Walkers in Darkness, Inc.

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

Well, hi everyone!  Welcome back! Sorry for not being here last night.  You see, today is the anniversary of the WalkersWeb web site (which I started in 1997) and it was also the date  I was supposed to renew the walkers.org domain name. Well, I got mixed up and thought I had until 11/11 to do that, but when I tried to do it on 11/10, the domain had already been expired since midnight. Seems that I registered the domain on the 9th and it took me 2 days to actually get it online, so the 11th is the date I always used as the anniversary, but forgot it had to be renewed a couple of days before that. Oh Well.... So, we are back online now and today is our anniversary!  November 11, 1997.  That is the day a new site opened on the Net to try to be a resource and a place that makes things just a little easier for us to cope with. 12 years is a LONG TIME in Internet terms.  To give you an idea, Google, eBay and Amazon didn't even exist then. But, Walkers in Darkness did and still is. I hope I will be able to say that in another 12 years, Welcome Back Home, everyone.  Glad to see you and sorry for the inconvenience.  I guess I am allowed a couple of big screw-ups in 12 years.  Just sorry it happened now. Mongo

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

Our mailing lists, Walkers and Christian-Mood have moved to Google Groups. To join the Walkers in Darkness List: To join the Christian-Mood List: Mongo