Aware Email Newsletter #2

In our second issue, we get sporty for the summer, looking back at the Dublin Women's Mini-Marathon, as well as updating you on a Mount Everest climb in aid of Aware and a very literal take on cross-country running that saw a brick carried from Galway to Dublin in just 5 days. There's an update on our support groups too, plus we tell you what we've been doing online and share an article about Abraham Lincoln's struggle with depression.

If you haven't already, you can sign up to get every issue by email at the bottom of this page (click here to skip down). We hope you enjoy it - and if you do, feel free to let us know by leaving a comment below!

Training for support group facilitators

Following on from the helpline volunteer training we mentioned in our last issue, a training session for support group facilitators took place in our Leeson Street office on Saturday 26th June. This training is part of our ongoing efforts to further expand both the helpline and our depression support group network, and more is planned.

Around 18 facilitators from around the country took part and the session was conducted by our experienced facilitator training team.

A special volunteer area of the website will also be developed soon for all our volunteers and facilitators around the country, with more news to follow as work progresses.

We're always looking for new volunteers - if you'd like to get involved, just click on one of the links below. We'd love to hear from you.

- I want to facilitate support groups
- Tell me more about volunteering on the helpline

News

 Having welcomed Fearghal and Simon back from a journey around the world in Issue 1, we're delighted to say that Jamie O'Reilly, Patrick Maher and Paul Greenan have now returned from a trip to the top of the world (almost). The three lads climbed to Mount Everest base camp recently, self-funding the trip so that every piece of sponsorship they receive goes 100% towards supporting our work. As you can see from the image above, they even managed to plant an Aware flag there. Visit their online sponsorship page to donate to this impressive project.

 The July lecture, on the subject of Bipolar Disorder, will take place on Wednesday July 14th. Full details here.

 Well done to Nico, Nick and Ed on completing their coast-to-coast run from Salthill in Galway to Dun Laoghaire in Dublin - all the time carrying a brick called Billy. The 250km run took them just 5 days and was in aid of three charities, including Aware. Billy will now go to Africa with the Niall Mellon Township Trust as part of a much-needed new home - see their site for more.

 Walk4Aware is now completely finished for 2010, to return again next year. Final fundraising totals are still being counted but massive thanks once again to all our local organisers: Martina Kealy, Sean Mullins, Anne Leonard, Fintan Wallis, Biddy Madigan, Sinead Fox, Eileen Casey, Marie MacFarlane, Mary O'Keeffe, Ruth Illingworth, Andy Gogarty and Tracy O'Brien (from the Dublin Sketchers group).

Women's Mini-Marathon - June 7th

On a very wet Bank Holiday Monday in Dublin, more than 40,000 women turned out for the Dublin Women's Mini-Marathon. As always, Aware was well-represented so a big thank you again to all who ran to support us (and those who sponsored them). The draw for all members of 'Team Aware' has now taken place and we're delighted to announce that the winners are Ms Derval Hendrick, Clontarf (a 1-night stay in the Westin Hotel, Dublin) and Ms Annette Kelly, Castleknock (a One 4 All voucher). Well done to both.

You can see our photos from the day below.

New to Aware.ie

See below for some of newest additions to our site. And remember, you can also find us on Facebook, Flickr, Twitter or Vimeo for more news and updates.

We're happy to announce that the Aware Discussion Board is now fully live. This adds another dimension to the support services that we already offer, allowing those affected by depression (whether directly or indirectly) to support each other. An estimated 400,000 suffer from depression in Ireland at any one time and in this way, we hope to extend the reach of Aware's services to those who for whatever reason are not currently catered to.

 We're also another stage along in developing our online depression support groups and are currently fine-tuning the software that will power the service. Once that has been done, we'll start a pilot phase of testing before launching fully towards the end of the summer.

 We try to make notes from our monthly lecture series available online wherever possible and we recently added notes from Declan Lyons' April lecture on Depression in Later Life. And don't forget our Archived Lectures section contains notes on cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), depression in adolescents, media stigma and more.

Our Facebook fan page has also received a makeover since our last issue, with a new custom-designed 'Aware' tab now added. This allows us to bring more information about depression directly to Facebook, as well as details of our support services and fundraising efforts. You can see the page here - and don't forget to click 'Like' at the top to follow our news and updates.

Recommended Reading

From time to time, we'll showcase a couple of books from our online store that can help you gain a greater understanding of depression. Each of the titles we highlight this time around are currently available at special discounted rates.

 Peter Whybrow's "A Mood Apart" delves deep into the various factors affecting mood, giving the reader a far greater understanding of his or her own temperament. Previously €17, now available for €12 (incl. P&P within Ireland). More information.

 "Touched With Fire" by Kay Redfield Jamison, explores the oft-discussed link between creativity and mental illness in some of the world's great thinkers. A fascinating read, it is currently reduced from €21 to just €15 (incl. P&P within Ireland). More information.

Abraham Lincoln

In the Summer issue of the Aware quarterly magazine, Louise Hogan examined Abraham Lincoln's struggle with depressive tendencies. You can subscribe to the Aware magazine in our Online Store.

"The Most Miserable Man Living"
by Louise Hogan

Born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky in 1809, Abraham Lincoln is widely perceived to be the greatest ever American president. His most notable political accolades are the creation of a national banking system, leading the North to Victory during the American Civil War and freeing slaves under the Emancipation Proclamation. Quite impressive for a man who was prone to crippling bouts of depression and had suicidal tendencies throughout his life.

Tall, with an awkward appearance, Lincoln was not considered to be a very attractive man. He was gangly and thin with 'arms that stretched almost down to his knees', a sad face and a gloomy demeanour. Even in childhood, he had always felt awkward, although it was not just his appearance that set him aside from his peers. Isolated to a large degree by his love of books, poetry and politics, he was a deep thinker with a sensitive soul who spent a large portion of his youth being chastised by those around him.

At the age of 7, young Lincoln shot a wild turkey but felt so remorseful that he vowed to never hunt game again. His declaration as a child that an ant should not be killed because "an ant’s life was to it as sweet as ours is to us" shows him to have been a gentle, kind and caring individual no matter the social repercussions. He was not afraid to stand out from the crowd for something he believed in. His psychological pain and distress in childhood is one likely explanation for his depression in adulthood. However, he may also have been the victim of a biological predisposition to depression; it is thought that both his parents suffered from 'melancholy' as did several members of his extended family.

It was not until Lincoln was 26 that he experienced the first of two debilitating nervous breakdowns. The 'trigger' was the death of his good friend, and alleged fiancée, Ann Rutledge in 1835. Devastated by her passing, he was emotionally unable to deal with the grief and told friends at the time that he wanted to die. After her funeral, the weather turned stormy and he was bereft at not being able to prevent the rain falling onto Ann’s grave. He talked openly about suicide and was often seen wandering in the woods alone with his gun. This period of depression lasted several weeks. He feared its return so much that he told a friend he couldn’t carry a knife in his pocket for fear of what he might do with it if he was alone.

Lincoln’s sad, gloomy, dejected appearance prompted his friends and colleagues at the time to describe him as "the saddest man they had ever seen... his melancholy dripped from him as he walked". This account, although terribly sad, brilliantly describes a man for whom depression was a constant struggle. Spending his days fighting an inner battle with his demons must have been exhausting, and might explain why he looked gaunt, fatigued and drawn in official photographs. His destructive self didn’t want to achieve success, rather it tried to pull him down into the quagmire of deep depression and nothingness.

Paradoxically, his constructive self kept raging against these constraints, fighting to suppress the destruction within. He was a fighter who never gave up. During the civil war Lincoln wrote, "I expect to maintain this contest until successful or until I die." That is dedication. Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of "Lincoln’s Melancholy – How Depression Challenged a President and Fuelled his Greatness" argues that Lincoln’s lifelong struggle with depression was responsible for his becoming one of America’s greatest Presidents. This seems to be a fairly accurate assessment. He was indeed challenged by his depression. In spite of his lifelong affliction, he chose to believe that he was born for greatness and that is what he achieved.

Despite his strong depressive tendencies, Lincoln was well liked by those who knew him. He had an impressive ability to connect with people from varying social levels, telling jokes and stories with a great sense of humour, challenging people to like him. He had many friends who accepted and understood that his 'melancholy' was a part of who he was. It shaped his personality. These friends were compelled to watch over him and keep him safe when suicidal thoughts threatened his mind. This was especially true during fogs, storms and wet weather which seemed to set off an attack of depression. He himself wrote that in his own experience he found "exposure to bad weather... to be very serious on defective nerves."

Indeed the cold temperatures and bad weather of winter 1841 seemed to be a contributing factor to his second breakdown. He was 32 and had just ended his relationship with Mary Todd (whom he later married) when he fell into the depths of depression. A letter written to a friend in January 1841 shows how desperately bleak he felt at that time: "I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the rest of the whole human family, there would not be one cheerful face on the earth. Whether I shall ever be better I cannot tell; I awfully forbode I shall not. To remain as I am is impossible, I must die or be better, it appears to me."

Lincoln must have felt completely without hope when he wrote this letter but yet he managed to survive it, and learn from it. As he got older, he learned to cope with his 'melancholy' using various means to distract himself such as work, his sense of humour and focusing on others. He realised that no matter how depressed he got, no matter how long it lasted, it always came to an end. A sense of freedom came with the knowledge that it was not permanent and he took pleasure in giving this hope to other sufferers. Although he was never completely free of depression, he never suffered another breakdown.

Setting aside his numerous achievements and successes throughout his political career, perhaps his greatest achievement was learning to live with his depression. He spent his life being constantly challenged by it and each time he rose to the challenge to overcome it. This strength of character along with his sense of fairness, decisive thinking and compassion made him, not only a great President, but also a great human being.


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