Yesterday, I wrote about how depression puts people at higher risk for severe covid. Today I want to talk about another problem with covid. Apparently, covid can cause depression. “[O]ver half of a U.S. COVID-19 survivor sample reported symptoms of depression months after recovery, those with more severe COVID symptoms being more likely to have depression.” They…
I recently heard that depression is a risk factor for covid. It was actually in a commercial. In the commercial, a bunch of celebrities with various risk factors were telling people with those risk factors to be extra careful. It surprised me. I have depression, but never thought it put me at higher risk for…
There was an article at Psyche.co called “Mental disorders are brain disorders“. The thesis is that thinking of mental disorders as a separate category from other physical disorders is hindering patient care. The author, Christian Jarrett, says that many people don’t think so because the causes of mental disorders are “outside the body.” Then, he…
I read an article in Psychology Today called “Paying Patients Improves Mental Health Treatment Engagement“. It made a convincing case that monetary incentives would improve mental healthcare. It compared 39 papers on the topic and found that there were large effects from financial incentives. It also addressed several of the possible objections. Finally, it talked…
It’s been a while since I posted anything here on mental health. That’s probably a good thing for me personally. It’s hard for me to write about mental health when my mental health is good. It’s much easier to write about it during a flare up. The bad thing is I’m failing at my goal…
For those who don’t know, back in April, I had a major depressive episode. I was miserable. For a few weeks, my best days consisted of getting out of bed before noon and eating something before curling up on the couch for the rest of the day. I often struggled getting myself back upstairs to…
The above meme was shared with a mental health group I’m part of on LinkedIn. This turned out to be rather controversial. Some people commented along the lines of “100% agree!” while others said the meme itself is triggering and has no place in a mental health forum. I see both sides clearly and don’t…
Last week, I wrote about a border case between physical and mental health, insomnia. That got me thinking about other border cases. Border cases can be hard to diagnose, which makes getting treatment difficult. As I’ve talked about before, I had trouble getting diagnosed with depression. That’s because, from where I was, I couldn’t see…
I want to start with a disclaimer, but I want to encourage you to keep reading anyway. I am not an expert, medical or otherwise, on insomnia. I’m just some dope who has suffered with insomnia most of my adult life. Plus, I have access to several internet search engines. Insomnia and search engines are…
It’s often embarrassing to have depression. And I’m not talking about the internalized stigma around mental illness. A lot of things that would be embarrassing without depression are much more likely to occur with depression. Depression affects sleep and appetite and saps your energy. As a result, it’s just harder to take care of yourself….
