A Splintered Mind

Last June an item came across my desk, but I was too busy to address it. It concerned TV star, Heather Locklear. According to her publicist, Heather Locklear was checked into an Arizona medical facility to treat her anxiety and depression. Heather Locklear with depression? The drop dead gorgeous Heather Locklear‽ The same lady that women envy (well, except for her taste in men)‽ What would she have cause to be depressed about? This last statement was one I heard echoed around the web. Apparently, beautiful people with money and fame weren’t supposed to succumb to the problems we poor extras struggled with. Obviously, the truth is a different matter. Not much more than a brief statement from her publicist has been revealed, though an anonymous friend spoke with the press when she left the facility, and the summer moved on as we occupied ourselves with other issues. Then today news came out that Heather Locklear had been arrested for driving under the influence. At first I heard she had ...

Update 2016: This article was featured in my book "Saying NO to Suicide" , with added commentary. Sometimes when faced with encroaching Depression we are given a choice: to exercise will and overcome or give in and wallow. In my last article on the subject ( Part I ), I discussed my daughter's own struggles with Depression and how she chose to give in to the sadness. No matter how much I encouraged her to fight it off, only when she decided she was done being depressed did she summon the will to do so. Today I will share a bit of my own struggles with Depression. I received some bad news yesterday * . It was crushing news, actually. I spent the night devastated, then began my day feeling no better. When I awoke this morning I simply did not want to get out of bed. I lied there doing nothing except feeling sad. A little later, after I had convinced myself to move about, my thirteen year old said she had never seen me so depressed in her life, not even when I was approa...

My entire internet lifestream in one tidy place (Minus my voluminous Twitter streams) Current and active: Darkstream's Photos - My general Flickr account Darkstream's Best Photos - My faves over at Flickr A Splintered Mind - Overcoming AD/HD & Depression With Lots Of Humor And Attitude A Splintered Mind - AD/HD Feed A Splintered Mind - Depression Feed A Splintered Mind - Writing Feed What Knife Does Bear Grylls Use? - Just a lark I do every once in a blue moon Too geeky for my own good: @DouglasCootey - My quiet Twitter stream @SplinteredMind - A much chattier Twitter stream Delicious bookmarks people leave for me - That's right. I'm not the only internet hound Last.fm stream - Almost every song I listen to. I'm not sure who would be interested in this data... LOL Cats version of The Splintered Mind - Often unintentionally funny My delicious.com bookmarks Fallen by the wayside: The AtomicFractal Fractal Art Parade - An old passion ...

You might think I'd be used to it. After all, I'm on social security disability and therefore constantly receive junk mail for hearing aids and senior citizen discounts. Obviously, at 41 I'm officially over the hill as far as the direct marketing world is concerned. I might as well pick out a cemetery plot and write my own eulogy. Still, when I was contacted to be interviewed for a news report out of Ohio, I was surprised the topic was baby boomers and depression. Baby boomer? "I'm only 41," I replied. "My mother's the baby boomer. ;)" It was close enough, apparently, so the interview was on. Baby boomers, according to Wikipedia, are those Americans born between 1946 and 1964. Technically, this means my mother's not a baby boomer either, but she was born in 1945 so she always considered herself of that generation. I, however, am her child, not my grandparents, so I think it's a stretch to put me in the group, even if I was born in 1966. T...

I'm going to wander around a bit in politics today. I read something that put me in a contemplative mood. The big election 2008 news last week was the hacking of Governor Sarah Palin's email account. Being a geek I was curious how the deed was done because I was curious, but mostly because I have a Yahoo! email account and wanted to know what to look out for. The hacker in question detailed how he hacked the account on the /b/ forum over at 4chan.org . He used a single proxy server to hide his trail, then clicked on "Forgot your ID or password?". From there the helpful wizard prompted him for answers to private questions that were readily available on the internet — questions like Palin's birthdate and zip code. The rest he took informed guesses at. If you are interested in how it was done, then I recommend reading this link . Unfortunately for the hacker, when people demanded proof he supplied screenshots that had a portion of his proxy session in the URL field. ...

A recent study by a team of researchers at University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the Palo Alto Research Center, and the University of Delaware revealed that American gamers are in better than average condition, a finding that flies in the face of the flabby, black t-shirted greasy out of work punk that is the stereotype. I, of course, looked nothing like that when I played games nonstop back in the day, even when I ate donuts. I was in great shape. It just happened to be a lot rounder than I would have liked. The researchers quizzed 7000 players of the role-playing game EverQuest II about their physical and mental health. They enticed the gamers to participate "by offering a specially created virtual weapon as an incentive - the 'Greatstaff of the Sun Serpent'." There is nothing like offering free rares to get the gaming community to rally to your cause. "The researchers then combined the survey responses with statistics about players' online acti...

Here's a little tidbit I forgot to mention last month. I was placed in University Reviews Online's Top 100 Mental Health and Psychology Blogs . I'm all the way down the list at #98. The entry reads: 98. The Splintered Mind - Douglas Cootey is currently dealing with both AD/HD and depression. Learn how he is overcoming his conditions and leading a more fulfilling life here. At first I worried that this was just a form of link baiting, but the creators of the list took time to comment on every blog they listed. It is quite a bit of work and I recommend giving the list a look over. You may find something there to your liking. As for being #98, I could say that the list isn't graded from most important to least important, but I think my placing is an apt metaphor for my life: A guy who is just barely passable. It's sure to keep me humble. Like reading The Splintered Mind ? Share articles with your friends, link from your blog, or subscribe !

Update 2016: This article was featured in my book "Saying NO to Suicide" , with added commentary. How my daughter taught me a thing or two about dealing with depressives such as myself. Last month I discussed how my depression almost ruined my 20th anniversary . I gave my readers a peek into my thought processes from the onset of Depression to my victory over it. I had hoped it would convince doubters that I truly do struggle with Depression and, perhaps, it would inspire others to renew their efforts to beat back the black dog. Everybody experiences Depression at one point or another because of a multitude of reasons: Getting laid off at work, not getting the promotion, losing a best friend or dear family member, failing to accomplish an important goal, or letting somebody important to you down, for example. Any one of these events can trigger Depression . And most sane, normal people spend a short while down in the dumps, then shake it off and move on with their lives. ...

As I stood on my front steps and looked out across the street, I noticed my neighbor's two gorgeous American flags blowing in the wind. Not for the first time I asked myself why I never remember to buy an American flag except on the day I'm supposed to be flying one. Alas, there wasn't much I could do. My minivan was in the shop for a transmission replacement. I was neurologically off, anyway, so riding my bike off to the store for a flag was out of the question. Besides, how was I going to transport the dear thing on my bike? I realized that in the seven years that have passed since that painful day our lives have moved on. We live safe in our mundanity. Our daily thoughts are filled with the stuff busy people think of: errands to do, bills to pay, appointments to keep. Our lives are filled with lists. Terrorism is something that only occurs overseas again, and we go about our business. As my rather humdrum day winds down to a stop, I thought I'd mark 9/11 in passing. ...

One thing I have done this summer is read here and there. Reading seems to be an activity I can occupy myself with while waiting on the girls' activities, but then put down when it's time to go. Believe me, this is something I do not do well. When I can't afford to lose myself in something, I will resolve myself to being bored. Activities I can quickly engage and disengage in are a rare commodity for me. This is why I am a raving news junkie. I can get in and out quick and not worry about forgetting to pick up a daughter from dance, put something on the stove, and even more important, take something OFF the stove when it is done. Besides news, however, I've also been expanding my mind a bit with new novels and genres. Strangely, I feel compelled to share my thoughts with you on these books. I'm not sure if any will interest you, but here are a few of them nonetheless. Author Carol Lynn Williams has become a friend of mine over the past year. She's quite active w...