If you haven’t already, you should visit http://tinyurl.com/WorryWartDA
Worry Wart is An Anxiety Comic created by one of our Moody Pandas, Dani Abram. It’s a brutally honest portrayal of her experiences of Anxiety, and it’s a must read.
Posted by Jake, Co-Founder of MoodPanda.com
Time to change. Join MoodPanda today
Today (10th October) is World Mental Health Day. This year the focus of World Mental Health Day is depression.
Depression is a condition that affects day-to-day life. It is more than feeling a bit low, or reacting to negative circumstances, it is not a weakness, a personality trait, or a choice of any sort, it is an illness.
This little video, released in time for WMHD, by the World Health Organisation and the incredibly talented author Matthew Johnstone, depicts the condition very well. Please do take a look and share:- Mentalhealthy.co.uk
“Medication can help some, and others might need a different approach altogether…
Keep a mood journal; getting your thoughts on paper can be cathartic and often insightful. Also keep track of the things that you have been grateful for.
The most important thing to remember is that no matter how bad it gets, if you take the right steps, talk to the right people, black dog days can and will pass.” - Matthew Johnstone
If you would like to try keeping a mood journal but don’t know where to start, visit our site MoodPanda.com, which is an online website and iPhone App that lets you do exactly that, with a support community around it to help pick you up when the black dog visits.
Read more about World Mental Health Day 2012 at MentalHealthy
Posted by Jake, Co-Founder of MoodPanda.com
Over the last 2 years it has been refreshing to see that so many websites, bloggers and tweeters have started focusing on the area of depression or as it commonly called “the black dog”
Here is one of my favorite descriptions of the name “Black dog”:
‘Black dog’ is a powerfully expressive metaphor that appears to require no explanation. The combination of ‘blackness’ with the negative connotations of ‘dog’, noun and verb, seems an eminently apt description of depression: an ever-present companion, lurking in the shadows just out of sight, growling, vaguely menacing, always on the alert; sinister and unpredictable, capable of overwhelming you at any moment.
I don’t know if this is a symptom of the current economic turmoil and political unrest across the world or just the fact that people are starting to understand that it is OK to talk in public about mental illness. But from where I’m sitting it can only be a good thing that more and more people are speaking out, tweeting, blogging and propelling the issues into main stream media.
It‘s also amazing to see top celeb’s like Ruby Wax, starting up websites like “Black Dog Tribe” which focus on keeping the black dog at bay and locking it in its kennel. As more high profile people get involved in the black dog movement it’s exciting to see what can be achieved through different forms of technology and media.
Here at MoodPanda we will continue to push forward self tracking as much as we can by creating a place where you can let go of the struggle to appear as happy as everyone else.
Because life is not always shiny.
Ross Larter
Co Founder @ moodpanda
http://www.moodpanda.com
Ross on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/RossLarter
My favorite Resources:
http://www.mentalhealthy.co.uk/
http://www.actionforhappiness.org/
http://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/
Moodpanda iPhone App:
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/moodpanda-mood-diary-mood/id447452124?mt=8
Posted by Ross, Co-Founder of MoodPanda.com
“Blue Monday 2012”
by Moodpanda.com
This Monday the 16th of January is “Blue Monday”, said by some to be statistically the most depressing and unhappy day of the year. Here at moodpanda.com we have been tracking a overall drop in mood as we entered January.
This date is calculated from a number of factors that coincide in the middle of January. Firstly, people are suffering the come down of the Christmas season. It is also around this time that credit card bills start to appear on the door mat.
If you started the year with a resolution to make a big change, you may well be one of the millions who have let that slip by the way side by this time in January.
Looking forward, the weather is likely to get colder and with the next Bank holiday not until Easter its easy to see why “Blue Monday” gets its name.
But don’t worry too much, there is something you can do. Why not logon to moodpanda.com?
MoodPanda.com is a community of friendly people who regularly update their mood, share problems and celebrate each others’ happiness. Testimonials from users have shown that being part of such a caring community, and focussing on one’s happiness, as well as the happiness of others can actually lead to improvement in overall mood. It’s another weapon in our “happiness arsenal” for beating the Winter Blues!
Time will tell which day of 2012 will see us at our lowest. We will soon see how our mood changes with the Olympics approaching. MoodPanda.com will continue to monitor and report it live on their Website throughout the year
Posted by Ross, Co-Founder of MoodPanda.com
Well the New Year is finally in full swing! At MoodPanda we’ve been compiling some interesting happiness stats, and we can finally reveal them!
So what’s made us happy in 2011? Our friends at MentalHealthy.co.uk have written about it
“2011 was a year of global ups and downs. The whole world celebrated as William and Catherine wed in the spectacular April ceremony, while as a nation later in the year, the UK mourned the tragic riots and black face of hardship facing our country.
Ross Larter @RossLarter is a man who knows a great deal about national happiness as he pioneered the crowd-sourced Mood Tracking App & Website MoodPanda.com and has been investigating wellbeing and happiness throughout 2011.
The unique community which allows users to track mood, share problems and celebrate success, has given fascinating insight into the nations happiness like never before. Here he gives us the lowdown of what made our moods in 2011…”
Read More…
Source: MoodPanda via MentalHealthy.co.uk
Jan 2012
Posted by Jake, Co-Founder of MoodPanda.com
During the past year of running moodpanda.com , I have created a ‘must follow’ list of tweeters for tracking Well being and Mental Health.
This list of tweeters give up their time to educate on Well being and Mental Health. I cannot put into words how much you have helped me and the Panda project with your tweets and stories.
For anybody else out there who wants to learn about Happiness, Mental Health or Well being, following these tweeters would be a great place to start.
Top 12 Must follow Tweeters on Well being and Mental Health for 2012:
1) 
@Mental_Healthy (Click link to open)
2) 
@actionhappiness
3) 
@MarkOneinFour
4) 
@CharitySANE
5) 
@happybristol
6) 
@Rethink_
7) 
@MentalHealthier
8) 
@MindCharity
9) 
@YouMustBeMental
10) 
@Mental_Elf
11) 
@MentalWealthUK
12) 
@BipolarBlogger
And finally a man I cannot give a number to but keeps me happy when reading twitter is:
Wishing you all a Happy 2012
Ross - Co-Founder of Moodpanda.com
Twitter - @rosslarter
If you have any more super tweeters out there I don’t know of yet please leave their names in the comments below and I will check them out.
Bristol based Web Site MoodPanda.com is helping the efforts to raise awareness of mental health as part of World Mental Health Week (October 10 - 14th)
One in four people experience some kind of mental health problem during their life, and being able to talk about it is something that is important for us all.
Whether it’s fear or embarrassment about talking to someone we know about their mental health problem, or our own mental health problem, reluctance to talk about it helps no one, and sharing your problems can help towards an improvement.
Founded in Bristol last year, MoodPanda.com is a free Web Site and iPhone app, built specifically to allow people to track their own happiness, and to keep a graphical history of their wellbeing along with a record of the things that influence how they feel.
This fun approach to focussing on happiness is an effective way to raise awareness of the issues, and to give a forum for people to do something positive.
Tens of thousands of people have been tracking their happiness on the website over the past year, supporting each other in their problems, and for many it is not just a fascinating thing to do, it has led to some positive effect on their mood. One of the site’s users, “DP”, said “Being able to track my mood has given me insights into my own psychology that ultimately have led to an improvement in my quality of life”
Reducing the stigma of mental health issues is invaluable in improving the well being of those affected by them, and we hope that MoodPanda.com is one small step towards doing this, as well as providing a space for a fun, supportive community of Moody Pandas!
You can join MoodPanda.com now for free - see how your mood changes as Winter approaches, keep a record of your happy memories, make someone smile, and help be part of a community that really care.
Jake
Co-Founder
MoodPanda.com
Source: moodpanda.com
Loads of thank you hugs, and love to everyone x
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