Bill Brenner

Eat This! How To Survive Sans Flour And Sugar

by Bill Brenner October 19, 2011 Addiction

What exactly does a life without flour and sugar look like? Read on. Someone in work heard me rattling off everything I was eating for the day on the phone and looked at me like I had six heads. I was doing what I do almost every morning: Tell my OA sponsor what my food plan is for the day. Mood music: It sounds extreme. But it’s what I have to do to stay well….  [Read More]

Feel It, Don’t Fight It: Making The Disorder Work For You

by Bill Brenner October 18, 2011 Coping tools

Instead of fighting mental disorder — be it OCD or A.D.H.D. — picture yourself accepting and even embracing it, then learning to use it to your advantage. It’s kind of like Luke Skywalker learning to use and control the Force instead of it controlling him. Yesterday’s post on mental illness as a luxury item resonated with several readers, especially the part where I quote Edward (Ned) Hallowell, psychiatrist and co-author of “Driven to Distraction” and “Delivered…  [Read More]

Is Mental Illness A ‘Luxury’ Disease?

by Bill Brenner October 17, 2011 Addiction

There’s an interesting debate unfolding on The New York Times website about mental illness in America. What got my attention was the suggestion that mental illness and the related treatments are luxury items. Mood music: The debate — between a variety of professionals in the mental health field — runs the spectrum from suggesting mental illness is still misunderstood and undertreated to being over diagnosed and used as an excuse to hide from personal responsibility….  [Read More]

Judith Miller: The Liar’s Journalist

by Bill Brenner October 15, 2011 Adventures in writing

Judith Miller is one of many reasons I left mainstream journalism years ago. I forgot about her until Fox News decided to run this piece of filth about the BlackBerry outage and cyber terrorism. If you want to see a true specimen of fear-based journalism, read that article. In it, she takes the recent BlackBerry outage, which was the result of tech failure and not terrorism, and connects it to cyber terrorism anyway, despite the…  [Read More]

Occupy Wall Street Debate Distracts Us From A Big Truth

by Bill Brenner October 14, 2011 Uncategorized

I’m fascinated by the debate raging over this “Occupy” movement. There’s a lot of truth AND exaggeration coming from both sides. But to me the issue is a lot more basic than “laziness and entitlement” vs. “greed and bigotry.” Mood music: We always look for the big boogeyman, the personified evil we can shake our fist at and blame for everything that pisses us off. For some, it’s the corporate corner office. For others, it’s…  [Read More]

Oh, Yeah: It’s OCD Awareness Week

by Bill Brenner October 14, 2011 OCD

This is OCD Awareness Week and some of you have asked why I haven’t written about it. Here’s the ugly truth: I’m tired of all these “awareness” weeks. I admire the people behind them, and for those who don’t really know the ins and outs of the disorder there’s value in dedicating seven days to enhanced awareness. This is just a personal quirk of mine. I guess my lack of enthusiasm is due to the…  [Read More]

Support Your Local Crisis Hotline Person

by Bill Brenner October 13, 2011 Courage

One of the byproducts of writing this blog is that old friends and strangers have reached out to me for chats about what they’re going through. Mood music: http://youtu.be/mso6N_eqg_k You could say I’m doing an increasing amount of unpaid, uncertified counseling. I’d like to think it’s just me trying to be a good friend and following up on what I do here. It can be a bit much sometimes. That’s not a complaint. It’s just…  [Read More]

Season of Depression

by Bill Brenner October 13, 2011 Depression

Like everyone else, I love the colors and crisp air of autumn. But there’s something else about fall that I hate: It’s the beginning of the mood swings and depression. Mood music:  When the days get shorter and I find myself driving to work in the dark, it has an effect on my brain. Welcome to my annual class on S.A.D. People who suffer from chemical imbalances in the brain are directly impacted by daylight…  [Read More]

How To Talk To A Liar Who’s Been Caught

by Bill Brenner October 12, 2011 Addiction

A reader who recently found the two posts I wrote on addicts as compulsive liars had a sad story to share. Her husband, a compulsive spender, gambler and drinker, lies to her all the time. He apparently sucks at it. She always finds out. Mood music: How, she asked me, does she deal with a person like this? She still loves him, and in many respects he’s still the great guy. But lies are a…  [Read More]

The Way Of The Broken Soul

by Bill Brenner October 11, 2011 Courage

I went to see “The Way” with Erin and saw a lot of myself in the characters. You’d see a lot of yourself, too. Mood music: The summary of the film is this (stolen from IMDb): Tom is an American doctor who goes to France following the death of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees during a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of St. James. Tom’s purpose is…  [Read More]

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