I’m trying to hold it together… I’m used to episodes that are triggered by situations.1By this I mean there is a biochemical, physiological aspect to my illness, but there is also a contextual aspect, in which certain occurrences (life stressors) can overload me and throw the entire biochemical, physiological balance out of whack. But usually …
Introduction I know folks have been a bit worried about me of late. My Facebook statuses turned brooding and perhaps despairing and Edvard Munch’s The Scream for my profile picture and Gustave Dore’s illustration of one of the many regions of Dante’s hell intensified these concerns. I’ve shared many times before in various forums – …
Introduction This is a summary, select quotations, and responses from myself to Jonathan D. Huppert and Jedidiah Siev’s article “Treating Scrupulosity in Religious Individuals Using Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy” as published in Cognitive and Behavioral Practice 17 (2010) pp. 382-392. It is perhaps the best article I have read for practitioners or patients on the treatment of scrupulosity. …
I’ve been doing really well as far as my anxiety, depression, ADD, stress levels, and so on go since leaving Cairn Univ. at the end of January and launching full-time into the pastorate. There are numerous reasons for this including a significantly reduced workload. In any case, this last week has been rough. Charity casually …
I’m feeling a good bit of anxiety right now. I don’t express it, I kind of stuff it down. Some would tell me that I should express it – and I suppose that is what I am doing right now…but I think sometimes folks don’t understand the nature of this pathological anxiety. Some folks experience …
I’ve been ill for the past number of weeks – an auto-immune disorder of some form or another. I was placed on steroids (prednisone) to assist with the inflammation and rashes (which worked miracles as usual). When I take steroids they also cause an immediate and complete lift of my depressive symptoms. Over the past …
Introduction Tonight I went back and read through some early journals I had written. In some ways I am a very different person from who I was then, in some ways I am very much the same. I came across this particular entry which I wanted to share…I think it will be comforting to those …
One theory about mental disorders indicates that the issue (at least in some folks) may be caused by over-activity or under-activity in certain portions of the brain. I have read of OCD and ADD being analogized as the “overheating” of the brain. In the sense of OCD this seems somewhat intuitive. The brain locks itself …
Contemplating Unhealthy Brain Activity and Routines in My Life. Read More »
Despite all the coping skills I have learned over the years, sometimes my mental health takes a precipitous ride down the crapper – now would be one of those times. I’ve been struggling hardcore with depression for the last few weeks. It comes on in waves, hitting me like a steamroller and then passing over…then …
Today I saw a story on Yahoo! about a retired teacher, Stephanie Sinkin, who was hoarding cats. The police and SPCA have found twenty living but extremely malnourished cats and five dead cats – and expect to find more dead cats on a secondary sweep of the house. I have a tender spot for animals, …