Mental Health Carnival for March

Welcome to the March edition of the Mental Health Carnival.

This monthly round up of blog posts was devised by Carol from Dance Without Sleeping and his hosted by a different blogger each times. Already for this year, you can find the February edition on Mrs Shorties Mind and the January edition on In a Bun Dance.

We begin a post that is as much about the net as it is about mental health. Just Another Manic Mummy shows us how social networking has helped her:

You see a large part of my problem is social anxiety, an inability to deal with day to day interactions. So on days when I can’t face talking to the woman on the till in Sainsburys or picking up the phone, even to my best friend, being able to merrily chat to people makes it all the easier to feel normal and connected with the rest of the normal world.

dancingwiththeblack dog writes about his decision to start taking antidepressants:

After years of facing my own bleak outcomes, I did occasionally trick myself into believing I had finally beaten my own black dogs when my levels of anxiety might drop significantly for a brief period. But in hindsight, I now realise that it was all relative. To say that I was feeling better would not be as accurate as to say I was just feeling less crap. I hadn’t beaten my black dogs; they just weren’t growling as hard for a while.

The benefits of mood charting are spelt out by bi[polar] curious:

Charting moods has a lot of benefits, and the only real downfall is time. That said, I probably only spend about 5 minutes per day on my mood chart, and I have a set time that I work on it every day so that I remember. That few minutes has taught me a lot about my symptoms and recognizing when my mood shifts, so it definitely feels worth it in the long run!

On Dance Without Sleeping, Carol charts her moods in a different way. She sends us to a poem she has written about how depression feels to her:

When the Darkness comes I can't breath,
My head pounds and my mouth goes dry. 

When the Darkness comes I just want to hide,
Loneliness is my friend. 

When the Darkness comes I cry and cry,
I don't always know why. 

When the Darkness comes I am scared,
Panic rises inside me. 

When the Darkness comes I am paralysed,
I wish I could run away. 

When the Darkness is gone I am free,
Until the next time it appears.

And we end with a powerful post from Zanyzigzag's blog:

This post contains frank comments concerning the effects of sexual abuse. Please be aware that you may find some parts of this post upsetting to read. I know that there are many different types of abuse, all of which are distressing and traumatic for the victims, but I have chosen to write specifically about sexual abuse, for reasons which will become clear if you choose to read on.

The home page for the Mental Health Carnival tells us that the April edition will be hosted by Slummy Single Mummy and the May edition by Touch & Tickle.

I look forward to reading both.