Welcome to Wing of Madness Depression Guide
This website is about clinical depression, also referred to as major depression or major depressive disorder. Here we address not the “down” mood which we all get from time to time and which leads us to say, “I’m depressed,” but the often debilitating illness which affects one in five…
Reflections on Depression
How it feels Note: Quotes in italics are mine. I tell people it’s like being dead. It feels like being a ghost, maybe. You float through your days feeling insubstantial, cut off from warmth, light and all feeling. Sometimes it feels like you’re in a coffin buried alive. You’re…
Is Your Child Depressed? All About Childhood Depression
A few years ago, my mother unearthed some pictures of me as a baby which I had never seen before. One showed me at about eight months old, crawling on the grass of Golden Gate Park. I was looking directly at the camera, my tongue sticking out of the…
Depression in Women and Girls – Causes, Risk Factors
Women suffer from unipolar (as opposed to bipolar or manic) depression in greater numbers than men do; twice as much by most estimates. Three times as many teenage girls as boys report having experienced an episode of major depression. Causes The reason or reasons why women have unipolar depression…
ADHD – Hyper in a Meeting
I’m in a meeting at work (actually, a presentation) and I’m noting, as usual, how still most people (okay, pretty much everyone in the room) are compared to me. The word “still” rarely applies to me, but it’s most noticeable in situations like this. I shift position, jiggle my…
What to Do During the Last Two Weeks You’re Waiting for Your Antidepressant to Kick In or Self-Care for Mild Depression
If it can be said that there is anything good about depression, this is when you’ll see it. Assuming that you are feeling much better than you did a month ago (and if you’re not, please read ), you may feel almost as if you’ve been reborn. After having…
What to Do During the First Two Weeks You’re Waiting for Your Antidepressants to Kick In or How to do self-care with major depression
The key words here are indulge yourself. Listen, you’re having enough trouble getting out of bed every day and going to work or school. You don’t need to push yourself. Think of yourself as an invalid recuperating from a very debilitating illness. You have to pamper yourself, body and…
Never, Ever Make a Major Life Change if You are Depressed
So let’s say that you’re dissatisfied with something about your life, and you’re thinking of making a big change. Your job isn’t satisfying, your marriage or relationship isn’t working out or maybe you don’t like where you live. You’re pretty sure there’s something better waiting for you if you…
Depression Rarely Strikes on its Own
I have clinical depression. I also have mild Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). I always feel a little silly rattling off the laundry list of my mental illness disorders. It makes me feel like I should add “hypochondriac” to the list as well. My depression…
10 Tips For Overturning Denied Health Insurance Claims
Knowing how to handle your healthcare insurer is one way to be a smart patient. Knowing how to handle denials is obviously a big part of that, since it’s the one time most of us have a problem with our health insurance. You probably will see denials more often…