Here at b5media’s Health & Wellness Channel, we’re always doing something.

This week, we’re rounding up our “Top 5″ posts.

Some bloggers are focusing on their top five most popular posts, their favorite posts, and even posts that aren’t very well known to their readers.

Because Mental Health Notes is still celebrating its one-year anniversary, I thought I’d go retro with it and list the top five posts I had the most fun writing within the first five months Mental Health Notes was live. (Five just seems to be a common number here, so I’ll stick with it.)

So, without further ado…

May 2007 – Brush Up On Your Health Literacy – This post was actually part of a Mental Health Month series I ran in May 2007. For each day of the month, I offered a “tip” to help better manage mental health. The main reason I enjoyed writing this post is because health literacy was, at that time, completely new to me. So, I was learning while I was passing along information to you.

June 2007 – Is There a Line That Separates Politics and Human Compassion? – I had some trouble choosing a post from this month. Initially, I wanted to select DMB Takes a Stand Against Inadequate Mental Health Care because – hello – Dave Matthews Band is the best. band. ever. However, the related petition was expired, so I moved on to Is There a Line That Separates Politics and Human Compassion? While the information in that post isn’t exactly up to date, it’s still very relevant in today’s politics. And it was fun to write, because I just don’t like Ann Coulter.

July 2007 – Harry Potter: A Cure for Depression? – Choosing a post for this month presented a dilemma, too. I thought about highlighting Damage Control: How To Deal With Losing Mental Health Care Coverage (it is extremely beneficial information, after all), but I ultimately chose the Harry Potter post because it was the funnest to write.

August 2007 – Reduce Stress The Interactive Way – This was by far the funnest post to write during August 2007, because the research that went into writing this post was fun!

September 2007 – Long Abandoned Suitcases From A State Mental Institution – I didn’t have to think too long about this one. Writing about the Willard Suitcase Exhibit was not only fun; it was fascinating.

That’s all for the top five posts I had the most fun writing during the first five months of Mental Health Notes. Did I include any of your favorites?

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

Top 5 Posts I Had The Most Fun Writing For Mental Health Notes

Here’s a new one for you: Reading the books of the Harry Potter series could help minor/low-grade depression.

I can’t take credit for that idea (and at present don’t know if I’d want to) – it’s from a 2003 article, Mental Health Benefits of Harry Potter, written by Jeff Stoyanoff and featured at MuggleNet.

(For those of you who aren’t die hard Harry Potter fans such as myself, MuggleNet is one of the most popular HP-related websites out there.)

The article isn’t poorly written, but it merely skims the topic the title leads us to believe will be discussed.

Given tonight’s debut of the movie adaptation of the fifth HP book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I couldn’t resist addressing this idea myself.

The main idea of the article in question is – and this is my own quote – “When you’re feeling down, reading Harry Potter books will lift your spirits.”

Being a ridiculous (or, riddikulus? Alright, here’s a link for you Muggles) Harry Potter fan myself, I agree. When I’m feeling a little blue and don’t have much drive to do anything, reading a Harry Potter book usually perks me up a notch or three. I’m sure it has something everything to do with J.K. Rowling’s awe-spiring storytelling skills, the story’s own ability to lure you out of your world and into Hogwarts, and my personal investment in the series.

But, let’s look at this a bit closer. Stoyanoff obviously doesn’t have very deep of a well from which to draw mental health-related knowledge, so he refers to “minor/low-grade depression” when I think he actually means, “Those days when you feel like crap and everything goes wrong.”

Since we’ve already established that reading Harry Potter (or any other book/series you enjoy) can help bring you out of a funk, are there any other mental health benefits to reading Harry Potter books?

Well, there are certainly a few mental health price tags to pay. You may be snickering upon reading that, but I know I wasn’t alone when, for weeks, I grieved the death of a certain character in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. I know I’m not the only one who’s still in denial over the death of another character, two years ago, in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Actually, I could still be suffering from post-traumatic stress over that one.

And I know I won’t be the only reader who feels a whirlwind of mixed emotions, abandonment being the most prevalent, when Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book, is released in 10 days.

There are “helplines” being set up across the world for readers, just like me, in preparation of the final turning of the pages.

Although I’m as obsessed as the next fan (definitely more so than others, perhaps less so than few), I can take a step back and view the hold this literary phenomenon has on us from clear eyes.

Throughout six lengthy books, we’ve watched Harry Potter leave a shabby “home life” and enter a world of wonder where he makes friends and feels more at home than anywhere else. We’ve watched him save lives; we’ve watched him witness lives coming to an end. We’ve seen him grieve his parents, and we watched on as he had his first nervous breakdown. We’ve seen his first crush, his first dance, his first kiss, and his first heartbreak.

All the while, we watched his loved ones, friends, and even enemies play their roles in his successes and failures.

It’s not Harry Potter that causes us to cheer up or feel down and out – it’s the story of Harry Potter. It’s everything Harry Potter represents: Friends, enemies, life, death, new beginnings, final endings, good…and evil. And we do more than watch these events; we become invested in the story. We find story lines and characters to which we relate. When something good happens to our “friends,” we’re happy and want it to continue. When something bad happens, we’re sad, or angry, and we want to know why.

Harry Potter is Every Story.

So, back to the question: Are there any mental health benefits to reading Harry Potter? I think so. The books have been known to cheer up more than a few Muggles, after all.

And depression? Well, maybe not clinical depression, but sure. They’ve been known to darken a few days, too.

Stoyanoff summed it up best at the end of his article: “Undoubtedly the Harry Potter series is magical in a literary sense, yet it also holds great power in its affect upon all of us.”

Yes, it certainly does.

Image: Newscom

Post from: Blisstree

Harry Potter: A Cure for Depression?