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Exercise is widely recommended as a first-line treatment for depression of all types. Many people have personal experience of feeling better and healthier when they integrate an exercise routine into their lives, and there are many studies showing measurable effects of exercise on clinical depression. However, most of these studies are small, and there are few solid conclusions that can …
Divorce is almost always a wrenching and emotionally challenging life experience. When one of the spouses has a disability, such as a diagnosis of major depression or bipolar, the questions to be addressed can be complex and difficult to settle. We are not attorneys and this post should not be understood as legal advice, but we do want to suggest …
MoodSurfing celebrated the passage of the Mental Health Parity and Addictions Equity Act (MHPAEA) of 2008, when it was first passed. We again celebrated in 2013 when the Obama administration issued guidelines for the implementation of the legislation, including parity in payments made to mental and physical health practitioners; parity in limitations in coverage (for example the number of days …
To mark Mental Health Awareness Month, the American Medical Association (AMA) has released a series of resources for primary health care physicians and other practitioners to improve the integration of behavioral health care into primary care practices. Heavily emphasized in all the resources is training for health care practices at all levels in reducing stigma and prejudice around mental health …
We use the image of “surfing” your moods to describe the experience of bipolar’s ups and downs, but we don’t mean this to imply that the mood waves of bipolar are chaotic and completely unpredictable. On the contrary, people who keep a careful log of their moods over time find clear patterns to their ups and downs. However, these patterns …
Doing nothing? Daydreaming? Your brain is still working away Neuroscientists have discovered that brain activity occurs in “networks”: a coherent interaction of different brain regions. The networks are activated harmoniously or cooperatively, depending on what you are doing. One network, connecting several different brain regions, becomes activated when we are at rest, doing “nothing” or just daydreaming. This has been …
Another interesting entry in the Sleep App market! Sleepwave promises a completely different approach to insomnia: focusing on the wakeup time instead of bedtime. This aligns with what we have said about changing when you sleep – focus on setting an appropriate wakeup time rather than trying to go to sleep earlier. According to the company, a regular alarm, whether …
Invest your energy for greater returns and more energy Depression can feel like a deep hole that you just can’t get a foothold to climb out of. But some people have found that even from deep inside the hole, there is a way to get at least a toehold, which can lead to another fingerhold, and so on, until you …
Here, we share material from the World Bipolar Day website. We encourage everyone to visit the website and get involved in education, research and advocacy for the 60 million people worldwide who are affected by bipolar disorder. WORLD BIPOLAR DAY 2024 The vision of World Bipolar Day (WBD) is to bring world awareness to bipolar disorders and to eliminate social …
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 …
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, 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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
Suicide continues to be a leading cause of death for Americans, especially younger people, where homicide and accidents lag far behind suicide in fatality rates. Budgets for suicide research and suicide prevention are woefully small, and stigma is still a barrier to seeking help, both for suicidal people and for their family members and supporters. However, amidst all the bad …
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 …
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 …
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 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 …
