Therese Borchard and Beyond Blue – Creativity and Mood Disorders

Therese J. Borchard is the author of the blog “Beyond Blue” on Beliefnet.com, which is featured regularly on The Huffington Post and was voted by PsychCentral.com as one of the top 10 depression blogs.

The first of these two videos is from her post Snow Blizzard 2010 and MENTAL HEALTH.

She notes, “Here’s the video I made that talks about ‘Getting Through the Rough Spots.’ I hope it’s helpful for you … whatever your obstacle du jour is.”

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Getting Through the Rough Spots

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Writer Amy Sullivan interviews Borchard about her new book Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression & Anxiety and Making the Most of Bad Genes.

Here are some excerpts from the TIME article :

The story you tell is very raw and can’t have been easy to share. What made you decide to write this book?

I didn’t write it for about 18 years because I thought that writing about your own life was self-indulgent. But then I thought about what kept me going through the darkest days, reading memoirs by other people who have struggled with depression — Kay Redfield Jamison, Anne Lamott — and who emerged even stronger and more capable.

When you’re in the midst of depression, that’s the scariest thing — it seems that you’re going to feel like that forever. The pain created by depression kills almost 1 million people a year. It almost killed me, and it did kill my aunt.

If I can give just one person hope that there’s an end to depression, that it is treatable, then that made it worth it for me to write the book.

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You argue that depression is still stigmatized in a way that physical illnesses aren’t. Have you experienced that?

Yes. People judged me when I was in such pain. They would lecture about how if I just ate organically or meditated this way or went to yoga more often, I’d be fine. When I tried medication, people on the holistic side told me I was copping out, taking happy pills.

And when I focused on yoga, people on the other side warned me against doing anything in Eastern medicine.

What advice do you have for people in the midst of depression right now?

Get enough sleep. Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every morning. Exercise: it has an antidepressant effect. I’m not going to be like Tom Cruise and say you won’t need antidepressants if you exercise, but it is enough for some people.

And watch what you eat. For sugar sensitive people — which many depressives are — sugar can be like a drug.

But the No. 1 thing is to have hope. It’s hard to believe it when you’re struggling, but depression does go away. William Styron says, “It is conquerable.” If it wasn’t, everybody who is depressed would commit suicide. I had to keep reminding myself of that when I was on my 23rd medication combination.

From TIME magazine Jan 15 2009

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Related:

Therese Borchard is mentioned in my post (and related video): You’re crazy. Or maybe not.

For more about diet and mood challenges, see the article Confession: Anxiety Cause Revealed, by Jen Crippen – which includes a link to her book on the topic.

You might also benefit from the eBook: Natural Cures for Depression – contents include:
# Exercise and yoga can help cure depression
# The best type of yoga for depression
# How and when to exercise to help cure depression
# How hypnotherapy is used to treat depression
# How traditional Chinese Medicine can help you get over depression
# Emotional freedom techniques can help regulate emotional stress
# How to use the herb St. John’s Wort as a natural cure
# The role that Omega-3 fatty acids play in regulating moods

depression relief, dealing with depression, relief for depression, creativity and depression, depression and anxiety