Depression -

No one has to be stuck.

ByJoe Martino January 22, 2024January 18, 2024

An obvious risk of our societal obsession with being a victim is that there is little room for optimism. There is a minimal cultural payoff to being optimistic. If our identity is rooted in our victimhood, in the traumas that have befallen us, changing the outcomes of those traumas would be counterintuitive. Optimism- the act of hoping and believing those outcomes could change would not only be counterintuitive but would actually prove to be a threat to collective societal conscience.

A simple life-hack to be happier

ByJoe Martino January 9, 2020

I live in the North. And it's January. In the North in January, there isn't a lot of sunshine. And a lot of people feel that they are more depressed in the winter at least in part because of that reality. You leave the house and it's dark. You leave work and it's dark. It…

Depression | Stress/Anxiety

Media Monday (1). Suicide Awareness

ByJoe Martino September 9, 2019

We lose approximately 800,000 people each year to suicide. Someone you know is depressed and at risk for attempting suicide because of it. There is help. There is hope.

Counseling | Depression | Narrative Thinking

If you had a friend that talked to you like you do, would you still be friends?

ByJoe Martino March 8, 2018

You’re not an idiot because something bad happened like you lost $100 that you can’t afford to lose. You’re not shameful because someone molested or raped you as a child. You didn’t deserve to be raped because you were drunk at a party. Your worth isn’t diminished because your father didn’t know how to adequately love you. You’re not worthless because your mom took every chance she could to remind you that you were an accident that wasn’t planned.
I do not believe you are an accident. I do believe you have worth.

Counseling | Depression | Mental Health Awareness | Mental Illness

Mental Health Urgent Care Clinic coming to West Michigan

ByJoe Martino December 18, 2017

We want to attempt to meet that need. This clinic is our attempt to do that. The Urgent Care Center at JMCN will provide urgent care mental health therapy for people who feel they are in a mental health crisis but cannot see their normal clinician for a period of time. We also want to serve those who do not have a normal clinician and cannot get in to see their preferred clinician in a timely manner.

It’s time to move past comparative pain and passions

ByJoe Martino August 13, 2014

I admit the world is an interesting place to me. I’m not typically someone who laments life. I don’t always agree with stuff I hear and I’m often willing to engage it with the person. I joke with my friends about poking the bear. Interacting with others about how they feel and think is sometimes,…

Depression | Mental Health Awareness | Mental Illness

Robin Williams, and our Societal Obsession with Happy

ByJoe Martino August 12, 2014

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last twenty-four hours, you probably know that Robin Williams has died in what appears to be a suicide. Like many, I was shocked by the news. At first, I thought it was hoax. The idea that we live in a world where for many the first…

Depression | Stress/Anxiety

17 Million Americans are taking Anti-depressants.

ByJoe Martino February 17, 2014

Continuing from last Monday’s post regarding anti-depressants. Here is a segment video talking to a researcher and doctor who is leading the charge to bring more conversation to our understanding of these drugs and how they work. If the video doesn’t show, click here.

Addiction | Change | Depression | Mental Illness | Stress/Anxiety

Do Anti-Depressant Meds work?

ByJoe Martino February 10, 2014

What the published studies really indicate is that most of the improvement shown by depressed people when they take antidepressants is due to the placebo effect. Our finding that most of the effects of antidepressants could be explained as a placebo effect was only the first

Depression | Family | Relationships

Death sucks. Why June is often hard for me and a question for you

ByJoe Martino June 20, 2013

June is a hard month for me. It is both the month that my mom was born (the 7th) and the month that she died (28th). To be honest, I don’t remember much about the month that she died. I was vaccuuming the house when my Dad called to tell me that she had died….