Depression – a coming out story (6 November 2015)

Mental illness affects someone you know. Talking about it is the first step to normalization. This is the first in a series about my daughter’s experience.

Metathesis

Chandelier II, a sculpture from my art show, “The Strength in Our Scars”

Two years ago I came out: not with a revelation about my sexuality, rather an announcement about my mental health. At the point I came forward, I had been struggling with major depressive disorder for roughly a year, but things had recently gotten bad. Cutting myself bad. Fantasizing about suicide bad. In need of hospitalization bad. At that point I needed to let loose the secret I had so closely guarded.

I don’t want to abscond with the language developed by the LGBT community and simply coopt the description of the brave announcement of their true selves, but I see useful overlap in the two experiences. It is the overlap of stigmatization and fear of consequences in both processes that leads me to respectfully borrow the term.

As much support as mental illness sufferers may get from…

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Specialist in Moving

the Diligent Observer

At first glance, the Author thought the cat was holding a murdered mouse in it’s mouth, which seemed rather grisly for an advertisement. However, a cat holding a kitten makes a bit more sense! Still, an odd mascot for a moving company, but a lovely example of ghost advertisement.

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The Web is Your Oyster: Where to Find Free-to-Use Images

When I need an image for a blog post I can never remember where to get them. Perhaps now I can remember that I reposted this list. 🙂

The Daily Post

For many of you, images are an integral part of your site. But sometimes, you might not have the right photograph to use for a post. As we’ve mentioned before, you can use the Creative Commons to search for images you need across the web, from Flickr to Wikimedia Commons, and source and attribute images that you find.

This spring, WordPress.com announced embed support for Getty Images, which means you can also access and share photos from Getty’s extensive library for non-commercial use.

We’ve recently noticed other sites that compile great images that are free to use for your personal projects — like your blog — or commercial work. Let’s take a peek.

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Healing with the Lavender Cabbage

When Liz was going through a period of major depression on good days she was afraid to say that she was getting better. The up and down nature of recovery caused her to fear that just talking about feeling better would jinx her progress. So she came up with the code word cabbage instead.

Exploring different avenues of healing she tried visualizing colors and scents to describe her moods. Lavender was the color that provided the most comfort.

Art creation was a big part of her recovery. Now that life is much closer to normal she is putting on her second art show in Syracuse in May. ‘The Strength in Our Scars’ – a multi-media art show visually exploring elements of depression and self-harm, as well as the beauty of true healing.

Check out the video showing her multimedia works. If you have a couple of bucks to contribute to Mental Health Advocacy and the Arts her Kickstarter campaign would appreciate it.

You could even get your own healing Lavender Cabbage.

Twas in the moon of wintertime

Here’s a Christmas Carol that you might not be familiar with. I was first introduced to it in Louise Penny’s book How the Light Gets In. Now it’s one of my favorite songs of the season.

The Huron Carol is Canada’s oldest Christmas song. It was written in the Huron language in 1642 by Jean de Brébeuf, a Jesuit missionary at Sainte-Marie among the Hurons in Canada. The song’s melody is based on a traditional French folk song, “Une Jeune Pucelle” (“A Young Maid”). Tragically Father de Brébeuf was martyred in 1649 by the Iroquois.

The English version, written in 1926 by Jesse Edgar Middleton, uses imagery more familiar in the early 20th century rather than the classic Nativity story.

“Jesus is born in a “lodge of broken bark” and wrapped in a “robe of rabbit skin”. He is surrounded by hunters instead of shepherds, and the Magi are portrayed as “chiefs from afar” who bring him “fox and beaver pelts” instead of the more familiar gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The hymn also uses a traditional Algonquian name, Gitchi Manitou, for God.”

 

A Response to ‘Women Against Feminism.’

Well said!

iwantedwings

Imagine this:

The year is 2014. You are a white Western woman. You wake up in the morning in a comfortably sized house or flat. You have a full or part-time job that enables you to pay your rent or mortgage. You have been to school and maybe even college or university as well. You can read and write and count. You own a car or have a driver’s licence. You have enough money in your own bank account to feed and clothe yourself. You have access to the Internet. You can vote. You have a boyfriend or girlfriend of your choosing, who you can also marry if you want to, and raise a family with. You walk down the street wearing whatever you feel like wearing. You can go to bars and clubs and sleep with whomever you want.

Your world is full of freedom and possibility.

Then you…

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It’s that time of year…

Someone you know suffers from Depression. Sometimes it’s the situation. Sometimes it’s the change of season.
The worst is when the darkness descends for no visible reason.
Depression is a flaw in chemistry, not in character.
Take care of yourself.

Escaping Elegance

I love the fact that World Mental Health Day is in the Autumn (at least, here in the Northern Hemisphere) because there is no better time for people to be encouraged to talk about mental health.

As I wrote about here, I live with dysthymia and I am also susceptible to major depressive episodes that are triggered by low serotonin levels.

In other words… I can get really, really sad when the days start getting shorter.

In our busy lives, it is all too easy to explain away the change of mood that sometimes accompanies the change of seasons. The carefree days of summer are over, of course I’m no longer feeling so happy… right?

Well, maybe… but unless I remember that I need to get outside and see the sun during the day and that I need to exercise to work up some endorphins, then that “normal” post-summer…

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