Depression

There is an informative article on Yahoo this week - link is: http://uk.health.lifestyle.yahoo.net/Be-aware-of-the-signs-of-depression.htm.

The NHS do provide cognitive-behavioural therapy short-term or, if you would like private therapy giving less of a time constraint, you can contact me as I have also use this regularly in my work with clients.

Fabrice Muamba

Thankfully, it seems now that Mr Muamba is well on his way to recovery thanks to all the support he had.

Fabrice Muamba

I was shocked to hear about Fabrice Muamba, a well known footballer, collapsing from a heart attack last Saturday whilst playing a match and is now critically ill in hospital.  It is so difficult to comprehend it happening to a man at that level of fitness and that age.  It is so shocking.  My best wishes and my hope are with Mr Muamba and his family.  It is an uncertain time.

Mother's Day

Continuing the theme of significant dates - Mother's Day is approaching.   This will mean different things to different people.  If mum is alive and you have a good relationship with her, it may be a positive acknowledgement of your appreciation of her.  If mum is dead but you had a good relationship with her, it may bring about feelings of warmth for her but also sadness about her not being with you now.  I think that in bereavement, the first year encompassing these significant dates can be particularly difficult but people do seem to find a way to deal with them.

If you have never met your mum, this date may not even hold any significance for you.  If it does, it may be that it reminds you of the empty gap in your life or your quest of searching for her.

If your relationship with your mum is either distant or conflicting, you may have mixed feelings about Mother's Day and perhaps feel a pressure to acknowledge her in a positive way when actually you may not feel like doing so.

There is probably a lot more I could write about mothers but perhaps that may be more suited to a proper article.  

As always, any comments to add to the discussion are welcome!

Anna

Vampire woman

Maria Jose Cristerna - a Mexican woman who turned herself into a vampire look-a-like after suffering years of domestic violence - read a little bit about her on the http://www.yahoo.co.uk/ home page.  Would be interesting to read your views?

International Womens Day

An interesting article on Yahoo Lifestyle about Clare Francis whose husband committed suicide - http://www.uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/.

Men and suicide seems to have been in the media even more in the last few months - perhaps because of well-known people deciding to take their own lives.

In the above mentioned article the man concerned experienced a number of years with depression before he took his own life.  I am sure whether he sought professional help but some men can find it difficult to ask for help, seeing it as a sign of weakness and choose to either "down their sorrows" in alcohol or other addictions.  This does not need to happen.  Everybody has emotions and running away from them will only mean they build up inside and then hit you at some unexpected time.  People can become stronger by, what I call, meeting their emotions and not being afraid of them.

Once we stop avoiding, there is hope for change.

Valentine's Day

It is hard to get away from the fact that it was Valentine’s Day yesterday.  This day can evoke different responses in everybody – some may genuinely embrace it, some may feel obliged to embrace it and some may try to ignore it. 

It can be a day that brings pleasure in being the giver or receiver of something that says you are loved or shows you have the capacity to love another.  It can also be a day when painful emotions may arise, particularly if somebody has experienced a recent separation in their relationship or a bereavement in the past– Valentine’s Day can be an unwanted reminder that that person is no longer with them.   

For people who are not in a relationship, Valentine’s Day can be just insignificant or a day where people feel “less than” because they are not in a relationship.

It can be a day of expectation that will either be met with joy or not met with the disappointment that follows.  It can be a day of hope and sharing.

Airbrushing

In relation to my website article, I was interested to read the article on Yahoo yesterday regarding Rachel Weisz in the banned L'oreal advertisement "Should Airbrushing be Banned?". This is the kind of unrealistic images which some people try to attain.

Anna

Self-esteem and Society

Hi All,

This is my first ever blog so welcome!

I have just updated my "Let's Talk About" page of my website with a new article on self-esteem and society - hope you enjoy it. 

Any comments will be welcome.

Anna Keen