I’ve lived almost half my life ruminating about the past, or worrying – rather obsessively – about the future. It’s only in recent years that I’ve been in the present.
Dr Elisha Goldstein, author of “The Now Effect”, is a clinical psychologist who specializes in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction. He has a blog on Psych Central that addresses these kinds of problems, which I’ve found to be personally very helpful.
In his latest post he writes:
If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time you’ll know that I struggle with exercise on a daily basis. OK, hands up…who else?
There is a yawning big gap in the market for a CBT therapist to specialize in exercise. Or at least overcoming the mental obstacles that prevent exercise. My recent post Psychologists Therapy Treats Mind and Body pointed to one such therapist who combines psychotherapy and fitness sessions. It’s a close match, although he doesn’t necessarily focus on a mind-exercise problem, as much as provide a treatment solution.
Researchers have found that people who compulsively check their phones for new messages, alerts and updates can end up more stressed. More stress with more checking – it makes sense. iMedicalApps.
In a somewhat related story, sleep experts say they are seeing an increase in cases of “sleep texting”. From a TMCnet article: ”Apparently, sending text messages throughout the day and right before bed isn’t enough for some text messaging addicts…according to researchers, day-to-day stress has triggered an unusual habit of people sending text messages while they are actually sleeping.”
Dr. Markus Schmidt of Ohio Sleep Medicine Institute says that one of his patients even sleep-texted nude pictures of herself.
“In my last post, I noted that Facebook and social media are major contributors to career anxiety. After seeing some of the comments and reactions to the post, it’s clear that Facebook in particular takes it a step further: Its actually making us miserable.
Facebook’s explosive rate of growth and recent product releases, such as the prominent Newsticker, Top Stories on the newsfeed, and larger photos have all been focused on one goal: encouraging more sharing. As it turns out, its precisely this hyper-sharing that is threatening our sense of happiness.” Daniel Gulati.
When I’m not berating myself about exercise I’m feeling hassled by our cluttered house. Complexity in life – including number of possessions – affects my mental health. There is a psychological cost to clutter and I feel calmer with less.
Gretchen Rubin, a well-known writer about happiness, makes the same observation:
“One of my key realizations about happiness, and a point oddly under-emphasized by positive psychologists, given its emphasis in popular culture, is that outer order contributes to inner calm. More than it should…”
In this post she walks through the things that stop us from clearing clutter. They are largely psychological.
Don Mills, self-confessed “crabby old fart”, rails incessantly against young people. ”They all have “disorders”. That’s the problem with young people today.”
Apart from this contention, Don’s blog really has nothing to do with mental health. I’m just passing it along as potential laugh therapy.
From a recent post:
“The problem with young people today is that they’re too damned soft.
New research published by the American Psychological Association shows that blogging has psychological benefits for teens suffering from social anxiety.
The study’s lead author, Meyran Boniel-Nissin from the University of Haifa, says that “writing about distress in itself, even without audience interaction, generates desired changes in participants. Although social feedback is an important factor in causing change in bloggers, the very writing has its own value, thus supporting the arguments and replicating the findings pertaining to the therapeutic value of traditional expressive writing.”
A new blog, We Have to Make It, is a good example of a teen writing for therapeutic reasons, although in this case for depression.
A blogger once took me to task – quite publicly – for naming our applications “Optimism”. According to him, they should be called “Hope”. Without a doubt.
I’ve always been puzzled by this. “Optimism” has an element of confidence, with an expectation of progress. Hope is more wishful* . You could say that hope is a precursor to optimism.
With applications unashamedly named “Optimism”, naturally enough I’m very interested in the role of optimism in improving mental health.
Another of my favorite writers is Alistair McHarg, author of Invisible Driving, Moonlit Tours and Washed Up. His writing is full of absurdities about life and mental illness, a throwback to his wild experience of full-blown mania.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading “Invisible Driving” a few years ago – it is one of only five books that I haven’t recycled. The first chapter is still on this blog to read, together with an interview about the book.
Alistair is in fine form in his Funny in the Head blog on Healthy Place, where he sets out his new year’s resolutions:
One of my favorite blogs is Colony of Losers.
There are hundreds of “patient blogs”* out there. Cathartic musings, accounts of lived experience, rants, advice for people with the same condition.
Colony of Losers is different. It is all of these things, but not so much a blog, or weblog, as a well written story. The author is Michael Kimber, a 26 year-old journalist who recounts his crippling depression, anxiety and insomnia. He finds no cure for them except his decision to change.