Beyond Blue: July 2008 Archives

Click here for an interview on WYPR Maryland Morning of Dr. J. Raymond DePaulo, Jr., Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins Medicine on the topic of "Prozac and Placebo" by radio host Sheilah Kast.

And go to the WYPR's website by clicking here to find a variety of interesting interviews on mental health.

From the interview:

Sheilah Kast: Now, Dr. DePaulo, what are the implications of this study for people who take this kind of antidepressant?

Dr. DePaulo: Well, the implications are that people who are reading the newspaper coverage of this will get, I believe, a wrong impression. The fundamental observation of the data is correct; that is, the more severe depression, the greater the relative benefit is for using a medication compared to placebo. But it would be incorrect to say that these drugs are ineffective or that they are no better than placebo.

Sheilah Kast: Why is that incorrect?

Dr. DePaulo: It's incorrect because, as the researchers point out, in severe depressions there is a substantial difference between the drug response and the placebo response. And I just think that that makes all the difference. In fact, most patients who are included in these clinical trials are milder and milder cases--the kind of cases that probably Dr. Dubin and I may not even prescribe antidepressants but rather treat either with psychotherapy or with psychotherapy and medications, but without a whole lot of urgency about whether to start the antidepressant immediately or not.

To read more Beyond Blue, go to www.beliefnet.com/beyondblue, and to get to Group Beyond Blue, a support group at Beliefnet Community, click here.

Guilt is one of the main rivers feeding into the great lake of depression. And that's unfortunate if you've been raised Catholic or Jewish. Or are prone to OCD behaviors like extreme rumination of thoughts.

Soooooo ..... as usual, I have to come up with a visualization technique that allows myself to unload some of the guilt. This one, I think, helps. Except for the fact that I stole the rocks, and I feel guilty about that, and I don't know how to get them back to the place where I found them without looking like a terrorist.

To view my YouTube video, click here.

To read more Beyond Blue, go to www.beliefnet.com/beyondblue, and to get to Group Beyond Blue, a support group at Beliefnet Community, click here.

Thanks to my friend David Gibson, now I can't blame Catholicism for my guilt complex. To read his post on a recent study showing that Catholics (as well as other Christians) are actually no more guilt-ridden than anyone else, click here.

To read more Beyond Blue, go to www.beliefnet.com/beyondblue, and to get to Group Beyond Blue, a support group at Beliefnet Community, click here.

A woman who lives with chronic pain said to my mom the other day, "You can't sit around and wait for the storm to be over. You've got to learn how to dance in the rain."

That's a perfect description of living with depression, or any chronic illness. But what do you do on the days you don't think you can take the pain anymore? When you want so badly to be done with your life ... or at least be done with the suffering? What do you do when anxiety and depression have spun a web around you so thick that you're convinced you'll be trapped forever in those feelings? When you want to switch places with the 85-year-old man in front of you at church because you're thinking he'll be out of here before you, and you wonder if you do the opposite of all the advice out there on adding years to your life, if you could possibly shave off a few from yours?

We've talked about this on various threads of Group Beyond Blue. From the discussions there and on the comboxes of Beyond Blue, I've compiled a few tools for moving past that harrowing darkness, suggestions on how to emerge from a place of panic, and techniques on how to dance in the rain.

1. Escape from the pain.

Lately, when my thoughts turn to death, I've been telling myself that I don't want my life to be over ... I want a reprieve from the pain. I'm usually at a loss on how to get there. I'm tired, frustrated, desperate, so my thoughts follow the path that has already been blazed throughout the years ... and I fantasize about death, intoxication, or some other destructive behavior that doesn't require a lot of imagination.

How else can I escape ... in a positive way? Instead of romanticizing about death or inebriation from booze, I can research new kayaking routes, bike baths, hiking trails, and camping sites. I can invest the time I lose in unproductive and dangerous thoughts into planning creative outings for myself and for the family that will give me/us the reprieve that I'm craving. I can be proactive about finding sitters for the kids so that my thoughts won't revert back to "stinking thinking."

It's so bloody hard to take that first step ... to Google the state parks in Maryland that rent canoes, and to tune up my bike for a nice ride. But those are life savors. Because they afford me the positive escape that I need.

2. Track your mood.

An essential piece of my recovery is keeping a mood journal. This helps me to identify certain patterns that emerge. As I said in my "Me on the Bad Days" post, bipolar disorder and depression can flair up seemingly out of the blue, like a thunderstorm. But often there are telltale signs that can clue me in as to why I'm feeling so fragile. You can catch these if you've been recording your mood over time.

A very helpful discussion thread was started at Group Beyond Blue at Beliefnet Community by Group Beyond Blue member Desertsutra called "Anti-Depression Measures," where people have listed what helps them keep going. Desertsutra begins:

I know there are lots of folks here who deal with this or have in the past, so I'm looking for suggestions. I'm sure that these have been posted elsewhere, so forgive my request for repetition. 

When it gets so bad that every day you're talking yourself out of it, what do you do to stop yourself? When you're, say, waiting for your new antidepressant to kick in or, like Therese shared a few weeks ago in her video of the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week (month?), you know you just need to wait it out, what tricks do you play on yourself when your brain keeps saying that this will last forever and it's better just to stop suffering now?

This week, I've used guilt (just think how your sister would suffer) and intimidation (just imagine a hugely muscled security angel sitting in that chair between you and the kitchen knives) and responsibility (what will happen to that project that isn't quite done at work?), not to mention gentler methods of deep breathing, walking in the woods, reading b'net's daily joke, journaling and just plain staying at work so I'm safe from myself.

But I feel like I'm starting to get a little ridiculous with this . . . Anyone have any less embarrassing prevention methods they can recommend?

To read more Beyond Blue, go to www.beliefnet.com/beyondblue, and to get to Group Beyond Blue, a support group at Beliefnet Community, click here.