Muscles, Mimosas, and Misery

Depression is one of the most well known mental disorders.  If I walked out into the streets and asked someone what depression is I'm sure I would get a many varied responses.  Some of them would be accurate and some of them would not be, but everyone I asked would know the word.  According to the National Institute of Mental Health , 6.7% of adults in the US suffered from depression in 2016.  The World Health Organization (WHO) states that "globally more than 300 million people of all ages suffer from depression."  Also according to WHO, "Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and is a major contributor to the overall global burden of disease." Despite this information many people still suffer in silence.  There are many reasons why people do not reach out when they are in need, but most are associated with shame and the stigma of the disease.  This silence needs to be broken.  Those who suffer with depression and other mental ...

I know I have about zero followers and that is okay.  I keep thinking about starting an awareness movement for mental illness.  There are already so many national organizations that do it, but I know I personally never see anything from them which leads me to believe that many others do not see those either.  I know if I started something that there would not be many people who would see what I start either, but I think it is important.  There is so much stigma and embarrassment surrounding mental illness and it can make it difficult for people to seek help or even talk about it with their friends.  I know that typically most people don't discuss their illnesses in general, so it is a strange thing to want to openly discuss mental illness.  I keep thinking about starting the movement though.  I'm just not sure how.  I don't know what the best way to approach it would be.  I will keep thinking about it and maybe I will come up with something. ...

I hit a low point this month.  I'm not sure what triggered it, but I had a depression surge.  In the past I have struggled with depression, but it has been a few years since I've had a bad bout of it.  The last therapist I went to helped tremendously and I learned fantastic coping mechanisms that helped take the power out of it.  This time, it latched onto something new.  Its something that has always been there, but the depression monster had never taken it on before.  This time my body image came into the path of the depression. As I'm sure this blog can attest to, I haven't been a consistent dieter.  I would be good for a 1-3 weeks then stop for 1-3 weeks.  Rinse repeat forever.  I fell off the health train again and this entire week my depression has been relentless over it.  I've had the following thoughts replaying through my head repeatedly: "You're fat and disgusting.  You look like a fat troll.  You are a fat troll w...