CRAZED MIND: Mental health

Showing posts with label Mental health. Show all posts

Fun Outside the Lines

Image by Norma Desmond via FlickrWhat do you know about autism? Me not much. But I am trying to learn. Why? Well, I have a niece that has been diagnosed with Autism. And in reading we have begun to wonder if College Girl is not without Asperger syndrome?

Now a few of the things I do know is that change is not easy for these folks. Routine helps them stay on track. And it is easy for them to loose control when confronted with a lot of stimulus. So family outings can be pretty tricky. For my Christmas present to my brother and sister-in-law, I have a book called 'Coloring Outside Autism's Lines'. With one in every ten children diagnosed with autism this is not an uncommon ground. Soon you can get caught up in the proper care needed and forget that family fun is so important. But here is 50 different activities and adventures to help keep the fun in the family outings. I especially love the idea for a backyard zip line. Now that sounds like a blast.

I am really hoping it can help bring more joy to my niece and her family. They are a good loving family that are willing to see life as an adventure. I pray they can pass that on to my niece. I know that weather it be rock climbing, photography or kyacking, that they try to enjoy the moments in life.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of this book to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided.

Ruthie J. You have my Soul

I know that many of you are aware that I am disabled. And that it is a mental disability. Yes, that makes me CRAZY, thus the blog Crazed Mind! Yes, I have heard the pokes and prods of what is mental illness. And there is not an easy answer. Nor can I really tell you what goes on in my own head most of the time.

But I loved being able to relate to the story The Jagged Years of Ruthie J. In this story I met Ruthie J. and found that she has a strong fortitude. Ruth Simkin, M.D. shared her life as she traveled through the mental health system of the 1960's. Not a pretty road but surely on of the roads less traveled. Especially when we learn how she over came the abuse she suffered there. What amazes me is the history of Mental Health. What has been considered mental illness in the past is often now seen in the clear light of chemical imbalances. Also that the path to health is not covered in thorns thanks to so many who have suffered from the hands of incompetent science. Simkin shares her inexplicably bizarre behavior as a teenager that was eventually diagnosed as epilepsy. This landed her in the Chestnut Lodge mental hospital in Maryland. Ruthie J. was traumatized by a sadistic doctor and hung onto her own sanity. After her release, Simkin went on to become a successful physician.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of this book to facilitate this review. No other compensation was provided.

Confession of a Budget Blower

When you deal with depression, many other issues come into play. For me a major one is money. I have to watch myself (and sometimes so do others) for financial infidelity. Or in layman's terms "feelgood" spending. You know where you buy things you just don't need to fill that hole inside.

Now I am lucky that I do not do this in large ways. Like buying big ticket items. But I can still lie about what I spend by just not telling. And being that I am the budget maker and bill payer then that is not always the best thing.

Well, I have a lil help now. "Mind Over Money:Overcoming the Money Disorders that Threaten Our Financial Health" has been written by a father and son team of financial psychologist. They have put down in easy to understand terms just what we do to hurt ourselves. The dangers and pitfalls that are in a disorder when dealing with money. And they also help in how to overcome those issues. What I really like is that this does not tell me how to manage my money. Instead it helps me learn about my relationship with money. How I use it or abuse it to fulfill other needs. And in turning that around I am releasing some of the mounting stress I feel. Of course, that helps my depression lift too! So it is a win win situation for me.

They also host a website named Your Mental Wealth. And there you can take a free money disorders test. Yes, we have test for all sort of disorders floating around. But this one may just help you get back up in the saddle in your pocket book. And with times as hard as they are for so many right now, who can not use a lil help. They would like to offer you a special code to take the money disorder test. The coupon code is "CRAZEDMIND" where you can take the test for free without owning the book.

Because She Was Alone

I know that I have touched on my disability a little here and there. And that I do not mention it very often. Why? Well, mostly because I am embarrassed because of it. Most people think that a disability is something that can be seen. You know a limp, having to use a wheel chair or physical in sight. But mine is hidden from view. And I work so hard at not letting others know that when I do show it they are so surprised.

But even more so than that is my College Girl. She had to grow up with my disability and bear a great burden. I wish I had had this book for her as a preteen and teen. I'm Not Alone: A Teen's Guide to Living with a Parent Who Has a Mental Illness by Michelle D. Sherman and DeAnne M. Sherman would have been a great asset for her. It was awared ForeWord Magazines Book of the Year Award Finalist. And I can see why. To have an interactive book to help a teen:

understand the causes, symptoms and treatments of mental illness
learn coping skills
sort through complex feelings
deal with friends
identify resources and find hope

I can say this book would be a wonderful asset to families who have to deal with mental illness, trauma and those who have to face their families in military deployment. How hard it is to feel so confused inside when your family is being torn apart by unseen forces. As a matter of fact there is also Finding My Way: A Teen's Guide to Living with a Parent Who Has Experienced Trauma. This book is part of the education curriculum with the Military Child Education Coalition (MCEC). And is part of the National Guard's Beyond the Yellow Ribbon Program. I applaud that resource.

I know in talking to my College Girl, that she has tried to work her way through my illness. And the strongest part was when we opened up about it at her high school. She was in a health education class. When it came time to study mental illness we allowed a question/answer period from her teacher for the class to witness. It was hard for me to sit and try not to feel shame for my ill brain. But was great for my then School Girl to be able to allow her questions be answered for all around. And she lost shame that day.

I would greatly encourage anyone living with mental illness or with someone who has mental illness to share this book with their families. You can only find at SeedsofHopeBooks.com. or by calling 1-800-901-3480. I would like to thank Synergy Group for sending me a review copy.

I Can Not Take Anymore Tonight

This is the one place I promised myself to be honest at. And it is hard to be this honest with you or myself. If you do not suffer and I do mean suffer from depression and mental illness this wi

Image by Yuliya Libkina via Flickr

ll not make any sense or sound right in any way. If you do...you understand you can not not matter how hard you try to make things right that things do not work that way for you.

How do I get this out for what I feel and what is understandable. I am not sure.

It is more strain then most understand for me to turn from someone I love and have trusted. To willingly break ties and know I am doing the right thing. But...to at the same time hate myself for it. You see I have told myself (and I don't know why to be sure) that I can only be mad at me. All others I am to forgive and make any sacrifice to have all calm and happy with the world around them. Ok, this is not logical....I got that....I am just say the way I am.

Anytime I let go and especially if I feel good about me...then the dread, darkness and the deep despair of myself comes in. Only then can I get myself together. You see, why, oh I don't know and do not want to point fingers either. I feel such guilt when I feel good. And if I feel good and let go of others peoples issues at the same time is almost a certain time bomb. Tonight it has gone off. I am screaming inside myself that I hate me....and that in doing so I can be ok. How stupid is that? Dumb. But it is what holds me together. My own hate keeps me sane. Is there a logic to that.

Otherwise the guilt of feeling good...feeling ok...Lord forbid I actually like me lil on love myself come into play that the overwhelming guilt and all hits. I cry. Dry my dear hubby nuts. Wanna die. (no I know better but does not change feelings) Is there anyway I can explain the overwhelming desire to not be here anymore to anyone? It is so much and feels so large that I do not know how to escape. All I have ever learned is to start getting really mad at me.

Yell inside...I am fat...ugly....no go....not worth loving.....and repeat it over and over until I am so filled with self loathing that I believe I am not worth much. Only then can I breath, stop crying and feel like I can have some kind of control.

BTW--why this today? I let go of someone who did my friend morally wrong. And bit my tongue and did not say a word about it. I suffered also while someone else today maligned my family who is blind and threw us out of their establishment for having a service dog or so they say. I still feel it is more of the fact that it was two men who love each other and are raising a child of a different ethnic race. I had to go and have a second mammogram done today to see if there is something wrong with my breast and of course they do not tell you if they found anything. I taken in all of my self respect and let someone else feel good about their bad deeds even though I hated it because I knew me getting mad would not make it any better. What else? I did all of this on 4 hours sleep and after putting together an event for 100 people single handed.

So yes I see where it all stems from....I just do not know how to make it better.

Getting Back in the Saddle

Here I am!

Image by RedHerring1up via Flickr

Yeah, here, right here.
I did not drop off the face of the earth.
No, nope, not at all.

Scared ya huh?
Sorry....I was just stuck in a rut.

Been busy doing.....everything, yet at the same time feeling like I am swimming in jello.
Ever have that feeling?
Fall is here. Skys are going gray. And depression is setting in hard and heavy.
Feeling tired, sad, sleepy, exhausted, overwhelmed and getting aggravated about it all.

Especially when I know nothing is wrong.
Life is good.
Bills are getting paid.
Hubby adores me.

Okay, I am busy. Not like I sit around and do nothing.
So for a non working woman I have how many part time positions?

Child care for College Girl's half lil sissy.
Telephone Operator/Appointment Taker/ Secretary for 2 businesses.
Maid for a B&B
Store Clerk/Sales
Fitness Instructor (can you imagine I am doing that?)
All around housewife

So how would I have time to feel anything but busy?

Ok, this is enough....time to get back on the old hobby horse.
Start back in on rocking.
And say this depression is bull crap

Fresh Start

Would you like a "Fresh Start"? Like a refreshing drink of cool water, so many of us need to "rehydrate" with life.

So many of us are trapped by harmful habits, behaviors, and attitudes. I know I struggle to become the person God created and called me to be. Doug Fields, the pastor of Saddleback Church, says it’s never too late to get a fresh start. He has written a book filled with personal stories and a fresh approach in his writing. Age doesn’t matter; fresh starts are for everyone.

Topics in the book include:

* Dealing with pride
* Defining success
* Living with guilt
* Struggling with conflicts
* Finding true friendships
* Overcoming discouragement
* Facing rejection
* Attacking anger

I found that reading on how I can handle my guilt is important. I feel guilty when I eat. And then I get angry that other people can eat and I can not. Of course then I start to binge. So the cycle starts again. In removing the guilt of eating, as it is necessary to my survival, I can learn to start eating in normal proportions. Knowing that God does not want me to feel guilty nor go without the food he has provided for me gives me a tool to use. I get to have a "Fresh Start" on my eating habits.

Where do you need a "Fresh Start" at? What is the downfall that pulls you back time and time again? And how are you going to get back on track? Maybe it is time for you to read "Fresh Start" and see where it leads you.

Power in the Mind

Remember when you use to lay out on the grass and guess what the clouds looked like?
Or that any ol' stick would become a rifle for a wild game of cowboys and Indians?
And how about what fantastic food we were making while doing mud pies?

Yes, a child's imagination can be a wondrous place. There dwells the closet monster and the space heroes of this world. But in a child's imagination lies a great tool. One that can help transform stress and anxiety into joy and success. That is what Charlotte Reznick, PhD is showing us how to do with her book "The Power of Your Child's Imagination".

Here we learn what tools to use and how to use them to help guide our children into a world without phobias, social anxiety and how to cope with losses and hurt, frustration and anger. I know that College Girl had many sleepless nights when she could not stop bed-wetting. The worry and fear would become overwhelming to her. Here Charlotte gives us tools to help our child with this all too common issue.

I am glad to see more and more literature coming out to help today's parents. Life is becoming more stressful and going faster every day. That means our children are dealing with life's lil problems at earlier ages. How we help them cope during these times form their skills as adults. I would suggest that you might also want to read "The Power of Your Child's Imagination" as a guide for your family.

Back-to-School-itis

Today we have a guest post by Charlotte Reznick PhD. Charlotte Reznick is a child educational psychologist, an associate clinical professor of psychology at UCLA, and author of a new book, The Power of Your Child's Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success (Perigee, 2009, $14.95).

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Six Tools to Relieve Your Child's "Back-to-School-itis"

By Charlotte Reznick PhD

For some kids, going back to school at the end of summer can be traumatic. Anticipating a new teacher, classmates, grade, or school can trigger fear, anxiety, and depression--not to mention very real physical symptoms such as stomachaches, headaches, and insomnia.

Fortunately, your child has a whole toolbox to draw from--in her own imagination. Here are six imagination tools parents can use with young children to relieve "back-to-school-itis."

Teach her to balloon breathe. With her hands around her navel, have her breathe slowly and deeply into her lower belly so it presses into her hands like an inflating balloon. The Balloon Breath has dramatic calming effects and facilitates a waking state of focused concentration and receptivity to positive suggestions. This one tool makes all the other ones easier.

Visit his special place. This is a safe private place within your child's inner world where he can work out problems or take a mini-vacation from stress and worry. He can invite a wise Animal Friend into his special place to talk to and help him, or he can even dig for a treasure box there that contains the antidote to his fear.

Draw the fear. Putting an image on paper: (1) makes her fear of separation realer and less frightening than keeping it inside, and (2) makes her fear less likely to grow because there is a concrete picture to work with. Once she has a picture, she can talk to it, find out why it's trying to scare her, strike a bargain with it, surround it with a soothing color bubble, and so on.

Talk to his symptom. When a child suffers from a worry headache or stomachache, these three questions can help eliminate the pain. Have him do deep balloon breathing (diaphragmatic breathing), then ask: (1) What color is it? (2) What shape is it? (3) How heavy is it? After more breaths, ask him again. Continue to breathe and question in rounds. His pain will likely change or disappear. If it doesn't completely go away, ask the ache what it wants him to know, do, or understand to release any more bits of pain.

Picture the future. Artwork is also an effective starting point when you're working with clear end-goals, like getting a good night's sleep or reducing a fear. Have your child draw two drawings--how things are now and how she'd like them to be. Hang the picture in her bedroom; this is a great reminder of her desired goal and the first step toward getting there.

Encourage drama. For kids whose nature tends toward drama, acting out their worries and troubles is a wonderful way to release them. Let them play it out--with puppets, with their bodies, with anything their imagination suggests. It's amazing what creative solutions come up when given free reign.

* * * * *

"Back-to-School-itis"

Just some information in case your interested in how you may help your child with "Back-to-School-itis"

Six Tools to Relieve Your Child's "Back-to-School-itis"

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

By Charlotte Reznick PhD

Fortunately, your child has a whole toolbox to draw from--in her own imagination. Here are six imagination tools parents can use with young children to relieve "back-to-school-itis."

Teach her to balloon breathe. With her hands around her navel, have her

Image by niclindh via Flickr

breathe slowly and deeply into her lower belly so it presses into her hands like an inflating balloon. The Balloon Breath has dramatic calming effects and facilitates a waking state of focused concentration and receptivity to positive suggestions. This one tool makes all the other ones easier.

Image via Wikipedia

* * * * *

Charlotte Reznick is a child educational psychologist, an associate clinical professor of psychology at UCLA, and author of a new book, The Power of Your Child's Imagination: How to Transform Stress and Anxiety into Joy and Success (Perigee, 2009, $14.95).

www.ImageryForKids.com

MEME BLOG 2009

I received this award from Leslie from Live, Love, Laugh with Leslie. Thank you so much Leslie! Go over and check out her blog . She has tons of giveaway going on! I am still going to be hanging around your place trying to win!

So, the requirements are to:
Thank the person who gave you the award...Thanks a million Leslie!
List 7 personality traits about yourself &
Pass it on to 7 other bloggers with dynamic personalities.

Image via Wikipedia

Okay, 7 of my personality traits or is that disabilities?
1.) Giving
2.)Loving
3.) Helpful
See I started off good. Now for the rest!
4.) OCD
5.) Type A personality
6.)Outspoken
7.) Stubborn

Now the 7 I am going to share this with. Well big personalities is the key. So they are:

C.G. the Foodie

Aunt Rene

Captain Dumbass
Real Live Lesbian -
Some days it's not worth chewing through the leather straps
Livin' Our Love Song
and last but never ever least
Good Horse Sense from an Ol' Nag

Meshing Dreamland

Image by Bousure via Flickr

I woke early this morning from a fitful dream sleep. You know where life is still muddled in your brain. Not sure why feelings are swirling around you, yet still caught up in them.

I suffer as it is with my mental illness. So when I get in this panic ed breathless mode it is hard for me to let it go. Have you felt that? Where it seems what ever you do your heart is still racing, your chest pained for air and your mind chaotic in thought.

Yeah, you lay there a minute to let your self calm down. Realize it was from those messed up dreams. Wonder where the dreams come from. Then you start telling yourself to do the normal day to day things and this will slip away. But you still have that slight pained chest as you push up and try to slip back into life.

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