John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 29, 2011, 6:36 pm
Starting early next week, I’ll be updating this site with a new design and theme. The changeover will enable Storied Mind to incorporate several features that haven’t been possible until now. I’ve also decided to combine the Recover Life from Depression blog with this one. There has been a di...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 24, 2011, 5:46 pm
Depression is the opposite of many qualities of well-being, and one of them is self-acceptance. Until recently, I hadn’t spent much time in that inner place. Self-rejection had been much more familiar. I came to know every corner of its neighborhood. There have been many times when I felt fine wi...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 20, 2011, 3:24 am
Three people who have lived with depression for years talk about the effect on their lives of getting a diagnosis. This is one of the best discussions of discrimination and stigma that I’ve found. The participants are Jim Brown, an engineer, Trisha Goddard, a UK TV host and actress, and Stephen Fr...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 12, 2011, 7:27 pm
Ecotherapy is more than a walk in the woods or watching a beautiful sunset. It’s an emerging form of treatment that can help with healing depression. It aims at restoring the connection to the natural world that is usually limited to high-speed glimpses of windshield scenery. Reconnecting to the ...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Aug 31, 2011, 11:00 pm
I hope you enjoy these classics. They’re good notes to end the summer on. 1. How to Cope with Depression Lev Yilmaz: If you’re feeling down, go to your Co-Workers, Elders, Family and Friends for help. They are sure to give you great, great advice… Click here to view the embedded video. 2. ...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Aug 25, 2011, 3:05 am
Once my kids pulled me with them up to a water slide. I don’t like sliding through winding tubes and hadn’t done it before. But I couldn’t back out of it once I was standing in a dense line at the top of a 50-foot high platform. Nowhere to go but down. So off I went, speeding into a panic of f...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Aug 14, 2011, 1:23 pm
Depression isn’t a one-time disaster in a life relationship. You think you’re through the great crisis. You’re both relieved to have the burden lifted, but little by little you feel the weight pressing down again. It’s back. It will disappear again and then come back again. It kept coming ...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Aug 1, 2011, 2:58 pm
It’s like depression in one way. People don’t understand grief for a lost pet unless they’ve been there. We’re there now, once again. A couple of years ago, I updated an early post about grieving the death of an Australian shepherd who had been with us for 14 years. She’d done her shepher...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jul 13, 2011, 5:59 pm
I’ve been wondering about this. How could it be that I have recovered from depression but still deal with symptoms almost every day? Can both things be true? Recently I’ve come across new ways of thinking about well-being and psychological flexibility that help explain this paradox. Finding thes...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jun 30, 2011, 3:01 pm
The force for change and healing can start with excitement and promise, then slowly dissipate until settling back into the stillness of depression. There are great self-help therapies to achieve well-being, and I have great intentions to get them all done. So why don’t I do them? I feel like a ba...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jun 28, 2011, 2:58 pm
Here One Day trailer from Kathy Leichter on Vimeo. Suicide is a sensitive subject for most readers of this blog, certainly for me, and watching any film about it is difficult. I wanted to post this 9-minute preview of Kathy Leichter’s documentary, Here One Day – with this warning about its pos...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jun 16, 2011, 7:26 pm
Why I try to understand depression, I find too few words with too many meanings. This isn’t quibbling over semantics. It’s about what you feel when living with depression and what you feel when you can finally live without it. It’s about the experience behind the words. Take the word, control...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jun 7, 2011, 4:15 am
All that I am, all that life has made me, every past experience that I have had – woven into the tissue of my life – I must give to … new experience. … past … has indeed not been useless, but its use is not in guiding present conduct by past situations. We must put everything we can into e...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - May 27, 2011, 8:03 pm
My wife keeps expanding and adding variety to the gardens at our house. For her, they’re a labor of love, rewarding and fulfilling for the work they require. But growing hundreds of different plants isn’t exactly relaxing because there is so much to do. The basics demand hard labor. There are t...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - May 20, 2011, 12:07 pm
As many know it, forgiveness is a feeling that can’t be forced, one that often comes after a long inner struggle. I’ve lived with the need for many forms of forgiveness, and each has been important in my recovery from depression. I’ve felt the need to acknowledge hurt that I’ve caused and ...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - May 8, 2011, 6:14 pm
Donna-1 recently asked me this question in a comment at Recover Life from Depression. It’s an important one to think about. I’ve often mentioned how crucial it has been to my recovery that I made basic changes in my work and way of living as a whole. Did I have to give up on hopes for what I co...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Apr 27, 2011, 1:37 pm
I’ve recently completed a series of posts at the Recover Life site about handling the effects depression at work. I’ve written about this topic here as well, especially in this post about changing careers. The new series offers more detail on three dimensions of the problem: recognizing the symp...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Apr 21, 2011, 7:36 pm
You shouldn’t miss this first in a series of personal stories at Recover Life from Depression. The series will be a major feature of the new site in order to show you the many forms recovery can take. In this initial post, Donna-1 recounts the turning points in her lifelong struggle with depres...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Apr 13, 2011, 4:50 pm
I’ve written a lot on this blog (here and here, among many others) about the mindset of depressed partners who are pulling away from their closest relationships. It’s important to look at the other side too. Hopefully, they’ll come back from the illness, whether they’ve remained at home whil...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Apr 1, 2011, 2:52 am
I can pinpoint a moment when I came to believe that depression was not just an illness that struck from time to time but part of my identity as a person. I was talking with a friend one day about how big a problem depression had become. He thought it must be brought on by feelings that life had no m...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Mar 24, 2011, 6:07 pm
It’s the worst scenario of life with depressed partners. They leave, shutting out a lot of love and support because of the illness. If you’ve been abandoned in this way, the first thing you’re likely to try is to get in touch. You need to say you still care and want to help in any way you can....
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Mar 11, 2011, 2:58 pm
Every person who has lived with depression has a unique story to tell, and I’ve read or listened to dozens of them since starting this blog. Rarely, though, have I found a narrative that so closely parallels my own experience as Tony Giordano’s does. It’s Not All In Your Head: Unearthing the D...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Feb 27, 2011, 7:47 pm
As you may have figured out by now, I’ve had a hard time launching Recover Life from Depression, but I’ve finally opened it up. “Unlocking” seems like a better word since I’ve struggled for months to break through a hard resistance to getting it done. I was slow to grasp what was going on...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Feb 12, 2011, 12:55 am
Depression has an especially cruel season called relapse. It always happens after the worst seems to be over; hope like sunlight is restored; life without depression is in full bloom. Then suddenly it’s winter again. The more often it happened to me, the more impossible the goal of recovery seemed...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jan 31, 2011, 6:06 pm
Image by Daniel Oines There are two sides to the problem of finding support from friends and loved ones when in the midst of depression. I discussed the risk of encountering prejudice and stigma in this post, but what happens if someone tries to offer support during a severe episode? Can you accept...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jan 26, 2011, 11:33 am
I always keep a table reserved for motivation when I’m trying to get better, trying to work or trying to do pretty much anything. He’s supposed to be here at my command, but the idiot is always late. While waiting for the no-show, I get distracted by daydreaming, dog walking, snacking, emailing...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jan 19, 2011, 6:19 pm
I’ve tried many methods for treating my own depression over the years but have most consistently relied on medication and psychotherapy. Most of the therapies I’ve tried, however, have not produced last relief from the illness. I think that’s because they often miss the emotional core of depre...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Jan 10, 2011, 4:55 pm
I’d like to ask your help in getting the Recover Life from Depression website ready for launching. There are several features I’ll be adding to what you see now, but the structure doesn’t depend on those elements. Before doing any more, though, I’d really appreciate your feedback, in particu...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Dec 28, 2010, 1:20 pm
Some Rights Reserved by Auntie K at Flickr So that was Christmas, or whatever you celebrate, … and what have you done? … It happens every December, the moods of so many darken in the midst of the season of joy, and bloggers write up their tip lists about how to survive the holidays. Depression ...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Dec 24, 2010, 12:54 pm
I’m really pleased to report that Storied Mind has been honored for the second time by PsychCentral as one of the top ten depression blogs of the year. It’s especially meaningful to me because PsychCentral is the best site on the internet devoted entirely to mental health information for the pu...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Dec 17, 2010, 3:26 pm
Image by nasrulekram I’ve written a pair of posts at Health Central about trying to explain what depression is like to family and close friends. The first one describes opening up in a way that’s helped me dispel the assumptions others been making about why I’ve changed so much. The second lo...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Dec 10, 2010, 2:23 pm
Click here to view the embedded video. Related posts You Are So Beautiful (7) Writing, Creativity and Healing – 2 (14) Writing, Creativity and Healing (14) Why Writing Can Help Heal Depression – 2 (10)
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Dec 6, 2010, 4:53 pm
Attribution DerrickT I had a comment on a recent post at Health Central that described an experience the writer called dissociative. During a therapy session she had become so remote that she couldn’t focus on the discussion or even remember in mid-sentence what she’d been saying. She wasn’t...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Dec 6, 2010, 4:53 pm
Attribution DerrickT I had a comment on a recent post at Health Central that described an experience the writer called dissociative. During a therapy session she had become so remote that she couldn’t focus on the discussion or even remember in mid-sentence what she’d been saying. She wasn’t...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Nov 29, 2010, 6:56 pm
Some Rights Reserved by Peter H. Rassmann Some of the most frightening moments I’ve had during long years of depression were not those of despairing mood or even suicidal thinking. Instead, they were the times of panic when I’d feel yanked into a wind tunnel, no hold on anything, air sucked out...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Nov 21, 2010, 1:23 am
Some Rights Reserved by e-MagineArt.com at Flickr Over at Health Central, I’ve put up a post called My 20 Meds. It’s about the trial and error process I went through to find a medication for depression that gave me more help than harm. The interesting thing is that none of the newer antidepress...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Nov 17, 2010, 12:11 am
Some Rights Reserved by alicepopcorn at Flickr In this post (one of several I think of as notebook entries) I’ve put together several ideas about healing that underlie the work of Michael Lerner and Rachel Naomi Remen. What sets them apart for me are their insights about the comprehensive process...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Nov 9, 2010, 7:43 pm
Some Rights Reserved by uggboy at Flickr. Do feelings just happen or do they come because we go looking for them? Seth Godin is a famous marketing guru who occasionally hits something that goes beyond his usual domain of finding success in business. He kicks up dust by claiming that we choose to go...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Nov 4, 2010, 12:00 am
I’m not sure what it is about the word, “recovery,” but for a lot of people it’s a turn-off. I confess I’ve often felt that way too. Perhaps it’s because I’ve known so much more about the journey through Hell than I could ever know about Paradise. After years in the lower world, with o...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Oct 27, 2010, 1:23 am
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness is the powerful memoir of Elyn Saks’ life with paranoid schizophrenia. A prominent law professor and winner of a MacArthur “Genius” Award, Saks struggled for years to get her delusional episodes under control while excelling in a demanding car...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Oct 15, 2010, 7:16 pm
Some Rights Reserved by Minerva Pictures at Flickr Stories can be an immediate and moving way to learn about someone because they evoke the feelings and experience that factual details never can. When told with honesty and sincerity, a story helps establish a bond of trust because the teller has be...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Oct 8, 2010, 8:16 pm
Image: All Rights Reserved by John Folk-Williams Just a note to update you on the new site, now called Recover Life from Depression. Its purpose is to share my experience of recovery, as I have done here, but in a form that emphasizes more specifically how I – as well as many others – have grad...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 30, 2010, 12:13 am
Some Rights Reserved by A Journey Round My Skull at Flickr Brain research is one of those many scientific fields that I’ll never know much about, but I find it important to get even a limited understanding of the direction of recent findings. It helps me to know, for example, that emotions ar...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 24, 2010, 6:59 pm
Some Rights Reserved by kennymatic at Flickr (I’ve changed the title of this post because I realize the earlier version sounded too sweeping. This post is focused on the way we can beat ourselves up for not being able to will or wish depression away at moments of greatest vulnerability to its...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 21, 2010, 3:31 pm
I’d like to offer a tribute and thanks to Gianna Kali for the incredible work she has done at Beyond Meds over the last four years. She has not only created a major resource on recovery but has done so during a difficult and often debilitating withdrawal from prescription medications. Recently...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 20, 2010, 7:19 pm
Some Rights Reserved by bala at Flickr Last week I published two posts at Health Central (here and here), describing the beliefs and attitudes I needed before I could begin to recover. That meant finding a mindset for recovery, but it wasn’t just a change in thinking. It went a lot deeper to ...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Cross Collaborate - Sep 13, 2010, 7:28 pm
For several months, I’ve had less and less time to devote to Cross Collaborate, and, as you may have noticed, it’s been completely idle for the past two months. It’s become clear to me that I can’t sustain this blog at the level I had originally planned and also keep up with my other online ...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 11, 2010, 6:51 pm
Some rights reserved by falcon0125 at Flickr My understanding of recovery from depression came from experience with the standard treatments: psychotherapy and medication. Until the 1990s, I worked exclusively with psychiatrists for both. In that setting, I can’t recall anyone talking to me ab...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 7, 2010, 4:57 pm
Some Rights Reserved by iChaz at Flickr Here’s one part of a post from a couple of years ago, written a few months before I knew I’d really gotten past depression. Stephany at Soulful Sepulcher had suggested that I try assuming this: I have recovered. That really got me thinking and act...
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John Folk-Williams posted an article on Storied Mind - Sep 4, 2010, 1:49 am
Some Rights Reserved by BrittneyBush Many women write here of the baffling strangers their depressed husbands or partners have become. Most often, they describe one of two versions of the unrecognizable men they’ve been trying to live with. One turns on his partner, blames her for the pain ...
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