Mental Health Update

photographer and author marja bergen recently sent along this email. her thoughts on the topic of mental health in the community - in this case religious communities - are very important. i asked for her permission to reprint her letter here, and she graciously gave it.

My uncle, a former high school history teacher, pontificated last night that President George W. Bush was an infantile man with Attention Deficit Disorder, that he was a “frat boy.”

1) She confessed to having had an anxiety nightmare about school just the night before…

The big risks get avoided because they provoke too much anxiety. I’m all for a reduction in anxiety. Paradoxically, the best way to reduce those uncomfortable feelings…both in you and in the rest of the organization…is to face that monster in the living room and understand it to death. We all know the dangers of analysis paralysis, and that should not obscure the reality that most scary project-type challenges suffer from a lack, rather than a surfeit, of understanding.

Researchers have mixed opinions about Vitamin B and its affects on depression. While some claim that taking Vitamin B-12 has been shown to have no effect on people suffering from depression and anxiety, others have made the link between a lack of Vitamin B with anxiety, depression and insomnia.

At school, I applied myself diligently and I take pride in my scholastic achievements. I have always been a knowledge-seeker, looking for groups/workshops/psychotherapy and any bits of help which could give me the skills to heal/cope with my illness. I do take medication and with it I can see such an outstanding difference in my personality and life choices from the stability it offers me.

Last Thursday I attended Stand Up for Mental Health, a comedy fundraiser for lessening public stigma around mental illness. The project was started by David Granirer, a B.C. counsellor, writer, and stand-up comic. The event included local stand-up comics, mostly new to the scene, who are past or current consumers of the mental health system.

Feeling stressed out? Tired? Bored? Here's a few simple tips to cope with stress and help you become more energetic and alert:

9. Attention Deficit Disorder - Silent night, Holy... Oooh look at the froggy... Can I have a chocolate? Why is France so far away?