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March 6th
A fellow OCD suffer send me
a link recently from Stanford University's school of medicine
website concerning OCD which some of you may find interesting.
Below is the purpose of the program quoted from their website.
"The mission of the
Stanford Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders Program is to improve
the diagnosis and treatment of obsessive-compulsive and related
clinical problems in adults. The program pursues this mission
through four core activities:
First, we provide expert consultation and state-of-the-art
medication and psychotherapy treatment in a supportive
outpatient environment that respects the safety, dignity and
confidentiality of every patient.
Second, we specialize in helping patients previously resistant
to treatment and patients with complex, related problems.
Third, we work to advance patient care through research into new
treatment modalities. Ongoing clinical studies allow us to
evaluate the effectiveness of these advances while offering free
care to those interested in participating.
Finally, we educate psychiatrists and other health care
professionals and members of the community regarding the nature,
treatment and human costs of OCD and related clinical problems."
For more information visit
their website below.
OCD Research
- Stanford University School of Medicine
March 8th
Please be sure to visit the
website below, where you will find the art work of Kirk Stacey,
whose work has appeared on this website. Kirk is a very talent
artist who despite interference from OCD has produced some fine
artwork . It has not been easy, a continual battle with OCD
thwarting his endeavours. Below is an extract from Kirks account
of his OCD and his art. To read the full account and see Kirk's
art work please click the link at the end of this entry.
"‘Harry, me and OCD’ by Kirk Stacey, Artist & OCD sufferer
In 2002, I was in what I now call a relapse bubble. OCD was
something I managed, it was a secret to all my friends and
family, I lived a torturous life; rituals were strong and
dominating. The guilt and anxiety were overpowering, it was a
sort-of-life, definitely not the one I wanted to live, but it
was something...
OCD stands for obsessive compulsive disorder, It is an
debilitating anxiety disorder in which a person will suffer from
repeated behaviours, unwanted thoughts with the idea that doing
an act/ ritual will take away their anxiety.
I was a very keen artist from a young age, through school and
college I loved the medium. On leaving school I worked with my
father as an Apprentice in the house maintenance field, sadly
the only thing I got to paint were walls... how boring. No
artistic licence was needed."
See show and tell, a section of Insider art's website for
artists to show their work. Kirks work is featured for a few
months . "
Insider Art
March 9th
The winds howling like a gale out
side, it 05.14, it poured torrential rain last night. Like the
snow I used to enjoy the raging wind but now feel concerned
about sheep, cattle and other animals, even peoples pet horses
left in fields with no shelter, with no option except to sit and
endure the down pour and fearsome wind. They say that sometimes
sheep huddle together in their desperation to seek
shelter, taking it in turns to be on the outside, those in the
middle may occasionally be harmed, suffocated under the crush.
In open fields or on the bare windswept hills of the uplands
here in the northeast there is no natural shelter of any kind as
there would be in the wild, no protection for these animals.
I feel lately increasing more and
more sensitive to the suffering in this world. Since researching
for my new website I have been appalled and deeply depressed
about the barbaric cruelty inflicted upon animals by the farming
in industry. My new website was originally intend to be simply
an interest website about sheep, with information, photos, art,
that kind of thing, but since reading about the plight of
domesticated sheep and other animals, cows, pigs, poultry and
fish, the theme has been extended. I know there is more than an
abundance of information about the shocking atrocities committed
upon these sentient creatures, but I consider everyone
perspective important.
I am struggling like crazy to
complete my website. Learning of the treatment of our fellow
creatures has made me sad, well depressed and brought me
to tears, anger and frustration and made the world seem a even
darker place. Man's inhumanity to man is depressing enough, but
the way in which we treat our fellow creatures has indeed
shocked me. Of course I knew that factory farming takes place,
and even if animals were treated in a humane way, which in
factory farms they are most certainly not, death itself is an
abuse that I cannot tolerate as we do not have there right to
take the life of any creature for any reason. Certainly not to
sate our appetite with a food that we no longer need and for
which our body is not equip to eat. The awareness of cruelty
towards animals resulting in their slaughter is the main reason
I and my family became vegetarian and eventually vegan, but
nonetheless to read and indeed see by way of films the cruelty
perpetrated against farm animals has shocked me. In fact it has
been overwelming and what with the terrible way humans treat one
another, the greed and selfishness that is now causing suffering
on a massive scale and which will eventually render our world
uninhabitable, is depressing.
It can at times be difficult to see
any good in the world, however there are people with noble
purposes, people who devote their loves to campaigning to end
the hideous atrocity of farming and the slaughter of millions of
sentient beings on a scale unimaginable. I will not go into
detail as it can be depressing and it is up to you whether or
not you feel you are able to cope with the shocking horror of it
all, but often it is only those of us who are depressed who can
see what is wrong in the world, those of us who see the thorns
not the rose, and to add that well worn analogy, those
whose glass is half empty and indeed shattered in an infinite
number of pieces. I you want know more click the links at the
end of this entry
In the light of the gloom there are
many people working to bring about a change and any small change
we can make helps, for instance stop eating meat, which includes
fish, and to stop consuming milk and eggs. Not easy but
possible, Take it slowly after all I was vegetarian for 17 years
before becoming vegan when I truly understood the plight of
dairy cows and chickens. Don't be fooled by the free range
nonsense as I was for years, it is not as free range as you many
think , baby male chicks are killed as they cannot of course lay
eggs and hens are slaughtered also after their egg laying days
are over. Yes the conditions in which they kept are marginally
better than a factory farmed chicken but don't be deceived into
imagining the idyll of hens roaming round the farm yard
scratching the dirt and doing what chickens do naturally. Yes it
sends a message to buy free range but a better more potent
message is to stop eating eggs altogether. You can manage
without them there are so many recipes on the net, you will not
go hungry I can assure you.
Well I won't elaborate further but
have a look at this delightful film the subject of which is the
emotions of farm animals.
You will see a side to farm animals
that you may not recognise. The meat and dairy industry want you
to believe that animals are automatons that they have no
feelings and are not aware, not sentient like you and I. This is
an erroneous misconception as these animals are as sentient as
you or I or you pet dog or cat. Why treat one animal with
compassion whilst killing and cruelly treating another ?
This film not only reveals that
farm animals are thinking feeling beings but also helps to
restore belief that there is some good in the world, that people
are willing to devote their lives to freeing animals from this
barbaric cruelty. it is so refreshing that there are people who
have other things in their lives of more importance that gaining
wealth, power and position and are instead dedicated to making
it a better world for all creatures.
To my mind its a feel good film
although it did bring tears to my eyes. But sometimes it is
appropriate to feel sad on behalf of another animal whether a
human or non human animal. Sometimes we need to turn our own
suffering towards that of others .
There are no unpleasant scenes to
worry you, you will see rescued animals in farm sanctuaries and
commentary concerning the emotional lives of farm animals.
Incidentally Jeffery Masson's book mentioned in the film, The
Pig who Sang to the Moon is well worth a read for anyone who
cares about animals.
The Emotional World of Farm Animals
The following are links to
animal advocacy websites where you will find information,
campaigns, ideas how to become vegetarian or vegan and recipes.
Some of the films here though and information you may find
upsetting. There are though featured on some of these websites
moving stories about animal rescues and photographs such as
Vegan peace's photo library
Viva! -
Vegetarians International Voice for Animals
GoVeg.com: Vegetarian and Vegan Information
Viva! USA
Vegan Peace
Farm
Sanctuary | Watkins Glen, NY
United
Poultry Concerns [UPC] - www.upc-online.org
PETA UK:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals UK
People for the
Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA): The animal rights
organization USA
March 23 rd
This entry will probably
not be a long one as I am really in some considerable pain. The
aches and pains of which I have complained about here on many
occasions and which I have suffered in increasing intensity for
the last 18 years have become in the last few days considerably
much worse. As I have explained before my doctor diagnosed these
pains as depression as did two previous doctors. I tend to
consider though that I may have fibromyalgia, somatisation
disorder or I am hypertensive to the toxic environment in which
we all now live due to pollution. With the quite dramatic
increase in intensity though as a hypochondriac I worry that
this wide spread muscular pain in all four limbs and pain in the
knee joints neck and upper back may of course be of an even more
serious nature.
I have almost completed my
new website, the description of which is not easy for me to
explain concisely, so far it is mostly about sheep but also
other animals, animal rights and... well you can see for
yourself in a few days.
In the meantime I would be
grateful if you would sign the petition below. Again it is time
for the Canadian cruel seal hunt to commence, the slaughter of
baby seals for their fur. This petition is of particular
importance as you can read the below.
"Thanks to a courageous
Canadian Senator, there is now a Bill that would end this hunt,
which is expected to take the lives of more than 250,000 baby
seals this year alone.
Imagine a Canada in which there are no more baby seals hooked
and dragged onto boats while still conscious. No more seals as
young as three weeks old being skinned alive. No more needless
slaughter of hundreds of thousands of seals each year.
Senator Mac Harb wants to fill the Senate with messages of
support for his Bill. Help us collect over 250,000 signatures in
the next few weeks - one message for every seal that will likely
be killed in this year's slaughter."
To Sign the petition please
click
Support The Historic Bill to End Canada's Commercial Seal Hunt -
The Petition.
Don't worry if you cannot
fill in the comments section, its more effective if you can, but
just showing your support is what is important. I know that
sometimes its not always easy when you feel stressed or
depressed to know quite what to say. If this is the case just
fill in the details and click sign, but please do sign. This is
an important step forward towards getting this dreadful cruelty
stopped.
March 24th
Kirk Stacy has a new
website
Kirk
Stacey Professional Artist - Cartoon & Caricaturist
Kirk who is a gifted
artist is a sufferer of OCD, some of his artwork focuses upon
this disorder. Please take the time to visit.
March 25th
There are two more
photographs of Luis's artwork. Luis is a sufferer of OCD and is
studying the art of sculpture and has produced some great
sculpture in the last year or so.
Luis Sculpture
It can take enormous
determination to create artwork of any kind when you have to
contend with OCD.
If you have any artwork
including writing and crafts you are welcome to have your
accomplishments featured on this website.
March 26th
Finally after over eight
months I have published my new website to the net. Although it
is complete enough to upload to the net, I have still have
several articles in the process of completion, but felt that
after all these months I need to get the completed part of my
website on-line. My son wholly agreed saying it needs to get
on-line as it is just getting bigger and bigger, and uploading a
huge website in the first instance can be problematic. Which
indeed was the case. Since than my aches and pains have been
further aggravated by the exhaustion. I still have some problems
to attend to that do not effect the appearance but effect my
website being picked up by some of the search engines, so there
is still some considerable work to do.
It has not been an easy
task and what began as just an idea for a website about sheep,
an animal that we have a soft spot for, to include interesting
information, photos, clipart and so on has turned into a site
mostly concerning animal rights as they relate to farm animals
and in time all animals.
I feel I need to have some
focus in my life and creating this and my new website gives me
some purpose. I am deeply concerned about the plight of all
animals but factory farming seem to me a hideous atrocity of
dreadful cruelty and abuse and one that is condoned by most
people, if you eat meat you are complicit. At least it appears
that way. However I think that such behaviour as eating meat,
and other animal products is habitual. Many people eat meat and
thus perpetuate this cruelty unintentionally out of habit not
thinking it through, although these days there is much awareness
about vegetarianism and veganism few people it seems really
consider how the food they eat gets to their tables. i think if
people knew the horrors of factory farming and how animals are
treated to provide them with meat, milk and eggs , food we no
longer need, most people would change their diet.
Anyway please do browse
through my website, you may find the animal rights section
upsetting, but sometimes it is appropriate to be upset, and I
admit to shedding many tears and feeling despair, but our
despair can become a motivating force for good. Often it is
those of us who suffer from depression who are more aware of the
wrongs in this world and have the inclination to try and do
something about them even if it is only in a small way. I hope
my new website will help people to think differently about not
only sheep as the tile suggests but all animals. The name of the
website I decided to keep even thought the focus has
extended. Why? Simply because I couldn't cope with
changing it. Indeed OCD makes even this difficult and indeed
compulsive checking indecision and other OCD issues have made
this a very difficult task.
I will write more about
this another time but for now I must keep it short because of
the aggravation that writing too much for to long has upon my
recent increase in muscular pain.
So frustrating as I really
wanted to once again commence more regular entries here.
But perhaps a short respite
is in order.
Please do take a look at my
new website and if you have a website of our own I would
appreciate a link to my new website which I of course will
reciprocate. Although it is on-line search engines have not yet
listed it but if you enter the url into the search field or
click the link below my website is on-line for you to access.
if you have any animal
stories showing animal sentience and or intelligence or simply
pleasant stories about any animal I would be happy to include
them on my new website.
http://www.think-differently-about-sheep.com/
*
Disclaimer
No responsibility is accepted for the content of external links
including blogs:
Concerning blogs : Although I have initially looked through the
recommended blogs in my blog roll I have not read every single entry and have
selected each on its overall merit: interesting regular entries . However the
comments and opinions of the respective blog owners do not necessarily reflect
my own opinions.
*
Contact
I will endeavour to reply to all e-mail, however please bear in mind
that I have a number of quite debilitating illnesses and there may be times when
there will be considerable delay. Also I will not
publish anyone's comments, as appears to be the procedure with
blogs, without permission of the author : If you would like me to publish your
comments please indicate clearly at the end of your e-mail.
All comments are welcome including polite constructive
criticism and difference of opinion. However I reserve the right not to
publish anything that I consider would be offensive or in any way of
detriment to anyone particularly those who sufferer with the illnesses
included on this web site.
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