BlogHer - Mental Health - Comments

thanks!

Amy Gates — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:00:48 -0500

Thank you for sharing, Mindi. The more I explore my GAD, the earlier I can trace it. I know I had it (undiagnosed) back in high school. It seemed like it came out of nowhere when it was finally diagnosed, but I realize I had it for many many years (though not as severe back then).

I hope you have found ways to successfully deal with yours.

Warmly,

Amy Crunchy Domestic Goddess BlogHers Act contributing editor

Not Alone

mfreston — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:56:35 -0500

I was diagnosed with GAD after having my son. I've had it all my life though since elementary school. It runs on both sides of my family so I was pretty much doomed. It's so nice to know I'm not the only one!! I wish you all the best!

Mindi

Thanks Tamiel!

mfreston — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 23:55:01 -0500

I am here for you as well! It's nice to have someone help hold me up! :)

Trauma Begets Trauma

tamiel — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:37:00 -0500

Thank you for staying in touch...so your family's biology begat trauma, begat biology, begat trauma...a never ending cycle. I'm sure, too, that there is a biological basis for my depression, which, like with your dad, caused my mother to create traumas that set off my own biological predisposition. The rape (s) were just insurance that I would be ill.

You will blame your dad, your mom, your brain chemistry, and all of that is appropriate. But what's important for you, which you are doing, is taking responsibility for managing your well-being. It's difficult, I know, but keep trying. For your own sake first, then for those lovely children you have.

I am here, that person who knows the dark places in your heart and soul. Lean hard, because you need to, and because when we lean into each other, neither of us falls...

It's just life, after all.

I believe I have both. My

mfreston — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:51:12 -0500

I believe I have both. My family has had a long history of mental illness. I've defidently picked up a lot of my behaviour from my Father and the way he rasied us due to the trauma he experienced as a child. Creating trauma for us in the way we were being raised. It's like a domino affect. I constatnly worry about 'rubbing off' on my kids-behavior wise-because heaven knows depression/anxiety is in their genes! I learned just a year or so ago that my dad has been bulimic in the past, my DAD! I never knew that, and I myself have been for the past 12 years. He lost his dad to a heart attack when he was 10. 2 years later his mom died in the Utah state hospital. She had so much anxiety she couldn't even drive a car, and after her husband died she completely lost it. She was sent to stay at the psych hospital. She fell and hit her head. They put her in a stray jacket and she hemmoraged over night and died. The family sued the state of Utah but lost-apparently the family believes she was thrown to the ground while trying to escape, and obviously they did not do a check up on her to see if she was injured or not. My dad has a lot of anger, OCD, anxiety, and of course depression-Scitzoprenia runs on his side-I have a lot of stories about my aunt and grandma. Suicide, eating disorders, and depression runs on my moms too. I was pretty much doomed! I'm trying to reteach myself the way to live life. I can have dishes in the sink and still be able to function-that was never a possibility growing up for me. Everything had to be PERFECT for my dad. I was a daddy's girl until I became a teenager, then he had nothing to do with me. I felt abandoned by him. Obviously I attribute a lot of my problems to him. Am I blaming him?

Pulling up Roots

tamiel — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 23:34:29 -0500

Thank you for sharing your comment...the root cause question came out of a curiosity. I know that for many people, these "illnesses" are more biological in nature, not necessarily stemming from a traumatic event(s). I want to know how many women out there can attribute depression to trauma, like I do.

I have this mental image of my brain, organically, disrupted and shot through by stubborn roots growing from the seed of my multiple traumas. I imagine chopping away at them, pulling them up, seeing blood and tissue tearing away, the way dirt is loosened and torn away when a tree is uprooted....

Keep struggling with this; there is hope, spilling like water, like blood, from those pulled roots, whatever they are. Thank you again for sharing.

It's just life, after all.

This post is so familiar to

mfreston — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:52:35 -0500

This post is so familiar to me. And I love the question 'What was your first episode.' I'm reaching deep in my mind this very moment to even retrieve that memory. I still do not know my root cause. I've struggled with eating disorders, depression, anxiety, 'mental illness' (I guess) for years now. I'm 28 and I feel like I still don't know who I am. But you are right-that's life! I have a love/hate relationship with life that's for sure!

Inside the Blue

tamiel — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:31:25 -0500

What was your first episode like? Did you find a root cause?

It's just life, after all.

Song celebrating Hyperactive Dreamers

ninocka — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:29:16 -0500

For the ADHD Awareness week it's good to focus on abilities that inattentive and hyperactive people have. There's a great song celebrating that things which came out recently. Everone should check it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIn9yOZQNok

hi

faithsbluecrystals — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:02:06 -0500

Thank you for this post. Its a very helpful reminder.

Thank you for sharing your story.

Catherine Morgan — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:28:59 -0500

Thanks Norma. Thank you for sharing your story and all of this important information about ADHD.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan

at Catherine-Morgan.com and Women4Hope

Wonderful post, Catherine.

Norma156 — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 10:33:17 -0500

Wonderful post, Catherine. Our oldest son has severe ADHD, so if you don't mind, I'd like to add a couple of points that buttress your information.

It's not just fidgeting...it's fidgeting without a purpose or apparent goal.

Apparently, ADHD started to be recognized after the Great Influenza. For decades, it was called "minimal brain damage." It was only in the sixties that the medical community began to recognize it for what it is...an umbrella term encompassing a host of neurological disorders.

When our son was diagnosed at age five, the team at Texas Medical Center told us a couple of things I'll never forget. The first was that we could choose to ignore it. It's an "invisible" condition. The child isn't in a wheel chair, for example. But, if we did, they cautioned, we should remember the one-third-one-third-one-third rule. That is, a third of ADHD kids will out grow it, a third will learn to manage it, and a third will go to jail. That's because poor impulse control is a major symtom of the condition. A contributory factor is that many, if not most, ADHD children have severe social problems. So, if for example, someone suggests "Oh, let's steal a car," an ADHD child might go along with it because he or she wants to be liked.

The road for parents of ADHD children is terribly hard. It's not just medicine...it's social therapy, teaching your child the social skills that are intuitive for most children. It's special schools or classrooms. Many ADHD children have learning disorders. It's also monitoring your child carefully so that emotional disorders are promptly identified and treated. (These children know something is "wrong" with them.) Parent should join support groups and never, ever take the child to a therapist or doctor who isn't expert in the condition. Support groups can provide those recommendations.

It's also, hopefully, having a loving extended family, a grandmother, for example, and aunts and uncles, who firmly love the child and communicate it constantly and unwaveringly.

Again, thank you for such a beautifully researched piece and for drawing attention to the condition.

Giving and receiving positive words

Maria Niles — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:24:26 -0500

It is true that we often have a hard time taking a compliment without diminishing it - it's a muscle we have to work to build. And when offering kind words (I had so much fun at the conference last week having the opportunity to tell bloggers how much I love their writing) brings such joy - I really want people to hear and believe all the positive words that come their way.

Thanks so much for your comment, 2bfitness!

BlogHer Contributing Editor
PopConsumer
Beyond Help

Positive words go a long way!

2bfitness — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:16:41 -0500

How beautiful! Words said with love mean so much! What a gift to tell someone you are smart, you are beautiful, you are amazing, you are to be admired. We need to give that more and it will surely enhance our own lives for the doing! Women in general take care of everyone else's needs and desires first before their own. I even find that they have a hard time even hearing the compliment as if it is foreign to hear....Thanks for the reminder....

What joy

Maria Niles — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:35:49 -0500

That must leave you feeling full of love when you offer those words to the little girls at church. What a gift you give and I hope you hear those words often.

Thank you for your comment!

BlogHer Contributing Editor
PopConsumer
Beyond Help