Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Is depression/anxiety a symptom of AS?

how do you make snowflakes?

* 1 oz. Anisette
* 1 oz. Rum, white
* 1 oz. Vermouth, extra dry
* Ice
* Blend on high



p.s. Alcohol is a depressant, but I hear it helps with anxiety

Thanks for this! I'm going to watch it this weekend.

Your welcome!! It looks kind of outdated but what he has to say is not, and he seems so caring too!!

Here's a short excerpt from a documentary about the brain that we worked on years ago

(we did the sound effects)

I always liked it, not just because our sound effects were cool, and the synapse looks like something from Star Wars, but because it got me to think of the neural system very differently

Here what the neural pathways "look" like, and how our thoughts are actually physical things

and how synapses transmit the electrons from one gap to another

and some of the things that can change it, such as drug abuse, as in this example





but mostly, I am thinking about what happens when the same thoughts repeat over and over in the brain

pathways that get created to deliver and store these thoughts get stronger, making them more efficient

This can be good, new knowledge to store, as in my previous post about learning new piano pieces through repetition

or not good, as in pain pathways, created at first because of an injury, or a disease perhaps- but then reinforced over time through constant pain, and going into and remaining in prolonged adrenaline-fueled panic fight-or-flight mode-

(a state in which other body processes take a lower priority: digestion, muscle tissue repair, reproduction etc.)

all things that lead to physical change in the neural system, and we don't want that, because all those built-up pathways are ready to just keep delivering the pain messages!

So that's why I say, if you can, DON'T fight your own brain, tell it that it is thinking "wrong" or "bad thoughts" all that does is build and maintain new stress and anxiety pathways.

Instead try and teach your brain new songs, do new math problems, tell new jokes, play new games, expand the repertoire

Until those pain pathways decay from lack of use, and you build new ones to carry the new better messages

Exactly the perfect illustration of how a proactive person can help a person with mental illness better cope.

My dad had schizophrenia, and he walked 3 miles each morning, ate moderately, drank 2 cups of coffee each day, listened to calm music, took his medicine, and took hot baths. Sometimes, "irregardless" (Ben - that was for you) of his excellent self care, his mind monster got out of control and he became paranoid, then catatonic, then hospitalized.

I believe that all mental illness functions in this manner, that no matter how proactive a person is, the mind monster can still get out of control at times ~ for reasons nobody understands.

That said, it is extremely important for people with anxiety/depression illnesses to exercise daily, eat healthfully, limit caffeine/alcohol (as these are stimulant/depressants, and practice mindful battle against the mind monster, such as math problems, prayer, art, etc.

Now ~ can we have the link to the full video?
Pleeeeeaaasssse???

Dow and Erika,

These are powerful and effective ideas. The work that I did with a psychiatrist during my severe depression including creating new ideas or "stories" to view the early childhood trauma I had experienced. With a new "story" my brain seemed to process the information in a different way. Without the support of anti-depressants it might have been difficult to get that process happening but I have no doubt that the new "stories" created fresh pathways. In addition, I took up beading at the time - I tried to meditate and wasn't good at it but beading had the same kind of effect on me. It was as useful a therapy as anything else I did.

However, with the canoe-building and mountain climbing and starting the CGA program I had been trying to create new pathways (inadvertently - I didn't think of it that way) but without the meds and support of a skilled psychiatrist who got to the root of the PTSD I wasn't having much luck.

My own feeling is that it can take a combination of useful tools including the new pathways theory to combat severe mental illness.

This concept is close to my heart, because one (3rd) of my sisters and I have discovered that we actually have arthritis ~ but have been actively denying it for our entire lives. Although we've been on and off in wicked pain for most of our lives, we have both lived by our dad's example of bravely soldiering on in the face of adversity. Somehow we got the idea that if we weren't schizophrenic, then there was nothing to worry about. [Our two older sisters haven't been able to deny it, because of (1st) lupus and joint replacements, and (2nd sister) multiple surgical spinal fusions] So, the moral of this story is this: acknowledge that there is a problem, and then do everything within your power to address the problem ~ whatever it takes. Sister #3 and I are ever so much more comfortable now that we're being adequately treated for arthritis and depression and/or anxiety. Life was good before, but now it's approaching sublime.