Mental health

To a Friend: Your Pride Is Killing You

by Bill Brenner November 8, 2012 Mental health

A longtime friend is letting a bout of depression hold him back. He needs a helping hand but won’t ask for it because he’s too proud. This post is for him and anyone else living under the delusion that not getting help is a sign of strength. Mood music: [spotify:track:2FEfAIvMfp24ZBRVCZIiBZ] I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there many times myself. I’ve had bouts of depression that made me lose interest in everything except…  [Read More]

Halloween Ho-Hum

by Bill Brenner October 31, 2012 Mental health

Some of my friends go bonkers for Halloween. They run an endless torrent of zombie apocalypse memes on Facebook. They revere the holiday above Christmas and Easter. Good for them. It’s more of a ho-hum holiday for me. Mood music: [spotify:track:3iuftv60t76f8Lps5TZPXl] It would be easy to tell you I’m down on Halloween this year because so many people are suffering this day from the damage Hurricane Sandy left them with. But the truth is that…  [Read More]

I’m Stressed About My Stress-Reduction Class

by Bill Brenner September 26, 2012 Mental health

Tonight is the first of eight weekly stress-reduction and mindfulness classes I’m taking. I have to admit the whole thing stresses me out a bit. It’s not that the description is bad. In fact, it sounds delightful. I’m going to learn how to use yoga and other techniques to keep my thoughts in the present, where they belong. Here’s a little background from the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction website: Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn developed the Mindfulness Based…  [Read More]

Which Is Worse? You Decide.

by Bill Brenner September 25, 2012 Mental health

I woke up pissed at the world yesterday. Part of it is that people in my life are acting like idiots, and part of it is my realization that thinking this way makes me a Grade-A hypocrite. Mood music: [spotify:track:1GnCH2KszUkpUjXuDP2G3N] I’m sick of all the ass-hat political posts friends and relatives are putting on Facebook lately. Rather than sticking with issues like our economic well-being and the best way to achieve national security, people are…  [Read More]

Too Many Balloons in the Air

by Bill Brenner September 17, 2012 Mental health

A friend on Twitter asked what a person is to do when OCD, ADHD and other mental maladies produce the effect illustrated in this comic strip on xkcd.com: The illustration really hits home for me, having suffered from OCD and ADHD and having a son with ADHD (the alphabet soup alone is enough to short-circuit a person’s mind). All these conditions have one thing in common: the sufferer tries to keep track of everything going…  [Read More]

Oh, The Guilt

by Bill Brenner August 20, 2012 Mental health

I’ve always been driven by guilt. I used to hide it because with guilt comes shame and with shame comes deceit. In more recent years, however, I’ve tried to use it to become a better man. Results are mixed.   My inability to process guilt started at an early age. Growing up Jewish, I’d get Hanukkah gelt (Yiddish for “money”) during the Festival of Lights. Not understanding Yiddish, I thought it was called Hanukkah guilt. “Why…  [Read More]

How to Stop Screwing Your Patients in Four Simple Steps

by Bill Brenner June 15, 2012 Medicine

A colonoscopy I was supposed to have today was abruptly canceled over missing paperwork. Normally I wouldn’t complain about something like this because life happens. But I’m hearing a lot lately about medical offices screwing up and making the patient feel stupid instead of taking responsibility. Mood music: [spotify:track:79DVDD46pdqwjYucn91fny] I know people who get scared shitless when they have to go for a procedure. They worry for weeks and just want to get it over with, and…  [Read More]

Maybe It’s Time for a New Therapist

by Bill Brenner May 31, 2012 Mental health

Lately I hate going to my therapy appointments. I dread getting in the car to go, and once I leave his office my head goes from slight ache to migraine in the course of an hour. It’s not the therapist’s fault as much as it’s a change brewing within me. Mood music: [spotify:track:7rvD6aTf1Aa2OMwzAQbQwO] I’ve written about my therapist before. He’s taught me a lot about how the brain works, what happens when a mental disorder…  [Read More]

Fatherhood Saved Ozzy, Eddie & Me

by Bill Brenner May 4, 2012 Addiction

Yesterday I watched the “God Bless Ozzy Osbourne” documentary, which focused heavily on how his addictions maimed him and his family over four decades. Though my addictive behavior pales by comparison, it still struck a chord. Mood music: [spotify:track:6xb9RiyqpDXWF4wUYPDwI2] What hit me deepest is how Ozzy finally decided to get real sobriety after his son Jack had kicked drugs and alcohol. It took his son to show him the light. There’s a similar plot in…  [Read More]

‘Fixing OCD’ Article Is Badly Misleading

by Bill Brenner May 2, 2012 Adventures in writing

An article in The Atlantic called “5 Very Specific Ways to Fix Your OCD” blows it from the start — in the headline. OCD sufferers know damn well that you can’t fix OCD. You can only learn to manage it and make it less of a disrupting force in your life. Mood music: [spotify:track:74gJqWYjsfTyG4tSjhkoh7] Knowing that as I do, I’m dissapointed that the writer would give OCD sufferers false hope, followed by five pieces of advice…  [Read More]

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