This time of year ushers in struggles for a lot of people. We are hearing of more depression, more insomnia, and even physical health problems associated with the seasonal change, and on top of all that, we will be going off Daylight Saving Time next weekend. If you have had trouble with the time change in the past, we urge you to make a plan for how you will approach it this year. For one thing, don’t tell yourself you got an extra hour to sleep in! You know you will have to pay for that in the longer term! Use it as a chance to get up early, enjoy the stimulating morning light and reset your circadian rhythms in ...
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Are you tempted by an ideology? Ideological thinking extends far beyond the familiar boundaries of left versus right politics. At its core, an ideology is a fixed framework for interpreting the world-one that resists adaptation, even in the face of new evidence. Neuroscience is beginning to reveal why some minds are drawn to these stable patterns of thought, and how our brains may actually reinforce the tendency to cling to established beliefs, regardless of their political or cultural content. It appears that some people are more likely to adopt rigid thinking, with clear and strong prescriptions for how we should think, act, and interact with others. People who think in such ideological terms also tend to condemn any deviation from ...
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Researchers continue to study ADHD in an ongoing attempt to understand what it is and how and why the treatments work. Many of our own patients comment that the meaning of ADHD remains unclear. A recent study, reported in the New York Times1, looks at the effects on the brain of commonly prescribed stimulants that have observationally helped ADHD-afflicted children and adults concentrate better and access improved cognition. Surprisingly, the drugs don’t actually affect parts of the brain that are associated with “attention”. They seem to affect brain networks involved in salience (is this task important?), reward (is it worth it?), and arousal (am I motivated to work on it?). This is not to say that ADHD is a “myth” ...
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Recently we were talking with a patient who is a professional musician. He’s been working on controlling his anxiety, both through medication and through talk therapy, and he was commenting on progress he has recently made. He described a concert where he had started out with a “little” anxiety, but as it went on, he commented: "It's funny though, because I've been performing since I was 15, and there's this sort of thing that happens [during a performance] where it's like the audience isn't really there. “I'm just remembering when I did a concert a year and a half ago when I let myself get really distracted by what people were doing and you know noises in the room and ...
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Starting a new class, new level, new school this September? Even with nobody in my household attending any kind of formal education, I’m still feeling like every September is a new start with new horizons ahead. So let’s buy new notebooks and start taking notes. Maybe start that gratitude journal, or do your mood charting, or get serious about the daily schedule for keeping the circadian rhythm balanced. Any new start is meaningful, but it does seem like something vaguely academic makes sense in September. Studies tell us that we can make a decision to change something in our lives at any time. People frequently make resolutions in January, or on their birthday, but internet searches spike on topics like ...
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Who does the most for suicide prevention? Arguably, the folks who suffer from suicidal thoughtsand ideation. They are the ones in the suicide prevention trenches every day. People who feel suicidal or who have attempted suicide tell us that the foremost motivation is tostop the pain. Sometimes it comes from constantly circling thoughts (rumination); sometimes itcomes from the feeling of being a burden to other people; sometimes it comes from an illness orinjury that isn’t being treated; but the common denominator is pain that just won’t let up. For family members and friends, the question is always “what can I do?” Many of those whohave been through it, say, ask directly: “have you considered suicide?” and be prepared to listenwithout ...
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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.”
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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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