DAILY LOG

Daily

One of the ways to deal with any overwhelming emotion is to find a healthy way to express yourself. This makes keeping your daily log a helpful tool in managing your mental health. It can help you to: Manage anxiety; Reduce stress; Cope with depression

It also helps control your symptoms and improve your mood by: Helping you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns; Tracking any symptoms day-to-day so that you can recognize triggers and learn ways to better control them; Providing an opportunity for positive self-talk and identifying negative thoughts and behaviors

Use your journal to make sure you follow these guidelines daily.

Enter your Daily Vlog:

Our Team
Dr. Derek Shepherd

Dr. Derek Shepherd, with over 25 years of expertise from world's top hospital- Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, has been with us since the beginning and is one of our top psychiatrists.

Dr. Mark Sloan

Dr. Mark Sloan, with over 25 years of expertise from world's top hospital- Seattle Grace Hospital, has been with us since the beginning and is one of our top psychologists.

Dr. Miranda Bailey

Dr. Miranda Bailey, with over 25 years of expertise from world's top hospital- Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital, has been with us since the beginning and is one of our top psychologists.

Testimonials

In spring 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic enveloped Ohio and the rest of the nation, Cera Flynn’s job suddenly changed. A former teacher who serves as an instructional coach for charter school teachers, Cera – used to hands-on, in-person, classroom-based training – switched exclusively to virtual, video-only engagements, and the nature of her work altered, too. “Part of my job is to be intuitive and give teachers what they need in the moment,” says Cera. “When COVID-19 hit, what they needed most was somebody to listen to their frustrations, fears and anxieties, and to say we’re going to get through this.” In doing so, Cera is drawing on her own years of therapy and counseling to help manage and control her lifelong struggles with anxiety and depression. With the help of her longtime therapist, Adam Borland, PsyD, clinical psychologist at Cleveland Clinic’s Beachwood Family Health Center, Cera understands the impact stress and fear have on mental health. Days after bringing Lily, a new puppy into the family (who turned out to have a serious medical condition requiring emergency care), Cera’s husband, Tim, came down with COVID-19 in early July. I felt like I was adrift.” Dr. Borland notes mental health care, which was once stigmatized, is being embraced by more people – especially as the pandemic has gone on.

I live in a small family- me, my wife, 5-year-old daughter and my parents. My uncle's family also lives nearby. Ever since the lockdown was announced, me and my family have been following it stringently. I never violated a single lockdown rule even after the unlock was announced, following all proper precautions and guidelines. Things began to change from September 2020. September 01 was my birthday and I enjoyed the day with my family. So, on the 3rd September, I went in for two COVID tests- one rapid test and one RT-PCR. The same evening, the rapid test came back evening. I am the sole breadwinner in my family, and it just pondered upon me, if something were to happen to me, what would my family do. Meanwhile, my family doctor asked me to be in isolation till the other report comes back. On 5th September, my entire family got their tests done too. On the 7th, my father tested positive. Both of us had intense body pain and fever. We started with a fresh course of medications for my father. Even though we started her medicines, we were concerned for her since she was already a heart patient and had chest ailments in the past. When my symptoms did not subside, I was asked to get a chest CT done. The reports showed some lung infection of 20-25%. On the 10th, we had to go ahead and admit me and my mother in Fortis since I had started feeling breathless too. We proceeded to get him admitted in the hospital too. Now, from all the help from the medical staff and heavy doses of remdesivir, antibiotics, me and my mother were discharged from the hospital on September 17. Unfortunately, my father, who had so far been doing okay started getting severe breathing issues and coughing badly. We had no option but to leave him there, while I and my mother came back home for our 14-day isolation. From there on, it has been a long, hard journey. My father was discharged after 1 month and 20 days of being admitted to the ICU.

A 54-year-old man has suffered from depression since his teens and was in active alcohol addiction from the age of 15 until he was 51. I have now been sober for over 31 months, but lost my job on medical grounds in 2014 whilst I was in rehab. In addition to the clinical depression, upon completing the rehab programme, I learnt that I needed both of my hips replaced due to osteoarthritis. On the weekend of 5-6 March 2016, I completed the CBR100 Challenge (a 100km walk around Canberra) in 27 hours 26 min. This was the first of a series of events that I am planning to do this year to raise funds for Beyond Blue, which may include the Canberra Times 10km run in September and the Sydney to the Gong Bike a Ride in November. -Anonymous

Early in 2020 I experienced my first panic attack at the age of 34. I had entered into psychotherapy a few months earlier and things seemed to be getting better. I was working out at my local gym, when I began to feel ill. Shortness of breath, blurred vision, and shaky. I stumbled out of the gym, into an urgent care, and eventually took an ambulance ride to the emergency room. Sounds like a pretty bad day, however this was the greatest day of my life. I naively entered psychotherapy a few months earlier because I was recently married, promoted at work, and bought a new home. All these great things left me excessively stressed and I knew it was time to get help. I began sharing my story in therapy and felt that I was making headway quickly, as I began to see lowered stress levels. This was the therapy honeymoon period. I had been running from who I really was since I was a little kid. Weight struggles, feelings of worthlessness, and low confidence was buried inside of me and covered up by alcohol as I managed my teens and twenties. A now married man with a successful job and plans for my first child, I knew I needed to change. I cut back on alcohol and started therapy. Both these changes allowed the pain from childhood to emerge, culminating in that first panic attack. This lead to weeks of less severe attacks, health anxiety, and bouts of insomnia. These really dark times forced me to address the feelings I buried inside of me decades earlier. For me, I was able to navigate this time without medication. However, there were times I felt I needed it. I have now untangled the pain of the past and have begun to love myself. I continue to do therapy and devote time to my recovery, but I have been relatively anxiety free for months and feel better that I ever have. I want people to know that these tough times don't last forever and to make the commitment to addressing your issues because everyone deserves to live a fulfilled life. I have been looking for ways to volunteer in the mental health community, since I've begun to recover. With the pandemic, that hasn't been easy. The ADAA site has so many helpful resources and a large reach. So when I saw the opportunity to share my story, I felt that it was a way to volunteer. So while most would consider an ambulance ride to the emergency room a bad day, I consider it the greatest day of my life. Anxiety and depression can change your life for the better if you commit to understanding. I hope this provides some level of hope and comfort to those who may be struggling. You deserve to live a fulfilled life.