by Sheila O’Shea My first encounter with art therapy was at my one (and I hope only) stay in a mental hospital. I’ve told people since then that it should have been properly called “shut up and color time.” When I first arrived, I was given a page from a mandala coloring book and spent…
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by Sheila O’Shea The holidays are a joyous time for many, but they can also be stressful. Cooking huge amounts of food, meeting with crowds of family and friends, the pressure to make everything perfect, the list goes on. Mindfulness—especially sense-based mindfulness—can be helpful in easing holiday stress when dealing with hectic situations. However, focusing…
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Holidays don’t have to feel lonely. Skyland Trail CBT Recovery Track Assistant Director, Nicole Casey, shares tips on ways to stay connected over the holidays. Plan in advance and get a few things on the calendar so you have something to look forward to. 1. Plan ahead and reach out. If this is your first holiday…
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By Gordon Corsetti, Skyland Trail adult programs graduate It’s shocking what a text message or an email can do for my mood. Since I told my friend group a month ago about the resurgence of my depression, the amount of unexpected well-wishes has truly blown me away. Some came from friends of mine that I…
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by Sheila O’Shea One of the things Skyland Trail gave me when I was there was structure. After losing my job due to a mixed episode that sent me to a mental hospital, my life threatened to slide in a very aimless direction. The regular schedule of classes and activities helped stabilize things, and one…
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The decision of whether or not to take psychiatric medication is ultimately a decision for the patient to make in partnership with their physician. Decisions informed by the current foundation of research on best practices in prescribing, patient education, and adherence strategies will yield the best long-term outcomes for patients and likely prevent adverse reactions and side effects that make some people skeptical about the utility of psychopharmacology.
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By Sheila O’Shea There’s a New Yorker cartoon from a long time ago that depicts a sculptor at work. The statue is the stylized figure of a woman with her gaze fixed upward, and it is large enough that the sculptor needs a ladder to work on it. Just below where he holds his hammer…
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As part of the 2022 Dorothy C. Fuqua Lecture, mental health experts discuss the teen mental health crisis and what people, schools, and systems can do to protect youth mental health.
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By Sheila O’Shea [Trigger warning: suicidal ideation] I knew it wasn’t Attention Deficit Disorder. I went through a battery of tests for ADD—pointing at pictures of aliens and reciting their names, holding a metal rod steady so it wouldn’t touch the inside of a metal ring, filling out questionnaires—and the doctor concluded that I didn’t…
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By Gordon Corsetti, Skyland Trail adult programs graduate It seems the holidays are annual events that conspire to derail any progress made against my depression. Shorter days mean I get less sunlight. Colder mornings mean it is that much more difficult to extricate myself from the warm sheets. Worst of all though, is the forced…
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