New Book, ‘After Depression,’ Just Published on Amazon

“Depression advances along a million unique tracks shrouded behind a gallery of distortions,” opens ‘After Depression,’ my new book about mental illness and the burgeoning world of magnet-based brain therapies.

“It sails to mind from an unfamiliar distance, picking apart confidence and undermining relationships as it weaves its way through one’s mental and emotional body, calcifying there as a sort of malign superstructure. With time the victim comes to define their essential self by this colonizing force, this veritable subtraction of the self. And that is, perhaps, the greatest tragedy of this global epidemic.”

I’m happy to say that since publishing yesterday, ‘After Depression’ is already generating positive reviews. Many of you that know Depression Time have tracked my progress over the last couple of years. You’ve pushed me to dig deeper into recovery. Challenged me in my understanding of the behavior of my brain and body. You’ve encouraged me in more ways than you know and made this publication possible.

Rewire Me: ‘After Depression’ Broadens Mental Health Conversation

There are many books about mood disorders, but few so brave or descriptive as Greg Harman’s. His book is called After Depression: What an experimental medical treatment taught me about mental illness and recovery, and explores Harman’s involvement in a clinical trial studying a magnet-based medical device. A first person account, Harman’s book walks us through the experience of depression and ensuing experimental treatment by thoroughly describing the symptoms, suffering, and hope of relief.

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Read Full Review at ‘Rewire Me.’

Magnetic Therapies and Depression: My Cox Radio Interview

Find more info about AFTER DEPRESSION at the book’s Amazon page or by going to the AFTER DEPRESSION website.

Lawsuit: rTMS Treatment Is Not ‘Experimental’

Insurance company won’t cover rTMS treatment for your entrenched depression (via Brainsway or Nuerostar devices)? Here’s a lawsuit that could change that:

“Psych-Appeal, Inc., in conjunction with Zuckerman Spaeder LLP and LeClairRyan, P.C., has filed a class-action lawsuit against Aetna on behalf of mental health patients suffering from depression. The federal lawsuit alleges that Aetna has categorically refused to cover a safe and effective treatment called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).”

Read the full press release from the law firm.

Nature Is Good For You (But You Knew That Already)

OK. I’m reaching back a month or two here, but it’s worth repeating: “Nature is good for you.” Now we have the (cognitive neuro-) science to prove it:

In the past several months, a bevy of studies have added to a growing literature on the mental and physical benefits of spending time outdoors. That includes recent research showing that short micro-breaks spent looking at a nature scene have a rejuvenating effect on the brain — boosting levels of attention — and also that kids who attend schools featuring more greenery fare better on cognitive tests.

And Monday, yet another addition to the literature arrived — but this time with an added twist. It’s a cognitive neuroscience study, meaning not only that benefits from a nature experience were captured in an experiment, but also that their apparent neural signature was observed through brain scans.

Why It Takes Lifetimes to Make a Good Decisions

The irony is that we all–secular or religious people alike–make our biggest life-changing decisions on faith. Like is too short to learn what you need to know to live well. So we make a leap of faith when it comes to what we should believe in, who we will marry, and our careers. Who we happen to meet, one conversation when you were eighteen, the college course you happened to sign up for, the teacher you liked, the elevator you missed and the girl you met in the next one, decide whole lives. You would have to live a lifetime to be qualified to make any big decisions. … Only the trivialities–say, buying cars, washing machines, or airline seats–are chosen on the basis of good information.

–Frank Schaeffer, Crazy for God

What is your favorite mental-health media outlet?

What podcast, blog, news site, Twitter feed, Facebook journal, radio show is of most benefit to you? How much do you gain from the feeling of community that comes from hearing of others’ struggles as opposed to the tools offered by self-health sites run by trained counselors and psychiatrists? Are you a member of a mental-health org? Why?

Mass Killings, Our Simple Media, and Mental Illness

OK, America. Breathe a sigh of relief. I am not a gun owner.

The reason why I don’t keep a gun probably has more to do with the fact I wasn’t raised around them than the miserable statistics of death and despair.

Insomnia: Mental Health Enemy No. Whatever

Erratic thinking, rumination, anxiety: Most of these I can catch with a watchful mind these days. (Until I can’t, but usually… ) However, there is one thing that will twist my gears hard, and that’s a night without sleep. Worse, two or three.

Grateful for “After Depression” reviews

It’s been a couple weeks since I published my new book, “After Depression: What an experimental medical treatment taught me about mental illness and recovery,” on Amazon. The comments, text messages, and reviews left on the book page have been incredibly encouraging. Best of all have been those who have reached out to tell me that this book helped them in some way on their journey. If nothing else, it’s another shot across the bow of the unjust stigmatization of those who wrestle with mental intensities.