom, but think about the ways you do or can deal with emotions such as anxiety or guilt. 

To me, being a mom is rewarding and challenging, among many other things.  It has done amazing things to my emotional health, but it also challenged it too.  Because of that, I think about how I can take care of my emotional health and think about what my options are if I need more help in this part of my life.  To be the best mom I can be, I need to take care of my mental health just like any other part of my health. 

Today I want to talk about a therapy that I had never heard of until about a month ago – eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, or EMDR.  While it may be difficult for me to describe here, the good news is that it has shown promise in helping people with the emotional pain that can result from disturbing life experiences. 

According to the EMDR Institute (www.emdr.com), the therapy shows that people can heal from psychological wounds, just like people can heal from physical wounds.  EMDR has been used for over 25 years, and millions of people have benefitted from the therapy.  EMDR has typically been used in dealing with trauma, but it can also apply to “everyday” memories, such as feelings of powerlessness.  EMDR includes eight phases of treatment.  Eye movements (or some other form of bilateral stimulation) are used during part of the session.  For example, as specific aspects of memories are targeted by the patient, the patient is also instructed to use their eyes to follow the therapist’s hand movements.  Although I am going to skip the specifics as to the idea of why this works, the net effect is that thoughts that bothered people change to thoughts that empower them.  One big difference in EMDR from many other therapies is that this does not involve homework or a lot of speaking in detail with a therapist.

Honestly, I do not know of anyone who has undertaken this type of therapy, but it sounds fascinating.  It seems that EMDR is relatively simple, but yet can do a lot of good.  I think removing the speaking in detail and homework would be appealing to many people, and I also think this might be another option for people affected by depression. 

How about you?  Have you ever heard of EMDR?  Does this seem like a therapy worth considering?