topic Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ? in Supporting family and friends

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

The_Real_David_Charles — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 01:41:40 GMT

I'm long term bipolar and am currently supporting a depressive son. There is no support from my O/S family. But they are well supported to the point of addiction by alcohol. Many a contact ends in drunken tirade or judgement calls. But none of these family members have been diagnosed with depression or other mental health issues (apart from being English).

Is it a complete waste of time to deal with such difficult relatives ? I've had 3 previous suicide attempts so don't feel such abuse bodes well for my own health, which is actually OK at present. Stress triggers the crap out of us, so to speak. Is there a way of keeping in with my loser English relatives whilst maintaining a calm and healthy support to my Aussie family ?

Adios, David.

PS Am I jumping the gun to think that the alcohol in this situation is masking what was a very abusive childhood, emotionally and physically for all my brothers and sister ? Is this there way of "connecting" with hard times ? Can I have the cheese biscuits now ?

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

geoff — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 16:28:18 GMT

dear David Charles, mf, firstly I hope and wish that your son is improving, but that's really a stupid statement, but you know what I mean.

To your question for me alcohol comes first, and I only say this because when we feel the heaviness of becoming niggly, and our thoughts are of negativity, or the loss of someone, or the retrenchment matter you can use alcohol as a numbing to reduce our feeling of becoming sad, but this sadness continues for a couple of days, which turn into weeks and then months so we become depressed.

I'm not sure that we just wake up one morning with depression, although looking back we can say this, however, we go through the stages of being unhappy, then becoming sad-----------------------------------------------------------and then depressed, after this long period of time.

Send our regards to your son, and I certainly hope that it's not pulling you down, well with bipolar for 25 years it's understandable.

By the way my 2 days at the week-end were OK, but it rained, and my roof has a hole in it, as guess where it drips, right on top of my pillow, instant shower. Geoff.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

The_Real_David_Charles — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 07:10:30 GMT

Dear Geoff,

Things are looking up. My son's depression is now allowing him to get up at 11am instead of noon.

There was a wedding (oldest brothers) in my family once and I sent a couple of hundred dollars over to my sister to do a big present. She scammed me and stole the lot. Then I had to put up with all the "Why didn't you buy you brother a present, your sooo mean ?" questions. I finally got to grips with this small family moment and even asked for a "refund" as we are finding it a bit tricky (with my wifes' research) to pay for stuff this month.

So, here's the deal - will my apalling sister (with her drunken ways) come clean and support my son's medication bills with the stolen wedding money ? Kind of reads like a plot from Home and Away. But really, does anyone out there have a conscience anymore ? It's mostly the small things that really bug us or trigger suicidal ideation.

Adios, David.

PS Sorry I didn't get back to you earlier - I was in the Related Disorder section being King Bipolar ! Lol. How's the wet rain on that pillow ? Maybe you can sleep on your front with the two dogs on the back of your head and neck for waterproofing.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

geoff — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 15:42:59 GMT

dear David Charles, my friend, I now rent after doing up house after house, spec. homes, so the leak is still there, 'rain drops keep falling on my head', so I have to wait for the plumber to fix it again.

I know how you feel about lending money to a family member, my brother in law, a lawyer was going bankrupt (believe it) but he was, so my wife said that we would lend him some money, and this was to the tune of $ 66k in different lots, money we had made on doing up spec homes, no thank you, and no repayment, not even a dollar, and that was twenty years ago, which probably started the downfall for me, plus other factors.

I really hope that you get your money back, and I really wish the best for your son. Geoff.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

S_A_D_ — Fri, 21 Jun 2013 20:34:08 GMT

Hello David,

firstly you are correct that there is a correlation between mental illness and drug use. More specifically there is a correlation between depression and soft drugs, including alcohol. In many cases the excessive consumption of drugs is a significant contributing factor to developing a mental illness, but not always.

Some cases of depression involve no drugs at all, including alcohol, as evidenced by the kind of severe childhood depression I experienced. I then started consuming drugs as an escape and that contributed to more bad stuff, major depression and a variety of others. Obviously many people drink alcohol to excess and don't develop depression. This means alcohol is neither sufficient nor necessary for the development of depression in all cases, and having depression is neither sufficient nor necessary to developing alcoholism in all cases. Nevertheless, I would expect strong causal relationships in both directions, and a high incidence of feedback loops. In those cases it can be hard to distinguish which came first.

When it's raining, how do you distinguish between a drizzle and a sprinkle? At what point can you say it's definitely a monsoon? Was I depressed when I had my first drink to take the edge off the pain, or did the association learned about alcohol relieving pain accentuate the pain once the alcohol had worn off, thereby motivating alcoholism and generating a depressive state?

As for your family issues, open lines of communication in writing. Keep everything sent and received. Explicitly state what you need from each of them (one at a time, or they will collude; go after the biggest fish first), and stipulate these as conditions under which you will reestablish a relationship. Draw up a contract of behaviour. Be willing to alter some of your own behaviour to the best of your ability as they have stipulated. There will be much argument, both sides will make unreasonable demands. Expect refusals. Anticipate this by intentionally asking for outrageous limitations, then yield, and use your display of goodwill to get them to yield on key points you consider unreasonable.

You set the schedule. Don't let them pressure you into anything until you're ready. Control your stress levels by pacing yourself. Don't let the argument turn into a fight. Be diplomatic and assertive. Say "I need this from you, and if you don't know how to give it you will learn. I can help you learn, but you must be willing and cooperative. If you resist me we will get nowhere."

Thank you for your attention. you may now have one, and only one, cheese biscuit. You may then have the rest of the packet while writing a reply.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

The_Real_David_Charles — Sat, 22 Jun 2013 03:10:37 GMT

Dear Facetious,

If I may say, sound advice (again) but couldn't help thinking that "Draw up a contract of behaviour" takes the biscuit, cheese or otherwise. I'd prefer the bad communication to litigation. I don't feel I have to alter my behaviour as I gave this money a while back - the behaviour has already happened. Just thought it would be honoured as a wedding present, not sucked into drinking money. You may have missed the point on this one a little bit. The Wedding was in 2007 !

I guess when you give a relative money it's for the best intentions although I've got no control over whether it will end up being used for the worst intentions.

Your manner is very similar to an old time responder called Lynthi. She was a great debater and often preferred the 8 paragraphs of reasoning to a simple sentence too. She left in Dec 2011. But your responses have a more Aspergers - I must put EVERYTHING down in a correct fashion - kind of vibe. Have you been tested for Aspergers ? I'm not sure if I'm right here, but the feel is a bit stretched. Observations only.

Is there a benefit in over thinking with mental health ? Do you have a partner to support you ? I have been married over 20 yrs with 3 teenage kids.

Adios, David.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

The_Real_David_Charles — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 08:14:38 GMT

Post Note: It's too easy for family to say "Oh, he/she's a bit mental" if they get put on the spot about something, i.e stealing money. Or just block emails. Not answer the phone. Whatever happened to good old days in the Wild West when you could start a brawl in a bar, win the girl and wear thigh length leather boots all day and even at night to sleep in ? Quiet nights listening to baked beans being digested.

Adios, David.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

S_A_D_ — Sun, 23 Jun 2013 09:19:57 GMT

Hello David,

I didn’t mean litigation. I didn’t mean involving lawyers and a judge. But you knew that. You were being facetious, right? I would also prefer strained communication over an international court case.

I’m also not talking about this specific case involving the money. Most of the time when people make complaints regarding the inappropriate behaviour of others, it is based on the fear that the same type of behaviour will be repeated in the future, and this anxiety is usually justified.

A person almost never does anything that they believe to be wrong at the time they do it, so they may not be aware you have judged them to be inappropriate. If they are, they will likely try to defend their choices. The escape plan for this exchange of judgement and defence leading into a conflict is through negotiation. It is likely that there is something they would prefer you to change about yourself. Your job is to decide if their request is an acceptable cost compared with what you want them to change.

Following such negotiations, the #1 fear is that the other side will fail to uphold their promise. The use of a written contract stipulating the requested behaviour be altered is an explicit method of psychological reinforcement for reminding all involved parties of the agreement. If a party still fails to uphold their side of the agreement, the other party can use this evidence as a bargaining chip for future arrangements. There need never be a single person from any legal background involved in the exchange.

This gives you a small element of control over how the money you give is used.

I have learned over the years that when something is explained explicitly and overtly, there is a much lower likelihood of misunderstanding. As we have just witnessed above, miscommunication still occurs. This is my cue to explain things even more explicitly. Once understanding is achieved, the recipient may do whatever they like with the information. It is through this process that I could teach quantum mechanics or Shakespearean poetry to a 4 year old. It has also helped me to learn patience.

The way I fashion my expressions of reasoning has 2 clear advantages. It promotes and stimulates my vocabulary and syntax skills, which has helped enormously in articulating advanced concepts into short sentences. In the scientific process, brevity is king. However I also need to be able to move freely up and down the scale of complexity, and for obvious reasons explaining a complex process in simple language requires many paragraphs. A brief message in simple language cannot reasonably be used to explain a theoretical concept beyond representations of ostensive and operational definitions. It is usually reserved for responses to explicit questions and when people are trying to meet and talk in person. It would be difficult to apply either here with noteworthy frequency.

How much do you know about the medical principle of comorbidity? I have no less than a dozen major illnesses, each interacting with each other. 5 of these are physical, with 2 being genetically inherited. 1 condition is due to 2 separate and serious head injuries. The remainder of the 12-15 are psychological, and the 3 dozen medical professionals who have tried to diagnose me over just the last 3 years have been unable to clearly distinguish between them in order to identify me as this or that. I have had 5 major diagnoses confirmed, and then withdrawn as misdiagnoses, in a 12 month period. I have tried roughly 40 different medications, almost all of which either had no positive effect or made me worse in some way. Most had no effect at all. I have extremely high tolerances, and was told any further increases in dosage would be toxic.

I am 31. Every day I struggle to survive. Every day I struggle to find reasons to want to survive. Most days, with some effort, I find a reason sufficient to motivate me. I have been this way my entire life.

I have never slept next to someone I loved and trusted, besides during my infancy. My childhood was absent of most expressions of nurturance. This lack of nurturing parental figures led to a lack of individuals from whom I could model nurturing behaviour via imitation. Therefore, intimacy feels unnatural for me. My recognition of this has led to an educational endeavour to learn nurturance through formal training. This began 5 years ago when I started a job as a taxi driver to observe the widest possible subset of the population behaving “normal”. I’m now at university studying psychology, philosophy and anthropology.

Under Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, love in the form of intimacy is out of reach until I have established sufficient foundations with the lower levels. Google Maslow’s needs to understand this. If a lower level is absent, the absence of higher levels is irrelevant.I suggest you apply this same hierarchy to your issues with family. Where do you think trust sits relative to generosity? The reliability of people to behave a certain way relies on their consistent demonstration of that behaviour, unless that person has a strong enough motivation to change their behaviour. If you want your family to change their behaviour, the most reliable methodology is to give them an incentive, and closely observe whether they are compliant. From across the world the only way I can think of to achieve this is via a written and signed agreement.

I acknowledge your right to refuse and/or disregard this advice, but I only ask that you consider the content of the suggestion, irrespective of the tainted source from which it comes from (me). This strategy has worked for me in the past, but it has also strained relationships further in other cases.

take care friend

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

The_Real_David_Charles — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 03:37:11 GMT

Dear Facetious,

I'd have to pass.

I'm living with someone studying a 2nd Ph D in Music & the Brain and hear enough psychology to string Christmas Lights up from Adelaide to Darwin and back..

Still, you're thoughts are totally valuable and I'm sure will resonate further when in a more archive section of the website.

Adios, David.

PS That's a lot of different meds to try in a short time. One book on depression I read once ("Beating the Blues") by a Californian opted out of all meds and decided to buy a horse instead. Worked for her. Animals are great therapy.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

S_A_D_ — Mon, 24 Jun 2013 12:12:21 GMT

That is so very true about animals, proven beyond all doubt in almost every possible type of psychology research. I'm not allowed to have pets, so I try really hard to interact with animals outside of the home environment, but it's still rare. There are almost no wild animals (except birds) in cities ideal for interactivity. I've tried interacting with lizards and insects, but it's not the same, and I need to stay close to uni for study, so I can't move to the country and live on a farm or whatever.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

Mel_D_1978 — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 07:18:46 GMT

Cheese Biscuits comes first because cheese is yuck and that would make me depressed.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

The_Real_David_Charles — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 10:24:39 GMT

Dear Mel D.

But cheese biscuits can be depressing too if you forget to take the wrapper off.

Adios, David.

PS In some parts of cheese making France the bank holds onto the massive cheese rolls (8m wide) as colateral against investing in the farming business. And anyway, it takes cheese longer to mature than cheese biscuits.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

S_A_D_ — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 10:36:56 GMT

I've been working on the basis that "cheese and crackers" was a metaphor. Cheese is what people say when they want a fake smile for photos, which is related to the concept of false pretences and being insincere and dishonest about your feelings. Crackers is what people are often referred to after having a nervous breakdown, synonymous with mental illness.

I figure that "feeding the moderator's cat" is a metaphor too, perhaps for procrastination and/or when something is so pointless that trying to feed a cat that's already been fed would make more sense.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

Vegetarian Marshmallow — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 11:28:58 GMT

I've recently been introduced to the hierarchy of needs, and on first instinct it appears to me like a malarkey of .. reeds. Living your life by a recipe sounds like one for disaster.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

Dayna — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 02:11:13 GMT

I believe it is all a vicious circle and you end up eating cheese biscuits because you can't even get up to actually cook something! I have many alcoholics in my life and they are beautiful people who honestly, sometimes you just want to slap because they can't see how great they are and don't know how to fight for themselves. In my experience most people drink because it is a way to mask pain and the alcohol fixes that and makes you brave. But it is only a mask and the real you is fighting to come out and live a true life with no guilt or regrets. The same can be said for depression which I have suffered over the last 12 months. We all need to embrace our lives, the good and bad and take a lesson from what we done and try our best not to go down that road again. Good luck to you and your son David.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

S_A_D_ — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 15:45:20 GMT

Rodentdron, and for all who wonder about how models are applied to our lives,

You say "living your life like a recipe sounds like one for disaster," yet you are doing this now and you always have. In fact, every human being that has ever lived uses models to achieve desired results. If you want to make a cake, you are more likely to make a cake that looks and tastes the way people expect it to if you follow the clearly articulated recipe designed by people who have extensive experience in replicating that cake thousands of times with near perfect results.

The same principle applies to any action you wish to do to achieve the most effective possible results. Think of an orang utan trying to access the edible core of a nut with a strong shell. If it were to be pounded with the orang utans wrist it would hurt, and no deliver nourishing results, so that model would be abandoned. It might try putting it on the ground and hitting it with a rock, and it wouldn't hurt, but still fail to deliver results. It would simply push the nut into the ground. This would tell the orang utan that the rock is strong but the ground is weaker than the nut, and the model would again be thrown out. If put on a boulder and hit with a rock, it might crack and the orang utan can eat it, or it could bounce off and disappear into the distance. Today, humans use nutcracker devices that can shell hundreds of nuts per minute with high reliability.

Once upon a time it was firmly believed the Earth was flat. When you look at the horizon, it appears perfectly flat. Later, some people posited that the earth was a sphere, and were declared heretics. This was later proven beyond reasonable doubt as an accurate model, but then people started thinking it could be egg shaped, and they were laughed at and embarrassed. Satellite photography can now prove it is in fact an oblate spheroid (egg shaped). Each time the model being proposed was able to explain existing evidence, and also explain something the former couldn't, like why the edge of the world can't be found despite an extensive search.

The hierarchy of needs is a theoretical model for determining motivational reasoning and the source of emotions. It can also be applied bidirectionally, however this is merely a model, and like all models it has flaws. The important thing about scientific models is not how many ways it doesn't apply. The important thing is that it explains more about the world than previous models. This is how we learn more about the world, and how to function effectively within it.

There are other theoretical models for explaining motivations and emotion, some of which act synergistically with Maslow's Needs, and some that have attempted to debunk Maslow's Hierarchy. Depending on which perspective the psychologist you speak to prefers, you may hear them advocate one model over another. The best psychologists are impartial, intentionally failing to become subjectively preferential. By advocating contradictory theories, we can determine the efficacy of theories under development. If a new theory is supported by the evidence used to support both of the contradictory theories, and is also falsifiable, it has the potential to win it's author a Nobel Prize for the advancement of science.

This has been an explanation of basic science, which is vastly different from the way that basic science is used to help us function in the world, called applied science. One way to apply Maslow's Hierarchy to your life is to ensure reliable access to air, food and water before concerning yourself with getting married, servicing the car, and updating your Facebook status. An even more oversimplified version of this model is through "priority status":

Do the important and urgent stuff first

Do the important and non-urgent stuff second

Do the less important and more urgent stuff third

Do not do the unimportant and non-urgent stuff, ever.

My current position on the hierarchy will determine what you decide to prioritise as important and/or urgent. If I have a stockpile of food in the fridge and pantry, and a reliable supply of tap water, it's status as a need to acquire food and water will fall significantly. I am certain that if my access to these supplies was impaired, I would not be thinking about the excellent TV show I might be missing at that moment, or if I my appearance was respectable enough to be seen and saved by emergency services.

It is very important to consider these things from a mental health perspective too. It is not enough to consider what you consider to be important and/or urgent currently, because your circumstances will change and that can be confusing unless you have a working hierarchy model. It doesn't have to be the same hierarchy Maslow determined, but we all need one, and we need to communicate our hierarchy, including it's mental health aspects, to the people who love and care for us, so that they know how best to help us.

Do you have goals for your health? Which hopes and dreams take a higher priority, via urgency or importance, over other hopes and dreams? If you've thought about following a recipe created by mental health professionals, which details a step by step process of achieving specific goals toward overcoming the problems you face, such a structured approach could dramatically ease the stress associated with evaluating the potential benefit of certain achievements, allowing you to focus on getting better. Again, I include the caveat that all models are flawed, and it will not happen perfectly. Then again, was the first food recipe you followed on your own able to produce a carbon copy of the pictured dish? It was with practice that you were able to replicate a picture perfect dish, and we are talking about achieving something far more challenging that making a cake. We're talking about saving lives, and it could take years, decades, or the rest of my life to achieve mental health. It is possible I may never get there, but every day I put the effort in I get better at reaching the next step of the recipe.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

Vegetarian Marshmallow — Tue, 09 Jul 2013 09:35:48 GMT

It just feels sterile to plan out your life to that extent. I don't think life fits into those boxes. It also kind of reminds me of these people I see going to a hundred different types of therapy but never actually going out and doing something *real* like go fishing, or take a walk on the Riviera, or start that business they've been idly "preparing for" for years. It typifies the "You can't learn to plough by reading books" mantra. I'm sure at least some of this is me projecting, as "getting out there and doing it" has been one of my problems, but I still feel like it's there.

You obviously know more about it than I do, but it also seems to me that the order in whats-his-name's list is kind of arbitrary. People will go on hunger strikes for moral reasons. Being creative is often an outlet for people who don't have love, safety, etc. Some people don't give a crap about property, which is apparently one of the second-tier needs. I don't know how safety of property can come before self-esteem; if you don't care about yourself why should you care about your inanimate objects?

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

S_A_D_ — Wed, 10 Jul 2013 08:51:17 GMT

Well Done Rodentdron,

I am very impressed. Either you've done your homework on this, or you have a natural aptitude for critical thinking and analysis. Either way, you should be extremely proud of those two paragraphs right there!

Hierarchies are a generalised, stereotypical guide for needs. Nobody plans their life based on a hierarchy, but it might give them a clue to what's most important to them if they're confused, trying to decide between two options or paths they can take in life. Like any model, it is flawed and inaccurate, but describes the essence of the principle. As you've pointed out, there are many exceptions, but these are infrequent. Most people fall back on their hierarchy when life circumstances take a dramatic shift, and immediate needs change (for better or worse).

"You can't learn to plough by reading books." I love this quote. This exemplifies the difference between basic science and applied science. The difference between theory and practice. We need both to function effectively. A good model provides the theory, which we then apply to our lives to improve standard of living, or whatever.

As for what things go in what position, esteem and respect are higher on the pyramid because they are not necessary for survival. In the spoilt Western world, property is less important than the hierarchy suggests, but how much could you go without before you considered it of a higher priority than esteem? Keep in mind that your property includes clothing, basic shelter (cave or tent), and the tools you might use to build shelter, repair clothing, catch food, and prepare a meal. A good survival tool is matches / lighter / flint & striker for making fire to cook food with. Do you know how hard it is to make fire without tools?

For obvious reasons the tools themselves are less important than the food when you are starving, but you would probably favour the tool over a chance of food if you could be confident of another chance at food a short time later (like when catching a fish makes you drop your sleeping bag in the water. There will be other fish. Let it go). Property gives us a sense of safety. It assures us that we can control our environment effectively enough to survive. Big screen TVs and smartphones are consumerism, and fall into the "Self-actualisation" category at the top.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

Vegetarian Marshmallow — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 09:04:55 GMT

Oh no, praise - that most suspicious of feedback. Makes me feel like I'm in a terribly linear video game, being led along a path that I have no choice about following, by a plot-dumping avian character who otherwise has no personality and is conveniently always found at the area where I've just defeated the boss, but didn't help me fight him himself. "Hootity hoot! Congratulations, Frogdor! You've successfully won the Headband Of Dreams from the evil Moist Dog Prince! Now you must brave The Ivory Lake to rescue the Blue Princess and her Shoes Of Recumbency! Hoot hootery Hootaroot!". Stupid bird, I hate you! Yeah, you'd *better* fly away!

I recently finished a short online course (basically a series of videos, coupled with a forum populated by what seemed like ESL students and various propagandists) - Introduction to Psychology - and the hierarchy of needs was mentioned a week or two before you mentioned it here. It didn't particularly interest me so I've only got superficial knowledge of it... like.. the fact that it exists.. and it can be shown as a pyramid.

Point taken.

Which comes first ? Alcholism or Depression (or cheese biscuits) ?

S_A_D_ — Fri, 26 Jul 2013 09:20:07 GMT

Hmm, interesting. Receiving compliments and encouragement makes you nervous, anxious and suspicious. As far as I know there are two possible reasons:

Something undesirable has happened shortly after receiving complements in the past, like when people are nice right before telling you bad news. This is called conditioning, and if performed enough times we can learn to associate receiving complements with the expectation of bad things happening.
I have written at length about the effect that our ignorant society affects the confidence and self-esteem levels of people with mental illness. The influence of peer pressure is so powerful it changes our inner voice, so we tell ourselves what we hear others tell us even when they're not here. There is a long thread on harmful comments others have told us, and they hurt because we listen and absorb it. We learn to expect and anticipate more hurt from those people, even when they are being kind. We analyse and read into things and see meanings that were never intended. We lack the trust and confidence in them to be consistently gentle with us, and we're not confident enough to reject or slander bad/harmful advice, or reject the source from being a cruel influence on us. This lack of confidence in ourselves is reinforced by a culture that strives to keep the community peaceful and calm, even when keeping calm is more harmful than oppositional/confrontational attitudes.

It is also possible that both of these possible reasons are combining, each having a smalll influence, and yet together they combine and feed on each other, generating a feedback loop, reinforcing the pain. Suicidal ideations like mine develop when a feedback loop develops on both reasons which are both of significant severity.

Learning psychology helps me understand myself better, and provides elaborate coping mechanisms for when I'm struggling. I hope you can find a way to apply the theory you learned in your online course, and share those principles with others here. Not only is the act of teaching others the most effective form of memory encoding (to retain what you've learned), but in a forum like this we get a lot of feedback which increases both elaboration and mental mapping for more effective recall of those newly encoded memories. I'm sure you're aware of the massive (and increasing) need for an accurate representation of psychological science in a forum for people with psychological illness. QED, right?