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The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day (Read 129092 times)

slab_happy

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With apologies for the dumb question, but could you use this as a desk lamp as well as a light box or is that just the model name?

Yeah, absolutely.  For using it as a lightbox, you want it about 20cm from your eyes. But move it further away, stick the diffuser on it if you want, dim it and/or angle it down as needed, and it's just a nice bright light.

P.S.

Probably obviously -- because it's still a very bright and blue-heavy light, I'd try to avoid using it for anything in the evenings.

SA Chris

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Frank, honest and slightly uncomfortable to watch. Truth for some behind "living the dream"

slab_happy

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I can't be objective because I suggested one thing and am thus technically a contributor, but anyway, The Sad Bastard Cookbook (subtitle: "Food you can make so you don't die") is free to download:

https://traumbooks.itch.io/the-sad-bastard-cookbook

It contains various ways to get nutrients into your body in the interests of not dying, from people who get why making food when you're depressed or otherwise exhausted can be difficult.

Oldmanmatt

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Hey guys. I can’t remember who the mental health professionals are on the forum? But if anyone knows anything about DDPT, recognising it or dealing with it, could you pm me?

slab_happy

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Google tells me the acronym stands for delusional disorder of the persecutory type -- I'm not one of the mental health professionals here and it's not something I know about, but I just wanted to send sympathies because that sounds very rough to deal with.

Als, while Googling I ran into a link to a recent study on a specialist cognitive therapy programme for it which seems (in this trial at least) to be performing way better than the default CBT-for-psychosis. Since I can't resist a citation, here it is, just in case it provides a useful lead for you:

https://www.psych.ox.ac.uk/news/ground-breaking-treatment-offers-new-hope-for-patients-with-persecutory-delusions
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(21)00158-9/fulltext
Also: https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/papt.12421 (a peer research qualitative study of the same trial)

stone

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#455 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
September 04, 2023, 08:48:31 am
I thought this BBC R4 series about psychiatry was superb (I'm keen to hear other people's opinions). It probably deserves to be in the podcast recommendations thread but I guess is most relevant here. I really liked the co-presentation by a patient and a psychiatrist together with varied guests. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/m001h3y5

slab_happy

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#456 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
September 20, 2023, 08:31:56 am
Public service announcement: "severe mental illness" is one of the conditions that qualifies you for a Covid booster.

Now, SMI is defined as "schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or any mental illness that causes severe functional impairment", so it's fairly unclear where the cut-off is, if, for example, you have major depressive disorder.

But GPs have been asked to apply "an inclusive approach to defining SMI" ( https://www.england.nhs.uk/blog/if-you-have-a-severe-mental-illness-its-time-to-get-your-covid-19-autumn-booster-vaccination/ ) and there's no shortage of vaccines around at this point, so you're not going to be taking anyone else's spot in the queue.

So it's worth asking your GP (or psychiatrist or other mental health professional) if they think you're crazy enough to qualify.

Fiend

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#457 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
September 20, 2023, 09:04:08 am
Can you vouch for me slabs??  ;D

Also do anti-vaxxers / covid-5g loons count as having "severe mental illness"??

slab_happy

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#458 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
September 21, 2023, 07:34:14 am
Can you vouch for me slabs??  ;D

Unfortunately my extensive experience of being insane does not qualify me as a mental health professional. Very disappointing.

Also do anti-vaxxers / covid-5g loons count as having "severe mental illness"??

Oi, don't mix us innocent severely mentally ill people up with that lot!  ;D

slab_happy

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#459 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 04, 2023, 10:19:53 am
I just got some free Moderna for being crazy. So if you're significantly fucked up in the head in a severe and chronic way, it's worth asking!

For context: the reason why this qualifies you for a booster is that there's a documented correlation between severe mental illness and worse outcomes if you get Covid, though it's unknown why.

It may be partly because of the increased incidence of comorbidities like heart disease and diabetes that you also get with SMI, and therefore not a worry if you're not affected by those. But it's also been suggested that various mental illnesses (including depression) involve wonky inflammatory processes, which would mean that the inflammation caused by Covid is being added on top of an existing problem.

Anyway, the correlation exists, so there's a legit reason for getting the booster if you're eligible.

MarkJ

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#460 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 04, 2023, 12:38:19 pm

For context: the reason why this qualifies you for a booster is that there's a documented correlation between severe mental illness and worse outcomes if you get Covid, though it's unknown why.

My explanation would be that both could be explained by low vitamin D. I bought a UV-B sunlamp canopy back in 2008 and it more or less cured my Winter depression ; also I hardly ever catch a cold, since then, & I only had one mild brush with Covid for about 3 days. You can get a home test kit for Vit D and I would strongly recommend doing it.

stone

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#461 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 04, 2023, 01:27:32 pm
It's great that you have sorted out your winter depression and avoided colds etc. Keep it up!

VitD has been said to be involved in a very wide spectrum of diseases. But the huge problem has been that our vitD levels also correlate with a host of other factors that influence disease (various aspects of social deprivation and lifestyle etc). I found it interesting that Mendelian Randomisation studies using UK Biobank data drew a blank for a connection between vitD and a variety of diseases. That seemed to me a great way of definitively testing whether vitD was actually the culprit. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80655-w

The sunlamp might be doing something other than vitD. A whole host of things get changed by sunlight don't they?

PS: This link is a great explainer about Mendelian Randomisation as a method https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-021-01173-3
« Last Edit: November 04, 2023, 01:54:41 pm by stone »

seankenny

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#462 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 04, 2023, 06:00:35 pm
My explanation would be that both could be explained by low vitamin D. I bought a UV-B sunlamp canopy back in 2008 and it more or less cured my Winter depression ; also I hardly ever catch a cold, since then, & I only had one mild brush with Covid for about 3 days.

I use a sun lamp and it definitely keeps winter depression at bay. However it doesn’t do a thing for my long covid, nor the original and repeat covid infections I’ve had.

Wellsy

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#463 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 04, 2023, 06:13:53 pm
I've always struggled a bit more with brain stuff in the winter tbh

shurt

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#464 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 04, 2023, 09:32:07 pm
I have got rid of depression using Vit D supplements. Been taking high dose every day for a while now. I had problems whatever the season since being a teenager but no more. As other people.

I think it helps that I am not drinking anywhere nearly as heavily as I did from 17-late 30s. Having said that even if I get drunk these days I don't have the horror hangover the next day anymore.

stone

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#465 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 04, 2023, 09:48:27 pm
That study of UK biobank data looked at thousands of people who differed in their body vitD levels not because of diet or sun exposure but because of genetic differences in vitD metabolism etc.

They looked for an effect of vitD on mental illness but there didn't seem to be one.

slab_happy

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#466 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 15, 2023, 08:13:45 am
If anyone's considering a lightbox at this time of year, Lumie have a flash sale for the next 24 hours:

https://www.lumie.com/shop/sad-and-energy-lights

You want 10,000 lux for a solid effect, so check the distance at which you get that.

Fultonius

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#467 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 15, 2023, 01:14:53 pm
Thanks Slab, been meaning to buy one for years. This year's been extra tough (coming from 2 months in central Europe to darkest, dankest Glasgow). The alarm one ticks another box I'd hoped to tick for years.

petejh

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#468 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 15, 2023, 05:49:55 pm
I've owned one of their 'brazil' ones for years, it's mega! Using the lightbox for 15mins while having breakfast makes a drab 7am November morning feel like summer. I don't suffer depression but I can sometimes feel a bit of lethargy coming on this time of year and find it harder to maintain my usual sleep/wake rhythm. A few days using the lightbox seems to help get rid of that feeling.

SamT

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#469 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 16, 2023, 05:19:28 pm
+one.

I got a refurbed Lumie Desklamp last year in a sale advertised on this thead last year. (thanks slab happy!!)
If anyone's thinking about a lightbox, btw, this is the one I've got and you can currently get a refurbished one for 40% off:
https://www.lumie.com/products/desklamp-sad-light-refurbished
It's a handy one because, as well as lightbox-ing, you can bend it down and use it as a task light for any craft activities.

This is the first winter I've ever used one.  Half an hour in the morning with it upright and pointing at me on my desk at work, then I just fold it down and its tucked away.  Whilst I cant specifically say its directly down to the SAD lamp, but my mood is generally pretty good at the moment, which is the first November in decades that I can say that with confidence.
 ;D

slab_happy

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#470 Re: The Black Dog... WHO Mental Health Day
November 17, 2023, 05:32:09 pm
That's excellent to hear, whether it's the lightbox or not!

 

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