There are days when we muck it up. And spend hours berating yourself that you were not perfect or you did not catch one of the dozens of bug a boos that you handle in a day. On this day I would like to suggest that you stop being mean, nasty or hyper-critical about being fallible. Practice your breathing, drink some water, move your body and actively be kind to yourself. If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488...
May 24, 2023•6 min
For those of you that don’t understand about the experience of depression, I have two websites that might help folks get a grip on it. The first is Will O’Neil’s Actual Sunlight. It is a fictional narrative game about the experience of living and trying to exist in a depressive state. Another expression of the experience is an old school HTML website called Deprression Quest. It is an interactive experience about living with depression. What am I talking about this? In this episode, a word or tw...
May 17, 2023•5 min
Last time, I talked about coaching. How there are different types of coaches and that it is an unlicensed and unregulated practice. There are good and bad coaches, and we need to find ways to figure out who is who. I tried to chop it down into chunks but this is a big topic. And not a lot of consumer friendly information sources. Many of the resources I found where connected to vendors wanting to either have folks sign up for their telehealth service or to take a class or course on health couchi...
May 10, 2023•14 min•Ep. 322
I’m working my way through the mental health telemedicine providers and I’m coming across the word “coach.” I get a little leery about that word because I’ve had some experiences with people using it to wrap themselves in a health wellness cloak of respectability. I’ve gone to conferences and sat in on sessions that I thought were about how to best provide information to people wanted health information. A couple of those sessions went into details about how to lead your audience down a sales fu...
May 03, 2023•8 min•Ep. 321
This episode is not for everybody. Some of you will be highly dismissive. That is okay. Different strokes for different folks. Knitting provides an object of focus for our practice. We can practice focusing our attention and letting go of distractions. The point is, doing something analog or tactile can help you relax. Or meditate or route you and keep you in the present tense. In this pebble in the Road a quick look at crafting as a gateway to meditation. If you need support contact the Nationa...
Apr 26, 2023•6 min
Long time listeners know that I am a connoisseur of the sequential arts. It is truly the theater of the mind because I can co-create with the artist to experience an environment or an adventure. I bring this up because sometimes healing can come from unexpected places. Like a graphic novel or a comic book. Three of the books talk about the experience of having a perpetual negative voice interfering with the quality of their lives. Three of the books speak to what they have done to connect with t...
Apr 12, 2023•6 min•Ep. 320
The anxiety symptoms can muck up our ability to see what we've done, whether it was fair, good, or excellent. There are a lot of wonderful people that have anxiety conditions that do mighty good things. People write, create or force a revolution into how we should treat each other as human being. In this week's episode, a look at a pioneer that helped to improve mental health care in the U.S. and a look at Mental Health America. If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifelin...
Apr 03, 2023•11 min•Ep. 319
As one section of America tries to move forward there are others that are determine to hold on to what didn't work in the past and certainly won't work in the future. In this day, do the best you can. That is the lesson to be learned across all of time and space. I had to record this episode seven or eight times. I kept messing up. Mispronounced words. Forgot to explain something. Then there were the birds and the trash truck. Together. In harmony. You can aim for perfection, but in the meantime...
Mar 20, 2023•10 min•Ep. 318
There are times when I find myself in unexpected territories. This is one of those times. It is why I'm trying to include more attention to the virtual mental health providers. If you have ever listed to a podcast or watch YouTube, you probably have heard or seen something about the company known as BetterHealth. You might have seen an advertorial from a social media influencer or from a podcaster. Yeah, this is pickle. BetterHealth presented itself as a service that helps users find and connect...
Mar 13, 2023•11 min•Ep. 317
A few years ago in an episode I said: Anxiety is so much more than the typical stress reaction. For some of us, we gag, we choke, we have heart pains, we have chest pains, we have diarrhea, we have gastric distress, we have excessive sweating. We can't leave our homes. These are not the kind of things you're going to be thinking your way through if your symptoms are that extreme. And there was a point where my symptoms got that extreme. I decided to take medication. I am now on team make informe...
Mar 02, 2023•7 min•Ep. 316
I freely admit that I mentioned can soda too many times in this episode. But it had a profound effect on my body and parts of my brain. There are folks that use other substances in excess to deal with their symptoms or whatever else is going on with them. For me, it was sugar drinks and pastries. Almost never met a donut I didn't like. I no longer beat myself up on wanting to scarf up a sweet treat. I do get pissed at myself when I do eat a problem food. There are repercussions. Messed myself up...
Feb 21, 2023•6 min•Ep. 315
Some providers of services use the term behavioral health. Some use mental health. I have spent the hours trying to get a concise meaning of both terms. It ain't easy. The American Psychological Association defines behavioral as: ...an interdisciplinary subspecialty of behavioral medicine that promotes a philosophy emphasizing individual responsibility in the maintenance of one’s own health and in the prevention of illness and dysfunction by means of self-initiated activities (jogging, exercisin...
Feb 15, 2023•4 min
Update 2024 - Seems like Ro Mind has bit the dust. Although the mental health only therapy explainer page is still listed on the website, it seems that there has been a downsizing of the medical services offered. Per the main page of the website, they no longer list anxiety, depression and seasonal affected disorder conditions. When I select the "What We Treat" menu, there are no mental health services. I will have a separate recording about the change but the podcast recording below is now a hi...
Feb 11, 2023•10 min•Ep. 314
In this episode, a look at some of the mental tele-health options that are in or will be introduced to the healthcare marketplace. Next time, and throughout the year I'll show examples of a virtual mental health service, what it does, the pros & cons and other items of interest. If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741. Resources Mentioned: SAMSHA Disaster Distress helpline i...
Jan 31, 2023•13 min•Ep. 313
This is the start to a mini-series about telehealth and telemedicine options. Starting out with a definition of what telehealth is, types of provider services including a taste of virtual mental health care and recourses. The short version is, per the U.S. Department of Heath and Human Services, “Telehealth — sometimes called telemedicine — lets your health care provider care for you without an in-person office visit. Telehealth is done primarily online with internet access on your computer, tab...
Jan 24, 2023•9 min•Ep. 312
Trying to finish up on my science literacy class. It is a pip. It is very good and provides a lot information about how scientists evaluate questions and data. It is thumping my poor brain with all kinds of concepts. Once I finish the class, I should be back on a regular schedule. Going through my stuff and seeing if I forgot anything. Seems like I did forget a thing or two. I might have included this in an episode but just in case, I want to make sure that you know about buying CBD oil on Amazo...
Jan 17, 2023•6 min
In this episode, a look at a kindness inspired grounding practice you could do when you need to tame your internal little hater. Sometimes people come to the podcast intentionally. They see the album cover or up on a social media site and check it out. Or they might see a post on a social media place and happen to see the name of the show. Some entrepreneurial site owners will post a link to their blog or podcast, having nothing to do with anxiety or mental health. And then there are the entrepr...
Jan 08, 2023•5 min•Ep. 311
It is the time when a bunch of people and advertisers want to encourage you to make changes to your existence and how you currently live your life. You might in fact want to do this because you do not feel good in your mind and body. Totally understandable. But you don't have to define you worth on promises you really don't want to do. There is a way to achieve your goals without imposing an artificial and non-valuable deadline. You can take small, measured steps. You decide when to start and wh...
Dec 28, 2022•9 min•Ep. 310
There are lots of apps for mindfulness and meditation. The advantage is just in time training, help and support and symptom relief. The disadvantage could be the continued separation from actual people, data harvesting by low lifers and the app not exactly meeting your needs. I would say that it is important you develop your skills as an informed health consumer. One way to do that is to visit the website One Mind Psyber Guide . In this episode, a lot as some of the apps that are available for m...
Dec 13, 2022•8 min•Ep. 309
When I'm looking for viable resources, I can tell when I find a traditional approach to treatment. Listed are two options listed, medication and therapy. Sometime they will mention others as a lifestyle choice. That is slowly changing. I am seeing more traditional sites including mindfulness and meditation. There is increasing medical documentation that mindfulness and meditation work. Medical scientists are still trying to quantify how it works. But they aren't kicking up a fuss about it anymor...
Nov 28, 2022•12 min•Ep. 308
In this episode, a quick look at mindfulness-based stress reduction. The end of the year stuff is coming up early this year so quick episodes are probably going to be in the mix for the next few weeks. If I can even get to an episode at all, it's that busy too much to do and not enough time. However, my news feed blew up with articles, about a study about mindfulness-based stress reduction, The headlines, in many of these new stories were something like mindfulness works just as well as medicine...
Nov 17, 2022•9 min•Ep. 307
Hi folks, I'm at high tide with work and symptoms acting like a three-year old. But I wanted to put this out to let folks know that the Amazon.Care service has closed. It is a little embarrassing for me. I had posted the episode in August and three weeks later the telehealth service began the process of shutting down. From what I can suss out, there were several reasons for the service going down, and I'm getting my information from the Washington Post newspaper, some of the industry publication...
Nov 09, 2022•9 min•Ep. 306
Generalized Anxiety Disorder is a pesky bugger. It is worry on steroids. You worry about money; you worry about every ache or pain and worry about things in the past and the future. There is nothing that you don't worry about, in excess. And the amount of worrying you are doing can impacting your life. Or keep you from doing things you want to do because of the fear of the unknown is going to happen. In this short episode, the symptoms of GAD and what you can do about it. If you need support con...
Oct 26, 2022•4 min•Ep. 304
In the introduction to this episode, I mention the financial bum rush of companies providing mental health apps to clients, patients and customers. Still working on that tact thing. There is a small but growing segment of entrepreneurs that see gold in them there mental health hills. Some of those entrepreneurs have honest intentions about making mental health accessible. They have hired psychologists and psychiatrists to help shape their product. Others vendors are more focused on building chat...
Oct 23, 2022•11 min•Ep. 303
Deciding on taking medication is a choice and a responsibility. If you have been diagnosed with an anxiety condition or disorder, you probably have been told that one of the treatment options is medication. As I mentioned in ARP 169, It is ok to decide if medication is right for you. It is equally ok that you don't want to take medications. First step is to get a through checkup to make sure it isn’t a physical health problem. Many anxiety symptoms are similar to a physical illness. Anxiety medi...
Oct 11, 2022•2 min
Having to live with anxiety symptoms is not easy. I can't speak for you but I have sometimes been shamed, embarrassed or felt hopeless after a bad bout with those rascals. My self-medication of choice is food. I kinda have to deal with that because it isn't an effective way to deal with the problem. I've been around this bend before so I know I can do it. Will I? Probably. You see my symptoms are flaring up again. Big time. And yes, I do breathe. Go out side and walk a bit. Fill my head with mus...
Oct 05, 2022•10 min•Ep. 301
There is a lot to learn about Hemp Seed Oil (HSO). The main reason why I wanted to cover it was that there is a lot of misinformation about the product. It is not hard to find hemp in food products. It is dang easy to find claims or promises of calm or relaxation. People that have an anxiety condition are prime suckers for dark side entrepreneurs. Ignorance helps them to take advantage and money. Or worse, place your health at risk. If you know the core basics, you might still be anxious but you...
Sep 28, 2022•14 min•Ep. 300
One of the things that I have learned about considering using hemp seed oil and CBD oil is that you need a lot of information. Information about the laws in your states. Is cannabis legal where I live? What do I want it for? Physical pain relief, a sleep aid or something to chill the anxiety symptoms down? Where do I go for credible, factual information? This has been one of the hardest aspect of putting these episodes together. So, being a birth frugalista, I looked at it from a shopper's persp...
Sep 19, 2022•10 min•Ep. 299
As I mention in the show, it is easy to get sucker-fied when it comes to purchasing hemp seed oil or CBD oil. There is a lot of flim-flam operators in the marketplace. We have a vulnerability to want to find anything that can help us cope. If you are seeking for alternatives for traditional opiate medication it seems like it is an option. But if you don’t know the basics, you can lose time, money and an possible effective treatment source. My intention is to find a way to get to the basic inform...
Sep 12, 2022•13 min•Ep. 298
I want folks to make an informed decision. Before you can make a decision you need facts, research and resources. There is a lot of hokum about hemp seed oil and CBD oil. Both are oils that come from the hemp plant. They are not the same. They service different populations and purposes. In this episode, a look at what is hemp seed oil and CBD oil. There was an interesting conversation about the original 2005 formulation of Four Loco. It was a fortified beer that had a lot of caffeine in it. It a...
Sep 04, 2022•9 min•Ep. 297
