Facing Major Life Changes with Bipolar Disorder
Major life changes. They say for those of us with mental illness that major life changes can be more difficult. Things like making a move to a new home, a…
Antidepressants
Depression Treatment: Where We Are Missing the Mark
Depression affects 450 million people worldwide and 15 million adults in the United States (U.S.) alone. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, claiming over…
Don’t Tell Me to Shut Up: The “Et Tu, Brute” Stigma of Mental Illness
After sharing my eccentric journey to recovery in a new book, I’ve been accused of being anti-psychiatry. I’m not anti-psychiatry. I’m only anti-psychiatry if it means questioning the long-term efficacy…
How Genetic Testing Saved My Life from Debilitating Clinical Depression
The psychologist’s qualifications are proudly displayed in frames on his wall: a doctorate in clinical psychology, board certifications in clinical psychology and clinical neuropsychology. Maybe this means he can help…
A Few Metaphors to Better Understand Depression
Depression is a difficult illness to understand. It’s hard to understand for the people suffering from it, but it’s downright impossible to know everything that a person who deals with…
Not Just for Attention: Stop Teen Suicide
The subject of depression and suicide, especially in the case of children and teens, is a tremendous concern. Unfortunately, many cases go missed not necessarily because those surrounding these young…
Increase in Suicide Rates and Teen Depression
Researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report on January 11, 2017, detailing our country’s progress in twenty-six public health categories. The report is based on…
Preventive Therapy for OCD?
The postpartum period is sometimes accompanied by anxiety, depression, and even obsessive-compulsive disorder. Studies on preventive therapy for postpartum OCD have shown promising results. What a great idea! Stop OCD in its…
Medications for OCD and Activation Syndrome
It seems to me that there are more commercials than ever before on television for all kinds of medications, including SSRI’s (selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors) which are antidepressants also used…
Depression and Baby Boomers: How Having It All May Be Too Much
Among the generation that has continually attempted to have it all, many baby boomers are now reluctantly adding a diagnosis of depression to their list of gains. As the leading…
Effexor (venlafaxine hydrochloride)
What is Effexor? Effexor’s chemical structure is unlike any other antidepressant. It works to restore the balance of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters — specifically serotonin and norepinephrine. Effexor is in…
The Relationship Between Mental & Physical Health
People with depression often have worse physical health, as well as worse self-perceived health, than those without depression. Depression and other physical health conditions have separate but additive effects on…
What You Need to Know About Treatment-Resistant Depression
Depression can be effectively treated with psychotherapy and medication. But it takes time to find the correct medication and dose. Still, for about one million patients with depression, even several…
First Times and Anxiety
How do you understand when anxiety is finally over? I’ve asked myself this question many times. Let me be frank: I have no answer to that. Nevertheless, a few months…
Depression and Smoking
Depression is associated with an increased frequency of smoking. Addicted smokers are characterized by preoccupation with smoking, abnormal attachment to cigarettes and anticipation of brain reward from the drugs in…