Bipolar Type II Support Group

This article of the Dalai Lama made me think about whether the things I so much worry about are really worth it..I hope it will be resourceful for any of you readers, here.

Peace and wellness to all of you, guys.

I've came across this article on http://www.bphope.com and there were some useful insights for me in it. Hope you'll benefit from it too.

Peace and wellness.

A fine can of worms, this thing called Depression. It's clear that we can have feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy, but to what degree are we hopeless and inadequate? Is a depressed person feeling 10% or 100% hopeless?

Have you ever had a day when you had the 'blues?' Did you curl up in a chair and read a book until they went away? That's a mild form of depression.

Have you ever lost interest in life and just curled up in bed and let the day go by? That's a more serious form of depression.

So, how in the world would you know if you're seeing or feeling depression?

If we were to look up the definition of Depression, we would find a description like the following:

DEPRESSION:   A condition of mental disturbance characterized by such feelings to a greater degree than seems warranted by the external circumstances, typically with lack of energy and difficulty in maintaining concentration or interest               in life.  Despondency and dejection, typically felt over a period of time and accompanied by feelings of hopelessness  and inadequacy.

A fine can of worms, this thing called Depression.  It's clear that we can have feelings of hopelessness and inadequacy, but to what degree are we hopeless and inadequate?  Is a depressed person feeling 10% or 100% hopeless? 

I was recently watching TV in the background while doing other things.  I suddenly realized that I'd just heard "something, something -- Bipolar", so it got my attention.  It turned out to be an episode of HBO's Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel.  It was regarding Oakland Raiders' player Barret Robbins stating that he is Bipolar and that that was the cause of bizarre behavior over the years.  I was hooked!  It was a very, very cool thing to watch.

 I couldn't find a link to show the episode, but, here is what the ESPN site (http://www.hbo.com/realsports/stories/2009/episode.148.s1.html) has as a brief summary for it:

AWOL

As the Oakland Raiders took the field against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Super Bowl XXXVII, they did so without their Pro Bowl center, Barret Robbins. In one of the strangest Super Bowl controversies ever, Robbins went AWOL two days before the biggest game of his career, leaving no trace of his whereabouts. For the Raiders, Robbins' disappearance was a major distraction; for Robbins, the episode was only the beginning of a dark and tragic story that would include a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, substance abuse, numerous stints in rehab and multiple run-ins with the law. Now, more than six years after his Super Bowl no-show, Robbins sits down with correspondent Andrea Kremer to look back on his troubles in this REAL SPORTS/Sports Illustrated collaboration.

Below is a great article that talks about what the episode shared.