Depression

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]

Another ‘Crazy Mike’ Facebook Page? Jerks.

by Bill Brenner October 30, 2012 Political discourse

Last year, I found a disgusting Facebook page making fun of someone with a serious mental illness. The site was taken down, but now there’s a new page dedicated to the man locals call Crazy Mike. I want the creator and those who like the page to know something. By embracing such a page, you are making a much broader statement: either that you don’t understand the suffering a person experiences from mental illness or…  [Read More]

I’m a Hot OCD Mess Today

by Bill Brenner October 23, 2012 OCD

I’m admittedly failing to control my worst OCD impulses this morning. I’m trying to assemble a slideshow for my work website and a vital application keeps crashing. It’s a busy day ahead, with blog posts to write and meetings to sit through, so this isn’t the best time for an app to fail me. Mood music: [spotify:track:7qSPdNGrKbaqLg6HqflCoZ] I’ve heard it said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again,…  [Read More]

Happy Depression

by Bill Brenner October 11, 2012 Depression

I’ve been in a mental space lately that some would consider strange. I’m somewhat depressed but also fairly content and happy. To most people, feeling all those things at once doesn’t make sense. You’re either happy or depressed. But I’ve found that it’s more complicated than that. Mood music: [soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/33409634″ iframe=”true” /] I used to spend my depressive episodes curled up in a ball, feeling sorry for myself. Depression was cause for making the…  [Read More]

Led Zeppelin Gets Me Through the Rain

by Bill Brenner October 10, 2012 Music therapy

A while back I wrote about how Van Halen’s music helps me through  the winter blues. Too much rain can depress me, too, and for that I’m finding a remedy in Led Zeppelin. Mood music: Like most teenage rock fans, I listened to Led Zeppelin nonstop, studied every lyric and guitar solo and read any book in which they were at least mentioned. I remember reading Hammer of the Gods when I was 15, and…  [Read More]

The Winter Bill Blues

by Bill Brenner October 9, 2012 Depression

This is a typically a shitty time of year for me, when I come off the high of summer and crash hard onto the cold pavement. When the days grow shorter and the air colder, I become easy prey for seasonal depression. And when that state of mind sets in, I usually do something very stupid. Winter 2011: By February, I was forgetting things all the time, including Valentine’s Day. I was traveling on this…  [Read More]

Out of My Head

by Bill Brenner September 27, 2012 Mental disorders

Like anyone with a mental disorder like OCD, I spend a lot of time locked in my head. My thoughts will be on what I’m doing the next day or a year out. Or they’re in the past, replaying scenes from long ago. Last night I began the mission to get out of there. Mood music: [spotify:track:7yqO8vYeyf8ahnLj9vOZ4G] It was the first night of my Stress Reduction and Mindfulness class. The instructor is my therapist, though…  [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]

Putting a Face on Suicide

by Bill Brenner September 24, 2012 Depression

There’s a page on Facebook everyone should check out called Putting a Face on Suicide. It’s powerful stuff. Mood music: [spotify:track:14YR9VCoseu7zq2dx9Qr6w] Having lost a close friend to suicide, this page hits me where I live. We hear about suicide statistics all the time. We know of the famous suicides, like Ernest Hemingway and Kurt Cobain. But regular people die by their own hand every day, and their faces are easily forgotten. That’s what makes this…  [Read More]

Nine Things to Consider When Life Starts to Suck

by Bill Brenner July 19, 2012 Depression

On my worst days, when depression takes over and common sense goes out the window, I try to remember the following to put my life back into perspective. I’ve had my share of bad health, but family and friends have always helped me through. Some friends and family dealing with cancer right now know what I’m talking about. I hate the snow, cold and darkness of winter. But winter always gives way to spring and…  [Read More]

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