UPDATE ON the Mental Health Humor: Cartoon-a-thon

——– Original Message ——–

Subject: UPDATE ON the Mental Health Humor: Cartoon-a-thon
To: Andy Alt
Date: Wed, 27 May 2009 12:50:36 -0400
From: Chato B. Stewart
Organization: Mental Health humor

Dear Peer, Provider or Caregiver,

Wow, what a great Mental Health Awareness month! This year so many
people are really putting in a lot of effort from the DBSA, NAMI and
many other organizations like Mental Health America and also not to for
get many of our peers and their individual efforts.

The Mental Health Humor Cartoon-A-Thon is a free and fun project to use
humor as a coping skill. Each day during the month I’ve volunteered to
draw one cartoon. Now we have 26 new cartoons for this month to use
humor to bring awareness to many different mental health issues. It’s
meant to use positive humor as a way to cope with our serious disorders.

Treating Borderline Personality Disorder with Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Posted by Andy Alt / http://mentaldimensions.wordpress.com

January 11, 2009

A few minutes ago I stopped doing nothing long enough to pick up my most recent copy of TIME magazine. The following are some excerpts from an article about Borderline Personality Disorder (Click the link below to read the full article). BPD is one of the things I have been told I have.

According to this article, it’s common for antidepressants to be ineffective with patients who have Borderline Personality Disorder.

[..]
Borderline patients are often overmedicated–partly because therapists see them as difficult–but for Lily, as for most borderlines, the meds did little. “Drug treatment for BPD is much less impressive than most people think,” Paris writes in Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.
[...]

Dark Descent

Dark Descent
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

February 23, 2009

Death digs into my neck with its sharp, bony fingers

On my way down the slippery slope past the point of no return

Hope lost like a grain of sand thrown in the ocean

Can’t trust anyone
because I don’t trust myself

Always doubting others
because I doubt myself

Crippled inside and emotionally retarded

Weapons of Darkness and the Dying Light

Weapons of Darkness and the Dying Light
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

February 3, 2009

Loneliness crowding my peace
Seeds of torture growing within

Sword of despair on the left
Spear of hopelessness on the right
Drowning in quicksand

Escape merely a thought
Chains are the reality
No way to move forward
No solace in looking back

Chipmunka Publishing – The Mental Health Publisher

Posted by Andy Alt on January 9, 2009

Does anyone have experience with this publisher, or heard about them before?

Chipmunkapublishing

Chipmunkapublishing is the Mental Health Publisher. Our mental health books give a voice to writers with mental illness around the world. Most of our mental health books are written by people with mental health issues. We also give a voice to family members of people with mental health issues and other disabilities. Titles include autobiographies/memoirs, fiction, poetry, anthologies, stories written by carers, self help books, academic works and much more.

Discard bad genes, useless ideas, and harmful hypnosis

Discard bad genes, useless ideas, and harmful hypnosis
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

January 3, 2009

I thought Susan did a wonderful job crystallizing the major depression experience (See Susan – An Introduction). She has a gift for expressing her feelings using her writing. In Lincoln’s Melancholy, however, it’s called a “fearful gift.” (Chapter 4)

A person with a melancholy temperament had been fated with both an awful burden and what Byron called “a fearful gift.” The burden was a sadness and despair that could tip into a state of disease. But the gift was a capacity for depth, wisdom — even genius.

Additionally, reading Susan’s post gave me some ideas about genetics. Hopefully my new ideas won’t be useless.

Wait a few days before you kill yourself

Wait a few days before you kill yourself
By Andy Alt / Mental Dimensions

December 22, 2008

If you’re thinking about killing yourself, wait a few days. At least hold off on your suicide until after the holiday season.

I’ve had an increasing amount of suicidal thoughts lately, but I’m going to give it a few days before I make any hasty decisions or permanent travel plans.

Everybody should know by now that more suicides take place during the holidays than any other time of the year. If you’re feeling more suicidal than usual right now, chances are it’s holiday stress that has you nailed to the mat.

Why this time of year? Last night, December 21, was Winter Solstice, the longest night of the year, and therefore the shortest day of the year.

Suicide Rates

By Alison Bass (author of Side Effects), posted on her blog October 22, 2008: New study of suicide rates reveals: the emperor has no clothes

A bewildered tone seemed to permeate the news reports this week that suicide rates among middle-aged Americans rose sharply from 1999 to 2005…