2023-07-21 15:00
Depression Present Tense Now Available
My latest ebook, Depression Present Tense, is now available at Amazon and the other major online retailers. Like Surviving Depression Together and… Read More
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Recover Life From Depression - Storied Mind Blog
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Storied Mind features self-help resources and personal stories of healing by people like you who want to recover life from depression.
2022-07-26 13:00
Storied Mind Ebooks Ready to Go!
Well, it took a little longer than I expected, but the two Storied Mind ebooks are now available at most of the major online sites, including Amazon, App… Read More
2022-06-29 15:22
Update on the Storied Mind Ebooks
Just a note to let you know that I have finally edited and reformatted the two Storied Mind ebooks (Surviving Depression Together and A Mind for Life) t… Read More
2022-01-17 14:00
Notebook: Healing the Whole Person
In this post (one of several I think of as notebook entries) I’ve put together several ideas about healing that underlie the work of Michael Lern… Read More
2022-01-03 14:00
Why Writing Helps Heal Depression – 2
As I discussed in this earlier post, writing helps heal the depression that dominated decades of my life. That post reviewed James Pennebaker… Read More
2021-12-20 14:00
Why Writing Can Help Heal Depression – 1
The subtitle of Storied Mind used to be Writing to Recover Life from Depression, and I’ve often wondered why it is specifically that… Read More
2021-12-06 14:00
Re-Reading the Story of Depression’s Meaning
There are no more beautiful and moving stories of healing than those told by Rachel Naomi Remen. Kitchen Table Wisdom is one of those books… Read More
2021-10-25 13:00
Depersonalized, Derealized, Dissociative and Disappearing
I had a comment on a post at Health Central that described an experience the writer called dissociative.
During a therapy session s… Read More
2021-10-11 13:00
A New Model of Mental Health Recovery
My understanding of mental health recovery came from experience with the standard treatments: psychotherapy and medication. Until the 1990s, I worked e… Read More
2021-09-27 13:00
Stories to Explain My Life with Depression
Stories can be an immediate and moving way to learn about someone because they evoke the feelings and experience that factual details never can. W… Read More
2021-09-13 13:00
Forgiveness and Escape from Depression
As many know it, forgiveness is a feeling that can’t be forced, one that often comes after a long inner struggle.
I’ve lived with the need… Read More
2021-07-26 13:00
Do You Have to Lower Your Expectations of Life to Recover?
I’ve often mentioned how crucial it has been to my recovery that I made basic changes in my work and way of living as a whol… Read More
2021-07-12 13:00
Depression Diagnosis – 2: What Does It Mean to You?
Salvation
Once you have a depression diagnosis, what does it mean to you? I’ve heard a lot of reactions, ranging from a feelin… Read More
2021-06-28 13:00
Depression Diagnosis – 1: The Person or the Disorder?
A depression diagnosis usually marks a turning point in your experience of the illness. Up to that point, you may have downplayed… Read More
2021-06-21 13:00
Updating Storied Mind
This is just a short note to let you know that after ten years I have to update Storied Mind. That means a lot of changes: a new theme and background images, removing s… Read More
2021-05-31 13:00
Mindfulness as Self-Help for Anxiety
There’s nothing like extreme anxiety to make you feel like you’re falling apart. Using a few basics of mindfulness as self-help may be a way… Read More
2021-05-17 13:00
Can Depression Make Us Better People?
Depression can collapse your life the way an earthquake can take down a city. So how could this same depression make us better people? Tom Wootton take… Read More
2021-05-03 13:00
6 Dimensions of Psychological Well-Being
Recovery should aim at restoring psychological well-being as well as ending the symptoms of depression. Naturally, you get into treatment to stop th… Read More
2021-04-19 13:00
The Powerful Noise of Panic
Some of the most frightening moments I’ve had during long years of depression were not those of despairing mood or even suicidal thinking. Instead, they w… Read More
2021-04-05 13:00
Patterns of Recovery from Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
I started learning about patterns of recovery when my mother survived two heart attacks but died twice before her dea… Read More
2021-03-22 13:00
Depression Is a Free Fall in Slow Motion
Once my kids pulled me with them up to a water slide. I don’t like sliding through winding tubes and hadn’t done it before. But I couldn… Read More
2021-03-08 14:00
On the Other Side of Fear
Fear has a way of setting boundaries that can’t be crossed. If you do cross them, you know you’ll pay a price – a pain or terror you can’t… Read More
2021-02-22 14:00
Caught in Panic
I think of creativity as an opposite of depression. As the driver in my life that connects and communicates, it represents everything I cannot do in the midst of the illness… Read More
2021-02-08 14:00
Recovery from Depression: the Power of Expectation
Recovery from depression depends in part on what you believe is possible for the future. If you are to recover at all, you have to take ac… Read More
2021-01-25 14:00
Mindful Attention Is a Healing Force
Learning the skills of mindful attention can put you on a slow but steady track of healing. Medication and cognitive therapy try to put you on the fast… Read More
2021-01-11 14:00
Can the Mind Heal Depression?
How can we draw on the power of our own minds to heal depression? As I’ve tried to answer this question, I’ve had to rethink my beliefs about recov… Read More
2020-12-28 14:00
Compassion for a Burned Man
I wasn’t expecting anything out of the ordinary that evening, but I wound up in the hospital with a burned hand and, at least in retrospect, a little insig… Read More
2020-12-14 14:00
Getting to Work When Depressed
Simply getting to work when you’re depressed can feel like an impossible task. Dealing with people in the workplace and doing the most basic parts of th… Read More
2020-11-30 14:00
Depressed: When Control Is Out of Control
Why I try to understand depression, I find too few words with too many meanings. This isn’t quibbling over semantics. It’s about what y… Read More
2020-11-16 14:00
The Challenge of the Ordinary
When I’m depressed, I dwell most on the failings of the past and the expected disappointments of the future, but there is also the challenge of the ordin… Read More
2020-11-02 14:00
How Stress Can Shape a Life Story
The psychologist Richard O’Connor believes that we tell ourselves stories about our lives to control stress. Stress has a way of becoming a chronic c… Read More
2020-10-19 13:00
Desire as Hungry Torrent or Quiet Stream
Recently, I’ve been reading about the blending of Buddhist psychology with western psychotherapy, especially the ideas about desire. I used to… Read More
2020-10-05 13:00
Leaving Lamictal and Antidepressants for Now
By phasing out lamotrigine, known more widely by the trade name Lamictal, and other antidepressants, I have recently ended 18 years of uninterru… Read More
2020-09-21 13:00
Depression, Dreams and Spirituality
Depression comes, depression goes, and I often have no idea why. Sometimes, I suddenly break out of it through mysterious dreams that wake my whole spiri… Read More
2020-09-07 13:00
Revisiting: Removing Barriers to Closeness
This is a new version of an early post about how my wife and I were able to keep our relationship together despite the impact of depression. It di… Read More
2020-08-24 13:00
Why I Write Storied Mind
Writing Storied Mind is one of the most important things I do to stay well, but it’s not easy. I struggle with writing and I thrive on it. I need to write and… Read More
2020-08-10 13:00
The Healing Silence When Time Stops
My mental clock is always running, and most of each day I tensely evaluate what I’m doing by its measurement. Am I using this time productively, am… Read More
2020-07-27 13:00
Depressed Men Behaving Badly Can Stop
There’s a story on this site that never, unfortunately, gets old. It’s about depressed men breaking up their relationships as a misguided w… Read More
2020-07-13 13:00
Reconnecting Depressed Partners Despite Fear and Shame
Men and women have the same need and longing to connect with each other, but they also have different ways of reacting to stress that… Read More
2020-06-29 13:00
Why Talking to Myself Makes Sense
I’ve tried to stop talking to myself, but I haven’t had much luck. I’m referring to the silent internal conversation that accompanies alm… Read More
2020-06-15 13:00
Depression Therapy: Lonely Talk in a Crowded Room
Therapy for depression usually meant talking about the world I was seeing, the thoughts I had, the pain I felt, the judgments about me I pr… Read More
2020-06-01 13:00
When Words of Depression Block My Mind
The words I hear when I’m depressed are limited, negative and decidedly lacking in color, but they can all too easily block my mind and feelings… Read More
2020-05-18 13:00
How Does Depression Affect Your Children?
A reader asked me recently about how his depression might affect his children. He knew he had put his wife through hell and didn’t want to ha… Read More
2020-05-04 13:00
The Loss of Feeling in Depressed Partners
Living with depressed partners can mean living without the feelings of love that are at the heart of every relationship. What is it about depressio… Read More
2020-04-20 13:00
Does Finding Purpose in Life Help You Overcome Depression?
Finding purpose in life that goes beyond your personal needs is often mentioned as a major step in overcoming depression. That&rsq&hell…Read More
2020-04-06 13:00
Martin Seligman’s Approach to Cognitive Therapy
Many people with depression believe that nothing good will ever happen for them. The norm is failure and disappointment, the exception… Read More
2020-03-23 13:00
How Depression Spreads
Depression spreads through the closest relationships almost like a communicable disease. I learned the hard way that the illness didn’t happen to me alone. It h… Read More
2020-03-10 13:00
A Wheel of Emotions
There are many models for capturing the range of human emotion, but one that caught my eye was this highly original classification captured in the wheel of emotions. Th… Read More
2020-02-24 14:00
Self-Starting When Depressed
How can you activate yourself to get anything done when you’re depressed? Several readers have asked about this basic need to keep functioning when your m… Read More
2020-02-10 14:00
Psychological Flexibility, Well-Being and Doubts about Recovery
I’ve been wondering: How could it be that I have recovered from depression but still deal with symptoms almost every da… Read More
2020-01-27 14:00
Becoming an Active Partner in Depression Treatment
Most stories about getting life back from depression describe how each person had to become an active partner in treatment in order to rec… Read More
2020-01-13 14:00
Therapists and Depressed Men
Except for my first experience in therapy, I spent years working with psychiatrists (back in the days when they did more than write prescriptions), depressed th… Read More
2019-12-23 14:00
How Lasting is the Impact of Emotional Abuse in Childhood?
I’ve worked for a long time on rebuilding self-esteem, though I’ve never been sure whether the lack of it contributed… Read More
2019-12-09 14:00
Finding Safe Haven from Childhood Fear
A psychiatrist friend once summarized a basic tendency he saw in children from their earliest years. He said that a child could grow up either trustin… Read More
2019-11-25 14:00
Trying to Be Selective about Self-Acceptance
The boy took careful aim with his lever-action BB gun and fired off the first shot. The tiny pellet pierced one of the windows of the tall tree… Read More
2019-11-11 14:00
Can You Be a Therapist for Your Depressed Partner?
A couple of readers have asked me to comment on whether it’s possible or advisable to try to act as a ‘therapist’ for you… Read More
2019-10-28 11:00
When Depressed Partners Blame and Leave
Part of running Storied Mind is responding to a steady stream of emails and comments from readers, and most of them concern the collision of depressi… Read More
2019-10-14 13:00
Coping with Stress in Depression
What’s the best way for coping with stress? Sometimes, when I’m starting to feel overwhelmed, it’s easy to forget everything I’ve ev… Read More
2019-09-30 11:00
When Holding Hands Is Hard to Do
The first time our two oldest sons, at ages 3 and 4.5, went for a walk without their parents, I learned something about love and trust. My wife and I had de… Read More
2019-09-16 11:00
If Your Partner’s Depression Returns
When a partner’s depression ends, a couple may feel happy disbelief as they emerge into the light again from a long darkness in the relation… Read More
2019-09-02 11:00
The Quiet Crisis of Chronic Depression
Chronic depression, also known as dysthymia, is supposed to be a milder but longer lasting form of the illness than the more episodic and severe varie… Read More
2019-08-05 11:00
Healing Depression through the Emotional Brain
I’ve tried many methods for treating my own depression over the years but have most consistently relied on medication and psychotherapy… Read More
2019-07-22 11:00
My Top Books for Understanding Depression and Recovery – 2
Understanding depression and getting serious about recovery take a lot of searching. Reading is one of easiest tools to use… Read More
2019-07-08 11:00
My Top Books for Understanding Depression and Recovery – 1
Every list of top books on depression is highly personal, and mine may be more so than most. I’ve left out several of… Read More
2019-06-24 11:00
Peak Experience in Depression
So much is written about peak experience, the feeling of oneness, the effortless flow of energy as you feel yourself at one with what you are doing. I often str… Read More
2019-06-10 11:00
Relationships in Conflict: Action Against Depression
In recalling how couples I’ve encountered have dealt with conflict in their relationships, two moments come to mind. These were ju… Read More
2019-05-27 11:00
Relationships in Conflict: Depression’s Role
Depression is a natural enemy of close relationships. It helps build tension and conflict as a once-loving partner either withdraws into e… Read More
2019-05-13 11:00
From Depression Through Recovery to Life as Creative Experience
All that I am, all that life has made me, every past experience that I have had – woven into the tissue of my life &nda&hell…Read More
2019-04-29 11:00
Changing Core Beliefs of Depression
Getting well depends in part on changing core beliefs of depression that often begin to develop early in life.
According to recent neuroscience findings… Read More
2019-04-15 11:00
The Love Hidden in Family Depression
I’ve written about emotional abuse in my boyhood and a family history of depression as big contributors to my own illness, but recently I’ve… Read More
2019-04-01 11:00
Living with a Depressed Partner
Several readers have asked about the best ways to respond to warning signs and symptoms of depression in their partners. The illness tends to separate two pe… Read More
2019-03-18 11:00
Overcoming Resistance
Writing is a way of reclaiming my mind from depression, but there is a darker side to it called resistance. I won’t call it writer’s block because the same… Read More
2019-03-04 12:00
Recovery Is More Than Remission of Symptoms
A lot of people think of recovery from depression as an unending process of managing the symptoms. But I have always hoped that recovery is more t… Read More
2019-02-18 12:00
Beyond Depression to Guiding Values
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy reminds me of the tense time I spent learning how to drive a car. Venturing onto a two-lane highway, I fixed my mind on… Read More
2019-02-04 12:00
Before ACT – Doing Depression Right
When I started learning about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), the idea that I was doing depression rather than having it as an illness didn… Read More
2019-01-21 12:00
Starting on a Path toward Acceptance
For some time I have been working with the idea of accepting depression rather than trying to fight it. That’s an approach to therapy based on mind… Read More
2019-01-07 12:00
Doubt is Depression’s Last Stand
It was one thing to get depression out of my life. It was another to get it out of my memory. Doubt about recovery from depression could linger on and… Read More
2018-12-10 14:00
The Crowded Emptiness of a Depressed Man
Long before I began to recover from depression, I stumbled my way into moments when time seemed to disappear. My mind cleared itself out completely… Read More
2018-11-26 14:00
What Can Help Prevent Depression Relapse?
Depression has an especially cruel season called relapse. It always happens after the worst seems to be over; hope like sunlight is restored; life… Read More
2018-11-12 14:00
A Never-Ending Family Story Has to End
My never-ending family story has always been a hard scene in which I am very young and small and terrified. I’m staring at my parents and brothe… Read More
2018-10-29 13:00
How Do We Change in Psychotherapy?
The first session I ever had with a psychiatrist proved to me that I could achieve a real change through psychotherapy. While in college, I had been immob… Read More
2018-10-15 13:00
How Setting Boundaries Helped Me Heal
My getting depressed after a cancer operation almost ended our marriage. It was the blow that forced my wife to remind me of the boundaries I couldn&rs&hell…Read More
2018-10-01 13:00
Fear of Change in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
One of the interesting things about Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is that you can’t think about it too much. You have to do it… Read More
2018-09-17 13:00
The Delusions of Depression
I’ve had several moments in recovery when I realized that things I assumed to be true were really delusions of depression. Some were long-held beliefs abou… Read More
2018-09-04 13:00
The Limits of Care-Giving for Depression
A family member’s care-giving for depression can shift from hope to frustration if the initial expectations are unrealistically high.
The film… Read More
2018-08-20 13:00
The Alchemy of Turning Depression into Vitality
After reading about the experiences of Tom Wootton and Will, the author of the great blog, WillSpirit, I’ve been exploring whether I co… Read More
2018-08-06 13:00
The Costly Mercy of Lost Feelings
I’ve been working on a new ebook about recovery and came across this early post on lost feelings. It resonated with me so I thought I would post it a… Read More
2018-07-16 13:00
Fighting Back to Recover from Depression
Stories about the struggle to recover from depression tell of repeated efforts to find a way to live well despite the recurring burden of illness. F… Read More
2018-07-02 13:00
Finding Self-Compassion through Focusing
Focusing is one of the few methods that has helped me understand depression as I experience it, well beyond the scope of clinical descriptions. It h… Read More
2018-06-25 13:00
Depression Relapse and Resilience
Sometimes relapse into depression comes on like the weather, suddenly there, a change in the atmosphere you breathe and the temperature and moisture of the… Read More
2018-06-18 13:00
Waking Up a Depressed Partner
I remember years ago talking with a friend about his recent divorce and remarriage and mentioning the stressful time my wife and I had been having at that time… Read More
2018-06-11 13:00
Revisiting: Acting the Roles of Depression
This revised post from the early days of Storied Mind seems especially relevant to the work I’m doing with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy… Read More
2018-06-04 13:00
Inner Beliefs and Outer Action
A few months ago, I found a picture of myself from college years that gave no hint of the turmoil of inner beliefs I held at the time. There I was, a lean you… Read More
2018-05-28 13:00
On Writing a Recovery Ebook
Even though I’ve written a great deal about recovery from depression, when I decided to pull my experiences together in A Mind for Life ebook, I ran into a… Read More
2018-05-21 13:00
Self-Acceptance and Depression
Depression grinds down many qualities of well-being, among them self-acceptance. Until recently, I hadn’t spent much time being comfortable with who I w… Read More
2018-05-15 13:00
Learning How to Live Well Again
One of the strange things about recovering from depression is that the condition is so pervasive getting better can feel like learning how to live all over a… Read More
2018-05-08 21:00
Conversations with Myself: Accepting the Past
Accepting the past is hard work. Avoidance of any part of the past that makes me uncomfortable used to be my go-to strategy, even though it nev… Read More
2018-05-01 13:00
What Do You See in the Mirror When You’re Depressed?
It’s hard to look in a mirror when you know you will your lost self in depression. Quite a while back, there was a TV series… Read More
2018-04-25 15:15
Fighting Self-Compassion
Strange as it may seem, I find myself fighting therapeutic approaches based on self-compassion. The reasons run deep and reveal a lot about the difficulty of trying… Read More
2018-04-18 18:49
Self-Compassion and Depression
As one who has had a lot of problems with self-esteem and self-worth as a result of depression, I’ve been interested to find out about the work of Kristi… Read More
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