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Top Ten Depression Blogs

by John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
November 14, 2007

We’ve been indexing and reviewing online resources since 1991. In 1995, we began awarding Web awards to recognize those online resources that really stood out. Flash forward 12 years later and a lot has changed. We aim to give you the best of the best, so you know where to go when you need information, opinion, and support.

With the invaluable assistance of regular blog contributor Sandra Kiume, I present to you 2007’s Best of the Web - Blogs for Depression. Depression is a difficult category, because there are innumerable blogs that talk about depression, some even on a fairly regular basis. But there aren’t many that are reliably engaging, post regularly, and keep up for months or years on end. We scoured the web for those rare jewels, some of which you’ll find below:

Psych Central's Best of the Web - Blog Award

1. Depression Introspection

An anonymous “25-year-old black female” writing about her struggles with depression, suicidal thoughts and simply life, magnified. It’s quite personal and chatty, you can have dialogues with her. Also, commentary on depression in the news, celebrities and research news. She was first diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) but apparently that may have been a misdiagnosis, as she was recently diagnosed as having bipolar disorder instead. The focus of her blog remains the depressive side.

Unfortunately, she hasn’t blogged since September, but we hope to see her take up the keyboard again soon and continue her interesting writing on mental health topics and her own life.

2. Finding Optimism

It could have been on our Top Ten Bipolar Blogs list but is here instead since, although author James Bishop is bipolar, his posts are about general mental health, positive psychology and depression treatment topics. A wee bit saccharine in its optimism at times, it’s still interesting and he shares lots of great links. Especially good at writing lists, he’s done a Top Five Blogs on Depression list of his own. Furious Seasons tops his list and we had it ranked highly as a bipolar blog, since Phil identifies as bipolar. The lines can be so blurry…

3. Beyond Blue

Hosted at Belief.net, this popular blog by Therese J. Borchard is on spirituality and how it relates to depression, in “a spiritual journey to mental health.” She has a warm, welcoming, mashed-potatoes-and-gravy style and writes with consumers in mind, with a CV full of books and articles in major magazines. In this blog she comments on treatments, Bible scriptures and welcomes discussions like, “The Depression Debate: Biological? Spiritual? Both?” If you’re looking for a regular spiritual read on depression and mental health topics in general, this is the blog for you.

4. Postpartum Progress

“Most widely read blog” on perinatal mood disorders and it’s easy to see why. Katherine Stone maintains a comprehensive, well-linked, and archive-heavy blog that seems to catch every news item and research article on the subject, including postpartum depression, postpartum obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), postpartum psychosis, and more. This blog is brightly written, reliably updated, easy to read and very informative. Kathleen is a former marketer turned advocate who is applying the blogging skills she developed with her award-winning first blog to this newer venture. Although it’s narrowly focussed on a specialized field of mood disorders, Postpartum Progress definitely deserves to be recognized among all the top blogs.

5. Save Your Sanity

LiveJournal is home to thousands of personal blogs that delve into depression, but this one by early adopter Erika (she began blogging nine years ago, when she was just twelve) is consistently exceptional. Powerfully written, intimate and evocative, we can’t help but be sucked into her life just as she is sucked in by depression. Be forewarned, however, that her language more accurately reflects real life, profanity and all.

An example of her writerly prowess: “Being severely depressed is having things in your brain randomly light on fire. If you’re severely depressed, these fires happen so frequently that all you have time to do is run around trying to get the fires to go out. Sometimes you have water for the fires, sometimes all you can do is try to light a backfire. Sometimes nothing works, and you want to die. Sometimes nothing works, and you live. You can’t tell what’s going to happen, but you can’t ignore the fires because they’re FIRES. You have to put them out. Trying to get back to normal is like building a house. To build a house, you need blueprints, materials, labor, and know-how/experience. I have some of these things, but not all at the same time. And all my experience is in putting out fires. Not building.” But, she is managing to build a brick house regardless.

6. A Beautiful Revolution

This is an outstanding creative writing blog filled with “depressed doodles” by Andre Jordan. His blog is not so much about depression as maybe an extension of its emotional effects. Talented and rare jewel in the blogosphere. His doodles have been published in a hardcover book (Amazon UK link, couldn’t find the book on U.S. Amazon.com); they are funny and poignant. It is infrequently updated.

7. The Splintered Mind

A cheery blog from Douglas Cootey, who has anxiety alongside depression (which is common). Distilled news, funny anecdotes and images, all with an optimistic and practical viewpoint. We enjoy his regular blogging and thoughtful insights. His anecdotes paint a picture that you easily get lost in.

Using Ian McKellar’s splendid and hilarious LOL Feed converter, Douglas also allows his blog entries on the The Splintered Mind with headlines as text over Flickr cat pictures. One of his posts in September sums up his approach: “Why Be Sad When You Can Be Silly?”

(This entry has been corrected to give proper attribution to the creator of the LOL Feed converter. - Ed.)

8. Walking the Black Dog

Easy reading, generally optimistic posts about depression and depression news, with a bit of advice mixed in. Anonymous mental health consumer blog. I like his writing but like one the blog features even more: each post has a footer with details about the post. Example: “Read the full post (812 words, 2 images, estimated 3:15 mins reading time).” Very convenient!

9. The Pursuit of Happiness

An anonymous blog by a presumably white hetero male, described as, “My journey through self help techniques and herbal remedies for depression.” It’s a new blog written by someone fairly new to treating his depression and social anxiety and it’s nice to follow fresh eyes as he tries various treatments. He’s just started on St. John’s Wort, for example. Cheer him on.

10. Depression: Art and Expression

Not exactly a blog, not quite a vlog (no RSS), but oh so web 2.0. A YouTube group with about 40 members who submit creative projects, music and their personal experiences on video. Cool mix of views and culture.

* * *

Did we miss one of your favorites? Let us (and our readers know) in the comments section and we’ll be sure to include it in our next round of reviews. (Because there are so many blogs that offer depression news posts (and it’s so easy to find depression news just about anywhere), we excluded such news-only blogs from our list.)

13 Votes | Average: 4.31 out of 513 Votes | Average: 4.31 out of 513 Votes | Average: 4.31 out of 513 Votes | Average: 4.31 out of 513 Votes | Average: 4.31 out of 5 (13 votes, average: 4.31 out of 5)
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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 14th, 2007 at 9:12 am and is filed under General, Disorders, Depression, Best of the Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

27 Responses to “Top Ten Depression Blogs” (Pingbacks/trackbacks not shown below)

John,

Thank you for the honor. I’m terribly flattered to be listed among so many powerful blogs. I’m familiar with Therese’ and James’ work. Now I have others to explore. No. 10 looks intriguing. Might be just the ticket on a heavy hearted day when the doldrums are in danger of winning the battle.

I do need to correct you on one point, though it might be moot now that Reuter’s, Fox News, etc. have picked up your Top Ten posting. I didn’t code the LOL Feeds. That was Ian McKellar. His LOL Feeds is the best embodiment of “Laughter is the Best Medicine.” I’m glad my LOL Cats version of The Splintered Mind tickled your funnybone, however. It does mine, as well.

I hope your readers enjoy the article on treating Depression through social networking that I posted today. I hope to see some new voices in the comments section.

Thank you again,

Douglas
-=-
The Splintered Mind - Overcoming Neurological Disabilities With Lots Of Humor And Attitude

Hi,
Thanks very much for including my blog on this list. It’s an honor.
Best,
Ray

Wow. Thanks so much for the honor. On the days when I’m sitting in Starbucks blogging away and wondering if anybody cares, I’ll surely remember this!! It means a LOT to be recognized. Thank you, thank you!

Thank you very much for including Finding Optimism - a pleasant surprise if ever there was one.

The blog is alive and kicking again today, after a long night of coffee and hair-loss.

SIR/MADAM
I AM VERY IMPRESSED BY READING THIS TOP TEN DEPRESSION BLOGS.

Hey Douglas, sorry about the mixup. We’ll correct it in the entry so at least we’re not archiving the mis-information for all time! :)

John

I was surprised and delighted to find this article on Top Ten Depression Blogs. Very courageous of you to pick only ten. Congrats to those bloggers who made the list.

I’m really honored. Thank you so much.

Hi,
Great list! So many awesome reads I hadn’t come across before. A blog I read about depression/mental health is
http://allthatiam-allthatieverwas.blogspot.com
which I like if anyone wants to check it out.
Thanx for the list, will go read some more.
Samantha ;)

Really good to find so many wonderful blogs on depression. Something I’ve dealt with off and on in my life.

Keep up the good work finding these amazing people…

Blessings,
Tracey Huguley

Thanks for the list. Came across it by accident. I had no idea there were so many others out there doing what I have wanted to do for so long. I started my own blog in January. Please take a look. I know nothing about blogging, but have wanted to share my writing about this illness for many years. So, now I am writing, and I will try to learn about all of these terms and acronyms and tricks-of-the-trade as I go along. Thanks again for the great list!
Etta

Diary of my Divorce from a Depressed Stoner

A heartfelt memoir of how one woman survived the breakdown of her marriage to a man who suffers from severe depression and an addiction to marijuana. Her journal reveals how she made the difficult choice to leave a man she loved but could not save. she turns 40 and asks hersef one question - is this the person she wants to spend the next 40 years of her life with? When the kids are gone and the baton pass stops and they actually have to spend time together? And sadly enough, the answer was no.

Over the course of the year, following her decision to part ways, she experiences lows when dealing with the emotions of extracting from an already depressed man, financial concerns, and self-doubt about her decision. She experiences highs in the way of stronger family ties, new friendships, romance, an exciting career, meaningful coincidences, a newfound spirituality, and a deep sence of commitment to living life fully and taking charge of her destiny.

To Purchase the Book: http://www.lulu.com/content/2175376

Hey there John,

I never said thank you for the honor. I’ve since taken up the keyboard again and hope to continue blogging for a long while.

My own beginning blog on my trials with a dibilitating depression. Also deals with some of my other addictive issues. Blogging seems to be helping me, although even it, is not enough.

Hi,

I find it very interesting and also very powerful blog .Mental health is a very serious matter not for the human been only it’s also have a great effect on the animals also. This is a good effort for mental health awareness .For more information you can visit : http://www.xanax-effects.com

I just wanted to throw this out there: with Dr. Keith Ablow’s Living the Truth, I was able to discover the roots of my depression for the first time and have been living a more full life than I ever knew I could. Please try it, if you’re at all like I was it can’t hurt.

Monica

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Last reviewed:
  On November 14, 2007
  By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.



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Happiness depends upon ourselves.
-- Aristotle