November 15th, 2009
Keep Smilin’ owes a huawge thank you to BoomerangPR for offering to help out the charity. BoomerangPR’s director Katy Cowan kindly offered to get involved with Keep Smilin’ and promote what we do so we can reach a larger audience and get our message across properly and effectively. Katy has wasted no time and has already given us some great coverage in her extremely popular online magazine Creative Boom. Check it out 
http://www.creativeboom.co.uk/news/stoke-on-trent-pr-agency-keeps-smilin-for-charity/
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
November 14th, 2009
The UK mental health service is broken down into two: child services and adult services. If someone at the age of 16 has left school then they will be assigned to adult services, anyone younger than this to the child services. Now, imagine you seek help at 15 for depression- which is a bold step for anyone – you will discuss your problems to a psychologist or psychiatrist who primarily deal with people younger than you, then when you reach 16 you are transfered to a different professional who primarily deal with adults.
Now, we propose that youth services needs to be integrated. This is aimed to help people from teens to twenty. This is a crucial age where a lot of great results can be achieved if therapists have the specialisation to deal with this age group. Your body and mind are constantly changing, learning and adapting and you don’t want to be treated like a child or an adult. It is suggested by the mental health foundation that the majority of adults suffering from mental illness first experienced the symptoms in adolescence. So if this is the case why hasn’t a specific sector been created to help people of this age?
Tags: anxiety, depression, eating disorder, mental health services, mental illness, uk
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 13th, 2009
As another fantastic new feature of Keep Smilin our blog is going from strength to strength.
All of our listed therapists will very shortly have a blog account and will be able to post any opinions, tips and research they wish to share with everyone on Keep Smilin. This could be anything from coping with depression, bulemia, anorexia, anxiety…..you name it. We feel we have a good mix of professionals listed on our website and would love it if they could share with you even a little bit of their experience!
You may want a cognitive-behavioural therapist, an accupuncturist, a hypno-psycho therapist, a counsellor…or much much more. We have got all the necessary details for you on Keep Smilin. The list is always growing and the number of professional partners you could contact for professional help is expanding as we speak! WATCH THIS SPACE!
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 12th, 2009
OK, so I am on week 5 of my bananas and beetroot diet, hoping to curb my depression. How is it going?
Well, I have to say, to my own astonishment, that I am still feeling amazing and have suffered no bouts of illness even with quite a few personal and business issues that would literally have floored me before. It truly is remarkable and I hope, after a sustained period of eating the aforementioned foods, that I can start to see how others manage when doing the same thing.
Will it work for others with manic depression? Will it work for other forms of depression? Will it curb related diseases? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bananas, beetroot, depression, diet
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 11th, 2009
I’m going to quickly explain why you should be watching what you eat, and the effects it can have on your mood. It’s really not complicated, and just by being a little more aware of what you’re eating, you can make a dramatic difference to how you feel and your quality of life.
Food is our fuel, the most important of which is glucose, which our body forms when we digest carbohydrates.
Our brains use more glucose than any other organ, in an unactive day it can consume 40% of all the carbs we eat. If you don’t balance your carb intake and the supply of glucose to your brain you can experience tiredness, insomnia, excessive sweating (especially at night), bad concentration and memory, irritability, crying spells, blurred vision, bad digestion and depression.
Basically the more regularly you eat carbs (without completely filling your face) the better it is for your health and brain. There are good and bad carbs though, which are incredibly easy to spot.
The number one piece of advice is to stay away from refined and processed food like white bread, processed cerals and sugar, doing so has been proven to drastically increase IQ, with other benefits.
Aside from that, you need to balance the supply of glucose to your brain, avoiding the negative effects I just pointed out.
Tags: diet, food, mental health, nutrition
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 10th, 2009
Statistics show two factors, first more women than men have depression and second, more women than men seek help. Now, the question is do more women have depression than men or is this statistic incorrect because men don’t come forward or open up if they are depressed?
Females seem to find it easier to consult a family member, friend or doctor about their feelings, yet, men just keep it all wrapped up and try and hide it hoping no one will suspect a thing. I ask myself is this because there is still so much Stigma attached to mental health (which is ridiculous because there shouldn’t be any)? Do men think being depressed is pathetic or some how affects their macho status? I think so. Depression can get anyone at any time regardless of sex and its an emotional response. Males shouldn’t feel embarresed in any way. This is just my own opinion, I would like to know what other people think and what people think can be done to encourage males to be open about their help and seek help comfortably.
Tags: depression, males
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 8th, 2009
How many people do you think are truly happy? I bet it’s hardly any. The world is bursting full of beauty, opportunities and adventures, yet loads of people feel stuck in the same ole routine day in and day out; they become complacent and lose desire to prosper is every way possible.
Gandhi explained that his purpose in life was the search of happiness through self actualisation. He believed that by coming the best human being possible, and living a well construct moral life that he would find complete happiness. He set about his days trying to improve himself, questioning any wrong doings that he made, and orientated his life to benefit others. Can we learn something from this? Do we struggle to find happiness because we are always looking a what we need or want rather than what we already have.
I realised that I had everything even when I had nothing! I didn’t get happy because I had a new car or new item of clothing. I was happy when I was with friends, doing something fun and different or learning something new. These cost hardly anything but they create more happiness than anything materialistic. How many of you get up everyday and think about how lucky you are? None. The majority of people think about what they need. I’ve got a few little pointers that I think can help you become happy .
- Do something for someone else everyday
- Keep your mind feel of constructive thoughts. Don’t think unresourcefully. This could be stuff like ‘he said this about me, she did this..’ Instead, think about your life, what you want, how you can help people, how you can have fun, how you can make a difference, how you can be the best boyfriend or girlfriend possible, how you can get better at what you do.
- Adjust yourself to whatever in life so that it always has a positive outcome
- Work to love yourself. Stop thinking about the bad and every time you do think of two good things about yourself – eventually you will love who you are.
- Have belief in yourself – set goals and work towards them. Remember there is no such thing as failure only lessons that help you become successful.
- Try to love and appreciate the free things in life. (this is probably the kind of thing one of your parents would say, but they’ve learnt as they’ve got older what matters).
- Smile to yourself.
Tags: content, depression, happiness, happy, self actualisation, self help, self improvement
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
November 6th, 2009
Howdy! Just wanted to get peoples’ thoughts and opinions and whether mental health medication such as antidepressants is given out too easy. Numerous people we have been speaking to have said that when they have been to discuss their problems with a GP they have been recommended drug therapy before anything else. Is this a good thing or a bad thing in your view? The majority of people we spoke to have been reluctant to take medication and prefered to go and see someone to discuss their problems beforehand, and use medication as a last resort. Is this wise or not?
Tags: antidepressants, anxiety, depression, drugs, help, medication, mental health, mental illness
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
November 6th, 2009
Ok, the title makes this sound like a weird one. Basically we know someone who is very passionate about helping people that are going through a pretty rough time whether it be with manic depression, anxiety or whatever.
He had a bad time in his younger years and is now very cynical about getting help from psychologists or psychiatrists even though for many people they are very helpful. It is his belief… and a very strong belief too that more needs to be done to change our environment to help people feel better. His philosophy is this simple: if you change the environment by creating more jobs, improving parenting, disciplining younger adults more, providing more opportunities for younger people and giving them more support then people won’t be depressed! Is this the case, or is this only 50% of the answer – are some people suseptible to problems’ even if this is done? or not?
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
November 5th, 2009
This is one big step for man and one giant leap for me kind . It was three years since I last went on holiday via a plane. Three years ago I got on a plane with my girlfriend at the time and had a pretty mammoth panic attack. This was following a flight to Portugal where I thought the plane looked like a levatating coffin! All I could think on both occasions was ‘I want to get the hell off, but I can’t’ so that escalated and before you know it I’ve inhaled more oxygen than the amazon rainforest produces in a year through hyperventalation and i’m trying to wrench myself off my seat and open the doors…. not wise.
Anyway this genuinely put the fear of God in me and I couldn’t face talking about a plane nevermind looking at one. Anyway through CBT and something wizardry called Graded Exposure I managed to go on a Fear of Flying course, where, with everyone else scared out of thier whits too you get on a flight after being told how safe it is. Nevertheless they didn’t discuss claustrophobia! The flight still terrified me and I felt unbelievalby uncomfortable, so over the space of 2 and 1/2 years I went on 2 more fear of flying courses and a trip to Glasgow on a commuter plane. Everytime I was bricking it, and in the meantime I left my mates stranded at an airport waiting for me to go on a skiing holiday, but I couldn’t face it. The last fear of flying course, thanks to CBT and graded exposure I had noticed the fear had reduced quite a lot from the first course. So, plucking up the courage I went on a 5 day holiday to Spain with a mate – absoutely loved it and enjoyed the flight. No doubt i’ve still got a long way go because I wouldn’t feel comfortable going on a long haul yet but hopefully one day.. in the not too distant future.
The motto of this story is that you will overcome fear if you are determined and it is something you want to beat. However, you have to do it in your time – if people pressurize you that won’t work, but you do need a degree of bum kicking to convince you to do it. Look into CBT and graded exposure if you are interested in combating a phobia. Info on these can be found on www.keepsmilin.co.uk . You should consult a professional, such as a psychologist who will work with you in combating your phobia. There is no quick solution, but you will get there!!! Good luck.
Tags: cbt, claustrophobia, fear, flying, graded exposure, keep smilin', keepsmilin, mental health, mental illness, phobias, systematic desensitization
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »