Keeping the Blues at Bay
A Holistic Approach to Maintaining a Positive Mood in Dark Times
What is Depression? – A Spectrum Disorder
Minor Depression, Major Depression, Recurrent Brief Depression, Dysthymia, Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood. These are fluid distinctions, and people often move from one subtype to another in their clinical course.
Symptoms: Low mood or Loss of [...]
Treatment with Thyroid Hormones with “Normal” Blood Tests
The presence of thyroid dysfunction in nonthyroidal illness (NTIS Nonthyroidal Illness Syndrome, previously known as the Euthyroid sick syndrome) is well-described in the medical literature and is particularly receiving attention in recent years in the critical care literature. This is believed to represent both hypothalamic-pituitary axis dysfunction (thus [...]
By now, you may be asking, “What exactly is this treatment that I am starting?” Before we get to the “nuts and bolts” of how this can help you, it will be useful to describe the four important components of the cognitive-behavioral approach and how they interact with one another. These four components reflect on [...]
Tagged CBT, cognitiveSome people feel so bad about their pain and their lack of a “productive life” that they feel guilty about even wanting to do anything pleasurable. They feel they do not deserve any pleasure. The truth is, however, that it is easier to become engaged in life again by doing something enjoyable; this is the [...]
“Effective problem solving requires setting clear goals; identifying emotional barriers (hooks) that may prevent goals from being accomplished; and identifying the small sequential steps needed to fulfill the goal”.
-Managing Pain Before It Manages You, Margaret Caudill, MD, PhD
Setting Goals
Reminders:
A goal should be measurable. Can you evaluate when the goal has been reached?
A goal should be [...]
Goal-setting for this program:
The trick is in setting achievable goals, i.e. ones which can be accomplished. You do not need to feel like a failure any more than you already do.
A goal should be measurable. Can you evaluate when the goal has been reached?
A goal should be realistic. Is it possible to achieve, even [...]
Most people living with chronic pain find they have limited productive time in the day, due to pain or fatigue or both. Becoming conscious of the choices we make about what to do with that time can be very helpful. For a nice analogy, see The Spoon Theory.
Break up your 24-hour day into wedges for [...]
Why forgive? Isn’t that just setting yourself up for someone to hurt you again? And the person/entity that wronged you may not deserve forgiveness. . .
The truth is, most often those who have wronged us do not think about us much at all – they are on to the next thing, while we are the [...]
There are a number of factors that can affect communication. The first thing to emphasize is that communication is a 2-way street: you express your thoughts and feelings openly and directly, and you encourage the other person to express his or her thoughts and feelings. The ideas and feelings of both people are important.
Listening skills
No [...]
“I have noticed that the Universe loves Gratitude. . . Gratitude brings more to be grateful about. It increases your abundant life. Lack of gratitude, or complaining, brings little to rejoice about. ” Louise Hay
Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos [...]