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The Strange is Beautiful

Alternative self-care for mind obstacles.

depression

Sadcore Sundays: “Through the Dark” by Madus

Posted by strange on July 23, 2017
Screen Shot 2017-07-23 at 12.11.28 PM

for when u r feelin lonely af + tired of hookups + just want tht special someone already like whr r u ??? this song feels ur feels <3 <3 <3 xoxoxox.

Posted in: Sadcore Sundays, Sadcore Sundays Features | Tagged: depression, hook ups, hopeless romantic, lonely, madus, sad music, sadcore sundays, sleazy, sloppy love, through the dark, what is love

Sadcore Sundays INTERVIEW: “What I Need” by Daniel.

Posted by strange on July 9, 2017
Sadcore Sundays INTERVIEW: "What I Need" by Daniel.

Daniel. is an emo, folk punk artist in Humboldt, California speaking out about his depression and using music as therapy.

Posted in: Interviews, Interviews of Musicians, Sadcore Sundays, Sadcore Sundays Interviews | Tagged: catholic latino, catholic latino family, daniel., depressed songs, depression, emo, folk punk, gender stereotypes, humboldt, male depression, music heals, music helps depression, music is therapy, queer depression, queer identity, sad music, sad songs, sadcore sundays, songs for depression, teenage depression, the strange is beautifuls, voice as tall as trees, what i need

Sadcore Sundays: “We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow” by Soko

Posted by strange on July 3, 2017
Sadcore Sundays: "We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow" by Soko

Do everything that you have been waiting to do…now <3 :) Sleep well, dream of dreams you’ll do when you wake.

Sending you ++posi vibes++
Shannen (Shay)
Founding Editor-in-Chief
The Strange is Beautiful

Lyrics to “We Might Be Dead by Tomorrow”

Posted in: Sadcore Sundays, Sadcore Sundays Features | Tagged: anxiety, depressed, depressed music, depression, sad girl, sad girl music, sad girls club, sad music, sadcore sundays, soko, we might be dead by tomorrow

Part 3: The Effect of Hormonal Birth Control on Mental Health – Interview with Holly Grigg-Spall

Posted by strange on May 3, 2017

Below is Part Three of author Holly Grigg-Spall’s interview about what withdrawal symptoms someone would experience after they’ve stopped taking hormonal birth control and how it’ll =&0=&

More than a year ago on March 24, 2016, I interviewed Holly Grigg-Spall at Cafecito Organico about her book Sweetening the Pill. We talked about ovulation, misogyny in the medical field, how hormonal birth control affects mental health and more. Her book and the interview were both very in-depth and at the time very overwhelming for me, but the information is important and crucial to understand so I knew I had to figure out a way to write about it. I decided it would be best to post her interview in parts so as to not overwhelm anyone and to let you slowly take in all of her knowledge. Below is Part Two.

holly and shannen
Left: Holly Grigg-Spall of Sweetening the Pill; Right: Shannen Roberts of The Strange is Beautiful

Disclosure:
The purpose of posting her interview is – once all the parts are posted – to show why it is important when experiencing depression, anxiety, panic attacks and other mind obstacles to first consider hormonal birth control as a potential leading cause. After reading her book, interviewing her, doing my own research and speaking to others about their experiences with hormonal birth control, I strongly recommend considering to stop taking hormonal birth control if you are taking it solely to not become pregnant and not for life-threatening or debilitating medical reasons such as for cysts or endometriosis. This Part Three does not go into detail yet about why, but I wanted to put this disclosure in every part of her interview so you know to expect an explanation of how hormonal birth control exactly affects mental health in later parts of her interview and so you don’t have to wait to read all the parts to see how you feel after without hormonal birth control, to do your own research and to possibly read ahead by getting her book. I hope these interviews help you make the best decision for your mental health. Feel free to email me at strangeisbeauty@gmail.com if you have any questions <3 <3 <3

book_cover

Part 3: So someone decides to stop taking hormonal birth control. Walk me through the withdrawal process of someone who has taken the pill for a week versus someone who has taken the pill for years.

Holly Grigg-Spall: “The withdrawal process depends on your health and your lifestyle. For some women, being on the pill for a cycle and then coming off it might feel really rough for two months, or six months, or eight months. Or for some women they may have been on it for ten years and they come off and not think there’s any difference and just feel like they go back to normal and they get their period the next month. I think it’s different for everybody. I think a lot more women experience withdrawal and missing period and a lot of issues and health issues than we perhaps think because usually if you ask your doctor or practitioner they’ll say, well, three months [after stopping hormonal birth control] your period will come back to normal, and does depend a lot on a lot of factors. It depends on how your body’s reacting to what you’re taking, which everybody will have side effects or effects, but people will feel them differently, especially things like psychological effects.

“I had an endocrinologist explain it to me once, it’s kind of like when people have more sensitive brains than others. Some people are more prone to mental health issues than others for different reasons. Some people will experience really extreme side effects that way, some people will experience something they wouldn’t even notice until they come off, and other people experience something that, the word they use in research is anhedonia, it’s an inability to enjoy things you’d otherwise enjoy. It’s like a subclinical depression that can be coupled with low self-esteem, and anxiety, and sometimes things like agoraphobia, social anxiety. It’s not clinical depression, you’ll still be functioning during your life, but it’s around that, it’s subclinical.

“So in the same way, physically it depends on how you eat, how you live as to whether the withdrawal is going to be particularly bad, or if you’ll get over it pretty quickly.

“Now thankfully there are more and more health coaches helping women come off in a way that means the withdrawal isn’t as bad as it could be for them and maybe they get their period that much quicker than they would — they don’t have to wait a year or some terrible amount of time. And they don’t get so many mood swings, they don’t feel as badly on it. Sometimes it does need support especially if you’ve gone on the pill for something that was a health issue rather than for contraception like PCOS or endometriosis. When you come off it it will probably return and it could actually be worse for various reasons and so obviously then women have to deal with that, having been told the pill was treating it and they had no clue that when they come off it, it wouldn’t just be gone. So that’s a whole other part of it but I think it really depends on the person.

“I think the main thing to remember is nobody should ever be scared to come off. Like you shouldn’t be like, oh god it’s going to be terrible I’m not going to come off because it wasn’t great for me, but it was really worth it and you know, for three months it was kind of up and down. I got mood swings and insomnia, acne and I felt kind of weird like I was basically going through teenage years again. But you know when you come through it you’re like, oh wow how could I have possibly ever lived on that kind of suppressed state. So it’s worth it but you know, the other main thing you need to understand is if you do feel you need support there’s so much out there now, affordable courses online, people you can Skype with, there’s just so much out there. There’s a really great book I love called =&1=&

Posted in: Interviews, Media Reviews, Uncategorized | Tagged: anxiety, birth control, depression, holly grigg-spall, hormonal birth control, mental health, naturopath, panic attacks, period, period repair manual, the strange is beautiful, withdrawal process

Sadcore Sundays: “Asilos Magdalena” by The Mars Volta

Posted by strange on May 1, 2017
Sadcore Sundays: "Asilos Magdalena" by The Mars Volta

mars volta

Lyrics:
Enfermo llegue
Y para componerme ando de vago
No me des tu obediencia
Por que te enseno mi cuerpo de lodo
En donde la piel estuvo debil
Con una hambre que no me deja cantar

En mi vida,
El oscuro me mantiene
Cuando yo te vi
En la lluvia me prometistes tu sangre

Yo no me quedo en mi vida
El oscuro me mantiene
Cuando yo te vi
En la lluvia me prometistes tu sangre
Yo no me quedo

Y ya que caiste de este mundo
Cargo una navaja
Dios mio
Para ti
Cuantas veces me mordiste
Y cuantas veces yo me fui

Y ya no me estoy enamorado
Con tus mentiras
El infierno me duermo
Por que el infierno es la unica verdad

En mi vida,
El oscuro me mantiene
Cuando yo te vi
En la lluvia me prometistes tu sangre

Yo no me quedo en mi vida
El oscuro me mantine
Cuando yo te vi
En la lluvia me prometistes tu sangre
Yo no me quedo

Estrella de la manana
Samael te persigo a ti
Y si me quedo sin alas
Ademas me muero por ti

Estrella de la manana
Samael te persigo a ti
Y si me quedo sin alas
Ademas me muero por ti

Estrella de la manana
Samael te persigo a ti
Y si me quedo sin alas
Ademas me muero por ti

Estrella de la manana
Samael te persigo a ti
Y si me quedo sin alas
Ademas me muero por ti

Estrella de la manana
Samael te persigo a ti
Y si me quedo sin alas
Ademas me muero por ti

Posted in: Sadcore Sundays, Sadcore Sundays Features | Tagged: asilos magdalena, depressed songs, depression, mars volta, sadcore sundays, the strange is beautiful
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