Archives for April 2015

Depression is a silent disease that is too often untreated and/or misunderstood. The following myths need to be re-examined and the truth revealed so that people suffering in silence can get the help they so desperately need.

Myth 1: People Who Are Depressed Are Weak Minded
It is this type of thinking that causes people suffering from depression to do so in silence. Just because you are depressed doesn’t mean that you are a weak-minded person. It does, however, mean that your mind has stored all that it can and that you have dealt with everyone’s problems and not taken time to deal with your own. Eventually, when you push your problems to background, those feelings will come rushing back to the forefront. When this happens you get overwhelmed.

Myth 2: Being Depressed Is The Same As Being Sad
Sadness is a temporary state of being. It will go away. When sadness becomes an overwhelming feeling, that is a symptom of depression. Many people suffering from depression believe that they are sad, and depression goes undiagnosed and untreated. If you feel like you are drowning in sadness, chances are you are suffering from depression and you need help.

Depression Only Happens After a Traumatic Event
While depression often occurs after a trauma has been suffered, traumatic events are not the only trigger for depression. Trauma itself does not cause depression. It is how you deal with the trauma that is important.

Only Women Get Depressed
It is true that women are diagnosed and treated for depression more often than men. Women tend to deal with their feelings head-on while men often repress their feelings in order to be a real man.

If You Are Depressed, Take A Pill
It is commonly believed that if you are depressed then you should simply take a pill and all will be well. While anti-depressants are often prescribed, they are only a step in the healing process.

Living with depression is hard; living with undiagnosed, untreated depression can be fatal. If you suffer from depression, don’t suffer silently. Talk to a health professional.

It’s interesting that society often measures success based on the job you hold, the money you make, or the grades you received in school. As parents, you want your child to be successful in all things. For a child with learning disabilities, success can’t be measured through grades. Success for a learning disabled child is about reaching goals. It isn’t easy to set aside preconceived notions about success versus failure, but to help your child be all that he or she can be that is exactly what you must do. There are strategies you can use to help your child succeed in life.

Mountains and Molehills
Having a learning disability does not mean that your child will never be something in life. Actually, it is the opposite. If you keep it all in perspective and don’t make it appear insurmountable, then that is how your child will see it.

Speak Up, Speak Out
You are your child’s advocate. Do your research and learn all that you can about your child’s disability. The better educated you are on the subject the greater the benefits will be for your child in the long run.

Positive Not Negative
Your child needs to know that life is not over because he or she has a learning disability. Focus on the strengths your child has in order to better work on weaknesses.

If At First You Don’t Succeed . . .
Many people allow those with a disability to simply quit trying if it gets hard. Don’t give up and don’t let your child give up. It is so important for your child to learn that in order to reach a goal he or she must persevere.

Take A Deep Breath
You need to teach your child how to deal with stress and frustration. Children with learning disabilities get frustrated easily and this frustration leads to acting out. Teach your child the importance of stepping away from the situation, taking a deep breath, counting to ten, or whatever method he or she is comfortable with in order to calm down.

All children need love and encouragement in order to thrive, but with the learning disabled child the need is even stronger. Remember that the key here is finding ways to help your child to help themselves reach a successful outcome with anything they take on.