General Interest

Resources to help us get through this period of uncertainty & social distancing (3/21/2020)

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Hey everyone. I know this is a very difficult time for many, if not all, of us, so I wanted to share some resources that have been shared with me that will hopefully make this time easier to get through.

Additional online DBSA support groups, beyond the ones that we have set up, are available here: https://www.supportgroupscentral.com/groups_detail.cfm?cid=18
As always, the DBSA national website (https://www.dbsalliance.org) has a wealth of resources as well to help you get through this period of social distancing.

Calm.com has compiled a page chock-full of free resources to help us remain grounded & mindful in these turbulent times located here: www.calm.com/blog/take-a-deep-breath
Even if you have struggled with meditation in the past, I would highly recommend checking out this resource. It is much more comprehensive than just meditations. Even if you just want to listen to someone in a calming voice reading a story, they have that there too. Thanks to Facilitator Sarah for this recommendation.

The last thing I will add here is a DBT Skills Online Class: How to Survive & Thrive in a Pandemic by Tami Green. DBT skills can be an excellent means to help you stay on an even keel & not get all caught up in the panic. This is one place to start acquire those skills & hone the ones that you may already have. Please keep in mind that this is not a free service & our group listing it here does not mean we endorse it or in any way affiliated with this class. We just want to share as many resources as we can so you have choices. The intake session costs $225 & the class is an additional $705 ($680 if you sign up by the end of today: 3/21/2020) for eight classes held weekly beginning 3/24/2020. Thanks to Facilitator Mike for this recommendation.

I hope you found these resource recommendations helpful & if you are aware of any other relevant resources, please feel free to share them with me or in the comments. Thank you & have a good weekend.

Ever try to explain how exhausting mental health issues are?

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Several weeks ago, my friend & fellow group facilitator, Sarah, sent me this link to this comic entitled “Process” on Robot-Hugs.com, which I feel perfectly explains how exhausting it can be having any sort of mental health issue even if you haven’t done a single thing all day. Even when you manage to maintain some level of functionality over the course of your day, you find yourself way more exhausted than others around you doing the same things. If you ever find yourself wondering why that is or you need help explaining that phenomenon to others that don’t seem to understand, give this comic a gander:

https://www.robot-hugs.com/process/

P.S. Sorry, Sarah, for taking forever to post this.

Out of The Darkness Suicide Prevention Awareness Walks

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As you may or not be aware, we have been doing a little bit of fundraising amongst our group for the AFSP’s (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) Out of The Darkness walks in the area over the course of last week & this week. All donations that we receive at meetings this week will be going to the AFSP (unless otherwise specified) We had an informational table & participants at the walk held at the Saratoga Spa State Park this past Sunday (9/22/2019) & we will be doing the same at a walk being held this Saturday (9/28/2019) at Schenectady’s Central Park so feel free to join us there, where we will be presenting our donation to the local AFSP chapter.

If you wish to attend this Saturday’s walk, please register at the following web page: Schenectady Out of The Darkness walk registration page (https://afsp.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=register.start&eventID=6051) before Friday (9/27/2019) at noon or you may register on-site at the walk in Schenectady’s Central Park on Saturday (9/28/2019) at noon.

I apologize for not posting this in advance of the Saratoga walk. Unfortunately, I’ve had a lot going on. Thank you for those that have already helped with this very worthwhile cause & those that plan to do so.

Our Spiffy New Flyer

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Here is our spiffy new flyer that we are using to try to boost our group attendance because we feel there’s a lot more people out there that we could be helping with our groups. With the Capital Region having over 1.17 Million residents & the national average of adults (18 & over) struggling with either major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder being 9.8%, I don’t need to do the math to tell you that is a very significant number of people that we can be helping out there so feel free to print or send out this flyer to anyone you think it might help. I will be bringing copies of these flyers to meetings and posting lots on them on posting boards around the Capital Region. Feel free to do the same (just make sure you ask if it is OK to post this flyer on their board). Thanks for helping to spread the word, friends.

dbsa-flyerDownload

Expanded Family & Friend Resources at DBSAlliance.org

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The Depression & Bipolar Alliance website has an expanded their set of resources to help family & friends cope & find support for their loved ones struggling with depression or bipolar disorder at: https://www.dbsalliance.org/support/for-friends-family/

We typically do not allow friends or family members, who themselves, do not struggle with depression or bipolar disorder, to attend our group meetings as we find that makes it even more difficult for people to fully share about their personal mental health struggles. We acknowledge that it is difficult for friends & family to watch their loved ones suffer so we try to share any friends or family resources that we have or know about, as much as possible. Unfortunately, our chapter does not have the resources to hold a separate friends & family support group at this time.

What’s the Difference Between a Psychiatrist, Psychologist, & a Therapist?

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Don’t worry about this being the start to a horrible joke. It’s not. Several times in meetings since I have been a part of DBSA & other support groups, there been many discussions as to what the difference is between those three titles listed above. Hopefully, these Venn diagrams below will clear things up a bit. One item I’m not sure is fully illustrated in these Venn diagrams is that the term, “therapist”, a shortened version of the word psychotherapist, which is an umbrella term which can include any of the follow: Psychologist, Counselor, Social Worker, & even a Psychiatrist or Psychiatrist Nurse Practitioner (although they rarely do psychotherapy these days).

Hopefully, this clears up some confusion. All of these Venn diagrams were adapted from several sources that had differing opinions on some minor aspects of the roles of these professionals but I tried to keep them as basic as possible to make them easily understood & be as less controversial as possible. That said, there are also some other minor items that needed to be generalized & may not be correct the world over. If anyone has questions or finds an error in these diagrams, please let me know. Thanks.

• Josh

P.S. I’m sorry for those reading this on a phone. The smaller text in diagrams below may hard to read but if you zoom in them, they will definitely be easier to read.

This model is basically what today’s mental health care system is based on.

Family Support Group

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Is your family looking for a support group to learn more about your diagnosis, how to help you, & just general support? NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) of NY State runs a support group to help with just these sort of things. Days, times, & locations for these groups are listed below and more information about the group can be found here:

Second & Fourth Tuesday of each month, 6-7:30pm at:
Church of Latter Day Saints
420 New Scotland Ave.
Albany, NY

First & Third Wednesday of each month, 6:30-8pm at:
SUNYA School of Public Health
1 University Place – Classroom 6
Rensselaer, NY
Information about all of NAMI’s program offerings may be found here:

How Big a Problem is Mental Illness?

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Thanks to long-time member of our Colonie DBSA family, Jenny, for bringing this very informative video to our attention. In this video, by John Green of the YouTube channel, vlogbrothers, discusses global human health, mental illness, and how metrics like Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) can help us understand how severely mental illness affects human health around the world. It’s <4 minutes long and I found it very illuminating especially coming from someone having their own mental health struggles.

How Big a Problem is Mental Illness? https://youtu.be/NSA1BE6KUr0

Bipolar Rock N Roller Subject Wins NAMI Award

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Sports announcer, Mauro Ranallo, subject of this year’s documentary,  “Bipolar Rock N Roller” (click link for trailer/promo), has received an award for his work in mental health advocacy from the NYS Chapter of NAMI (National Association on Mental Illness). “Bipolar Rock N Roller” is an unflinching account of Ranallo’s struggle with bipolar disorder.

Currently,  “Bipolar Rock N Roller” is only available through Showtime but, fortunately, you can get a free 7 day trial of Showtime by clicking here (cable subscription not required) and Mauro Ranallo is working on getting subscribers to his free newsletter access to the documentary for free once Showtime’s network exclusivity period over this documentary is over.