Depression and Some Hard Questions:Part Three

In an attempt to help you to develop some personal coping strategies for your own depression, I am asking some hard questions. We have done questions about your social and your physical life. Today's questions have to do with your emotional/intellectual life. Here are the questions.


How much do you like to think? When you daydream, what do you daydream most about?

Do you like to read? If yes, what do you like to read about?

What kind of activity would you find intellectually stimulating?

Do you like movies? What kinds of stories appeal to you?

Do you enjoy learning new information? If yes, when was the last time you enjoyed learning something new?

Are you an emotional person? Do you emote easily? Do you laugh and cry and share from your heart easily, or are you all bottled up inside?

Are you comfortable talking about your feelings?


Even though I have asked less questions in this section it is one of the hardest areas of depression. This one, our intellectual/emotional life is the one that is negatively affected by depression in an obvious way.


How does this apply to you? Are these questions of any use to you at all? Are you taking time to answer these questions and think about how the answers will tell you some things about yourself that you need to pay attention to?


Next time we will have some questions about your spiritual life.


For a dose of laughter medicine click here.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love

Depression and Some Hard Questions:Part Two

In an attempt to encourage you to develop some of your very own personal coping strategies for depression, I am asking some hard questions. Your answers to these questions will be the basis for your strategy. The last set of questions had to do with your social self, they were questions about people.

Today's questions have to do with your physical self. How well do you know what you need and what you don't need?

Do you like touching? Do you get enough touching?

What kind of touching do you like? A quick hug? A good rub? Constant physical connection with something living? Lots of touching? Sexual interaction?

Are you a little touchy about your touching? Are you only able to touch and be touched at certain times? Are your touch boundaries being respected by your loved ones?

Are you able to communicate with your loved one(s) the truth about your need or lack of need of touching?

What about exercise? Do you enjoy doing physical things? Do you feel better after engaging in physcial activity?

What about food? Everyone enjoys food? What kinds of food do you enjoy? Do you take care of your food needs? Does what you do or do not eat affect your moods? Is there some way you could change the way you eat in order to feel even better?

Is there something that makes you feel good when you touch it? For instance, a cat's fur, a teddy bear, holding a child's hand, rubbing a smooth stone? Does touch matter to you? Do you get enough touch therapy?

Take some time with these questions. I hope they can get you closer to creating some physcial strategies that are helpful to your depression recovery.

Let me share just a wee bit of my own physical strategy (without embarrassing you or me). I am not an overly touchy person. Sure I will give you a hug when you visit, I can easily reach out to pat someone on the back, but I don't need to do this all the time. The touch that means the most to me is my husband's hand. I love holding his hand. Friends have commented that we look so cute because we are often holding hands... if they only knew... the handholding is sometimes, on certain days, my only link to life. When we are out in public, and I am feeling vulnerable and fragile, holding his hand is a lifeboat to me. I do get a professional massage sometimes. But one time, when I was not well, not only did it not help me, I couldn't wait for it to be over. There are times when I simply would prefer not to be touched. Knowing these things about myself helps a lot.

How about you? Are you learning anything new about yourself by asking these questions? Can you put together a physical strategy plan for yourself?

We have talked about your social and your physical life preferences. Next time we will ask some hard questions about your emotional/intellectual life.

For a dose of laughter medicine click here.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love

Attention! Depression!

I was raised to think about others before I think about myself. I was raised to believe thinking about yourself and your own life too much will make you a dull, self-centred, boring person. I was raised to believe that too much introspection was unhealthy (and unattractive).


When I first met with the challenge of depressed thoughts and I talked to a counsellor about it, I was forced to unlearn everything I had learned.


I simply HAD to think about me, I HAD to talk about me. I HAD to look inside and give a lot of attention to my thoughts.


Guilt! I already felt guilty enough about the depression, now I had to feel guilty about thinking about myself too much too.


This was a tough but necessary adjustment. I am glad I learned to think about myself. It has been a necessary step on the road of recovery.


Depression requires your attention if you have hopes of recovery.


You are not pampering yourself when you take a nap. You are not being thoughtless when you cancel a social engagement. You are not unloving, when you go to your bedroom door and close it to the rest of the family, for awhile. You are doing what you have to do in order to survive this illness.


And you know what? We who are living with the challenges of depression are no different from anyone else in a lot of ways. We have things about us that make us unique. We have challenges that make our life choices different from others. We are just trying to carve out a lifestyle for ourselves within our limitations.


But if you are not willing to pay attention to those limitations, you will not enjoy life at all. You may even get sicker.

Anyone out there want to be even more depressed? I didn't think so.


Next week I am going to ask you all some hard questions. If you are able to answer those questions, you will have the beginning of a list of survival strategies designed just for you.

So, come on back on Monday and we will do some hard thinking - together!

For a dose of laughter medicine click here.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love

Depression on Holidays

Oops! I am on holiday for the month and forgot to post on Monday! Being out of routine can be such a nice thing...sometimes.

What effect does routine (or lack of it) have on your experience with depression?

My depression does not take a holiday. I would love to leave it at home, but it comes along whereever I go. I am not the best traveller and so it is risky to take me places. However, we have figured out a few things that make it all more manageable for me.

How about you? Do you travel well?

The reason this particular holiday suits me is that we stay in one place for a whole month and we try to stay in the same place every year. My brain likes that!

How about your brain? Does it know what it likes? Does it know what it needs? In your depression journey have you figured out at least a few things so far that help you to cope with this illness? Do you know what those things are or do you have to check a list? Do you even have a list?

The thing is that depression is kind of like having a child. You can't ignore a child! It doesn't work. Of course you would love to ignore your depression and just hope that it will go away. But that doesn't work.

Travelling with depression is just as challenging, maybe more so, than living with depression. Most people don't even consider travelling when they are sick because they know it wouldn't be much fun.

As much as I would rather not have to think about it so much of the time, it is worth it in the long run. If I give this illness the attention it requires, then like a child who needs attention, it will need less attention once I have everything in place.

So what I am saying in a roundabout way is that the only way you will have some good breaks from your depression is to give it the attention it needs.

Just in case you have NO idea what I am trying to say, I will try and say it better next time! Bear with me!

For a dose of laughter medicine, click here.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love

Depression and Gratitude

This morning had not started off well. As many of you who experience depression know, mornings can be challenging but sometimes the day improves as it progresses. The challenge of course is not to get locked into those depressive thoughts so that hopefully the day does not stay absolutely awful. The trick is to get out of it somehow, even a little bit.

I have several things I do in the morning in hopes of getting off to a good start. The first order of the day is usually a hot bath. Next a cup of tea and my bible and my journal. Then to my computer where I will read my Daily Motivator.

That's about it for the very first things. But after that I will check my other email. I delete a lot, depending on my mood.

But there is another newsletter I get, Beliefnet, that really touched me this morning, at a moment when I was feeling challenged to find anything to be thankful for. Here it is, a gratitude list. Maybe you will enjoy it like I did.

I have included this picture of a sunrise because I am experiencing an exquisite sunrise right now. For the month of February I am in a lovely condo in Myrtle Beach and this is what I get to see most mornings. Even through the eyes of depression, there is wonder and awe in such a sight.

May you find many things to be grateful for today. Maybe you could make your own list.

May dipsy doodling around depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you....

Wendy Love

Winning!

I'm a winner! I won a cake from my blogging friend Lynnda from New Orleans. The fun thing was that I wasn't even trying to win anything. Anticipating the arrival of this cake was as much fun as tasting it. The special box arrived in the mail today.



Here it is! It is called a "King's Cake" and is apparently an essential part of Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

What a treat for the senses when I opened the box. Not only was there this amazingly colourful cake, but also a Mardi Gras magazine, some special coffee and a package of colourful beads and fake coins which I assume are also part of the Mardi Gras tradition.

Here I am getting ready to take my first bite. It was delicious!

And these beads were too pretty to toss aside. I am sure my granddaughters will love playing with them.

And so that was the best part of my day. Something free, tasty, and pretty arrived in the mail. I got to anticipate it, taste it and there is still lots left over to look forward to in the days ahead.

Blogging has all sorts of perks and this is one of them. Somebody had to win, I am glad it was me!

For a dose of laughter medicine click here.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love

Drug Free! But Is This a Good Thing?

Thank you for the comments and prayers and hugs sent my way during my little break.

I have struggled with most of the depression medications I have tried. Some have not worked at all, some have such disastrous side effects that I couldn't continue. But occasionally one will work, for awhile, and then.... the headaches start. This has been a pattern for me. This is what has been happening to me recently.

So I go off of that medication and try another one. At this point I have just about run out of meds to try and so instead of risking yet another medication that brings more misery than help, for now I am going to go med free. It does have a nice ring to it doesn't it?

The truth is that bipolar people should stay on medication if they possibly can. But it would seem that I can't, for now. And so here I am.

Now, all of those neat strategies that I keep talking about are all I have got. I am going to have to use them even more than ever. I am going to have to prove that they have some real value and not just as a back-up plan.

You might be wondering how I am feeling. I don't blame you for being curious. I have spent so many miserable days with a headache, then with medications to help me deal with the pain of the headache, then with the constipation which accompanied those medications, then with the unpleasant withdrawal symptoms of the medication I have been taking for three years.

However, right this moment I feel quite well. The headache is gone. I have finished withdrawing off of my mood stabilizer that was causing the headache. I seem to be feeling okay. Maybe it will last for awhile. I will keep you posted. In the meantime I am going to enjoy feeling 'not medicated'. For now I don't feel depressed and I don't feel manic. But I realize that anything, good or bad, is quite possible and I will remain vigilant.

If you are reading this and have been wondering about quitting your medication too, don't rush into it. I am not advising anyone to go off of their medications. If you are not experiencing negative side effects and if your medication is helping even a little bit, stick to it. If I could find something that worked for me, I would be happy to take it.

I have been working on a new blog, a continuation of this one. It is not ready for launch yet, but I will let you know when it is. It is also about depression. I have a question for you. If you could read a really good blog about depression, what would you want to read about?

Any tips?

Any questions?

Any ideas?

For a dose of of laughter medicine click here.

May Dipsy Doodling Around Depression be better than a therapy session!

Don't give up, I'm praying for you!

Wendy Love