Grief

When someone dies; a person you loved or respected intensely, you may become faced with grief of such a loss many times over—even later on in life, being years afterwards.  These feelings of grief might return on a certain special day, the day this person passed away, a birthday or any particular day you shared with this loved on which may be special.  Such feelings of grief are reflections that this person of whom has passed away from this life has left to you and remain important to you.  As I have experienced the passing of someone important and loving to me, I know that after 10 years since their death, I am still having moments of grief and that have not fully healed nor do I cope fully with such a loss.  I have reminders which exist in everyday life, and as anyone else, these reminders can be of sight, taste, sound and even smells, which can set you into a mode of grief.  This could exist for anyone whom has past, a “ghost” as you might have it, of an adult or even child of who has passed from this life.  Memories can be very intense when it comes to the loss of a loved one.  Celebrations of a myriad of sorts may cause the grieving process to surface, if you have shared memorable times with the person of which you grieve.  During these moments of resurfacing grief you may experience, sadness, loneliness, anger anxiety of fatigue; these memories are very powerful as feelings of your loved ones passing. http://www.counselingcenter.illinois.edu/self-help-brochures/grief-and-loss/grief-and-loss/

Dealing with grief is a complicated chore, a challenge to speak of and in this process you are recovering the pieces and healing the wounds so you can carry on with your life without the feelings of any betrayal, because the feelings and emotions you once shared with the person who has passed away still exist, though they do not.  There are many emotions that overcome the living of those which have passed from this life, even if the survivors knew that death was imminent.  The loss of a loved one can drain your energy and cause confusion and disorganization.  You cannot override the pain, but you can cope with the grief by; knowing that grief and mourning is natural and that respecting such is expressing how you feel and realizing you have an inner loss and an empty feeling about your loved ones passing.  Know your pain and accept the pain you feel, it’s a part of grieving.  Search for support; being alone sometimes is fine, yet understand that isolation is wrong.  Don’t make decisions which may be important while you are grieving, the mind is curtained while you are grieving and if you must make important decisions find the help of someone close to you that can be trusted.  Most of all take care of yourself, your physical health is important even as you may be grieving.

Written by Donald S

Wrestling with Your Sleep

BEFORE I GET INTO The BLOG, I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND OUR READERS THAT The RECOVERY BLOG IS MOVING TO A NEW LOCACTION: OUR BLOG WILL CONTINUE FROM OUR NEW HOME:  http://www.mhcd.org/blog It’s been months since I had seen my therapist. His quizzing me about my physical health, led to some concern about my sleeping patterns. As everyone knows when you get a good night’s rest, your invigoration the morning you wake is wonderful, and your thoughts are clearer as well. My sleeping is terrible. I am told I snore, that I am heard gasping for air and that I even scare myself awake with feelings that I cannot breath. What is this? My clinician suggests I take a sleeping test, whatever for? Already I showed signs that this test would be hopeless, (I’ve always slept that way) and my time would lost taking this test would cause me to lag in my work, (lost time).
I began to notice on the weekends, that I spend about two to three hours during the day sleeping, with low energy and feeling tired and with some depression when waking. I began to believe my clinician and his suspicions were—Sleep Apnea.
Sleep breathing problems linked with depression - Vitals
“Sleep Apnea is a condition is which the breathing becomes shallow as you sleep or your breathing pauses”. This kind of problem may increase the risk depression especially if you have had these symptoms for a very long time. There are other inclusive such as age, weight and gender, which could be factors in wrestling with Sleep Apnea. While the breathing problem may be a link to depression there is the severity of the breathing problem during sleep and a greater risk in depression becoming a symptom. “In mental health, clinicians and therapist are concerned about sleeping patterns in their clients, whether they are refreshed during and after sleep or are they suffering from a lack of sleep, without realizing their breathing or if they have problems in doing so as a part of the clients mental health”.
A lack of oxygen is the blood during sleep may be a great problem, and I know I have awaken many a night, gasping for air and unaware of where I am or why I feel so sluggish during these moments of waking. I have finally understood the possibility of suffering from Sleep Apnea could happen to anyone and the best thing to do to reassure your self is to follow your physicians’ advice and get a check up for your sleeping patterns if you suspect your are experiencing problems while sleeping or experiencing any depression, due to a lack of sleep.
Written By Donald S.
JUST A REMINDER THAT THE RECOVERY BLOG IS MOVING TO A NEW ADDRESS: OUR NEW HOME IS: http://mhcd.org/blog

Mental Health and Higher Death Risk

BEFORE I GET INTO The BLOG, I WOULD LIKE TO REMIND OUR READERS THAT The RECOVERY BLOG IS MOVING TO A NEW LOCATION: OUR BLOG WILL CONTINUE FROM OUR NEW HOME:  http://www.mhcd.org/blog This article says that is not poor physical health that is to blame for people with mental illness dying earlier. It is because of the mental illness. “A large study of English households finds that people who experience symptoms of psychological distress like anxiety, depression, or even minor mental health problems, have a lower life expectancy than people who do not.” We already know that the life expectancy of someone who has mental illness dies at least twenty five years younger than the rest of the population. This study explains it a little better.
It says: “Since the link remained when they adjusted for lifestyle factors, the researchers say the effect is more likely due to biological changes resulting from psychological distress rather than because people with poor mental health have less healthy lifestyles.” Some people with mental illness are taking care of their bodies and still they have a less chance of living longer. “The Wellcome Trust funded study is expected to trigger more research into how doctors treat people with even mild mental psychological problems.” They are at least going to continue studying this health concern. They have studied this before but not with as many subjects as they did with this study.
The article says: “These associations also remained after we did our best to take into account other factors such as weight, exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption and diabetes. Therefore, this increased mortality is not simply due to people with higher levels of psychological distress having poorer health behaviors.” Could it be putting on all that extra weight that comes with the newer antipsychotic medications that causes the distress? “People with minor symptoms of depression or anxiety often don’t seek medical help, and the researchers say their findings could have implications for how these minor mental health issues are treated by the health system.
It could be that treating these minor symptoms could reduce the increased risk of premature death.” It is just minor mental health problems. Still any kind of stress is not good for a person.     These people in the study were followed for an average of eight years. “People with mental health problems are among the most vulnerable in society…” Hopefully they can find a solution to this problem. It may just be working with the health system.JUST A REMINDER THAT THE RECOVERY BLOG IS MOVING TO A NEW ADDRESS: OUR NEW HOME IS: http://mhcd.org/blog