Amy Gamble's Blog, page 2

Another shooter – another failure of the mental health treatment system!

You’ve probably seen the stories about the homicidal man who killed 18 people in Maine and eventually took his own life. According to numerous media reports Robert Card was struggling with his mental health and hospitalized for one day in July. Card was a member of the army reserve and a trained marksman.

CNN reported that the army gave Card a referral to seek treatment for mental health, after it was reported he was “hearing voices” and had thoughts about “hurting other soldiers.”

In my view, a person with homicidal thoughts doesn’t simply need a referral. They need psychiatric inpatient treatment. Immediately. They should be kept inpatient until stabilized. Not released when insurance companies think they should be, but released when symptoms have resolved and thoughts have cleared.

And…

A person who experiences homicidal and suicidal thoughts should not be legally able to own or purchases firearms. In the throes of psychotic symptoms with specific thoughts of hurting other people or themselves, this makes a person a danger to themselves and others. I’m not sure what it’s going to take for “red flag” laws to become more prevalent.

Quite simply, a red flag law allows a note in the background check system on firearms to identify the person as having a mental health issue. The person who is flagged in the system will be unable to purchase a firearm. I don’t anyone who can honestly disagree that this is a bad idea. Does it bring to question privacy issues? Yes. But from a public safety standpoint, it is the right thing to do.

When I first heard about this shooting and details began to emerge, I was deeply saddened for all the victims and family members. I was also heavy hearted because this is not the first time something similar to this has happened.

Some of you may remember the Colorado movie theatre shooter, James Holmes. He killed 12 people and injured 70 others. People who were going to the movies for entertainment.

I read the entire transcript of that case and learned the psychiatrist James Holmes was seeing didn’t involuntarily commit him, when I he specifically told her he wanted to kill people.

I’ve taught hundreds of hours of classes on mental health and suicide prevention. The first thing I told my classes was to take people seriously when they actively say they want to harm themselves or others. It’s one thing for a layperson to have someone tell them they want to kill people, it’s another for this to be told to a mental health care professional.

If nothing else, it’s just common sense to make sure a person receives mental health treatment and pray it’s long enough treatment for a person’s mental health to be restored.

I do have to add that most people who experience psychotic symptoms and/or episodes are not violent. However, often times a person having a psychotic episode will intersect with law enforcement. I’m speaking from personal experience and my work as a mental health advocate.

Unfortunately, a great deal of tragic outcomes could be avoided with more common sense laws for involuntary commitment and for sure, red flag laws that keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.

Something has to change or we will continue to turn on the TV or scroll through our social media news feeds and find these stories of tragic outcomes.

I know there will be people who completely disagree with me on any restrictions to gun ownership. They are entitled to their opinion. However, I would argue they don’t have enough facts to make a legitimate argument against red flag laws.

The last thing I want to point out is the fact that the entire mental health treatment system is broken. There’s no accountability for providers on quality indicators. There’s rarely accountability on outcomes. And so many of these stories never make it into mainstream media. It makes me shudder to have a window into what a mess this system is.

My hope is by writing about the topic, I’ll shed some light in areas where there’s darkness. I’m holding onto hope that something will change for the better.

Author and OlympianAmy gamble

Amy is a national award winning Mental Health Advocate, a former Olympian and a person with lived experience.

Amy’s Author Page

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Walking in the grief wilderness without a map!

My grief map is a topographical map of the wilderness, except I left home without it. I don’t think I can re-draw a grief map. I actually feel as if I’m wondering in the wilderness a little lost without a map. Being lost is not foreign to me, because I’ve actually been lost in the wilderness before for a few days. Having had that experience I’m not really frightened of not having a set way to find my way through grief.

I’m comfortable with the idea of wandering. Of not knowing when to turn left or right, east or west, north or south. I’m just walking and going with the flow, as if I was following a stream downward in hopes of finding civilization. 

I’m lonely at times. The grief I feel can overwhelm me, but I manage to compartmentalize. I’m taking one small step at a time, because any faster and I won’t be able to keep the pace and any slower and I’ll feel as if the grief wildnerness is going to swallow me up. I’ve decided the best option is to take one day at a time.

Even though I’m sort of wandering and a little lost, I’m still noticing the beauty in the scenery. As I remember the massively tall beautiful evergreen trees with snow bunched up on the bushy limbs their beauty is like the people I’m meeting along the way in my grief expedition. Their beautiful souls give me hope, just as nature’s beauty gave me hope when I was lost.

Sometimes I doubt myself that I’ll be able to make it to wherever this path is leading me. I feel like I’d be better served with a guide. But I lost my guide to the otherside in September. If she were here I’d feel a whole lot better about walking without a map. But I do draw upon her strength spiritually. I know she’s with me, just as I knew how much she loved me when I was actually literally lost in the wildnerness.

Like many of my experiences I have a tendency to share with other what I learn. Right now, I’d share that I’m not sure grief really does follow any kind of map. I think everyone really has to figure out how to get from here to there…wherever here and there is. 

What I’ve come to learn is that the more I explore grief, the more I find it. Sometimes lurking in the shadows of the past. I ask myself, “Shouldn’t that 30 plus year old loss not bother me today? Why do I still feel pain and sorrow?” And then, I laugh as I answer my own question. “The pain is tolerable. The memory of loss will always be sad. There’s no way to make it happy…to turn it into something it wasn’t.” 

Walking step by step, one day at a time and noticing all the things that make me feel one way or another is helping me heal. Though healing isn’t always linear. It doesn’t matter if I go East, South, North or West, as long as I’m walking I’m surviving. And as in the case when I was acutally lost in the wildnerness, I eventually found other people in the wildnerness who helped me, I’m finding other people now who are helping me navigate the grief process.

As long as I keep moving. I’ll find my way. It may not be easy and the terrain can be treacherous at times, but I’ll draw on my inner strength and the fact that I was loved unconditionally by a woman I called mom. The love will help me survive long enough, until I meet other travelers along my journey.

I can rest peacefully knowing I will be okay. 

Author and Olympianamy gamble

I’m an author and former Olympian who writes about mental health. Having recently lost my mom, I’m writing my way through grief.

Amy’s Author Page

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What’s in my grief garden?

            My grief garden is plowed in the hills of West Virginia where the windy roads mirror the snake like shape of a rushing creek. I discovered through writing my garden isn’t only one plot, but a multitude of plots with years of grief planted, buried several feet into the ground and fertilized with good ole’ fashion coping mechanisms, some positive and some more on the negative side.

            The more I write every day, the more I’m vigilant about allowing the sun to shine on the seeds that were buried long ago, I’ve begun to see the harvest. In a strange kind of way my mom dying in September was the most powerful fertilizer I could have ever imagined. Her passing allowed all the seeds to break through the ground and began to allow me to pick from the garden.

            As I’m walking in my garden if I’m not careful, I take my shoe and push back a pile of dirt.  over the plant. I never cover the roses that still bloom, even as the summer gives way to the fall. They remind me of when my mother asked me to plant them. We had to try twice because the first knock rose bushes died. The second time around these bushes survived a wicked spring frost. As I see the petals gently blowing in the wind, I’m reminded of how much my mother loved those roses. I can see her smiling, as we sat at the patio, and she raved about their beauty.

            Suddenly, I need to move past the roses because while at first, they brought me great joy, my happy memories lead me down the path of coming to terms with her being gone. As much as I know it’s okay to cry, I just seem to want to limit how much watering I give daily.

            As I walk through my garden, I pick up a green pepper. I bring it in, cut it and take all the annoying seeds out. It makes me happy to have another vegetable, but then I taste it and it’s bitter. I try again, same result. Sometimes things look so beautiful on the outside, but then, well then, the harsh reality sets in. Not everything leads me down the pathway of sweetness, most things end up in the same place. Sweet and yet bitter. Will I ever get to only sweet or will there always be the looming taste of bitterness awaiting me?

            I dig in my garden. In the same way I helped my father dig up potatoes planted in the annual potato patch. They lie less than a foot below the surface. It’s not hard to dig them up…just like it’s not hard to dig up my stories of grief. For a moment I stare off into the distance looking at that potato patch. It was always a happy place for me. It still is. It’s not the garden or what’s planted I’m afraid of, it’s what happens when I pull them out with clumpy, clay dirt and must my get hands dirty.

            I think I just like to keep my hands nice and neat. But the garden requires my hands to be dirty. And that’s what I’m learning about grief. If I want to really explore all that grief has to teach me, I’ve got to roll up my sleeves and not be afraid to go shoulder deep into however far down I need to dig.

             I believe anyone who crosses paths with me in this life will benefit from my grief garden. As I learn I can teach and as I heal, I can help heal. I’ll share the beauty and maybe even share a little of my dirt if needed. 

Author and OlympianAmy gamble

I’m a former Olympian who loves to write. I write about topics related to mental health. I’m speaking from my heart about the topic of grief as a way to heal. I also want to help normalize the topic, as holding in or ignoring emotions aren’t good for our mental health. 

Amy’s Author Page

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The tree of life heals my heart!

It was spring 2021, as I sat outside on the patio with my mother enjoying the warmth of the sun on my face. 

My mother said, “I want to plant a tree just above the hill. What do you think?”

“I think that’s a great idea. I love trees,” I answered with a great deal of enthusiasm. “What kind of tree do you want?” 

“I like a maple tree. They have beautiful colors in the fall,” she said as her green eyes sparkled with the possibility of seeing her vision through.

And so the maple tree was planted. I cry some tears of joy for the beautiful memory she gave me and tears of sadness for my aching heart that misses her with all my heart. 

The fall season has arrived and the little maple tree’s leaves have turned red and yellow. just as she said it would. I have to stop writing to wipe my river of tears away. I’m so touched by her lasting gifts.

When my mother passed away I decided to plant a tree in her honor. As I scanned through my emails this morning I found the certificate of memory for her tree. I smiled thinking she would be so happy to know there’d be a tree in the forest planted with loving intention. 

A year or so ago I was out west and came upon a store called “Karma Luck.” I went into the store and found a copper made tree of life that was supposed to have been made in Tibet. The little tree with black colored leaves coming out of a white rock is a symbol of the source of life. Legend has it if you put notes under the tree the universe will bring to you what you have asked for. I have since learned many other religions have the tree of life as a symbol representing the source of life or a cycle of life and death itself.

My mother loved that tree of life I gave her so much, she purchased a bedspread that had a pattern of the tree of life. She was a woman of great faith and believed God really does answers prayers. 

About a month after my mom died, I went to church for the first time in a long time. As I sat in the wooden pew I glanced up at the alter. On the right side hanging from the ceiling was a giant white banner with colorful symbols and the lettering which said, “The Tree of Life.” 

I sat amazed and then immediately started to cry. I cried because I couldn’t go home and tell my mom about the tree of life I saw at church. I cried because I felt disappointment and a sense of loss that I didn’t have her to share my news with. I was sad and then I became peaceful knowing that she would have thought my discovery was pretty cool and not ironic at all.

So, there was sort of this theme about trees that brings up a variety of different emotions – sadness, joy, smiles, sorrow, and the pain of loss. And yet, as the summer gives way to the fall and the trees grace us with their beautiful colors, I am reminded that one of the best gifts my mother gave me was planting that maple tree. Because I think she knew anytime anyone saw that tree we’d think of her and her endearing spirit of love we were so fortunate to have.

If all of these elements were in a kaleidoscope, I’d see darkness as I’d feel the sadness wash over me. As I turn the kaleidoscope, I’d see beautiful red, yellow and green colors that represented hope and life and gratefulness. I’d hear the whispering wind blow as it shook the leaves from the trees. And as the sun retreats further away, I’d remember that sunny spring day when the little maple tree was given a place to grow in my backyard. A real live tree of life representing the beauty and spirit of a woman I’ll never forget.  

Author and OlympianAmy gamble

I’m a former Olympian who loves to write. I write about topics related to mental health. I’m speaking from my heart about the topic of grief as a way to heal. I also want to help normalize the topic, as holding in or ignoring emotions aren’t good for our mental health.

Amy’s Author page

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A recipe for my grief soup

My recipe for grief soup is full of sorrow, a cup of joyful memories, three cups of peaceful silence, a dash of acceptance, a dash of denial and a pound of tears. 

The first element is sorrow which turns into sadness as I pour it into the pot. In a very slow cook, the sadness thickens as the pound of tears gets added to the mix causing it to boil. Then, a moment of steam clearing happens as I turn down the heat and relieve the pressure by taking off the lid. I breathe deeply and allow myself to feel the steam.   

And then as the tears dissolve a joyful memory is added. It goes into the pot and I laugh as I’m reminded that my grief soup doesn’t only contain sorrow, but it also contains joy. My heart is filled up thinking about how long I need to let the joy simmer. When the joy permeates the other elements, I add a dash of acceptance. 

Sometimes when I make the soup I overcook the sorrow and the sadness tastes overwhelming. To balance this out I over correct and add to much denial. Too many dashes of denial blunts the sorrow and makes the pound of tears seem like they are ridiculous to add. Denial is the element that causes a resistance to what is and blocks the flavor of acceptance.

After the joy is added, peaceful silence begins to pull all the elements together. Solidifying each and every element and allowing me to taste all of the ingredients.

If I took my grief to lunch I’d talk about all the elements of joy and sorrow and how they both belong in my grief soup.

Author and OlympianAmy gamble

Amy is an author, former Olympian and a person recovering from the recent loss of her dear mother. She’s writing for healing and to feel all the feelings. She hopes you’ll find one thing relatable in what she’s sharing.

www.amygambleauthor.com

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A Letter from my sixth sense about suicide

For anyone who may struggle with suicidal thoughts…

Don’t quit. Don’t you dare quit. When you’ve struggled you’ve always made it through. I promise you, you will get back up and be bigger, faster and stronger. Your light was meant to shine for a very long time. Don’t put out your light before you’re called.

Erase the whole idea that giving up is even a possibility. I know it’s hard for you. But taking your own life isn’t a solution. The only thing suicide should be is a thought and never an action. The moment you have those thoughts I want you to think of our conversation. The time when you confided in me how after the first time you wanted to die, literally three years later you walked into Olympic Stadium as a 1988 Olympian. If you die by suicide the ripple effect of all the good you did would be erased.

And that’s what you have to think about. The ripple in the water you want to create. All the people, places and things you want to see and touch. The legacy you want to leave. Don’t cut yourself short, because I know for a fact that things will look better in the morning. The moment you open your eyes and take a breath. Your problems may not go away overnight, but you may look at them a little differently. And if you don’t, talk yourself through another day with the promise that tomorrow will be just a little bit brighter.

So, don’t you quit. Don’t you dare quit. Don’t indulge those dark, toxic thoughts. There is help. There is hope. And most importantly there is love. More love than you can imagine. Open your mind to the possibility and hope that your emotional pain will have a powerful salve.

Believe healing is possible. Time may not heal all wounds, but it sure helps. The more distance you get from a difficult situation the lesser the pain it inflicts.

For your friends who struggle, have them make a mantra for the dark nights and soul less days. In that mantra make sure they tell themselves suicide is not an option.

Every action begins with a thought. Control the thought..control the action. Even impulsive decisions start with a thought. Monitor your thoughts.

Above anything, if your friend is struggling don’t drink a drip of alcohol. It clouds judgement and erases our ability to think rationally. No booze and no pills. Your life depends on it.

I know that apathetic feeling well. A shrug of the shoulders, a tilt of the head and there you have it a desperate notion to just give up.

Don’t do it. Don’t you quit. Tell yourself right now, “I’m not going to quit. I’m going to fight no matter what!”

Life is a precious gift. Hold on to yours gently and remind yourself how worthy and beautiful you are. Things will work out, I promise. Everything always works out.

This is written for suicide prevention month. I am personally not struggling with suicidal thoughts. I’ve written this in hopes of helping someone who might be struggling.

Amy gamble

Amy is an author and former Olympian who writes about mental health. Her second book, “Unsilenced,” will be published in 2024.

www.amygambleauthor.com

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My Personal Journey with Psychosis

into the abyss of mental illness

When I think back in time to that cold day in February 1999, my eyes begin to tear up. The memory of my first episode psychosis is entrenched deep into my psyche. It’s layered with so many complexities, so much stigma and so much hurt. After all these years, I know intellectually it was not my fault that I had a psychotic episode. In the past I contemplated if I was responsible for taking care of myself, I couldn’t help but wonder how I could have let something like that happen to me. The remnants of self-blaming thoughts I finally have broke free from.

I can see myself sitting in the community hospital bed, hoping to get some relief from the overtly painful gynecological symptoms I was feeling. I can feel the shots of demoral sting into the side of my hips. Over five days, every four hours a potent dose of opioids ran through my blood and began to cloud my brain with confusing thoughts not based in reality. Though it was a gradual onset of psychosis, beginning first with paranoid thoughts and escalating into a full blown psychotic episode.

By the time I left the community hospital I had temporary nerve damage from all the shots they had given me. I was basically a victim of poor healthcare with no recourse and at the time no ability to hold my doctor accountable for addicting me to pain medicine and causing life changing onset of a serious mental illness.

My next stop was my first dreadful visit to an aging psych unit. Before being admitted they stripped search me to make sure I wasn’t bringing any drugs onto the unit. Even in my state of mind I found it humiliating. And it was certainly a traumatizing event, given my history with past sexual assaults. I was vulnerable, violated and in no position to stand up for myself. The people responsible for advocating for me were no where in sight. For two nights, I was left alone mortified and trembling all night long in an extreme activation of my stress response system.

Bipolar disorder diagnosis

At the time, my partner and one of my sisters thought it was a good idea to spring me from the hell hole psych unit and drive me two hours away to Johns Hopkins Mood Disorder Clinic. All the sudden everyone was diagnosing me with bipolar disorder. Not taking into account the atrocious amount of opioids that had been put into my body.

While the facility at Johns Hopkins was much newer and cleaner, it was shocking to be given a tour of the dining facility. I remember the huge padlock on the refrigerator door, as I was on a unit for both mood disorders and eating disorders.

Within two days of being on that unit, I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder, told I was addicted to pain medicine and accused of using steroids. I was given a cocktail of four high dose psychotropic medications, and injected with buprenorphine to treat the withdrawal symptoms.

After five days on that unit, I was released from the hospital. I was confused, not stabilized and completely overwhelmed with the entire situation. What made matters worse was the people in my life were ill-equipped to help me make sense out of what happened to me. There was zero acknowledgment, compassion or even an ounce of grace given to me for all that I had experienced in such a short amount of time. I was left by myself to sort it all out.

Looking back, I’d say it was a kind of cruel abandonment. The kind of thing I’d never do to someone I cared about.

After that cold day in February, my life was forever changed. It was a collision course with a domino effect. Most of which could have been avoided with a certain safety net in place.

Instead, I had to learn how to advocate for myself. I had to learn how to overcome all the trauma inflicted upon me, without any acknowledgement or compassion from others. I had to dig deep and fight back if I was ever going to have a life again.

Sometimes life changes come as unexpected surprises that end up bringing us to a pathway we were meant to be on. Because one way or another I feel as if I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.

I would never have chosen this path, but the path chose me. I have a responsibility to advocate for those who have no voice.

In my upcoming book “Unsilenced,” I give a voice to the woman inside of me who wanted to speak her truth. I hope when the book is released you’ll pick up a copy and take a walk down my journey with me. My hope is you’ll become “Unsilenced” too!

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Breaking the Silence: A Journey Into Why I Understand Psychosis

Psychosis is a scary word

June 1999. I arrived back home to West Virginia from Knoxville, after completing my freshman year at the University of Tennessee. It was mid-morning and the phone rang. On the other end of the phone, was my uncle telling me my mother was injured from a fall she took off a thirty foot balcony. “What the hell?” I wondered out loud. All my Uncle said was, “You have to get to the hospital in Baltimore and help your mother.”

I was confused. My mother was over in Baltimore visiting one of my sisters. I knew from talking to my mom on the phone that she seemed somewhat confused. But how could any of this of happened?

After several hours on the road, I found myself standing in front of a psychiatrist. He was raising his voice at me and telling me my mother had a psychotic episode. He said, “You need to convince your mother to sign herself into a psych unit voluntarily or we’ll have to send her to the state institution. You don’t want that do you?” Of course I didn’t want that. I’d seen the 1970’s movie One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, I was horrified my mother was going to end up on a psych ward like the horrifying one in the movie.

Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed is an understatement to how at 19 years old I was being asked to process so much information at one time. I’ve come to learn that what I experienced was a traumatic event. But I had no idea at the time. So, I did what my instincts told me to do…I wrote down all the words the psychiatrist was spewing out and put them on a yellow legal pad. Psychotic episode. Hallucinations. Manic-depressive illness. Schizophrenia. Psychosis. Psychosis. Psychosis.

There was no google back in 1999. Instead, I took myself to the library and looked up every word on my piece of paper and wrote down the definition. I had to understand intellectually what was happening, but I needed to understand the language first.

All those words were like a foreign language to me. They were scary, “crazy,” words that would begin to come out of my mouth regularly for the remainder of my life.

And that was my first encounter with the words psychotic episode. Honestly, I could have gone an entire life without ever understanding those words. But I didn’t get that choice. We don’t get to choose what illnesses effects ourselves or our loved ones. I simply had to deal with it, because it had become a part of my life. Front and center.

What is a psychotic episode?

A psychotic episode is a period of time when a person has a break from reality. During this time a person may experience significant disturbances in their thoughts, emotions, perceptions and behaviors. Usually it involves hallucinations (see or hearing things that aren’t there) and/or delusions (holding fixed, false beliefs). Psychotic episodes are often associated with mental health conditions like, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or major depressive disorder. A psychotic episode is a temporary occurrence and can vary in intensity and duration for each person.

My mother had a psychotic episode as a result of bipolar disorder. Although she experienced various symptoms over the years, she had no prior treatment history for mental health, until that dreadful day in Baltimore. In her mind, someone was trying to hurt her, so she ran for the nearest exit. Unfortunately, that exit was off a thirty-foot balcony. And that is how she ended up nearly losing her life.

1999. That is the year I became a mental health advocate, before I ever even knew there was such a term for providing education and support for someone who is experiencing a mental health condition. It meant I was advocating for my mom to get the proper treatment.

Without even realizing what I was doing, I openly faced off the stigma of mental illness by telling people in my life what had happened to my mother. I didn’t talk about it with shame, I spoke about it matter of factly. Some people I told made up stories about me and spread gossip that I was “crazy.” Some had little to no compassion for either my mom, myself or my family. Few people knew what to say. I don’t recall ever hearing, “I’m sorry this happened.”

Because psychosis is a scary word. I’m not afraid of it anymore, because I understand it well.

In my next blog post I’ll explain from my own personal experience what a psychotic episode it like.

Amy gamble

Amy Gamble is a National Award Winning Mental Health Advocate who writes about mental health conditions. Her new book “Unsilenced,” will be released in 2024. http://www.amygambleauthor.com

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Trauma and the Brain

The brain is very complex! In the past, scientists thought it was too difficult to understand, so they just didn’t study it. Fortunately, over the last twenty-plus years there’s been much more emphasis on brain health, especially understanding how trauma impacts the brain.

I became very interested in having a greater understanding about trauma, because of my past experiences. I wanted to unravel the complexities of how trauma affected me and why past traumas began to haunt my present. I’m currently writing a book about my experiences (“Unsilenced” Coming 2024)

In the meantime, I want to share with my readers some of the things I’ve learned, in hopes there might be something you learn that might help you.

Here is what happens in your brain when your anxious.

Most of us have heard of the fight – flight – freeze – fawn stress response. These responses come when are safety is threatened. This can happen in the moment when a traumatizing event is happening, or it can happen when we are triggered by some sort of reminder of a past traumatizing event. I’ve learned when we are in survival mode, our thinking brain goes off-line and this is why sometimes it’s difficult to have words for what we’ve experienced.

If you’ve experienced a traumatic event, know that recovery is possible. Healing generally takes place over a period of time. I’ve found it helpful to work with a therapist, so I could process my trauma. But I also have found it helpful to read books like “The Body Keeps the Score.” Remember going to therapy is a great help, but self-help strategies are equally helpful.

There is a great deal of information available now about trauma. I’ve found it beneficial to understand it as much as possible. Information has helped me to assign words to what I experienced. The integration of memories into my conscious mind has allowed me to heal in ways I thought was impossible at one time.

The brain is complex. Understanding what happens when we’ve experienced trauma can help us to heal. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help.

Author and OlympianAmy Gamble

Amy Gamble is a former Olympian and the author of the upcoming book “Unsilenced: A Memoir of Healing from Trauma.” (Coming 2024)

www.amygambleauthor.com

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Winning the Battle Against Depression: Tips and Strategies

My First Battle with Depression

My first introduction to the depression doldrums came when I was about 14 years old. I remember having a difficult time getting out of bed, feeling really sad and having zero motivation to want to do anything. It seems what caused my depression is less relevant now than how I managed to overcome it. Because when we struggle with depression that’s what we have to do – fight.

From that moment of being a teenager and well into my adulthood, I had many depressive episodes. Some lasted longer than others, but they were all brutal. Those episodes made me a shadow of myself. They left me feeling empty, despondent and sometimes very cynical. I wrote about my experience with depression in a blog post called, “I am depression.”

Persronal Medicine Coaching

Since those years, I’ve come to learn multiple strategies for battling depression. I’m going to share what has worked for me over the years. I also have learned tips and strategies for helping others manage depression from my training as a Personal Medicine Coach. A Certified Personal Medicine Coach is an expert in supporting people as they discover and use Personal Medicine in their recovery.

Personal Medicine supports recovery-oriented practice, is evidence-based and has been shown to increase activation which leads to more robust health outcomes. The practice of Personal Medicine meets SAMHSA’s criteria for recovery-based practice and the core competencies of peer support.

In my experience as a Personal Medicine Coach and in my experience as someone who has faced off with depression on numerous occasions, I’ve found the following strategies to be very helpful.

Tips and Strategies to Deal with depression

1. Seek professional help – Consider seeking help from a therapist or psychiatrist for counseling or medication. It’s much easier to stay on top of depression, if you treat it early. If you’ve been struggling with symptoms for more than two weeks, think about seeking out some help. If you don’t see a psychiatrist, you can start with your primary care physician. The longer you wait the more difficult the healing journey will become.

2. Talk to someone – Talking to someone you trust, such as a friend or family member, can help you cope and make you feel less alone. If you are feeling severely depressed, do not hesitate to contact a crisis helpline. 988 is the suicide crisis hotline in the United States.

3. Practice self-care – Get enough sleep, eat healthy foods, and exercise regularly. Participate in activities that you enjoy or that make you feel good. Even though it can be so incredibly difficult to get out of bed and attempt to exercise, it’s one of the best ways to fight back against depression.

As for eating healthy foods, that’s always been one of my warning signs for a depressive episode – I’d get drawn to eating candy and sweets in my attempt to improve my mood. This always left me with a 15-20 pound weight gain at the end of a depressive episode. Now, I attempt to catch the symptoms early and try to stay away from the things that I know are not good for me.

4. Reframe negative thoughts – Try to question or challenge negative thoughts that come to mind, focusing on facts rather than assumptions or judgments. This is far easier said than done. Getting negative is also one of my warning signs that something isn’t quite right, as I’m usually a positive person. Changes in the way we think are a part of living with the symptoms of mental illness. Being aware of our thoughts can help us guard against the negative spiral that can happen from depression.

5. Make a routine and stick to it – Establishing a routine can help create structure and stability in your life, which can be particularly helpful for those who find themselves feeling unmotivated or lost.

6. Surround yourself with positivity – Spend time with people who uplift you, and consider engaging in activities that help you feel good. When you feel depressed no one wants to spend time with others who are feeling good. Sometimes being around other people uplifts me and other times it makes me feel bad that I didn’t feel good. But I do know isolation makes depression worse. Finding people who accept me for whatever mood I’m in and help uplift my spirits is helpful.

7. Seek support from others with similar experiences – Join a support group or online community that understands what you are going through. The Depression Bipolar Support Alliance is an excellent organization that provides supports groups at no cost.

Experiences with depression are unique

It is essential to recognize that each individual’s experience with depression is unique, and what works for one person may not work for another. If you are struggling with depression, setting up a support system and seeking help, and working with your health care provider are good steps towards finding relief. 

Best of luck in your battle with depression! Remember: depression doesn’t last forever, things will get better and you won’t always feel bad. Never give up the fight!

Amy Gamble

Author – Olympian – Activist

Author and OlympianAmy Gamble

Amy Gamble is a National Award winning Mental Health Advocate. She’s taught hundreds of hours of classes in Mental Health First Aid and has been a sought after speaker on topics related to mental health.

www.amy-gamble.com

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The post Winning the Battle Against Depression: Tips and Strategies appeared first on Shedding Light on Mental Health.