Category Archives: Depression

Sneaky Depression


Posted by katiebird

Last week we talked about Depression = ANGER. This week another face of depression presents itself. Depression = SNEAKY SNAKE.

Right now, as I sit here at my computer I am experiencing a more insidious form of depression…….the sneaky snake form. It’s more insidious because I don’t see it coming, it is so sly. I can be feeling really pretty good, then I’ll notice that things are beginning to irritate me a little. Nothing serious, only a couple coat hangers entangled, nothing to fuss about.

I move on to my next task…..a little slowly and without much of a sense of purpose. I walk past an end table that is stacked with magazines. The whole stack topples over. Now, this is equal to about 10 coat hangers entangled and I get irritated. But, I tell myself, “You clumsy oaf, if you had cleared off the end table, the stack wouldn’t be there and you wouldn’t have been able to brush against it and knock it over.” But you hadn’t cleared, and it was there, and you did knock it. And now you have to stop what you were going to do (what was it?) and stoop over and pick them up and restack them on the same end table again. Geez!!! And in the middle of restacking them, the big ones on top slip off again because of the small ones on the bottom. 15 coat hangers. So….get them balanced and carefully walk away. Continue reading →


Science Has Decreed: Laughter Counts as Exercise!, contributed by DuctapeFatwa


Posted by katiebird

This will delight many of us here, including myself. I had long suspected that my being so easily amused is a benefit I had received for a reason, and this hunch has now been validated. Also, arithmetic is bad for you, another fact I have always instinctively known:

Watching comedy films boosts blood flow to the heart, finds a small study in the journal Heart.

Examples of sad films included the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan and examples of comedy films included There’s Something About Mary.

Participants were asked to abstain from drinking alcohol, using vitamins or herbs, or taking aerobic exercise the evening before the experiment, as all these can affect blood flow.

In all, 160 measurements of brachial artery blood flow were taken before and one minute after phases of laughter or sadness. The brachial artery runs from the shoulder to the elbow, and is a good indicator of blood flow around the body.

Brachial artery blood flow was reduced in 14 of the 20 participants after watching movie clips that caused distress. But it was increased in 19 of the 20 participants after watching movie clips that elicited laughter. The difference in flow between sad and happy responses exceeded 50 per cent.

The extent of the impact of watching a sad film was of the same magnitude as remembering episodes of anger and doing mental arithmetic, say the authors, while the impact of watching a funny film was equivalent to a bout of aerobic exercise or starting on statin treatment….

nerdified link


Heavy Chains, “Yeah-but”, Numb


Posted by katiebird

Depression. Such an ugly word. It has that forbidden connotation in our society which is slowly, ever so slowly beginning to crumble.

But here at E4T it is not an ugly word. It is just another topic that we can talk about and face and share together. And somehow, just talking about things makes them easier to face cause you’re not facing them alone.

My depression was first actually diagnosed about 13 years ago. But I had been battling it unknowingly for at least 3-4 years before that. I was angry most of the time. I didn’t sleep well. I thought Gooserock was a thorn in my side put there just to torment me. He didn’t put dishes into the dishwasher the “right” way. He never put anything away. He never “finished” anything. He’d come close but never quite finish. He’d spend way too much time in his workshop in the basement instead of sharing quality time with me. (Guess why that was…) I was teaching an ethnic form of dance then and no one got away with ANYthing. Any slight infraction of “the rules” would bring a tirade from me that was awesome to behold. I brought more than one of my students (adults mostly) to tears. Continue reading →


Rantings of a mad, mad housewife


Posted by katiebird

Hey everyone. My name is Laura and I’ve been struggling with food issues my whole adult life, mostly as a part of chronic depression, which, just like it sounds, is a barrel of laughs. And it makes me loads of fun to be around. No really!

If you knew me in my real life you wouldn’t believe I suffer from depression, because in order to function I have had to put on this mask of humor and self-deprecation, which is really a way of keeping people from getting too close and noticing that something is wrong with me.

Continue reading →