A Splintered Mind

Update 2016: This article was featured in my book "Saying NO to Suicide" , with added commentary. As many of my regular readers know, I’m a full-time Dad who moonlights part time as a freelance artist. This usually means I’m fairly busy and never more so than these past few weeks. It seems that my daughters have conspired to make me feel my age. I simply don’t have enough energy to keep up with their active social life of performances, Irish step dancing competitions ( feis ), and community plays. Nevermind all the drama while we try to figure out their academic options for the Fall. It’s enough to drive me to depression. Of course, I’ve learned long ago how to keep that black beastie at bay but I thought I’d share with you some links from the recent flurry of depression related news items I’ve come across lately. First, my mind is still reeling from the latest amazing NIMH study, fresh from the labs of Mrs. Brisby : NIMH: Majority of suicides result of depression ...

Enter what you're reading or your whole library—it's an easy, library-quality catalog. Because everyone else is doing it too, LibraryThing connects you with people who read the same things, and gives you great recommendations. LibraryThing | Catalog your books online I came across this the other day. Unbelievably, I didn't leap in and begin to lose myself in it ( I just wet my feet ). LibraryThing is a free service that allows you to list all your books online and share that list with other readers. You can tag each book with descriptions in that social bookmarking Web 2.0 way that is all the rage right now. And why wouldn't it be? Within a few clicks you can find other people who enjoyed Jonathan Livingston Seagull - even start a dialog of sorts with them by commenting on their user profile - while also finding other books like it you might be interested in that they recommend. Well, that is if you are into reincarnating seagulls. Might not be your cup of tea. Y...

So, you went and bought a PDA. You happily input all 212 of your business contacts, all 396 calendar events up to 2034AD, and several million To Do's. You're all set. Except for the fact your PDA's batteries just died and you never backed up your data. You and hundreds of people just like you feel as if you were suckered into buying a $300 paperweight. If you are a glutton for punishment this isn't the first time you spent that $300 either. Maybe you thought that Bluetooth was going to be the answer. Or perhaps WiFi accessibility seemed to be the perk you were sure was going to make the difference this time.Let's face it, though. Even if the next Palm or PocketPC plugged into your noodle and psychically communicated with your accountant, you'd still end up sticking the thing in the bottom drawer with the other PDAs. So what's the problem? Is it all just an expensive scam? I have a box filled with PDAs. Many were donated to me by friends who were tired o...

Update 2016: This article was featured in my book "Saying NO to Suicide" , with added commentary. I'd like to change the tone this week and answer a question one of my readers asked about a process I take for granted. This process is such a fundamental part of my life now, and I've written about it so much here, that I sometimes forget that not everybody has read my earlier columns. The process is called "closing the gap" and it involves shortening the moment between recognizing you are in the heat of an undesirable behavior and the moment before you begin that undesirable behavior. Everyone who learns to manage a disability or shortcoming in their life gathers a bag of tricks that helps them along the way. Learning to "close the gap" is one of the many tricks I have discovered that helps me regulate depression and AD/HD. I can't say I'm perfect at it. After all, I spent a great deal of time reading news again this morning instead of wri...