It’s ironic. When you’ve lost your job or are struggling financially, as many people are these days, you need depression treatment more than ever. But depression treatment isn’t cheap, even if you have insurance. If you’re worrying about how to pay the rent or mortgage, buy food and pay the electric bill, medical treatment tends to end up way down the list of priorities.
If you have clinical depression, however, neglecting your treatment will be counterproductive. The more severe your depression, the less capable you are of managing your finances, finding ways to cut costs and looking for a job if necessary. It’s crucial that you find a way to continue treatment.
via Depression – Cost -Effective Depression Treatment.
We have an uncomfortable relationship with any medication that alters our brain chemistry. Not only are we wary of anything that alters this chemistry (even if it’s out of whack) because we see our brain as the center of our personhood, but we also seem to think that we should be able to somehow fix these imbalances ourselves, either with sheer force or will or alternative methods.
Think about it – is there another group of medications that has so much misinformation or scorn swirling around it? I take medication for hypertension and Multiple Sclerosis as well as antidepressants, and I have never heard anyone say, “You know, just popping a pill for your high blood pressure and Multiple Sclerosis won’t solve all of your problems.”
via Depression – Five Misconceptions About Depression Drugs.
For me, parenting a child with ADHD is two parts love and one part frustration. I find myself saying, “But how could you forget to do that?” almost as many times as I say, “I love you, honey.” We know from experience that simply telling an ADHD child that he has to remember deadlines, stop losing things and stay on task doesn’t work. Our children just aren’t wired that way. The best thing I’e found to alleviate some of that frustration is to find ways to compensate for my son’s shortcomings. Here are a few strategies you might want to try.
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As I recounted in Part I of this series, I came to the conclusion last fall that the after school program my son was attending was not suitable for him, and probably not for any child who was imperfect in any way. It certainly was not suitable for a child with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Lawrence was not happy there, and I was concerned about what the impact of the constant reprimands and punishments would be. I felt that if Lawrence was always seen as the bad kid he might eventually decide that it wasn’t worth even trying to behave.
In addition, the lack of a clear disciplinary process and escalation of issues seemed very unprofessional. I felt that the people running the program were well-meaning, but ill-equipped to handle even minor conflicts. And with ADHD, even if the child is taking medication, you’re always going to have a certain number of conflicts.
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When my son started elementary school a couple of years ago, I was delighted to find that there was day care on the school grounds. He was in morning kindergarten, so he went there after school at 11 AM. I wasn’t crazy about how small the day care room was, but I was told that they used the playscape outside extensively. The big draw was that Lawrence was right there on school grounds, and would be picked up at the door to his classroom.
In retrospect, I realize that we weren’t given any information about how discipline was handled, which I now know to be a red flag.
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All parents feel a pang of worry or two when their child is about to be introduced to a new situation like summer camp. If you’re the parent of a child with ADHD, and you’re considering summer camp, you’re likely to feel something more akin to panic. Is she going to make friends? Will the adults in charge understand ADHD, or will he have a miserable experience and be labeled the “bad” kid?
Most of these concerns can be alleviated by choosing a camp that is specifically for children with ADHD (these camps in many cases are also geared towards children with learning development disabilities or similar issues, but for the sake of simplicity, I’ll refer to the ADHD aspect only). Not only will it be staffed with people who understand kids with ADHD, but these camps offer programs and activities specifically to help kids with ADHD develop skills and capabilities that will help them all year long.
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Suicide, the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC), has been in the news several times in the last year due to suicide “clusters” at Cornell University and in California and Pennsylvania. A suicide cluster is defined by the CDC as “a group of suicides or suicide attempts, or both, that occur closer together in time and space than would normally be expected in a given community.” 1 “Suicide contagion” or “copycat” suicides is the behavior that leads to clusters of suicides. The idea that suicide clusters occur as a result of a contagious type of behavior has not been established through studies, but suggested by anecdotal evidence and statistical analysis. These seem to indicate that suicides occurring later in a cluster appear to have been influenced by suicides earlier in the cluster.
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I used to drive my ex-husband crazy. Actually, I think what used to drive him crazy was my Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I’m not sure what else about me drove him crazy, but that was definitely an irritant.
I was diagnosed with ADHD a few years after my first marriage broke up, so at the time, although I was beginning to realize that I had a short attention span and could be hyperactive, I didn’t know why. My ex (who did not have ADHD) and I both had computers and would often be sitting side by side working or playing a game or whatever. But I had always had either laundry, tidying up and cleaning to do, so I usually didn’t stay in my chair very long. I’d jump up after fifteen or twenty minutes at the computer and put a load of laundry in. Then I’d sit down for another fifteen or twenty minutes, until I felt the need to get up and do some dishes or pick up the apartment. My ex-husband, during this time, would not have moved. One day he roared at me, “Can’t you just sit down for longer than five minutes?!” Well, yes, actually. I was sitting down longer than that, but to him it seemed like I was up and down like a jack-in-the-box.
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My parents do a beautiful job with decorating for Christmas – they always have. Every year they get a real live tree. They have a couple of hundred of beautiful ornaments, as well as garlands and other assorted decorations. The tree is always put up at least two weeks before Christmas. Granted, they’re retired, but it was always like this even when they both were working.
In contrast, my husband and I broke down a couple of years ago and got a fake tree (I love the smell of evergreens, but it’s not enough to counter the expense of a live tree and the cleanup). I feel virtuous if we get the tree up a week before Christmas, and it’s been done on Christmas Eve on more than one occasion. It took me a long time to let go of my parents’ standards and to stop feeling guilty if I didn’t live up to them.
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Is there a bigger challenge for someone with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder than the holidays? So many things to keep track of, so many things to accomplish – all of them with a deadline. After planning twenty-five or so holiday seasons, I’ve come up with some strategies, and also know where some of the potential pitfalls for someone with ADHD are at this time of the year.
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