Beyond Blue

If you’ve studied the human brain as much as I have, you know exactly what is going on when you hit a patch of acute anxiety. You realize that the amygdala (fear center) of your brain has duct-taped the other, more rational parts of your head, like the prefrontal cortex, and it’s performing a Riverdance…

Fellow Annapolis author R. K. Caroland wrote a nice little book called “Find Your Way.” I especially appreciate what he wrote about assumptions:   One of our biggest mistaken assumptions is that everyone thinks like me. So most of the decisions that we make are based on the way we think. This of course leads…

Tips to manage work depression.

As I read through the comments posted throughout Beyond Blue and on the discussion threads at Group Beyond Blue, I realize that a lot of readers are mourning the loss of special relationships. This prayer, by Henri Nouwen, articulates this process so beautifully, and calls us to stay with our pain, because, believe it or…

People who’ve read only the first part of my book, Beyond Blue, often categorize me as being “anti-med” or a “psychiatrist-hater,” because in the early chapters I describe the arduous journey through hell and back trying to find a doctor who could properly treat me. The first six failed miserably. Especially the one whom I…

In his New York Times bestseller, Getting the Love Your Want, psychologist Harville Hendrix explains why people who grew up in homes — well, a little like the one in the 2006 flick Little Miss Sunshine — without proper emotional nurturing seek dysfunctional relationships as adults. He explains the low brain — our more reptilian…

I wrote this response to Beyond Blue reader Kate after reading her despondent comments, but I wanted to republish them in case any of you are in a similar state. You say that no one could understand your despair. I have no doubt you feel completely alone in your battle. But I’m pretty sure a…

I have decided to dedicate a post on Thursday to therapy, and offer you the many tips I have learned on the couch. They will be a good reminder for me, as well, of something small I can concentrate on. Many of them are published in my book, “The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit.”…

I have decided to dedicate a post on Thursday to therapy, and offer you the many tips I have learned on the couch. They will be a good reminder for me, as well, of something small I can concentrate on. Many of them are published in my book, “The Pocket Therapist: An Emotional Survival Kit.”…

It’s a dreadful place. Relapse. Maybe you had hoped you’d never go there. Or maybe you stay awake fearing you will. It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to stay there for long. You’ll be on your way shortly. I prefer to use the term “set back” when I get sucked back into the Black Hole–bam!–stuck…

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