Building mental wellness on a foundation of strength
Ask anyone of a certain age what comes to mind first when they hear the term electroconvulsive therapy (aka ECT, aka electroshock therapy, aka shock therapy), and chances are they will mention the film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest starring Jack Nicholson. The reality is very different.
There are a number of non-medication, non-therapy options for treatment-resistant depression. Somatic treatments involve brain stimulation through the application of energy. ECT and TMS are the most well-known, but there are some more obscure options as well. And then there's cranial electrotherapy, which isn't in the same ballpark at all. So let's dive in! Electroconvulsive… Continue reading Brain Stimulation Treatments for Depression
Pretty much the same cocktail of meds I'm on now used to work well, and got me into full remission (i.e. no symptoms at all between episodes). I'm not sure what got me thinking about this recently, but while my depression has become increasingly treatment-resistant overall, my medications are still doing a pretty good job… Continue reading Treatment-Resistant Depression – What My Meds Do Help With
Mental illness often affects what we think about, but it can also affect how we think, including the speed of how we think. Mania is an obvious example of speeding things up, and this may show up outwardly as pressure of speech. Anxiety, worry, and rumination can also be speedy in a sense, but tending… Continue reading What Speed Does Your Mind Move At?
Sometimes, depression can cause busy mind that's focused on the negative. I get slow mind. Slow mind gets confused and overwhelmed. I rely on my organization system to compensate for this, at least to some extent. As time goes by, though, the system gets overwhelmed, at which point it needs a refresh or a broader… Continue reading Refreshing My Depression Organization System
Recently, I had a bit of an aha moment while commenting on a post by Caz at Mental Health 360º, making a connection related to anhedonia that had never crossed my mind before. She was talking about the idea that motivation follows activation. Earlier in the course of my illness, I figured it was worth… Continue reading An Anhedonia Aha Moment
I've never been a big social media person. Before I started blogging, I briefly had a Facebook account, but that didn't last long. Once I started blogging, I created accounts on Pinterest and Twitter. I started a new Facebook account, but deleted that pretty quickly because I just don't like Facebook. Last year, I created… Continue reading Depression and My Cooling Relationship with Social Media
While psychomotor retardation (slowing of movement and thoughts) has long been recognized as a symptom of depression, I think it's probably not on the average person's radar when they think about depression. The biology of psychomotor retardation is also poorly understood. What psychomotor retardation is Psychomotor retardation (PMR) is most often associated with the melancholic… Continue reading The Biology of Psychomotor Retardation
Irritability can definitely be an issue sometimes because of my depression. I seem to lose access to all of my more mature self, and revert to what may have worked best when I was five years old. This can have a major impact on my behaviour, and sometimes I have let fly with yelling, screaming,… Continue reading “You Can Be a Real Bitch” – Depression and Irritability
My last hospitalization for depression happened after a suicide attempt. My primary nurse kept asked me what I was angry about. She was insistent that I must have been angry about something to have tried to kill myself. She seemed annoyed when I assured her that no, I wasn't angry, and anger had nothing to… Continue reading Is Depression Anger Turned Inward?
