Mood Swings and Daylight Savings

It’s that time of the year again, when we have to figure out what to do with the clocks – and indeed, how many time-keeping devices we have around the house nowadays.  Some of them change themselves and others don’t. Then on top of that, there’s all the people arguing about whether changing the clocks twice a year is a …

Mental Health Apps Get Warnings, Need Regulation

Apps for mental health of all kinds are a rapidly growing phenomenon, you can hardly look at an online store without getting a list of all the new apps for meditation, online therapy, diet helps, insomnia, mood charting and many others. Now, researchers are taking a deeper look into the data that these apps collect on users, and how well …

Intermittent Fasting Update

Intermittent fasting, or the “fasting mimicking diet” is slowly gaining credibility and hard evidence for its effectiveness not only in weight loss, but also in improvements in cardiovascular fitness, immune function, diabetes 2, longevity, and mood. There are several ways to fast intermittently, including daily patterns, such as 8:16, in which you eat during an 8-hour window, and not at …

Learn How to Pay Attention to the Positive

Patients in recovery from major depressive episodes may need help learning to process positive information and stimuli.  Researchers found that people with a history of major depressive disorder spend more time processing negative information than healthy controls, and they may have less control over which information they process. This negative bias suggests that people recovering from depression may need to …

Look Up!

New Year’s resolutions should be simple and easy to keep; that’s one of the better pieces of advice on the subject that I’ve seen.  So here’s a simple one, Every time you step outside of a door, look up.  That’s it.  Just see the sky.  Not to check the weather, but to open yourself up – body and mind. Tilting …

Happy New Year!

How do you face the new year?  With dread?  With optimism?  Mixed feelings?  Do you have a sense of efficacy about personal growth in the coming days and weeks, or are you all about “learned helplessness” and “nothing ever works anyway”? MoodSurfing regularly looks at the topics of habit change and self-improvement, especially at this time of year, when many …

The Loneliness Epidemic

Loneliness is implicated in shortened lifespans, worsened physical and mental health, addiction, economic disruption and homelessness, among others.  Its spread constitutes a true public health crisis in the USA, and intervention is urgently called for.  However, at present, only individual efforts are offered as a solution.  Reach out.  Make sure your elderly relatives are getting a phone call regularly.  Join …

Holiday Blues?

We’re coming up on a time of year that for many (maybe even most) people offers significant challenges.  Now is the time to plan ahead for the difficulties you typically face during the holiday season, and call to mind coping strategies that have worked for you in the past, or new ones that you want to try. Depression is a …

UCSF Psycho-Educational Zoom Group for Adults with Bipolar Disorder – January 2024

The Adult Psychiatry Clinic at UCSF has released the schedules of their Group Psycho-Education for Bipolar Disorder for January 2024. This activity under the Bipolar Disorder Program of the Department of Psychiatry is aimed at providing a community resource for individuals with bipolar disorder, mental health professionals and psychiatrists. Headed by Dr. Descartes Li, the program director, it is designed …

Addiction

Addiction is a potent topic for debate in our debate-happy society, but, as with so many of those topics, the debates usually generate more heat than light.  That’s why we are glad that the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association have put out this handy, easy to read guide about addiction, separating fact from myth. Addiction is an …

Mattering

Who Matters?  Do you? Mattering is an important component of well-being Struggling with depression, Isaac slept late every morning, just dashing out in time to be “only a little” late to work each day.  His apartment never got cleaned, and meals were a hit-and-miss combination of takeout and supermarket junk food.  Then his mom went on vacation and brought her …

Mood Charting

What is Mood Charting, and why do we think it’s so important? In simple terms, mood charting is making notes, either on paper or electronically, about what your mood is at about the same time each day.  The chart can include other data points, such as hours of sleep, or type and duration of exercise, but the main idea is …

Amazing

It’s Amazing! Managing a chronic disorder or illness can seem like a full-time job.  Taking the medication, wondering about the medication, getting to all the therapists’ appointments, watching the diet, getting enough sleep, keeping the house clean and paying the bills each month.  Whew!  There’s no time in life for stopping and smelling roses. And what about those roses?  How …

Medication and Stigma

Why are some illnesses and conditions stigmatized while others are not?  Writing in the New York Times, Dr. Aaron Carroll, chief health officer of Indiana University, suggests that stigma arises when we don’t understand the causes of a condition.  Mental disorders like bipolar and supposedly “lifestyle” problems like obesity and alcoholism may appear to be more under the control of …

Every Day is Suicide Prevention Day

September 10 has been designated as Suicide Prevention Day in the United States, and each year that day provides everyone a chance to stop and reflect.  Suicide causes more deaths annually than violent crime, accidents, and smoking.  In every age group, beginning from age 10, suicide is one of the major causes of death.  We don’t seem to be doing …

Dependence

Dependence: Problem or not?  Consider the many ways you are dependent on others, on the Earth, and on the invisible structures of society to get by in life.  Consider whether our culture’s constant harping on independence is realistic or healthy.  Today, let’s explore the positive sides of being dependent.  It may turn out to be the more realistic way of …

Stress and Depression

Exploring the links between stress, anxiety, and depression Stress and mental illness The stress response is unfortunately very familiar to modern people.  We all know that when something bad happens, our brains flood our bodies with chemicals that would have been useful in the remote past, stimulating the “fight, flight, or freeze” response.  Useful for dealing with a hungry sabre-toothed …