If you’re feeling depressed, try joining a local choir.  It may help your outlook on life.

Researchers at the University of East Anglia studied participants in a local singing group whose participants had previously been treated for mental health issues.

Researchers found that these participants had decreased symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Professor Tom Shakespeare said, “We found that singing as part of a group contributes to people’s recovery from mental health problems.”

“We heard the participants calling the initiative a ‘life saver’ and that it ‘saved their sanity.’ Others said they simply wouldn’t be here without it, they wouldn’t have managed – so we quickly began to see the massive impact it was having,” added Shakespeare.

Source:  Blues Therapy: Study Finds Singing With Others Boosts Happiness, Well-Being

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   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

Instead of loading up on caffeinated sugary drinks during the day when you’re tired, try napping.

When I was in college, I worked the night shift.  After an 8am French class, I’d go to the library to try to study.  But usually that was when my body craved sleep.

I would arrange my books at the carrel to indicate that someone was there but had momentarily stepped away.

I’d crawl underneath the desk and nap.  It renewed my energy levels so that I could function for the rest of the school day.

There is no shame in napping. Thomas Edison, President Kennedy, Winston Churchill, and Napoleon Bonaparte were known nappers.

According to Sleep.org, naps help the body to recharge, deal with stress, and helps to put you into a better mood.

After napping- You’ll feel more alert, energized, and decrease your risk of heart disease.

Sources:  The Napping Habits of 8 Famous Men, Health Benefits of Napping

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

A recent study links “intrusive and repetitive thoughts like those seen in anxiety and depression” with getting less than eight hours of sleep a night.

Researchers concluded that participants in the study who had received the least amount of sleep had the most difficulty in moving beyond negative information.

“These findings suggest that sleep disruption can affect the cognitive ability require to shift our attention away from negative stimuli.”

Thus, it is very important to get in at least eight hours of sleep.  It is necessary for optimum mental and physical health.

Source:  Sleep: less than 8 hours a night increases risk of depression

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

Hebrews chapter 11 is known as the great chapter of faith.  The writer recounts how believers saw great victories, answers to prayer, and miraculous interventions.

God is on the move, conquering, overcoming sin, beating back armies.  Believers are singled out for their great faith.  It’s a wonderful telling of God’s works in the earth.

But then in the middle of verse 35 the writer pivots.  He writes, “There were others.”

Those others were tortured, beaten, imprisoned, stoned, killed, impoverished, lived in caves and holes, and wandered in deserts and mountains.

Yet these believers too are commended for their faith.  They did not receive what God had promised because he had something better for them.

Too often Christians are told that God is not answering their prayers because they do not have enough faith.  As though somehow God can be persuaded or manipulated into doing what they want if they just believe hard enough.  

God gives each believer a measure of faith.  God may choose to grow it for His glory or not.

It may be God’s plan to lead you through life’s difficulties instead of around them. He will use those difficulties to lay bare your heart and show you how great your need of a Savior.

By a contributing blogger, David Mueller

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

No matter how dark the moment, love and hope are always possible. George Chakiris

Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future. Robert H. Schuller

It is never too late to be what you might have been. George Eliot

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. Romans 15:13  

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

Mental illnesses are health conditions involving changes in thinking, emotion or behavior (or a combination of these). 

Mental illnesses are associated with distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities.


Mental illness is very common. In a given year:

• nearly one in five (19 percent) U.S. adults experience some form of mental illness
• one in 24 (4.1 percent) has a serious mental illness
• one in 12 (8.5 percent) has a substance use disorder*

Mental illnesses are treatable. Most people who have a mental illness are able continue to function in their daily lives.

Mental Illness...

refers collectively to all diagnosable mental disorders/ health conditions that involve:

• Significant changes in thinking, emotion and/or behavior
• Distress and/or problems functioning in social, work or family activities

Many people who have a mental illness do not want to talk about it. 

However, mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of! 

It is a medical condition, just like heart disease or diabetes.

And...... mental health conditions are treatable. 

We are continually expanding our understanding of how the human brain works, and treatments are available to help people successfully manage mental health conditions.

Further, mental illness does not discriminate; it can affect anyone regardless of your age, gender, income, social status, race/ethnicity, religion/spirituality, sexual orientation, background or other aspect of cultural identity. 

While mental illness can occur at any age, about three-fourths of all mental illness begins by age 24.

Mental illnesses can take many forms. Some are fairly mild and only interfere in limited ways with daily life, such as certain phobias (abnormal fears). 

Other mental health conditions are severe and requires hospitalization.

Reference: https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/what-is-mental-illness

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration (SAMSHA). Serious mental illness is a mental, behavioral or emotional disorder (excluding developmental and substance use disorders) resulting in serious functional impairment, which substantially interferes with or limits one or more major life activities. Examples of serious mental illness include major depressive disorder, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Physician Review By:

Ranna Parekh, M.D., M.P.H.
November 2015

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

Few of us are called to do great things or live glamorous lives.

Rather, most of us are called to do mundane things such as changing diapers, making meals, cleaning up messes, laundry, painting houses, driving kids to school.

We’re called to do things that are tedious, repetitive, seemingly unimportant, and all done in obscurity.

Does God care?  Does He notice?  Does any of it matter?

Matthew Redmond asks, “Is there a God for the mundane parts of our lives?”

“Yes,” says Redmond.

He goes on to make the point that the scriptures are written to normal, everyday people.

“Most of them are nameless.  They are Jew and Gentile, yes.  But they are also not apostles.  And most are not pastors.  They are carpenters, farmers, traders, sailors, fisherman, shepherds, guards.  They are mothers and fathers and children.  Compared to the life of an apostle, their lives are probably mundane.  These are ordinary men and women believing an extraordinary story.”

After doing the most exciting thing in their lives, which was coming to Christ, most of these individuals continued to live ordinary lives doing mundane things and being faithful right where they were.

And that is the challenge for each one of us.

Source:  The God of the Mundane

 By a contributing blogger, David Mueller 

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

Are you depressed?

Are you worried?

Do you have fear? 

Do you feel like you cannot go on?

Do you have so much anxiety that it is hard to breath, let alone try to mentally function?

Do you feel hopeless?

Do you feel all alone? 

If you feel or have felt any of these, I know how you feel. Sometimes feeling low in spirits can literally feel mentally and/ or physically paralyzing. 

If you feel like giving up, please hang on!

Everyone who is successful at something had to start somewhere - whether it is a relationship or a job or something else.  

It is okay to be scared or nervous.
Please allow yourself to feel and acknowledge your true feelings and emotions. Feelings are not bad even if they are negative. It is how we deal with them that matters.  

Learn how to not let negative emotions, feelings and people get you down. Choose to rise above them and choose to live abundantly. 

You never know what is around the bend! Hold on, seek help, let go of what you do not have control over and choose to live life to the fullest!

Hang on to see what can be in your life! 
Pursue your passions!

Don't ever give up hope!

 

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

Having a healthy gut can help your moods. 

Some foods that I have learned that can help improve your mood are:
Oily fish
Seeds
Fresh leafy vegetables

You will want to eat foods that are high in vitamin D and B 12. You can also take these vitamins in a supplement.

Also, drinking Kombucha tea can help you to have a healthier gut and over all health.

Further, taking a probiotic supplement can also help your mood because it helps you to have a healthier gut.

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure

                    Self-Care! Brunch! 
Organic brown rice, organic red beans, organic carrots, organic celery, organic quinoa, organic millet, organic onions, organic tomatoes, and fresh organic kale! Yum!
 

CLICK HERE For Living With Hope Counseling Facebook Page AND "LIKE" IT!

 


   Diane Davidson 
                               Gammon M.S.
         Clinical Mental Health Counselor

 Open Full-Time Days - Monday through Saturday
With Evening Appointments

615-556-8406

Email- Diane@LivingWithHopeCounseling.com

Sliding Scale Fee for Individual Counseling Sessions 

Free Support Groups for: Depression, Anxiety, Panic, Hopelessness, Trauma, PTSD, Abuse, and Grief and Loss (Including Miscarriage/ Stillbirth/ Infant loss)

Disclaimer- I am not a doctor and I am not giving out medical advice. My blogs are for information and inspirational purposes. Please consult your doctor before starting a new health regimen.

Diane Davidson Gammon MS is clinically supervised by Michael Loftis LCSW as she pursues  LPC-MHSP licensure