How Toxic Parents Can Affect Your Depression
Growing up with a toxic parent is often at the root of depression. As children we have a need to bond with our parents or caregivers, but this need makes us vulnerable to being parented by people who are damaged, and being damaged ourselves in turn. What are toxic…
What to Do (On and Off the Web) While You’re Waiting for Your Antidepressants to Kick In
I’ve been there; I’ve done that. I’ve suffered from depression nearly my whole life and wasn’t diagnosed till I was 27. I know all the stages you go through when you’re waiting those six interminable weeks for your antidepressant meds to start working. So, as my gift to you,…
Recovering from Depression
So you have successfully come out of your depression, either because you have received treatment, or because the depression went away on its own. How can you stack the deck against it coming back? What’s the best way to celebrate this renewal of life? Keeping Depression Away Your enemies…
You Can’t Fight Depression on Your Own
Two things happened today that made me want to pound my head against a wall, Charlie Brown-style. The first was that I got an email from a woman who said that she is suffering from severe depression, but that friends and family want her to try to “talk herself…
Scented Baths
Baden-Baden Bath The Baden-Baden bath is a bath that you will want to repeat frequently. Its lovely pine scent and its carefully mixed ingredients will create a body of water similar to the curative mineral content of the renowned springs at the luxurious Baden-Baden spa in Germany. Select an…
10 Things You Can Do This Month to Manage Your Depression
Depression treatment can make a big difference, but it has to be managed. Many people with depression lack the motivation to pull together an effective treatment program, so if you feel like you’ve been thrashing around and getting nowhere, these suggestions might help you get on the right track.…
What You Need to Know About Suicide Contagion
Suicide, the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC), has been in the news several times in the last year due to suicide “clusters” at Cornell University and in California and Pennsylvania. A suicide cluster is…
Calming Your Senses During the Holiday Season
I worked in retail sales for over three years, all of them spent in stores in large shopping malls. The first store I worked in, Victoria’s Secret, was in a beautiful mall in Boston called Copley Place. Everything about the mall was soothing – the peach marble interior, the…
Managing Depression During the Holidays
Right before I got diagnosed with depression, I suffered through the most horrible Christmas ever. On the surface, everything was fine. I spent Christmas Day with my family as usual and a couple of days later my best friend got married in a lovely ceremony and reception. But…
Social Anxiety During the Holidays (for Adults)
We spent Halloween at my sister’s house this year. Every year, most of the houses on the block she lives on decorate their garages as one of the locations in the Harry Potter books. The crowd that comes is by now completely insane. You can barely move through the…