Mental disorders

Christmas Group Therapy

by Bill Brenner December 9, 2011 Depression

Yup.

THE OCD DIARIES, Two Years Later

by Bill Brenner December 7, 2011 Addiction

Two years ago today, in a moment of Christmas-induced depression, I started this blog. I meant for it to be a place where I could go and spill out the insanity in my head so I could carry on with life. In short order, it snowballed into much more than that. Mood music: http://youtu.be/IKpEoRlcHfA About a year into my recovery from serious mental illness and addiction — the most uncool, unglamorous addiction at that — I started…  [Read More]

Slaying Old Fears In The Hollywood Hills

by Bill Brenner November 30, 2011 Addiction

This week I’ve been in Los Angeles on business. But I’ve been slaying some old demons while here. Mood music: Let’s go back 20 years — July 1991 — when I came out here with Sean Marley on my first trip to the west coast. I didn’t really want to go because I was afraid of everything and everyone. But Sean was red hot about the idea, and back then I was always out to impress the man. So off we went, on…  [Read More]

Is It Bad That Two Family Members Are In Therapy?

by Bill Brenner November 28, 2011 Addiction

If more than one member of the same family is in therapy, is that a sign that the family is seriously screwed up? Mood music: That’s the question we are asking ourselves these days. As the reader knows by now, I’ve been in therapy for OCD and related issues for seven years. Duncan sees a children’s therapist to help him work through his ADHD. Is this family a basket case? In my opinion, it’s exactly…  [Read More]

Should I Be Upset About This Report Card?

by Bill Brenner November 18, 2011 Children's issues

I’ve gotten word that a reader and dear friend was upset over last week’s post, “Reading Between The Lines Of A Bad Report Card.” She shouldn’t be. Mood music: She said that she would never have sent such a bad report card to her adult child. I think she was also upset at the suggestion that my parents weren’t paying adequate attention to me back then. I don’t mind, though. In fact, I’m happy to…  [Read More]

Death Of A Second Sibling

by Bill Brenner November 15, 2011 Coping tools

Fifteen years ago I lost the friend who had become my older brother and rudder. A vicious cycle of depression destroyed his body, but it failed to kill his soul. Mood music: For a lot of my more religious friends, that has to sound odd, if not foul. We’ve been taught that suicide is a mortal sin, the kind that sends the soul straight to hell. I used to believe that. Now I think that…  [Read More]

Give Veterans More Than Lip Service

by Bill Brenner November 11, 2011 Coping tools

People on Facebook and Twitter are honoring U.S. veterans with words of gratitude and awe. All well and good, but not nearly enough for the countless vets who suffer in silence. Mood music: [spotify:track:0dOg1ySSI7NkpAe89Zo0b9] In so many ways, we continue to treat our veterans like shit. We let so many of them live on the streets, without proper shelter or medication for the mental illnesses they caught from watching comrades get ripped apart by shrapnel…  [Read More]

Reading Between The Lines Of A Bad Report Card

by Bill Brenner November 10, 2011 Crohn's Disease

My mother found my fourth-grade report card the other day and mailed it to me. On the surface it shows a chronic C student who doesn’t give a damn about anything. But when I read between the lines I can see exactly where my 10-year-old head was at. If you look at it on the surface, you see a straight-C student who occasionally sinks to a D in social studies and math. On the back…  [Read More]

Facebook Defriending Syndrome Takes A Ridiculous Twist

by Bill Brenner November 7, 2011 Communication Skills

People see Facebook as an online place to hide from the real world. But for a growing number of unstable minds, Facebook IS part of the real world. Mood music: A woman in Iowa was arrested and charged with setting fire to the home of someone who “unfriended” her on Facebook. Here’s the story from Internet Broadcasting (as run on the WMUR website): Jennifer Christine Harris, an elementary school teaching associate in Des Moines, was…  [Read More]

Learn From My Mistakes

by Bill Brenner November 4, 2011 Addiction

In all my efforts to get sane a few years ago, I did a lot of stupid things. I’m sharing it with you here so you don’t make the same mistakes: Mood music: http://youtu.be/l4Xx_vjGnlo –Don’t try to control your compulsive binge eating problem by fasting. You won’t make it through the morning, and then you’ll binge like you’ve never binged before. –Don’t mix alcohol with pills that have the strength of four Advil tablets in…  [Read More]

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