Countries
| 72.3% |  | United States |
| 9% |  | United Kingdom |
| 6.4% |  | Canada |
| 2.8% |  | Australia |
| 1.4% |  | Sweden |
| 1% |  | Ireland |
| 0.5% |  | Netherlands |
| 0.5% |  | New Zealand |
| 0.5% |  | India |
| 0.4% |  | Hong Kong |
| 0.3% |  | Germany |
| 0.3% |  | Philippines |
| 0.2% |  | Singapore |
| 0.2% |  | France |
| 0.1% |  | Bulgaria |
| 0.1% |  | Qatar |
| 0.1% |  | Turkey |
| 0.1% |  | Norway |
| 0.1% |  | Mexico |
| 0.1% |  | Malaysia |
| 0.1% |  | China |
| 0.1% |  | Spain |
| 0.1% |  | Brazil |
| 0.1% |  | Islamic Republic Of Iran |
| 0% |  | Poland |
| 0% |  | Portugal |
| 0% |  | Indonesia |
| 0% |  | Finland |
| 0% |  | Japan |
| 0% |  | Italy |
| 0% |  | Romania |
| 0% |  | Switzerland |
| 0% |  | Belgium |
| 0% |  | Pakistan |
| 0% |  | Denmark |
| 0% |  | Greece |
| 0% |  | Hungary |
| 0% |  | Croatia |
| 0% |  | Saudi Arabia |
| 0% |  | Czech Republic |
| 0% |  | Thailand |
| 0% |  | Israel |
| 0% |  | United Arab Emirates |
| 0% |  | Jamaica |
| 0% |  | Austria |
| 0% |  | Argentina |
| 0% |  | Russian Federation |
| 0% |  | Trinidad And Tobago |
| 0% |  | Republic Of Korea |
| 0% |  | Chile |
| Walkers in Darkness, Inc. does not require any dues or fees be paid for the use of our site. We are, however, supported by donations so we request that, if you use the site and are financially able, you support Walkers with your donation in any amount. Doing so helps to assure that Walkers stays healthy and online in the future, not only for your use, but others who may find it difficult to donate. |
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You are here:Mental Health & Mood Disorder Articles
Mental Health & Mood Disorder Articles
On January 1, 1991, David Harmon started the original Walkers in Darkness mailing list. David, himself a sufferer of depression, had a vision of a support group that had no boundaries and was open to all who needed it.
17 years later, Walkers continues to help people with mental illness with information and support.
Just to give some perspective, in 1991 there was no "Internet" as we now know it. It would be a couple more years until the first web browser was released. There was no Yahoo!, Google, Amazon.com or eBay. The big application of the day was email, and so Walkers started as an email discussion group.
I didn't get involved with Walkers until about 1995. I was suffering from a major depressive episode and grasping at straws trying to understand and cope with it. I discovered Walkers after reading the alt.support.depression newsgroup and was amazed at the number of people who were going through the same thing I was experiencing.
In '95 I had an almost fatal suicide attempt and, when I came out of the hospital, it was the support I got from Walkers that saved my life and kept me from repeating the act.
I'll never forget that and when David decided to step down as list moderator, I volunteered to keep Walkers going ad a way to pay back what had been given to me. To this day, that is still what keeps me going.
1997 was a big year for Walkers. It was in '97 that I created the walkers.org web site, originally just intended to be an adjunct to the mailing list.
WalkersWeb, as I called it, celebrated its 10 year anniversary in November 2007 and the site has become a web destination for about 500,000 people a year.
The site has been expanded over the years and is now a community in and of itself, with our discussion forums and chat rooms. It is also a major information resource, with a links database of almost 3000 mental health and social service links represented.
We continue to grow with many new members each year, all coming for the support that Walkers is known for worldwide.
In 2007, we not only celebrated our 10th anniversary, but we got a brand new web site and chat room, improving the services we deliver and our ability to service even more visitors to our site.
In 2008, I predict that the web site will continue to grow and we will have many new members to our community. With the new members come increased expenses, unfortunately, and it will continue to be important that Walkers has the support of its members in the form of donations.
We are a month into our Winter Fundraiser and have collected about 13% of our needed $2000.00 total.
I ask each of you that, if you receive any benefit from Walkers and want to see it continue, you make a contribution to the fund drive.
In particular, I would like to see more people doing a monthly donation of as little as $5 or $10 a month or more. Doing so helps ease the financial burden of Walkers and is an easy and affordable way to make a donation.
Go to www.walkers.org/donations.html for information on this or to make a one-time donation.
I would like to thank our staff of over 20 volunteers who help keep the daily operations of Walkers going smoothly. Without your help, it would be impossible for me to keep Walkers running.
I also want to acknowledge all of our members, both old and new, who are really the heart of the organization. Without you, there would be no reason for Walkers to exist and you are what makes Walkers what it is.
Thanks to everyone for a great 2007 and a bright and hopeful 2008!
Mark 'Mongo' Oberg
Published in
Mental Health, Bipolar, Depression
Monday, 19 October 2009 12:35
New Brain Stimulation Technique May Offer Hope For Depression SufferersWritten by Lockergnome
Monday, October 19th, 2009 by Lockergnome
A new neurosurgical procedure may prove helpful for patients with treatment-resistant depression. Bilateral epidural prefrontal cortical stimulation (EpCS) was found generally safe and provided significant improvement of depressive symptoms in a small group of patients, according to lead researcher Ziad Nahas, M.D. at the Medical University of South Carolina. The data are reported in the on-line issue of Biological Psychiatry.
Treatment-resistant depression is a recurrent psychiatric illness and a leading cause of premature mortality due to suicide and associated medical conditions. In the U.S., more than 3.2 million patients are diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression. Typically, patients have tried several medications and treatments without success or improvement.
EpCS targets electrical stimulation to the anterior frontal poles and the lateral prefrontal cortex. “We focused on these two regions because they are part of a larger brain networks critical in regulating mood. Both play complementary roles integrating emotional and cognitive experiences and offer a distinct opportunity for targeted antidepressant treatments” said Dr Nahas, an associate professor of Psychiatry, Physiology and Neuroscience and Director of the Mood Disorders Program at MUSC. “Cortical stimulation has several advantages provided that it shows efficacy in treating depression. It is reversible, non-destructive and potentially safer than other forms of invasive brain stimulation since the stimulating paddles don’t come in direct contact with the brain.” His team included MUSC neurosurgeon Istvan Takacs, MD and MUSC anesthesiologist Scott Reeves, MD.
Five patients were implanted with EpCS over the anterior frontal poles and the lateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally. Four separate paddle leads were then connected to two small generators surgically implanted in the upper chest area of the patient. The researchers individualized the treatment parameters for each patient to maximize the long-term antidepressant effects. They relied in part on input from the patients themselves who signaled positive mood changes when first stimulated. In general, their devices were set to periodically deliver electrical charges at intensities below the seizure threshold. The devices were never active at night. Only patients who failed to respond to several antidepressant treatments – including medications, psychotherapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, vagus nerve stimulation or electroconvulsive therapy, were included in the study.
Patients were closely followed after the surgical implant and evaluated regularly using standard clinical ratings. After seven months, the average improvement was 54.9 percent based on the Hamilton Rating Scare for Depression and 60.1 percent on the Inventory of Depressive Symptoms Self Report. Three of the patients reached remission. One patient experienced a scalp infection that required removing the implants over the left hemisphere.
“These preliminary results are encouraging but not definitive,” said Dr. Nahas. “Now that we have a proof of concept, we should aim at studying bilateral EpCS in larger placebo-controlled studies.”
“The more sophisticated functions are on the surface of the brain” said Takacs. “We are trying to change the climate within the prefrontal cortex so it could exert more adaptive governance of deeper brain regions.” he said.
The study was funded by the National Alliance of Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD), the brain and behavior research fund.
Kathleen Ellis @ Medical University of South Carolina
Published in
Mental Health, Bipolar, Depression
Monday, 03 September 2007 05:19
JAMA Reports On Internet support groups, featuring interview with WalkersWeb founder Mark 'Mongo' ObergWritten by Mongo
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported on Walkers and other internet support groups in its June 18, 2003 issue.
This article features Walkers in Darkness very favorably and includes an interview with WalkersWeb founder, Mark 'Mongo' Oberg.
We have a reprint of the article online at http://walkers.org/DepresSupportGrp.pdf
Published in
Mental Health, Bipolar, Depression
Happy New Year to all Walkers, past and present!I wish for you all to have your dreams come true, but if that can't be the case, then at least let 2010 suck less than 2009, right?Seriously, here's what I really wish for you. I wish that you will each step back far enough to see yourself the way others see you, as a valuable, interesting and worthwhile individual who is able to accomplish much in life, despite having the affliction of mental illness.All too often all *we* see is the illness, because we have to struggle with it every day, but we miss all the positive things about ourselves that others see.Also, this January 1st, 2010 marks the 19th year of Walkers in Darkness, the mailing list. It was founded on New Year's Day in 1991 by David Harmon, who ran it for several years before his own illness made it too difficult to keep up with and he decided to turn it over to me in the mid-90's.David, if you are out there somewhere, what you did that cold day in 1991 was the beginning of a support method which has helped millions of people over the years. None of this would exist if it weren't for you and the other original Walkers. I am happy, proud and privileged to have been given the opportunity to adopt Walkers, nurture it and see it grow into what it is today. As many people have told me over the years, I would probably not be alive today if it weren't for Walkers and the understanding it gave me of my illness and the fact that I was not alone in it.I still remember the first time I attempted S* and being in the hospital, wishing I had succeeded, when the nurse came to me and told me there was a guy named David from Walkers on the phone trying to reach me and would I take the call or prefer him to be told that they were unable to disclose any information about me.I took the call and it was then and there that I realized I could get through this; that I would not have been better off succeeding in my S* attempt; and that I had friends who were really total strangers but would help me when and if I wanted it.I thought this was an amazing thing, this Walkers. I also made a promise to myself that I would do anything I could to help it, once I was strong enough to contribute something of myself.Everything I am telling you is not only true and real, but it is what keeps me able to continue running Walkers today, despite my own illnesses and disabilities.If you've been here a long time, you probably know most of this and if you are new, well, welcome! I hope that you, old or new, get even a fraction of what I got and what our members and volunteer staff try to offer.I hope that this year brings a lot of good and positive things to Walkers.We incorporated a legal entity, Walkers in Darkness, Inc., last year and will apply for charitable tax-exempt status this year.We will have more of a structure that can keep Walkers running in the event that something were to prevent me from continuing to do so. We will also have a framework from which to raise outside funding and grow the Organization.I also have a few interesting and creative ideas for our web site that will make it even better and more accessible to all.I will announce the beta test of one of them right now (might as well give everyone a New Years treat).I have been working on a project to provide a new kind of chat room which has never (to my knowledge) been offered before on any similar site.This live chat will be able to be accessed by SMS TXT message and email *IN REAL TIME*.This week will begin phase 1 of the beta test to see if it is a concept that can work for our members. There will be a general chat room and a self-injury chat.If you would like to participate, you can email me at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
(ONLY) and provide me with your name, email address, cell phone # and carrier. I have to set up all the accounts manually, but you will be included usually within 24 hours and be a member of the chat.THIS IS IMPORTANT! Please DO NOT apply unless you have either an unlimited txt plan or an enormous number of unused units every month.If the test works well, there will be a **LOT** of txt messages each day and if it gets to be more than you have in your quota, it could take 24-48 hours from the time you ask to be dropped until that happens. This could run up an enormous bill if you are not on an unlimited (or close to) plan, so please do not ask to be a part of this right now if you are not. Once we get further on in testing this and have a better way for people to come and go at will, then we'll open it up to a more general crowd.OK, so it is 3AM (Happy New Year, West-coast!!) here.I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. It's nice to think about the early days of Walkers and then of the future. Puts a big smile on my face and I am going to now go to bed and sleep with that, so good night!Mongo
Published in
Mental Health, Bipolar, Depression
Depression doesn't have a time schedule. Manic feelings come and go like thunderstorms. Fear and sadness and pain can paralyze at any moment.
During the holiday season, these troubles are not only more prevalent, they're also more acute, according to experts.
Last year, some 400,000 people turned to an unusual Web site called Walkers in Darkness. Developed by Howard County resident Mark Oberg, the site is designed for people with clinical depression or bipolar disorder, but it's open to anyone seeking help for emotional distress.
The site offers information on mental illness, links to helpful sites and a number of chat rooms, where visitors can discuss their concerns. One might call it a virtual support group that runs round the clock.
"It's almost an immediate response," said one Walkers user, known as Hopper, from Cleveland, during a telephone interview. "There's somebody out there that knows exactly how you're feeling."
Availability and anonymity contribute to the site's success.
"It's a lot easier to go to a Web site and post a message and get some feedback than it is to get in the car and drive to a [support group meeting] where you don't know who you're going to run into," said Oberg, 43.
At any given moment on www.walkers.org, one may find a discussion between a woman who's struggling to complete her college degree after years of debilitating depression and another who just got back on her feet after a similar ordeal. Or a nurse from New York trying to cope with the effects of Sept. 11. Or a woman seeking advice about contacting family members during the holidays, hoping to make up for past mistakes.
They may live here in Columbia or California or New Zealand or anywhere in between.
"It is a community even though we never see each other," Oberg said.
And it is one that Oberg himself relies on. A decade ago, while vice president of a now-defunct Columbia high-tech firm, Oberg suffered a breakdown and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression.
Work had brought his illness to the forefront, he said. The manic phase allowed him to work with seemingly limitless energy. Then he would get depressed. He started showing up at work unwashed and unshaven. He would lock the door to his office and never seem to emerge. Finally, he was asked to leave.
At that point, Oberg had no idea what was wrong. "I thought, 'I'm tired; I'm not sleeping well; I'll find a better job.' But I kept getting deeper and deeper into it. I went through whatever money I had. I started getting suicidal."
During that period, he says, he was hospitalized several times. At one point, he wound up living at the Grassroots shelter.
But while surfing the Web one day in 1994, Oberg stumbled onto something called Walkers in Darkness. At the time, the organization was a listserv, a subscriber-based discussion group. "The mere fact of having found a group of people with the same problem did a lot for me," he said.
The Walkers listserv had been founded by David Harmon, a software engineer from New York. In 1996, he turned over responsibility for maintaining it to Oberg, who ultimately turned the list into an elaborate Web site filled with lively chat rooms. From 1996 to 1999, there were 300,000 visitors to the site. Last year, there were 400,000, he said.
"Maybe I was uniquely qualified to do this because I had the illness and the interest and the time on my hands and the knowledge," he said.
Although Oberg sometimes offers advice, he has no training or academic credentials in the field of mental health.
Mostly, he administers and monitors the Web site, among other things ensuring that inappropriate discussions don't take place in the chat rooms.
In 1998, Oberg incorporated Walkers and received a designation from the Internal Revenue Service as a charity. Last year, Walkers received a $25,000 grant from the Gaines Family Foundation in Colorado to upgrade the equipment that supports the Web site.
Following the Sept. 11 attacks, many new people have visited the Web site, according to Oberg, who set up a special chat room to discuss those events.
"Let's try to help them work things out and make them welcome," he wrote to Web site users, who refer to themselves as Walkers. "One does not have to be chronically or even clinically depressed to feel the effects of the Beast."
Today, Oberg, who is retired, spends most of his time running the site.
"All I know is the site is always very busy," he said. "It never slows down."
Published in
Mental Health, Bipolar, Depression
Our mailing lists, Walkers and Christian-Mood have moved to Google Groups.
To join the Walkers in Darkness List:
Published in
Mental Health, Bipolar, Depression
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