Mixed mania is a type of depression, but it’s very hard to explain it to people I work with. In the view of mental health professionals, it makes a lot of sense to talk about a “mixed” state, which is a state of depression that generates lots of energy and agitation. The lethargy and slow speech of “typical” depression looks very different to an observer than the severe agitation of the mixed depressed state, but from the perspective of the person who is experiencing the mood, calling it “mixed mania” makes no sense at all. A mixed state feels very similar to a severe depression and feels not at all like the euphoric state of a typical mania. How many ...
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“Give me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” This “Serenity Prayer” attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr, and often associated with Alcoholics Anonymous, is known to many, and found hanging in cross-stich patterns, wood carvings and photographs on walls across the country. It seems to offer a well-balanced road map for the complexities of life, and many of us take it as more of a resolution for action than a request for a gift from the Almighty. But it struck me recently that we may not be taking it in as well-balanced a manner as we might. From childhood, we are trained in and rewarded for ...
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Happy New Year to Moodsurfing readers. Nothing needs to be said about 2020 that hasn’t already been said. While acknowledging how hard things are for many people right now, Moodsurfing is looking ahead with confidence to the future. 2021 has to be a better year. Regular readers will probably remember that we like Rick Hanson and his educational programs, newsletters and books. Honestly we are in awe of both his message, which is inspirational and based in neuroscience, and his energy. Moodsurfing made it through most of The Foundations of Wellbeing course but it required quite a commitment of time. So, we were pleased to run across the announcement for Just One Minute, a subscription program that is both more ...
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What’s your seasonal mindset? Does Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) increase as latitude increases up into the far polar regions where winter nights are longest? A recent study from Norway found the opposite: people who live at higher latitudes have stronger coping skills and there is less change in subjective well-being over the course of a year. Kari Leibowitz, a researcher from Stanford, went to the far north of Norway to study why there appears to be less incidence of SAD at higher latitudes. She found that peoples’ “mindset” is an important determiner of their well-being during the dark winter days. She asked study participants to rate their agreement with such statements as “there are many things to enjoy about winter”, ...
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How good is your life? Psychologists look at factors like “subjective well-being”, “overall life satisfaction” and “positive affect” (good feelings) to measure the effects of particular events and situations on how well or badly people feel like they are functioning in the world. The coronavirus pandemic has had a notable and obvious effect on people’s sense of well-being, bringing about some level of negative feelings and appraisals for almost all of us. How we cope with a negative event such as a pandemic, or other natural disaster, impacts how well we can recover and move on with our lives in the midst of problems and challenges. Coping with Coronavirus Well A new study from Germany looked very specifically at subjective ...
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How do you recognize the symptoms of depression? Isn’t that something everyone should know? We’ve all learned how to recognize the symptoms of Covid 19, right? And other diseases have organizations that do public education about them, like cancer, heart disease, etc. Alexi Pappas, writing in the New York Times, says that everyone should be taught to recognize the symptoms of depression in the same way that we learn to take account of physical symptoms. Her podcast describes her own brush with major depression after record-setting runs and participation in the 2016 Olympics. Throughout her career as a runner, her coaches taught her to be aware of her body’s signals in order to get to and remain in top physical ...
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Welcome to MoodSurfing.com, the site that highlights strategies for living creatively with moods and coping with depression. This site is for people with bipolar, depression, cyclothymia, and others who experience powerful moods and want to figure out how to integrate these experiences into successful lives.
Although most of us are mental health clinicians of one kind or another, this site is not about providing people with medical or clinical advice (see below). We hope that we can help you cope with depression, maybe even allow you to live well with moods.
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We have done a series of interviews with people who have interesting things to say about different aspects of living creatively with moods. You can find those under the heading “Conversations.”
DISCLAIMER
This site is not designed to and does not provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment or services to you or to any other individual. Through this site and linkages to other sites, Moodsurfing provides general information for educational purposes only. The information provided in this site, or through linkages to other sites, is not a substitute for medical or professional care, and you should not use the information in place of a visit, call consultation or the advice of your physician or other healthcare provider. Moodsurfing is not liable or responsible for any advice, course of treatment, diagnosis or any other information, services or product you obtain through this site.
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Medical information changes constantly. Therefore the information on this site or on the linked websites should not be considered current, complete or exhaustive, nor should you rely on such information to recommend a course of treatment for you or any other individual. Reliance on any information provided on this site or any linked websites is solely at your own risk.
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