the predatory bird

Tag: Johann Hari

  • Why So Sad? Summer ’22 | Post 3

    This is the third of three essays.

    Summer ’22 Essay 1

    Summer ’22 Essay 2

    A collage of various sad grab photographs

    Why So Sad? Encourage Self-help and Other Support Strategies

    “People underestimate their own therapeutic powers…The most powerful buffer in times of stress and distress is our social connectedness…” —Bruce Perry

    Key Concept: Being “well regulated”, being “dysregulated”, what that means & what we can do about it

    October 1990.

    My dad gives me the Beastie Boys album Paul’s Boutique for my 13th birthday. He passes it to me over the edge of his hospital bed.

    “I’ll take you fishing this summer, John,” he promises. (more…)

  • Why So Sad? Summer ’22 | Post 1

     

    John Rattray, Frontside Melonchollie Grab—aka Sad Grab—in Winnipeg Canada circa 2011
    John Rattray, Frontside Melancholy—aka Sad Grab— in Winnipeg, Canada, c2012. Photo by Jamie Thomas

     

    Why So Sad?

    Exploring How Childhood Experiences Affect Our Brain’s Response to the Stresses of Adult Life  

    10-minute read:

    May 8, 2022: Heads up, this story touches on the subject of suicide. If you, or someone you know, is going through a mental health crisis please reach out to your local support line.

    Section 1: The Thing that Hurts You So…

    Early in 2018, seven years after Katrina died, I was eating lunch alone.

    The good thing about being alone is it affords you time to quietly learn. Today I’m eating ramen noodles while listening to a conversation with Dr Rangan Chattergee and Johann Hari, author of Lost Connections: Uncovering the Real Causes of Depression and the Unexpected Solutions.

    The reason I’m listening to this conversation, and the reason I’d read Hari’s book in the first place and found it so helpful, was because Katrina, my sister, died by suicide.

    Right after that, in 2011, I travel back to Scotland to be with mum (more…)