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Kate Middleton Shows Her Support For Children Struggling With Mental Health: It’s Okay to Ask for Help

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Wow, I am so happy that Kate Middleton, yes of the British royalty fame, is advocating for children getting help for mental illnesses just as they would for a physical illness. She is also all for the loss of stigma that is often attached to having a mental illness, saying if someone breaks their arm, they would see a doctor, so why not for a mental illness. When people in the limelight speak up for these issues, the world is more likely to listen, so I applaud her for this.

http://www.eonline.com/news/625914/kate-middleton-shows-her-support-for-children-struggling-with-mental-health-it-s-okay-to-ask-for-help

As a mother, Kate Middleton really knows how important a healthy childhood can be.

Unfortunately, too many kids are faced with anxiety, depression or other mental health struggles while growing up.

In honor of the U.K.’s first Children’s Mental Health Week, the Duchess of Cambridge is speaking out for a cause she believes every human should care about. The message is nothing short of powerful and profound.

“The challenges children face in the U.K. today could often feel overwhelming. BothPrince William and I have seen that many young people are struggling to cope with the impact of bullying, domestic violence, family breakdowns and more,” she shared. “Without support, the effects of these challenges can be traumatic leading to serious issues such as anxiety, depression, addiction and self-harm.”

So what is there to do? It’s time to finally start talking about mental health.

“We need to help young people and their parents understand that it’s not a sign of weakness to ask for help,” Prince George‘s mom proclaimed. “A child’s mental health is just as important as their physical health and deserves the same quality of support.”

The 33-year-old mom also brought up an excellent question that could get a lot of parents thinking.

You wouldn’t feel bad about getting your child help for a broken arm. So why would you feel bad about getting your son or daughter help with emotional difficulties?

“The sigma about mental health means many children do not get the help they so badly need. This needs to change,” the Royal Patron of Place2Be concluded. “Together, with open conversations and greater understanding, we can ensure that attitudes towards mental health change and children receive the support they deserve.”

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Do YOU think bipolar disorder is a gift?

No do I not, in any way, think bipolar disorder is a gift.
And thank you for mentioning bipolar1blog!

dyane's avatarVegan Keto for Bipolar Disorder

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Sooooooo, my friends, I usually just post once a week, but I can’t help posting once more.

I’ve gotten into a relatively new habit of checking out the Word Press Freshly Pressed selections.

On Thursday I spotted this post in the line-up:

https://mybeautifulmachine.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/bipolar-as-unexpected-gift/

While I was genuinely glad that the topic of bipolar disorder attracted the attention of the WordPress editorial staff, I was also disappointed.

Why?

Because, because, because, because…(and I know some of you will disagree with me on this point, but I still love you!)

I can’t stomach calling bipolar disorder a gift.  My Dad had bipolar disorder, and he didn’t think it was a gift either!  

I guess when it comes to mental illness, my attitude of non-gratitude runs in the family!

(And I wonder why Oprah won’t return my phone calls about being interviewed on her

“Super Soul Sunday” show!!!)

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I’ve read numerous bipolar-themed memoirs…

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The Blog

It’s very strange, you have a blog. You pour out your soul into it. You write almost everyday. You post your writing. Sometimes it actually helps to unburden yourself and you really feel lighter. Sometimes, it just unsettles the murky sands of your mind and it becomes more difficult to see clearly, no, no clear vision after some posts. No clairvoyance. But the strange thing is that you have really no control over who reads your blog or how many people read your blog.

There is a statistics page. It shows how many visitors your blog has had and how many of your posts were viewed and from what country the viewers came. For example it says 3 visitors. 3 views. And it says which posts got how many views. Picture below.

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And that is all it tells you. You don’t know if the viewers actually read your whole post, or if they liked it, or if they’ll be coming back. So you live in uncertainty… sort of like life… haha.

Of course, some of my viewers always comment and leave such wonderful comments that it literally warm my heart.

Ah well, a foray into the world of blogging. Fun, educational, and just like life. Onwards ho!

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Probiotics may hold key to improving mental health

http://www.ctvnews.ca/health/health-headlines/probiotics-may-hold-key-to-improving-mental-health-1.2212893

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Probiotics, the healthy bacteria that live in our guts may be the key to treating mental illness!! In one study, when mice were stripped of their good, healthy bacteria, they developed anxiety and depression. When they were again given probiotics back, their mood became normal, as chemicals that reduce depression and anxiety flooded their brain. These findings show that is possible to simply feed a bacterium to mice and actually change the chemistry in their brain.
“In the first study of its kind, Canadian researchers are investigating whether probiotics, the good stomach bacteria that aid digestion, regulate the immune system and reduce inflammation, may in fact be a treatment for those with bipolar disorder.”
Dr. Valerie Taylor at the Women’s College Hospital in Toronto is doing a study in which she is giving probiotics to people with mental illness. She hopes to find out whether probiotics can have a similar effect in people. And if they do, then taking an over the counter pill is good bacteria will be able to help millions of people with mood disorders and other mental illnesses.

6 Comments Posted on Posts

My CLINT MALARCHUK Interview posted on Mental Illness – Do You Know?” and Many Other Sites!!!

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I just happened to come upon a blog called “Mental Illness – Do You Know?” and saw my CLINT MALARCHUK interview (my original post: https://bipolar1blog.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/clint-malarchuk-interview-by-samina-raza/) posted on it (link below)! I am tickled absolutely pink! Ah the wonders of the internet!!!

http://mentalillness-doyouknow.com/clint-malarchuk-interview/

And then just out of curiosity I googled it and found many sites that have posted my interview! See here: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=samina%20raza%20clint%20malarchuk%20interview

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INSIGHT

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Insight may be the single most important factor in determining how well a person with a mental illness does. Major mental illnesses, of course, come with delusions, thought disturbances, illusions, and the seeming inability to accept the very fact or total or partial denial that “I” have a mental illness. This can lead to bad things. Then “I” will not go to see a psychiatrist, “I” will not take my medication, because “I” do not think there is anything wrong with me. In the meantime the disease is getting more severe and more difficult to treat. Also as time passes, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia will cause neuronal cell death in brains and this will be worse in unmedicated brains.

So the important thing then is to help the mentally ill patient realize that they have an illness. Make them aware of the symptoms, for example in mania the symptoms are:

  • Euphoria
  • Inflated self-esteem
  • Poor judgment
  • Rapid speech
  • Racing thoughts
  • Aggressive behavior
  • Agitation or irritation
  • Increased physical activity
  • Risky behavior
  • Spending sprees or unwise financial choices
  • Increased drive to perform or achieve goals
  • Increased sex drive
  • Decreased need for sleep
  • Easily distracted
  • Careless or dangerous use of drugs or alcohol
  • Frequent absences from work or school
  • Delusions or a break from reality (psychosis)
  • Poor performance at work or school

These (except for the break from reality or psychosis) may seem like normal human behaviors, but when many of them are present at the same time and with a high intensity, then it may be fair to assume that this is an illness and not just normal behavior. If untreated, people will bipolar 1 disorder will go into a psychosis, meaning they will have delusions and be out of touch with reality. This is the most dangerous part of the disease. And psychosis happens at the extreme end of mania as well as at the extreme end of depression. Both very bad places to be. In mania you may think you are super man and you can fly and literally try to do so, causing yourself harm. In depression you may think other bizarre, unreal thoughts, such as you are a “dark lord” with powers, who knows, at this point in someone’s illness, they can think anything and may do some very strange things, that can result in self injury or injury to others.

So, as I said, insight, which is the ability to judge who you really are, and when in one of these episodes, realize that this is not you, it is your illness which has taken over your brain and is now making the decisions of how you act for you.

I think I was “lucky” in a way because I didn’t manifest bipolar 1 disorder till I was 25 years old. So, I had 25 years to be ME, so when the illness took over me and my life, at some point I knew it wasn’t me and called the doctor. Even when I had reached the psychosis stage, in between periods of being out of touch with reality, when I would come back to myself, I realized I needed to be in the hospital and even though it was done with a lot of drama and emotion, I did have my self hospitalized. And I strongly believe that because of my insight, I have only been hospitalized twice in the last 29 years. Most of the time, I and my doctor, we have caught the disease early enough so that it was treatable by increasing the doses of the meds I was on, or temporarily adding another medicine. My champion of course is Lithium Carbonate extended release (ER.) Since last March, I have been on 900 mg of Lithium and have experienced no major mood disturbance. Most notable is the absence of the yearly foray into mania around the end of the year.

I have had minor mood fluctuations, mostly towards the depressive side, but thankfully nothing too extreme. Also, these may be happening because I am totally off Zoloft, a selective Serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI,) and I have been on it since 1991, when it first came out. So, having been on it for so long, there are changes in the brain that happen, and these changes (changes such as Serotonin receptor down regulation and Serotonin synaptic vesicle up regulation, both of these result in less Serotonin reaching the Serotonergic neurons) make Serotonin less available to the neurons. And since Serotonin is needed for normal mood, not having enough of it would cause depressive episodes. These changes take about 6 months to a year to reverse themselves. This is what makes it so difficult to come off of SSRI’s. And this problem only happens specifically for SSRI’s 😦 But I’ve done difficult things before and coming off Zoloft successfully is just going to get added to that list of difficult things.

But, back to insight, if we can somehow cultivate insight, or perhaps find someone whose judgement we trust and listen to them when they say “Uh oh it’s happening again,” meaning the disease is acting up again, then I seriously believe we’ll have a fair chance of beating mental illness.

So lets all keep a check on our moods and actions and feelings and take action when it seems like they are running rampant upon out lives. Insight can and will help us keep our illnesses from destroying our lives.

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Though Nothing Can Bring Back The Hour

Buff Erie Co Bot Gardens. orchid orange tulips red and white tulip roses in backyard - Version 3 IMG_0682

“Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be…”
― William Wordsworth

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The Prelude by William Wordsworth

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“The earth was all before me. With a heart
Joyous, nor scared at its own liberty,
I look about; and should the chosen guide
Be nothing better than a wandering cloud,
I cannot miss my way.”
― William Wordsworth, The Prelude

9 Comments Posted on Cooking, Eckhart Tolle, Now, Posts, The Power of Now

Cooking Helps!

This might seem to be a strange post for a blog entitled Bipolar1Blog, but really it is not. Cooking is a great way to stay in the now, thereby avoiding the drama which leads to high emotions. Staying calm is one of my primary goals in managing my bipolar 1 disorder. Not only do emotions run rampantly out of control when I am manicky or depressed, I think maybe not managing my emotions properly also leads to mood episodes. So anything that keeps me calm and out of the drama in my head or the astronomical amounts of anxiety I sometimes experience, is GOOD! I think that is also why Art therapy works when people are not feeling well. Their mind is occupied with the task at hand and isn’t flying around in clouds of drama, anger, depression, mania or in the past or future. It really is well tethered to the present and at peace. As such, cooking helps me stay in the Now! My mind is silent, I am concentrating on the task at hand in the now, the egoic mind is not trying to brew up some high drama or dragging me along to voyages in the past or future. When I am cooking, there is no next moment or past moment. I am chopping in the Now, sautéing in the now, boiling in the now. And then I have a wonderful meal that I eat in the Now 🙂

(I am reading the rest of The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. When I am done with it and done with deciphering it, I will post about it. It is an absolutely revolutionary, incredibly instructive book on how to live a life in the Now! A quote: To stay present in everyday life, it helps to be deeply rooted within yourself; otherwise, the mind, which has incredible momentum, will drag you along like a wild river. Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now)

We had breakfast for dinner tonight.

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An omelet with organic eggs,

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hot green peppers, and oodles of fresh, chopped cilantro,IMG_5089

tomatoes, onions, (sorry forgot to take an onion picture…)

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all cooked in olive oil.

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I also made some potatoes with cumin seeds, onions, and dried red hot chili peppers.

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And served it with a Blue Dog baguette,

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and some Sauvignon Blanc.

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A lovely, simple dinner. Here’s to the Now! Cheers.

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Compassion

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The Buddha taught that to realize enlightenment, one must develop two attributes. And these two attributes are wisdom and compassion. Compassion is a big deal in Buddhist philosophy. I wrote about it in my last post. But what is it? According to Buddhist philosophy, it is “Active sympathy” or “Willingness to bear the pain of others.” The Cambridge Dictionary definition is “a strong feeling of  sympathy and sadness for other people’s suffering or bad luck and a desire to help.” 

If when we see people, we can stop seeing them as others and feel compassion for them, wouldn’t that make the world a better place in which to live?

If instead of berating ourselves, and constantly criticizing ourselves, what if we turned the eyes of compassion on ourselves? Wouldn’t we suffer less? And if we suffer less, then don’t we make other living beings suffer less as well?

There has been so much violence in this world, so much killing and mayhem. Is it not time for compassion, towards ourselves and others?

What if we make a pledge to ourselves to let compassion rule? To see ourselves with the gentle eyes of loving compassion. To see others with the gentle eyes of loving compassion. To see all living beings with the gentle eyes of loving compassion.

No these are not just words, these are powerful ideas, that when put into practice, can have a powerful effect on the world in which we live. An effect for the great betterment of the world.