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Creative Living Courier from the Academy of Creative Living
May 18, 2006

Greetings!

Welcome to the Creative Living Courier! And an extra warm welcome to all our new subscribers. We are glad you have joined us. The Creative Living Courier email newsletter helps Right-Brain people thrive in a Left- Brain world. It brings you

  • Tips to help you thrive, not just strive.
  • Tools to manage your stress and balance your life.
  • Training in how to increase your personal power.
  • Techniques to transform your pain into gain.
  • Touches of inspiration to release your creative imagination
  • Creative Quotes to transform your day
We hope you enjoy what you find here, and on our website. We welcome your feedback and comments.

Recent Research Shows How to Help Kids Whose Mom or Dad is Depressed
 USA Today recently reported that researchers have discovered "very encouraging" information about helping children with a parent who is depressed. "We know that depression and other disorders are brought on by strong environmental stresses," says lead author Myrna Weissman, a psychologist at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. "Having a parent with an illness is a big environmental stress."

They found that successfully treating a mother's depression can alleviate or even prevent psychiatric problems in her children. Researchers studied 151 mother-child pairs, as a part of a larger study about treating depression. By the end of three months, about a third of the mothers saw their depression go into remission. Among their children, there was an 11% drop in rates of psychiatric diagnoses. Among children whose mothers were still depressed, there was an 8% rise in diagnoses. This is a difference of 19%. Dr. William Beardslee, academic chair of psychiatry at Children's Hospital in Boston, comments, "In our view, depression in parents is a family calamity, but it is one that can be overcome."

Brooke Shields & Tom Cruise Spar About Depression
 USA Today also reports (May 2, 2006) that Brooke Shields and Tom Cruise had a public beef after Tom criticized Brooke for taking antidepressants after her child was born about three years ago. Tom, in an appearance on NBC's Today Show said that depression can be treated with exercise and vitamins rather than drugs.

Brooke, who wrote Down Came the Rain: My Journey Through Postpartum Depression, comments, "I'm going to guess that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression." She says, "The irony is perfect" that her daughter, Rowan, and Tom's and Katie Holmes' daughter, Suri, were born on the same day, in the same hospital. Both children turned three last month.

Medication and Supplements are BOTH Effective to Help Heal Depression
 Dr. Daniel Amen, psychiatrist and author of several books on brain function and treatment of various mental health disorders including depression, has found through his research with SPECT brain scans that EITHER medication or dietary supplements can benefit people with depression.

We here at the Academy of Creative Living have found that whether someone uses prescribed medications or dietary supplements is a personal choice. Either way, we have found that it is crucial that something is done to correct and support brain function. We have seen both medications and supplements be effective in doing this. Both also work along with counseling to produce lasting results.

Medication or Supplements Alone are NOT ENOUGH to Heal Depression
 Dr. Amen also says that "Medication [or supplements] are not enough." He has several recommendations, including
  • learning how to deal with negative thoughts and feelings,
  • making significant lifestyle changes,
  • healing painful memories,
  • and/or improving relationship and communication skills
in order to have long term recovery from depression.

Depression Kills Creativity; Creative Expression Helps Heal Depression!
 One of the signs of depression is that the activities that are normally fun for a person hold no interest. Especially for those who previously had enjoyed creative pursuits, Creative Expression can have a powerful healing effect while also helping restore creativity.

Creative Expression is gentle, fun, and helps bridge to self-care activities that can be carried on through life and help maintain recovery. It has a calming effect, lowering blood pressure and heart rate, produces alpha brain waves (the meditative, "flow" state of mind) and has many physical health benefits as well.

Creativity is an Essential Nutrient!
 Creative Expression can promote healing for anyone. For Right-Brain Dominant, Creative, Sensitive people, it can be indispensable to healing depression, and to staying healthy. A creative person who is not involved in meaningful creative expression is like an orchid in the Mohave desert: it won't be long before it withers up. Restoring creative expression is therefore crucial for many people.

These are just some of the reasons that we include Creative Expression and Contemplative Handwork in the repertoire of interventions we use to help people with depression. Moms, new ones especially, find this to be a potent antidote to depression, considering that most-many times all-of their energy and time go into caring for other people. Creative Expression can be a crucial piece of recovery, in helping them bring self-care back into their lives. Check out our website for more on the connection between Creative Expression and Mental Health.

Academy of Creative Living website link

Do you know a parent who struggles with Depression?
 If you do, you might want to encourage them by passing on this article! One of the biggest obstacles to getting help can be a reluctance to take the time, energy, and money and use it on oneself. Carl Jung said: "Nothing has a stronger influence psychologically on their environment and especially on their children than the unlived life of the parent." In other words, it is impossible to keep a parent's depression (or any other problem) from impacting one's children. What we ignore, deny or try to hide, has a greater impact on them than anything else! Greater than nutrition, greater than discipline, greater than nurturing them. For those of us who struggle to meet all our kids' needs, this is worth paying attention to: What we ignore within ourselves-our unmet emotional, spiritual, physical or other needs impacts our kids more than anything else we do or don't do for them or to them!

I have had clients who were parents and got help for themselves. They told me that they wished they had come in much sooner, and saved themselves much pain and suffering. Sometimes they were surprised (I never was) that their getting help also had a positive influence on their kids and their relationships all around, at home and at work.

Every time I fly in a commercial airplane, I am reminded of another twist on this: the flight attendants' safety spiel always includes a reminder to put on our own oxygen mask first, before trying to help anyone around us. Again, the best thing a parent who is depressed can do for his or her kids is to get help for himself or herself. The whole family will be happier and healthier because Mom or Dad got effective treatment.

Call Me (or email me)Today for a New Tomorrow! You'll be glad you did!


Sharon Barnes, MSSW, LCSW -- The Scrap Lady!
The Academy of Creative Living
phone: 303-987-0346
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