I stopped avoiding.

And I feel great.

Now it’s time for some Saturday Sanity, and I hope by this time next week, I still feel just as great.

At Mental Health Notes, I shared survey findings about saving money on prescription medications, passed along advocacy alerts about Mental Health Parity and Medicaid regulations, showed you where to find information about headaches and brain tumors, highlighted Web sites about two interesting -ologies (color psychology and graphology), and, very simply, told you that water is good for your brain. And, this week at Mental Health Notes was extra special because we were visited by triple-boarded psychiatrist and award-winning author Doreen Orion!

Mental health was prevalent in the news this week. Mental Health America salutes the service of veterans and families as well as offers tips on how to boost workplace wellness, and researchers from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) presented information about new depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia treatments. In other research news, Dr. Rosalind Wright of Harvard Medical School and colleagues found that women who experience stress during their pregnancies may have babies who are predisposed to allergies and asthma, and a new study published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders suggests that anorexic women who had childhood anxiety may experience more severe symptoms of the eating disorder.

And finally, what’s going on with the rest of the b5media Health & Wellness Channel? Grace at Kids Health Notes points to a UCLA study that suggests that pregnant women who use cell phones may have children with behavior problems. Kendra at A Hearty Life gives a glimpse into her struggles with stress and how it affects diabetes. Mary Emma at Alzheimer’s Notes offers 13 tips for caregivers to alleviate depression. Ruth at Eating Fabulous tells us about how celery and green pepper compound can prevent neuroinflammation.

That’s it for this week! If you have any Saturday Sanity-worthy news, send it my way for next Saturday!

All images courtesy of morgueFile.

Remember! You have until May 31, 2008 to enter the Mental Health Notes Birthday Giveaway, and forever to join the This Is Why I ROCK! series!

Post from: Blisstree

Saturday Sanity: Keeping Up With Yesterday

Color isn’t the only thing that can give insight to our moods and personalities.

According to a Yahoo! News article quote from Sheila Lowe, a graphologist and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Handwriting Analysis,

“Handwriting is a reflection of the inner personality. It shows a person’s ego strength, how good they feel about themselves, their intellectual, communication and working styles.”

Even though graphology doesn’t seem to be as popular in the United States as it is in other parts of the world, the article discusses the strong call for graphologists (those folks who study and analyze our handwriting) during presidential elections.

The results for this year’s presidential contenders?

Hillary Clinton is smart and forceful, John McCain is proud but has a volatile temper, and Barack Obama is a diplomat who deals well with different people and situations.

How many of you will take these results into consideration when election day rolls around?

To learn more about graphology, including how the direction of lines and space between words can act as indicators of your behavior, visit Paralumun.com’s Graphology.

To have your own handwriting analyzed, visit Handwritingpro.com’s Handwriting Analysis, Graphology, Personality Profile.

The Institute of Graphological Research Web site also provides more information about graphology as well as a free handwriting analysis.

Image: morgueFile

Remember! You have until May 31, 2008 to enter the Mental Health Notes Birthday Giveaway, and forever to join the This Is Why I ROCK! series!

Post from: Blisstree

Graphology: Could Handwriting Mean Brainwriting?

Even though I’ve only sort of written about it once here at Mental Health Notes, color psychology is no new thing.

However, if you own a vehicle, you may still find Yahoo! Finance article What Your Car Color Reveals About Your Psyche an interesting read.

According to the article, if you drive a:

• Black, dark blue, or silver vehicle your moods are consistent.
• White, sunny yellow, or bright blue your moods swings are modest.
• Orange, red, bright yellow, or emerald green your moods swings are pronounced.

I’ve owned a few cars throughout my 26 years (and I use the word “owned” loosely, as two of them were gifts from my parents and three of them were co-owned by my ex-husband), and I never really had the final say in the color of the vehicle. Too, it was always a decision that took into account various factors – affordability and availability being the two biggies.

(Case in point: The second car my parents bought me was born from an urgent situation. My first car spontaneously erupted – seriously – and I needed a new one, like, yesterday. So, availability came way before color.)

Needless to say, I’ve owned a variety of different colored vehicles (white, green, red, and two silvers) and I was never the sole decision maker about any of them.

But what about you? Do you think the color of your vehicle(s), both in the past and in the present, reflect your moods?

Image: Newscom

Remember! You have until May 31, 2008 to enter the Mental Health Notes Birthday Giveaway, and forever to join the This Is Why I ROCK! series!

Post from: Blisstree

Color Psychology: Does Your Car Color Reflect Your Moods?

“It’s my last year. I’ve stood around too long and I wanted to do something.” – David Shepherd.

Turn the other cheek. Try to understand why he’s a bully. Consider that his hurtful words and actions are probably fueled by – or masking – a deeper personal problem.

These are all common pieces of advice we either received or were given during our childhood and adolescent years when it came to bullies, and good pieces of advice they are. However, they’re generic and usually only serve as coping methods for bully victims until the bullies are no longer part of their lives. They don’t attack the actual problem head-on and as we all know, sometimes you have to stir a little stink to get things cleaned up.

That’s just what Central Kings Rural High School seniors David Shepherd and Travis Price did. The young men devised their own plan of action against a group of bullies who teased, taunted, and threatened a ninth grader for wearing a pink shirt to school.

And, I admit, I like their method much better.

You see, a group of bullies at the Nova Scotia school focused their efforts on a new ninth grade student one day because he was wearing a pink shirt. So, Shepherd and Price organized their own response to the bullies: They purchased pink shirts, pink arm bands and headbands, and even a pink basketball and rallied “about half the school’s 830 students” to get involved.

The reaction?

“The bullies got angry,” said Travis. “One guy was throwing chairs (in the cafeteria). We’re glad we got the response we wanted.”

David said one of the bullies angrily asked him whether he knew pink on a male was a symbol of homosexuality.

He told the bully that didn’t matter to him and shouldn’t to anyone.

The two friends said they didn’t take the action looking for publicity, but rather to show leadership in combating what they say is frequent bullying in schools.

Now, that’s what I’m talkin’ about.

There always have been and will always be “bullies” – the kid on the playground who takes your money every day; the boss who pushes you around and takes advantage of your occasional willingness to work extra hours; the drug dealers, the crooked cops, the hate-crime doers.

We don’t have to stress, we don’t have to cry, and we don’t have to put up with their crap. Of course, we don’t have to turn around and bully them, either.

What we have to do is exactly what David Shepherd and Travis Price did. We have to band together with our fellow classmates, co-workers, parents, citizens, and victims. We have to help each other, and show bullies it just ain’t gonna fly anymore.

Full Article: ‘I’ve stood around too long’
Related “Pink” Articles: Pink Prison Promotes Puking

Image: Newscom

Post from: Blisstree

Annoy A Bully: Wear Pink

Well, I don’t actually know if it’ll cause prisoners to puke, but it definitely stirred some questionable activity within my midsection.

According to a news report I watched yesterday, the Van Zandt County Criminal Justice Center in Tyler, Texas has decided to paint the prison cell walls a “soft, salmon pink” and the hallways and offices a “neutral beige.”

That’s right – pink. Not just pink, but “salmon pink.”

Yuck. Don’t get me wrong; pink is my favorite color. Yet, if I were surrounded by it all day, everyday, and by such a huge canvas as prison cell walls – well, YUCK.

Upon researching the pink explosion, I found a pretty thorough article in an online newspaper from Tyler, Texas: County Jail Thinking Pink.

In a nutshell, the prison has decided to follow what is apparently becoming a prison trend (see Missouri and Iowa). The Van Zandt County Criminal Justice Center is also adopting pink jump suits, although well-behaved inmates will continue to wear black-and-white stripes.

The effect, Sheriff Pat Burnett hopes, will be a brighter, soothing, more cheerful place for prisoners to reflect on their crimes. Burnett said painting the cells pink has psychological benefits. He cited statistics from the Mason County Jail, where Sheriff Clint Low turned the walls pink and has made inmates wear pink jumpsuits since 2005. Low reported the county’s re-offense rate is down by 70 percent since he implemented the changes.

Even though it’s a stretch for me, I can understand the intended psychological benefits – only because I’m aware of the mental effects colors are reported to have on our minds. (Pink is, in fact, supposed to have a calming effect.) However, I’m not the only skeptic: Some mental health professionals are wary of color psychology and even believe the “benefits” have been exaggerated.

Now, let’s take a look at these possibly contradicting claims. Sheriff Pat Burnett claims he wants to use the pink for a soothing effect; however, at the same time Sheriff Clint Low says the pink prison helped lower re-offense by 70%.

Was the re-offense rate lowered because the pink gave the inmates a “more cheerful place for prisoners to reflect on their crimes,” thus making them realize they shouldn’t have committed their crimes as Sheriff Pat Burnett hopes, or was the 70% drop due to prisoners deciding robbing a bank wasn’t worth staring at salmon pink for multiple years?

The latter, according to current Van Zandt County Criminal Justice Center inmate Scott Dabbs. “He said the “not-very-masculine” color is enough to keep him from coming back to the jail.”

I wonder if the next time a potential re-offender considers selling drugs, he’ll stop and think about the pink consequences. Seriously. I’m not being sarcastic. I’m genuinely interested.

Here’s my opinion. The walls in the secretary’s office at my junior high school were painted this same salmon pink. It was horribly offense to my eyes. If I were an inmate surrounded by this salmon pink, I would be disgusted. It would not soothe me, and after release I would definitely look back on the experience with an extra shiver.

What are your thoughts?

Post from: Blisstree

Will A Pink Prison Promote Puking?