Mental Health Awareness Month

MAY 2017

Good Afternoon Blog Readers & Followers!  We have been discussing mental health, and more specifically, depression and bi-polar depression.

Grab your Journals & Diaries for today's Blog Session.  You'll want to take notes and write out your feelings & thoughts inside your Journals and Diaries.  Since this is Mental Health Awareness Month, you may want to discuss mental health with your friends, family and colleagues during the month of May, and also share any helpful information that you find here on the Blog with others who are interested in the topics we are discussing.

We left off in our last Blog Session with a Mood Disorder Questionnaire that Readers could take and keep for their file or discuss with their doctor if Readers felt they may have a mood disorder that needs attention.

Living with a mood disorder can sometimes seem like walking on the deck of a rolling ship.  You may feel as if you just can't seem to get a firm footing.  You may wonder if you will ever get back on track, whether employment is out of reach, and if marriage and the many other things in life that define a purposeful and meaningful life are possible.  There may have been friends, family members, or others who have told you to lower your expectations of what you want your life to look like.

Here is where your Journal and/or Diary come into play.  you must remember that each of us can live in wellness.  Our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual well-being starts with us.

The World Health Organization defines wellness as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being, not just the absence of disease or disability.  It is a dynamic process of change and growth that is self-directed and defined by each individual.  Your expectations for your own wellness may be very different than those of anyone else.  You are the one who always gets to decide the direction of your life.  You are the captain of your own ship.

One important note to mention here is that you must do what is best for you, not what others feel is best for you.  People-pleasing is the cause of stress, unhappiness, and sometimes depression.  You can only please one person better than anyone else -- YOU.  Letting other people suck the life out of you, drain you, bring their negative and unhealthy vibrations around you is not conducive to your well-being.  This is not about being selfish, it is about making sure that your mental health and well-being is a number one priority.

Of course if you have children or family members that you must take care of and support that is something that can be done without causing stress and strain.  There is a joyful and peaceful way to do anything and everything.  It starts with your thoughts.  Your frame of mind in many cases is a direct result of your own thinking.

We all know how several people can be involved in the same incident, circumstance, or situation, and each person will walk away with different feelings, emotions, and/or memories.  It is no different than students being in the same class, having the same Teacher, hearing the same lesson, and each individual will take away something different (or not).

Sometimes we have to stop and check our "attitudes".  Do you have a positive or negative attitude about life?  Do you look forward to a new day, or do you dread a new day?  Are you pleased about how your life is going or are you unhappy about how your life is going?

Well, "hello" . . . Take a moment to fix your mind.  Get your Journal out and start now to do a self analysis.  What do you want out of life?  What do you want to change about your life?  What's stopping you?

PICTURE THIS:   A Clean Slate . . .

Start anew!

Here's your Journal . . .

Your Journal is a place for you to write your life story howsoever you choose.

Make of it what you will.  You're working with a clean slate.

One key rule as you write in your Journal:  Do not blame anyone else, past or present or yet to come for anything that you feel is not right in your life.  It's a new day, and a new moment, and the time is now to choose wisely.

Let us now turn our attention to Depression Manifestations.  Here is a chart that you can look over and research at will . . .

Depression Manifestations

We'll discuss each of the Depression Manifestations listed on the chart above in our next Blog Session.  So just keep a copy for later, or bookmark this Blog Session for next time.

There is one specific area that we covered in our last Blog Session, and it was bi-polar depression.  Following is the definition of Bipolar Disorder (also known as manic-depressive illness) . . . 

Bipolar Disorder (Overview)

Bipolar Disorder (also known as manic-depressive illness), bipolar disorder is a brain disorder that in its most severe form causes dramatic shifts in mood, from mania to depression.  Symptoms of mania include markedly elevated mood and energy, reduced sleep and a reduced need for sleep, racing thoughts, and grandiose ideas.  When mood changes are severe, psychotic ideation may be present.  Symptoms of depression can include low energy, feeling sad, feelings of guilt and hopelessness that are out of proportion to the patient's actual situation, low motivation, inability to experience pleasure, and suicidal ideation.  Sleep may be increased, and concentration may be impaired.  Some manic patients may be extremely irritable rather than euphoric.  Less severe but clearly abnormal mood elevations are called hypomania.

Here are a few charts to help give you a clearer prospective with regard to the Bipolar Spectrum . . .

Bipolar Spectrum

Bipolar Syndrome Types

The above two charts are for you to review, and save for our next Blog Session as well.  We'll go over each of the Bipolar Syndrome Types.

Today's Session was a general review and an introduction to using your Journal with the idea of it being a "clean slate" on which to work from in relation to writing your life story from this moment forward.

In the meantime, ENJOY YOUR LIFE!

See you in our next Blog Session!

Peace, Love & Light,

 René

©Copyright - René Allen - MAY 2017 - All Rights Reserved