Mind and Spirit Blogger

In part one of my post on dealing with depression I wrote about some of the things that one can/ should  do when you feel that you may have depression. By depression I don't mean that occasional sadness that comes with some life events such as the loss of a pet , breaking up with a boy or girl friend. These events may indeed be extremely sad but most people will bounce back from these events with support from friends and family.Recovery takes place over the course of a few days, or weeks and then People resume their normal daily activities. What I am referring to is depression that interferes with one's daily life. You may have trouble getting to sleep at night. Your sleep patterns are disrupted by bad dreams or nightmares. You May find that you wake several times during the night or you may find yourself sleeping to much.  or you may be oversleeping and missing time at work or school. Like I wrote in part one that depression can take many forms.  To review I wrote that s...

Maybe you are not sure that you are depressed. Yet, you feel that things are not quite right. You might be feeling anxious, tired, restless, or overwhelmed by your life situation.Maybe you are crying to much, sleeping to much or not sleeping enough. At times you feel like you don't have the energy to move through your day? This might be signs that you are suffering from depression. Here are a few things  that you can do to help minimize the effects of depression in your life,  First and foremost on the list is , get help!   If you believe that you are experiencing depression  Do not try to deal with depression alone. Enlist the help of a qualified professional. A Pastoral counselor,psychiatrist,  Therapist or Pastor trained in counseling  can all help you deal with your symptoms. I have made this first on the list because depression has many faces and it is important that you be diagnosed correctly. For example are you having symptoms of Bipolar Disord...

A question was posted by a woman to the diabetic support group that I belong to.  This woman asked the group if her diabetes could be causing or contributing to her depression. Yes, yes and yes!    There is a relationship between depression and illness, especially long term or chronic illness.  Illness can be an underlying cause of depression and other and psychological or emotional issues.  Chronic states of disease can contribute to stress, anxiety, anger, depression, and more.  These conditions may be short term or may become chronic just like the illness.  Another way to think if this is, whenever our bodies are unhealthy our minds may suffer.  Short term illnesses will normally have short term mental responses for instance, if you suffer from a cold or the flu that lasts two weeks or even more, we might find that we feel sad because we cannot function in our normal manner.  We have to stay home from work or school and we may miss t...

Most of us think of trauma as an event that is life threatening or an event in which one believes that he or she is in imminent danger of losing their life. Examples of a traumatic event would  be the recent mud slides in Washington state. The people involved in those mud slides may experience strong emotions They can experience feelings of fear, panic, guilt, anger and helplessness from that event, Another and unfortunately well know example is the trauma that many of our returning veterans witnessed and experienced during  their service in the middle east and other battle fronts.  Trauma often results in a condition that is called post traumatic Stress disorder or PTSD. The symptoms include hyper arousal, flashbacks, anxiety, depression disassociation and more.Suffers of PTSD might experience nightmares and they may try to avoid people or places that remind them of the event. Sounds, smells or sights can remind a tr...