Mental Health @ MindSay

It has been awhile since I blogged but I have been so busy with work, home responsibilities and physical therapy.  I must admit though, it makes my days go faster and I am not bored as much but I am definitely busier and I expect to get even busier next month with Christmas just around the corner.

My car accident was almost one month ago and I am still in a lot of pain.  My neck and clavicle are killing me still.  I am also still in the walking boot for my broken toe but my doctor said I can put a shoe on next friday.  However, if the pain doesn't stop soon, I don't see me in a shoe.  We also found out that we had gap insurance which paid off our entire loan for the car.  We had just bought it in June.  We were able to get another one.  I am hoping once I am done with doctor's and physical therapy, the lawsuit from the accident will go quickly but that will depend on whether or not the insurance company will settle and Allstate doesn't like to settle.  So, keep your fingers crossed.

Mentally, I am doing really well.  I haven't done this well in years.  I am getting ready to hit my six month mark with no self-injurious behavior.  Ever since I left the agency I went to for over ten years I have done so much better.  I don't have a therapist right now but I really don't have a lot of time to look or even go but I am also doing ok with not going.  I am suppose to see my old psychiatrist next month but really don't want to see him anymore.  My medical doctor has been looking for a doctor but hasn't had any luck yet.

My job is going really well too.  I am done with training on cash which has been challenging.  I open by myself on Friday and I am hoping I have no problems.  I have really struggled with this because I am dealing with so much money.  Believe me, it is easy to get confused.  LOL  We are hiring our Christmas associates now so we have more new people around the store.  I am hoping I get more hours because I could really use them.

Other than that, I am just trucking along.  Now, I must head to physical therapy.

  It's such a beautiful day here with birds singing and a lovely sky with just some thin clouds and warmer than ave temperatures. Was fondly thinking of  the silly song I put together last year, The Peace Virus. Maybe it's the weather that got me giddy enough to stop and think; if Peace were a virus - how would it present itself? What would be the symptoms? What would be the prevention - ( if that could be a concern! ;) )

So of course I have to play with that idea... How would it look? Bright happy faces in the crowd would stand out, their very presence would influence other faces to beam and smile as well. Because these smiling people felt energized and lighter they carried on with their beaming faces affecting all they came in contact with. More and more people begin feeling lighter and energized, more confident and empowered.

It's like the concept of Pass it Forward, and the viral principle works in Pass it Forward, facebook is designed around some of the same basic principles! And all one needs to do is smile - smile from the heart - smile a big beaming smile at another human being. Send love, compassion and appreciation through that smile to as many peple you meet as you can. Some will avert their eyes...don't force a smile on anyone - should they look away, the energy simply isn't right for them in that form - they will still benefit in a subtle way.

This is one of the best times of year to try something like this because people are more likely to smile in spring than in any other time of the year, People who are "infected" with peace virus will be indistinguishable from happy people and so it will be easy to spread it without being detected!

So crew, get out there and smile your darndest and glow everywhere you go! And when you're out and about don't forget that someone may well smile at you too - send you a bit of their own Peace Virus! :D

Odds are that I will never know what exactly is wrong with me. But I keep looking as if one day it's going to hit me in the face...It seems like no matter what method of treatment I try, it just doesn't work. I'm pretty sure I'm some sort of genetic black-sheep...I get all the bad genes. It's like when ugly people have cute kids, and sexy people have ugly kids. I'm just nature's way of saying "fuck you."

All I want is a relatively normal, healthy life...but of course mother nature must have had the runs when I was made. I'm a scatological freak of nature. :(

damnit  >__<

Before age 12, I know, there were two and possibly three times I suffered severe brain concussions. Both, the ones I am aware of, involved my head striking concrete which caused unconsciousness and memory loss.

 

The first occured when I was maybe, maybe...maybe...I, Ireally don't know now that I stop to think of it.  Was it that they happened so close together that I may have been the same age for both? Could be.

 

Be that as it may I will not dwell on it here now because my inability discern the chronology and my ages at the time is really disconcerting for me. Indeed, it is upsetting bordering on nausea.

 

This matter has been a frequent topic of intrapersonal conversations [me talking to me] over time. My quandry is: to what degree, if any, have those two severe concussions impacted my mental ability and or capacity in cognigtive, emotional, intelligence or whatever functionality.

 

Truly, I feel strongly that I am lacking in some, if not several, realms of mental functioning. I find or have found, over the years, that somethings are beyond my comprehension when it seems, to me anyway, it seems others or even "everybody knows that" as some Chinese friends here are wont to and quick to point out. Yes, I often feel stupid about various things.  Yes, often and vividly consciously so.

 

It is like, "Why don't I know this? Why can't I comprehend this thing? If it is so clear to others why is my cognition so muddled?"   Then the adverse of all these questions is true. I mean, like: "If I know this thing to be so why do not others understand it as I do? Why is I can comprehend this and others are so mystified?" Like that; ya know?  - David

 

ps: DTG 08282249  I should mention the fact that coincidential to the concussions I was also belittled, demeaned and ridiculed by a sick, demented, emotionally and physically cruel abuse father who tagged me as "dizzy" and "stupid" with both vehemence and pleasure on his part.   - David

 

pps: DTG 08282257:33 Some causeality or significance to be attached to such treatmnet and upbringing? Ya think? Huh?     - David

By Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg

Special to American Forces Press Service

 

May 23, 2008 - Reducing the stigma related to servicemembers seeking mental health assistance is a total team effort that involves educating peers to look out for each other and encouraging those who might be reluctant to receive care, a senior military medical official said yesterday.  "Commanders and noncommissioned officers really play a critical role in eliminating stigma, especially the junior-level noncommissioned officers who are with the troops on a day-to-basis. They play a key role in this goal of decreasing stigma," Col. (Dr.) C.J. Diebold, chief of the psychiatry department at Tripler Army Medical Center in Hawaii, said in an interview on the "Dot Mil Docs" program on BlogTalkRadio.com.

 

He added that improving one's overall behavioral health by eating sensibly, getting exercise, and practicing good hygiene are key factors when facing stressful situations. "Behavioral health is important to everyone, as it directly affects how a person feels and acts," Diebold said.

 

He added that keeping up overall mental health is especially crucial when deployed to a combat zone.

 

"When one is deployed in a place like a combat zone, one must really maintain a really healthy lifestyle and a positive attitude to be able maintain good behavioral health," Diebold said.

 

Encouraging servicemembers to learn more about maintaining overall mental health for not only themselves, but also for their families, is just one of the elements highlighted in May, which is Mental Health Month.

 

"It jogs people's consciousness to recognize the importance of mental health, and hopefully that will continue throughout the entire year," Diebold said.

 

Many lessons have been learned by looking at mental health issues year-round, he added.

 

"One of the lessons learned over the past few decades is the importance of a servicemember's psychological well-being in terms of being able to perform their mission, but also the psychological well-being of their families," Diebold said. He added that servicemembers who may need assistance either during or after their deployment have a lot of different options to choose from.

 

"A servicemember could go to their unit chaplain, and I have talked with servicemembers over the years, and this is really the first place that a lot of people will go to," he said. "The chaplains are a very good way to go and be able to talk through some of the issues that are going on."

 

Diebold said still other outlets include talking with primary care providers, behavioral health professionals, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, family therapists, and alcohol- and substance-abuse counselors.

 

"The important thing to remember is that if a person is concerned that they may have experienced a traumatic event in theater and some other environment, and it is really affecting them, to go in and talk to a counselor [or] their primary care manager and get evaluated and get treated if it is indicated," Diebold said. "The sooner it's recognized and the sooner it is evaluated and treatment, the better a person is going to feel, and [it decreases] the chance that they may have long-term effects."

 

Servicemembers may encounter post-traumatic stress disorder or combat and operational stress during or after deployments, Diebold said.

 

"I think that it is now the longest continuous combat operations of any war besides the Revolutionary War, and we have had servicemembers deploying multiple times now," he said. "The stress that servicemembers and the families [are experiencing] have been well recognized, and that is why these special programs and bolstering of helping services have been implemented to help out."

 

Some of the symptoms associated with PTSD are nightmares, nervousness, anxiety or flashbacks. In contrast to PTSD, combat and operational stress reactions are short reactions to stress from being in the combat zone. Usually, combat and operational stress symptoms will resolve with rest, short-term counseling or sometimes simply on their own, he explained, whereas symptoms of PTSD can last a few days, months or even years.

 

Diebold added that the Department of Veterans Affairs has been working to find treatments for PTSD. Usually, with treatment, a servicemember affected by PTSD can return to active duty. Mental health professionals are deployed in theater to aid servicemembers who may be dealing with PTSD or know someone who is, he noted.

 

"Our mental health professionals are out there among the troops, educating the troops that this is an expected reaction and here are some of the things that you can do to help decrease some of your stress.

 

"Commanders and soldiers are being educated and being encouraged to go in and seek mental health treatment," he continued, "and leaders are encouraged to allow their soldiers time away from work ... to get evaluated and treated."

 

(Navy Lt. Jennifer Cragg works in the New Media branch of the Defense Media Activity.)