Winter beers are already starting to be released - Kona's released the Pipeline Porter (Kona coffee + beer = happy fun times), and yes, the magic beer is in BevMo, as is the Alaska Ale Spruce Tip beer (om nom nom nom)

Cognitive therapy and meditation helped more than drugs, for me, personally.

Counselling hasn't always done much for me. I had a few good sessions of cognitive therapy last year, but it certainly wouldn't have done anything without the drugs bringing me up to the point where I could handle it - which has taken some years. I've tried to do entirely without medication more than once, and it has not gone well. I think some people just need the drugs, I guess for reasons of chemical imbalance.

For me, the best analogy is one of physical illness. My sister has Crohn's and takes steroids. No one ever tells her she just needs to work harder at being well. Same with my joint condition - I take pregabalin for the pain, then I can deal better with the level of discomfort that remains. We'd both be pretty silly if we ignored the treatment our doctors have recommended and tried to go it alone. Yet a lot of people have suggested to me, over the years, that taking medication for a mental health problem somehow means you're not working hard enough on your problems - but sometimes you can't start working on them until the 'background' issues are resolved. Which for me were entirely chemical, I think. Mental health problems can be a disability.

Disclaimer: I realise drugs are not needed by everyone who's ever had problems or feelings. I just assert my right to take them, given how much more normal-feeling, enjoyable and less entirely crazy my life is when I do.

OK, I should end this post with something less boring. Um. Pizza, anyone?

Well, yeah, I'm just, like, Side Effect Woman, and was fortunate enough that I found something that helped without pills. Not saying anything about pills specifically, Seska. I hope you didn't think that. Also, even if I take the pills someday, it will go better because I won't be looking to say, "normalize" my core nature and try to be...I don't know, Doris Day Gets In A Horrible Accident.

I am truly grateful to the miracles of modern pharmacology, specifically multiple reuptake inhibitors. That said, I'm not ruling out talky therapy and may explore it in the near future, depending on finances and how my mental state is interacting with living my life. It doesn't have to be an either-or, unless money or neurochemistry rules out one or the other.

Not saying anything about pills specifically, Seska. I hope you didn't think that.

No, not at all. I was just reminded of one my two bugbears. (The other one: people who think part-time wheelchair users should dump their chairs and just 'try harder' to keep stumbling around until they collapse. 'Cause life lived entirely from bed is just so much fun.)

It doesn't have to be an either-or, unless money or neurochemistry rules out one or the other.

Yeah, that's my view too.

Many purely physical illnesses are also treated with a combination of drugs and therapy. Talking therapy is just stretching exercises for your brain.

I should probably find a new therapist. I have noticed some difference for the worse since I stopped going to mine, but I also felt like I was going around in circles accomplishing nothing. Talk therapy really did help me when I first started though. ADs have become less effective for me recently, but I won't knock them. They may not be for everybody, but they probably saved my life.

Costco already has it's xmas decs out. Including a 5 foot tall polar bear made out of white wire and fairy lights. I just stood there, jaw agape, wondering at the possibly implication of having a Polar Bear in one's front lawn for months. Like, before Halloween.

ION, that polar bear link? At top volume? My cats did not even open their eyes. I wish i could nape that soundly! Or perhaps they are just immune to Kenny Loggins and polar bear roars. Lucky kitties.

wanders into thread laughing hysterically

Sooo, my recruiter emailed me today with a job lead! A tech editing contract gig ... that pays about 2/3 of what I made ... as a contractor ON THE TEAM THAT I WAS LAID OFF FROM. Ahahahahaaha. I guess management is starting to realize that gosh, maybe those "extra" editors were needed?

rocks back and forth, because if I don't laugh, I'll cry

Polar bear, man. Polar bear.

Much hugs and sympathy to everyone who wants or needs them. Me, I'm going to have some more tea, and try to stop laughing.

t shoves chocolate through the interwebs to Jilli