Category: Mental

NAMI

When dealing with depression, resources are important.  Today I would like to highlight a resource that I know fairly well – NAMI (also known as the National Alliance for Mental Illness).  NAMI is an organization in the United States that works at 3 levels – the national, state, and local level.  NAMI is found in almost every state, and there are many local chapters.  The main work of NAMI revolves around education, advocacy, and support.

Education includes classes that are free for students.  There are classes for those affected by mental illness.  There are also classes for family members, veterans, young people, and health care providers.  Essentially, there is usually something available no matter what your role in mental illness may be.

For advocacy, work is done at all levels to pass legislation to help improve mental health.  Other advocacy work, which can involve speaking at press conferences or public events, can help to reduce stigma and increase conversations about mental health.

Next, support can include things such as providing resources and helping people know where they can get help.  As you may guess, these three activities don’t always work alone – education, advocacy, and support can be found together in a lot of what NAMI does.

Overall, I feel that NAMI is a great organization when it comes to mental health.  I have benefitted from its help over the years, and I continue to be a member and supporter of it.  If you are interested in learning more about NAMI I encourage you to go to their website at www.nami.org  Many state and local chapters have websites that can be found by a simple Google search.  For a fee you can become a member, and there are reduced fees for those with limited means.  Even if you don’t become a member, I hope you at least take a look at the group to see how they might be helpful for you.

Causes of Depression

What causes depression?  That is a big question.  No doubt many of you have heard about there being a “chemical imbalance” in the brain, and maybe genetics was thrown in there as well.  Today, I want to give a general overview of some other theories that may explain what can lead to depression.

While there may be some truth to the genetics cause, the “chemical imbalance” doesn’t seem to be as likely, however, it cannot be completely eliminated.  Here is a listing of some other ideas:

1.Depression can result from an inflammatory/infection/immune reaction process

2.Depression can result from a hormone imbalance

3.Depression can result from a “leaky gut”, which is related to the food that we eat

4.Depression can result from losing our connection to important things in our life such as our values, face to face interactions with others, etc.

5.Depression can result from toxicity and/or environmental exposures

6.Depression can result from trauma that is experienced

7.Depression can result from taking medications

8.Depression can result from the food that we eat

As you can see, this is a fairly good sized list, and I probably have not captured all of the possible theories out there.  And, it seems likely that there are several components that go into causing depression, not just one thing.  That makes it harder to understand who will or will not have depression, but it is helpful to understand that depression is a lot more complicated than what we might have thought in the past.  While we may not understand the exact combination leading to depression (and it probably is different for every individual), these theories give us so many more options to pursue when treating depression, and I think that is important.  It may take a lot more trial and error, but hopefully there are some answers here that work better when medications don’t work and/or don’t seem like a good option.

Diet Update

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have started doing Optifast again, which is a medically supervised, calorie restricted diet.  And, as I write this, I have been at it for about three and a half weeks.  I wanted to take the time in this post to share what I have felt and how it is going so far.

Although I can’t prove it, my thought is that this time around I am more observant about my feelings around food and my diet.  Because of this, I have been amazed at how much emotional stock I put into food.  I am also surprised at how much I have used food as a reward – and I have rewarded myself a lot it seems.  I am not beating myself up about it, but I have realized that food has played a big role in what I think makes me happy.  Of course, that has led to a lot of weight gain, and now I am working to change that.

The other trend this time around is that I live with two guys that are not on this diet.  My husband is actually going to start with me soon, but so far I have been doing it on my own.  Last time, my husband and I did it together the entire time.  Needless to say, the temptations have been almost overwhelming.  My son especially should not have to suffer because I am on a diet, and his leftovers sometimes are hard not to “clean up” by having me eat it.  That has also helped me to reflect on how hard this journey can be for me.  It’s a heck of a lot easier when those temptations are not in the house.  However, by having them around I have to be even stronger in my resolve to stick to the plan.

Overall, though, things have been going well.  The official total is I am down 17.8 pounds!  I call that a victory, and hope that the weight loss continues.  My exercise is also starting to ramp up, so that should help too.  Here’s to continued improvement and success!

Down Time

As I write this entry, we are the beginning of a short work week, well, at least for me.  I only have to work three days, and then I get a four day weekend for the Thanksgiving holiday.  It hasn’t always been this way.  When I worked in hospital pharmacy, I frequently worked a lot of holidays and weekends, and a four day weekend was pretty rare.  I’m still not too hung up on whether I would have to work the holiday or not, but what I wouldn’t want to give up is the consecutive number of days off in a row.  I mean, four days in a row?  It’s a beautiful thing that my recent Monday through Friday day jobs have given me when Thanksgiving rolls around.

That being said, what I am really looking forward to is having some additional down time.  Ahhh, that elusive time to decompress and relax.  My hope is that in those four days I will get to do some really laid back activities – watch some TV (which I do little of these days), take a nap, watch a movie, have decent and lengthy conversations with people, do something creative, play a game or two (even though I am very picky on what that is), slowly enjoy a glass of wine…I’m sure I could go on.  Now, I do have a toddler, so that list might have to be modified a bit, but hopefully some of that down time includes my little one relaxing as well.  Also, I have worked really hard to clear my calendar as much as possible for this long weekend.  There are a few things to do, but for the most part it is optional.

How about you?  Are you getting a long weekend soon?  If so, how do you plan to unwind?  My hope is that everyone has chances for down time throughout the year, but especially around the holidays.

Leadership

I have recently received the honor of being elected as president of a state board that works on issues related to mental illness.  This will be for 2018, and I am looking forward to collaborating with many people to help with education, support, and advocacy around mental illness.  The great news is that there is a lot of momentum and passion, and I can’t wait to see what progress we make in the coming year.

That being said, I am now a formalized “leader”.  What exactly does it mean to be a leader?  What exactly is leadership in the first place?  There are definitions out here, but I think leadership is defined by each individual.  To me, leadership is about setting an example and creating a vision.  It is about speaking up and asking questions.  Essentially, to me, everyone is a leader, whether it is a formalized position or not.  In my book, anyone who tries to persuade or guide or work with anyone is a leader.  And, I think it is safe to say that most of us fit that activity.

Broad definitions aside, I am spending some more time reflecting on my formalized role.  What exactly do I envision for the organization?  What examples do I want to set?  How do I want to speak out more for mental health issues?  How can I make more connections so I can ask more questions and work on more solutions?  There is a lot of work to be done, and my hope is that by reflecting on these questions I will be better able to lead in the next year.

How about you?  In what ways (formal or informal) are you a leader?  What does being a leader mean to you?  How can you better exemplify what you think it means to be a leader?  I think these are some great questions to consider as you reflect on how you are a leader.

Helping Everyone

Lately I have been feeling overwhelmed by all of the issues in our world.  Things like homelessness, human trafficking, illiteracy, hunger, domestic abuse, child abuse, and many others make me very upset, and a lot of times I don’t know where to begin.  I am sure I don’t even know all of the issues out there.  How am I supposed to be of service in this world when there is so much work to be done?  What are the most important one(s) to focus on?  What kind of impact can I have?

I think it is really easy to get paralyzed by this – there are so many causes that I want to help, but I can’t help them all.  I am trying really hard to focus on a few areas, namely mental health, but even then I get distracted by everything else that is in our world.  However, this afternoon I had an insight that has really made me feel better about being able to help a wide variety of people.

The insight was that if I really thought about it, mental health touches every person in the world.  As a result, by working on mental health, I am also touching issues such as homelessness, human trafficking, illiteracy, hunger, domestic abuse, child abuse, and so on.  Ultimately, all of these issues are interrelated, so I actually do get a chance to help with them all.  I realize that it might sound highly idealistic, but this has given me a lot of comfort as I try to be of service in the world.  Overall, I feel that by helping with one issue you are more than likely helping with them all.  So, all of us should be proud of how we serve others.  We are truly making a difference in many small and big ways.

The Meaning of Marriage

Lately, I have been reading and thinking about marriage.  I am by no means an expert on it, but I have been married 2 ½ years now, so at least I can say that.  Of course, I see some people saying that quantity, especially at 2 ½ years, doesn’t mean much – how about the quality?  For most of us, I would assume that when it comes to marriage the quality piece is more important to people than the quantity side.  But what does that mean?

That is one of the topics I have been thinking about.  What makes a good marriage?  What makes it last AND makes it meaningful?  Do we even have an agreed upon definition for quality here?

My assumption is that there are some generalities, but again, that is an assumption.  Overall, I think what a marriage means varies both between and among couples.  Do I view my marriage as something that adds to my happiness?  Do I attribute some meaning to my marriage?  Do I look to my marriage to fulfill certain needs and wants?  How about my spouse?  Does he or she have similar or conflicting views on what the marriage means to him or her?  Admittedly, these are some deeper questions that I am not sure I have spent much time on – not that I don’t have deep feelings about it, but have I ever really thought about the meaning that I assign to my marriage?

I find these questions intriguing, and I would like to spend some time reflecting on them.  Of course another caveat is that I am sure the answers may change over time – marriage, as far as I see it, is a dynamic thing.

How about you?  If you are married, how do you feel about it?  What does it mean to you?  What does it mean to your spouse?  If you are not married, what meaning do you assign to it?  I challenge you to look deeper and consider what this relationship means from your point of view.

Lessons Learned

Recently I was involved in a walk for a charitable cause.  Not only did I walk, but I also volunteered to help with the event.  Overall, it seems to have gone well, but there were a few items that need to be addressed if we decide to do it at the same place next year.  As I was volunteering and walking, I was making a mental note of “lessons learned”, and then later on that day I wrote them down so I could remember them for future discussions.  “Lessons learned” seems to be something I hear about a lot these days, and I think it can be helpful for improving and growing in many areas.

To me, lessons learned are those things that didn’t go well or didn’t go as well as you had anticipated.  Perhaps they are even things that you failed to plan for ahead of time.  However you define it, I like the idea of lessons learned.  We don’t call them mistakes.  We don’t call them failures.  We look at them as ways to improve and do better the next time.  My initial example is related to the walk I helped with, but lessons learned can be applied anywhere.  Starting a new eating plan?  Starting a new exercise routine?  Starting anything new?  Tweaking or changing an existing routine?  All of these things, plus many more can include lessons learned.

And, while lessons learned is important to identify what might need changes, another piece is that you have to actually do something about it.  It is not enough to simply identify what didn’t go so well, but the key step is deciding what you are going to do about it.  So, the next time you are looking at an event or routine of yours, think about what could be better.  Then, decide what you can do to make that happen.  Lessons learned can be a great way to work on incremental improvement.

Summit

These days, there are so many ways to get information.  There are podcasts, radio, video, social media, TV, texts, phone – and I am probably missing quite a few others.  Although I talked previously about podcasts, I wanted to talk about yet another way to learn about topics – summits.

The summits I am referring to are held online, although of course there are summits that can be done in person.  Summits can be done live online or they can be viewed after they have been recorded.  Lately I have found myself hearing more and more about summits, particularly related to health and wellness.  I imagine there are summits out there for a wide variety of topics, but the ones I have seen have been related to topics such as mental wellness, fertility, arthritis, and nutrition.  For the most part, I have not found these on my own, but rather they have popped up on my social media or I have received emails because I have signed up for certain email lists.  The summits typically will include 20 or more interviews with experts in the field being highlighted.

My guess is that you can do a Google search for these summits.  There is usually a catch or two, however.  You almost always have to give an email address, and a lot of them are only free to view for a certain time period.  After that, you can pay to view them at any time you want.  I have paid for a few of them so I could have access to the talks anytime I wanted, but some I have viewed only when they were free.  The nice thing about a lot of the summits I have seen is that a lot of times they will do them again with updated information, so if you miss one there is usually a new one right around the corner.  So, if you are looking for information, it might be worth an internet search to see if there is a summit on the topic.  It might be full of information that could be helpful to you.

Guilt

I have been spending the last few entries talking about my recent trip to New York City.  While it was a great trip, one thing I wanted to touch on was the experience of leaving my child for an extended period of time for the first time.  Until our trip, I had spent maybe two or three single nights away from my son, and those were hard in several ways, but it was only a night.  To spend almost a whole week away?  I wasn’t so sure I had made the right decision to make this trip happen.

I can say that the anticipation of leaving was hard, and I started getting anxious about a couple of weeks before the trip.  The worst part was leaving him to go on the trip.  Then, of course, most of the time we were gone I felt guilty that I was having fun without taking care of him too.  It wasn’t all bad emotions, though.  I was excited to be on the trip, and I knew that he was being taken care of very well.  There was happy, sad, and everything else in between.  Sometimes I wasn’t even sure what I felt.  I certainly missed him, and I felt guilty about leaving him, but I continued to enjoy the trip.

Even though going to New York City wasn’t easy from this perspective, in some ways I felt like I had to do it.  Why?  Both my child and I needed to understand that others can take care of him.  That it is ok for mommy to have a life and go places every once in while.  That it is ok for my child to spend more time with others.  It is hard, but I think these are important things to understand.  It’s not fair to ask me to be someone’s entire world and vice versa, and experiences like this help to share the great fortune that we have in having a group of people who care about our child.  I’m not sure how I will feel the next time I leave my child for several nights, but I’m hoping that it will get easier for everyone involved.