: About Me

Hello readers. I am Helen Borel,Ph.D., a published writer of ficton, poetry and book reviews. And...for over 20 years, I have been a medical journalist.

My university studies included Pre-Med, English Literature and Creative Writing. "Journey Into Self: Holistic Interactive Integrative Psychoanalysis" is the 500-page book I wrote as my doctoral dissertation for my PhD in Psychoanalytic Studies.

My passionate love is for writing - of nearly every kind - even though my special nonfiction expertise is in all things medical. My clinical, research, and medical writing experience spans every Medical field, in-depth, and includes exceptional expertise in Psychiatry and Prescription Pharmaceuticals.

As a Copywriter to Senior Writer to Creative Director on MEDICINE (sic) AVENUE, I have created advertising and direct mail campaigns for every conceivable class of Rx Drugs - and the diseases and conditions they treat - from Abilify to Zovirax, from Ampicillin to Zoloft, from Anaphylaxis to Zits. In other words, I know medicine, psych and Rx pharmaceuticals from A to Z.

For authenticiy of my healthcare and medical posts, as well as my other writing credentials, here at Helium, you should know I have been published in The Washington Post (on hypercholesterolemia and on plastic surgery), in the Louisville Courier-Journal (fiction reviews), in The New York Times (on orphanages vs. foster care), in The Women's Record (as book review columnist and feature writer), in Nursing Spectrum ("Stress Reduction for Nurses"), in Medical World News ("Polytomography in Orbital Floor Fracture"), in Revolution: The Journal of Nurse Empowerment ("Independent Nursing Practice: The Mother of All Healthcare Revolutions"), in West Side Spirit ("Goodbye Columbus Avenue," a short story), etc.

Finally, I am also a satirist. As such, decades ago I wrote a play - "Switchboard" - about the practice of the medical and nursing professions by telephone. Such a catastrophic turn in healthcare delivery to patients did not exist at the time I foresaw it coming. Sadly, it came true...the powers that be call it "telemedicine," "case management" via telephone, and so-called "care" of the mentally ill at home by television monitoring. (Even tho' the best care of psych patients is via the human touch.) The play was funny when I wrote it, imagining the various absurdities that could arise with such technological scenarios. The actuality of patients falling victim to such practices today to save insurance dollars is a tragedy, not a comedy at all.

So, my readers, I'm a prolific writer on a variety of subjects that move me. Two books I have in-progress right now, among others, include one on bad healthcare and medical practices that injure or kill patients - with a satiric title. Another is a work of fiction: The heroine is an undercover nurse in the NYC Public School system investigating the deaths of some students. It is filled with truths about municipal health departments, about teacher and principal interference in student health emergencies, and loads of humorous asides and interactions as the heroine traverses the city on her RN assignments in the schools.

Here at Helium, I look forward to expressing myself on a wide variety of topics, both medically diverse subject matter and items completely unrelated to medicine or to each other. I hope you will find these pieces informative, or humorous, or unusual. I, in turn, will do my best to insure that they are well-written. Feel free to comment, criticize, question, etc. - Helen B.

My passion is ...

Excuse me...I'm taking a psychotic break.

I know too much about ...

Unrequited work.

My parents always told me ...

Don't smoke cigarettes, or you'll grow up to be a PHLEGM FATALE.

My childhood ambition ...

I wanted to be the Wonder Woman of the comics and the female Albert Schweitzer.

My favorite memory ...

The day my son was born.

Why I write ...

You may as well ask: "Why do I breathe?" I write because I need to in order to be happy.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

I'm watching Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; reading everything in sight; listening to Vivaldi, Mozart, Abba, et al.

My first job ...

eh, you wouldn't be interested. Trust me.

My best moment ...

The moment my son was born.

My inspiration ...

ETs. Actually, we don't need any extra terrestrials. We already have enough terrestrials right now.

Health & Fitness > Depression Symptoms and treatment for depression

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DEPRESSION: More than "the Blues" and Beyond Sadness Depression, afflicting 15 million to 19 million Americans, is a worldwide challenge to psychiatrists. Not only does it account for the daily disability and suffering of millions, but - untreated or undertreated - it's major danger is SUICIDE. ORDINARY SADNESS AND COMMON GRIEF ARE NOT DEPRESSION But never confuse depression with ordinary, fleeting down-moods such as "sadness" over a job loss. Or a "bad mood" due to hunger, or not getting enough sleep. Or even grief over a death, which is usually time-limited. And, while the duration of gr...

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