A Guide To Anger And Conflict Resolution
Welcome to From Insults to Respect. As this post’s title indicates, today I take up the question, “Is depression really so bad?” In doing so, I imagine many will conclude I must be out of my head or a complete numbskull. My challenging task for today is to see if I can convert such insults to at least a modest degree of respect. As a…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. In today’s world, if you are experiencing melancholy or depression, the pharmaceutical industry very much wants to sell you on the idea that you have an abnormal condition that is deemed an illness. You would think with the popularity of the blues type of music, periods of bluesy feelings would be viewed as normal as trees in a forest;…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. For those of us who have endured a brutally hot summer, the arrival of autumn sure is a welcome sight. This past weekend, I happened to be checking out some stuff on YouTube and came upon a wonderful version of the song, “Melancholy Mood,” sung, believe it or not, by Bob Dylan. The amazingly prolific song writer and musical…
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Feeling depressed? If so, you may decide to consult with a psychiatrist or other medical doctor. By doing so, chances are your description of your feelings will be translated into a language of symptoms, diagnosis, and mental illness, and you will leave the doctor’s office with a prescription for pills marketed as “antidepressants.” Unfortunately, this medicalization approach is so inconsistent with scientific evidence that many…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. A couple of years ago I wrote a post titled, “Am I Bad For Being Sad?” There I discussed the tendency in our society to promote the notion that when we experience sadness it is a symptom indicating there is something wrong with us. I then asked readers to consider the possibility that this notion may be disrespectful and harmful,…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Today’s topic: How might parents wisely respond to their teenager’s experience with depression? Imagine your thirteen-year-old teenage daughter begins to express a concern about being depressed. Many in the psychiatric profession, heavily backed up by the pharmaceutical industry, would urge you to make an appointment with a psychiatrist as fast as you can. That approach typically leads to the doctor…
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Welcome to From Insults To Respect. Today we explore the question, Is it helpful or harmful to view our anxiety and grief experiences as painful? Let’s begin this exploration with a diary entry from a mental patient that appears on page 224 in Richard P. Bentall’s fine book, Madness Explained: Rhoda [a friend] asked me if I were spoiled and I angrily said no, but feel…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today’s topic–anxiety. What brought me to write about it? Well, recently I published a post titled, “The Nature of Depression and Melancholy” (see HERE). Shortly afterwards, one of my readers commented that rather than depression or melancholy, he is more likely to experience anxiety, and therefore, wondered if I might write a post on it. Since how people handle anxiety can influence…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we take an interesting look at two states of being, depression and melancholy. A central difference between the two has to do with throwing insults at ourselves; when we are depressed we spend a great deal of time doing that, in melancholy, not so much. To better understand what I mean by this, and to clarify the natural…
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Welcome to From Insults to Respect. Today we continue our exploration of famous people who, despite experiencing depression, managed to achieve an outstanding level of respect. In the recent past, the experiences of Joni Mitchell (see HERE), U.S. Grant (see HERE), Leo Tolstoy (see HERE), and Abraham Lincoln (see HERE) led us along their personal journey. We now turn to the master of all psychologists, William James, to…
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