DBC 52: Things That Are Therapeutic

I'm very distressed over the turn out for this blog carnival. I got only 6 submissions. I wonder if it was too far from the last blog carnival and people forgot all about it? Or I wonder if people were too stressed to post with all that goes on this time of year? I've also noticed that a lot of old regulars have not submitted in a VERY long time. I wonder... The lack of submissions forced me to search through the blogsphere and find blogs I'd never come across before, so it was still a lot of fun putting this together. I hope you all take some time to visit the "carnival virgins" and welcome them. Maybe they'll submit to future carnivals?

And now for the carnival that will hopefully give you some ideas so that you don't end up like that guy...

Carnival Regulars

Danielle from The River of Jordan submitted a post about adjusting to a life with an absolutely adorable special needs son. Though therapy she learned that many things are therapeutic for her, such as getting involved in disability studies, going to the movies, and spending time with her son.

I found two posts from Kara about the therapeutic benefits of blogging. In A Blog a Day Keeps the Doctor Away Kara talks about a study that found that blogging helps some people decrease anxiety and depression and can promote creativity and critical thinking. In a later post Kara talks about a study that investigated whether blogging increased social support for people with SCIs.

Emma wrote a post that she told me was very much train of thought. She gave so much thought to this topic and came up with so many good ideas that she couldn't choose one. So she didn't. She wrote about counseling, blogging, reading, knitting, and swimming, in her entry, Things That are Therapeutic.

Carnival Virgins

Penny sent me a short post from Lorraine at Keep Bloggering On. She writes about the spinal cord injury sports club that she belongs to and how good it feels to be around people who get her.

Dierdre from Positive Thinking Everyday submitted her first post from December 2007 where she introduces herself and explains her "positives lists." She posts those frequently on her blog.

Marie just started A Day in the Life of a Disabled Mom this past October. I happened to find her 6th post, which I couldn't not include. It's titled very therapeutic.

TherapyDoc, from Everyone Needs Therapy, is a social worker from the Chicago area and is a big believer in the healing power of blogging (I seem to have found a lot about that). She reminds us though that there are pros, cons, and limits to the use of blogging as a therapeutic tool.

I found Jenni on Disaboom and then went to her other blog, The Site That Breathes, where I found a post about how she is going to destress over her winter break.

For the life of me I can't remember how I found Cheryl's blog (another Cheryl), Wishing and Discovering. She is also a very new blogger who started her blog this past September. I found 2 great posts from her. The first one is about how great it feels to laugh and the second one is her list of the 10 best moments of 2008, all of which revolved around something that's therapeutic for her.

Off Topic

Ettina, a carnival regular from Abnormaldiversity, submitted a post that was sort of on topic, which is about self-diagnosing ASD. I agree with the viewpoint of most autism advocates that it is impossible to seperate the person from the autism. That autism is as much a part of them as any other trait (blonde hair, athleticism, etc). On that line of thinking, Ettina makes a good point. Everyone who comes out as GLBTQ self-diagnosed themselves. You don't go to a doctor to have them tell you your gay. She poses the question that if they can do it, why can't we?

Penny submitted a random post she read and loved that was written by Laura Hershey. It's about Oral History and Disability Rights.

I received a submission from Rabbi Paul from California at the blog aptly named Or Am I? He writes about a book he heard about that was written by a 15 year old who has an autistic brother. I had a few minutes to look through his blog and I really wish I'd had more then a few. I also had a few minitues to browse through his synagogue's website. As I told Rabbi Paul in an email, I wish all shuls were as inclusive as his. Boy do I have some stories...

Lastly, Tom Styles didn't end up submitting a post to the carnival, but he's a real life friend of mine who I've just convinced to start a Disaboom blog and I want to give him a plug. He's a GREAT writer. Take a look at what he's got so far. This post makes me smile :)