James Bishop is becoming one of my favorite mental health bloggers, and that’s not just because he displays the picture of a (smiling?) camel on his “about” page. James consistently writes quality articles on depression and bipolar disorder, and is working on a “health diary” software program to help people track their moods and health.

James’ article, “12 Ways to Care for a Depressed Person” suggests ways that you can help someone you love who is depressed. These 12 steps include: Understand the illness, Seek Appropriate Treatment, Provide Emotional Support, Keep the Illness Separate, Listen Non-Judgmentally, Make a Plan, Look after yourself, Organize their medicines, Support network, Get out and About, Help with daily tasks, and Spend normal time together.

When I was clinically depressed, I was unproductive. Stephen shares “7 Ways to Stay Productive Through Depression“, which include: Share with someone intimately close, Stay with people and try to stay focused on the moment, Avoid all instances of overhyped optimism and feel good inspirationals (this is important if you have a tendency to use anything and everything to figuratively beat yourself up!), Accept it as part of your creative cycle and allow the rest, Look for ways to help others through deep conversations, Tell/ask God, “Screw You!”, “Help Me!”, “This Shit Sucks”, “Whats the Point?”, or anything else on your mind and seek guidance, and Remember that it will pass and look toward the future.

Along a similar vein, Albert Foong a.k.a Urban Monk tackles “taming your monkey mind“. This has little to do with the often superficial hyped up “positive thinking”, and Albert references a prior article on “the dangers” thereof. There are two levels that Albert discusses. While I tend to exclude articles that have been submitted to multiple carnivals (and therefore less unique to my carnival!), I’m going to include this one because the information may be helpful for you.

D Kai Wilson - I know what you mean about being asked questions that you’ve answered repeatedly! It doesn’t really happen here on my mental health website, but it happens a lot on one of my other websites. This is why D Kai posted 8 myths about bipolar disorder and subsequently “busts them” one by one with her responses. So if you are wondering about the following:

Myth: bipolar disorder isn’t manic depression
Myth: You can diagnose bipolar disorder with a blood test
Myth: Bipolar disorder is easy to diagnose
Myth: Bipolars are easy to spot/can’t hold down a job
Myth: Bipolars have an excuse for ‘bad’ behavior.
Myth: Bipolars aren’t aware of how they should behave
Myth: Moods don’t mix and it’s very easy to judge where someone will be based on what they’ve been saying and doing.
Myth: You cannot get pregnant if you are bipolar

Look no further. Your answers are here!

Thank you to all those who submitted articles to this edition of my mental health carnival. Congratulations to those whose entries made it into this carnival! Please note that even if your entries were not selected (my selection criteria have become stricter, and I limit each edition to include only 3-4 entries), I personally visit and read each and every one of your submissions. To submit your best articles for consideration in a future carnival, please use this link.

Until Next Time!

Photo Credits: Camel from James Bishop’s website, A Little bit of Green by Craig Jewel, Relax by Andrea Füzesi.