Mental health blogs surge to the top of their class

There are many ways to rate a blog. If you scroll down the side of this one, you'll see more rating systems than you'll ever see in TV Guide.

But, whether its "Bloggernity," "Topblogarea," "Blogger's Choice Awards" or "Fuel My Blog," they're all saying the same thing: Mental health blogs have become the most popular health blogs in cyberspace.

Postpartum Progress, for instance, is number one on one list - and the blog recently sponsored the "Blog for MOTHERS Act Day" which resulted in a flood of emails and telephone calls to Congress demanding action on postpartum depression treatment.

Coping with Life only started two weeks ago, but this blog has recently averaged between 700 and 1,200 hits a day, largely because of its support for postpartum depression treatment and other causes. Many thanks to everyone.

What we're trying to do is fill a niche. Perhaps no area of healthcare demands a "clearinghouse" - where people can find websites, telephone numbers and programs that can refer them to services - more than the mental health field.

We got involved because many of us have had personal experiences with various mental illnesses, and we felt like we could fill the void (see Coping with Life's first entry: Trapped by Mental Illness ... and a healthcare system that failed her).

Many thanks to Thomas Wright-Piersanti at 41 Miles to Freedom for providing inspiration.

NOTE: If you scroll down on the right side of this blog, you'll see labels for Blogger's Choice Awards and other rating systems. Help support Coping with Life and please rate this blog. You can also get it on your mobile phone by clicking on the logo on the lower right side, or here. Thank you.

Coping with Life's performance (views per day:)

Adam Raised a Cain
By Bruce Springsteen

In the summer that I was baptized
my father held me to his side
As they put me to the water
he said how on that day I cried
We were prisoners of love, a love in chains
He was standin' in the door I was standin' in the rain
With the same hot blood burning in our veins
Adam raised a Cain

All of the old faces
ask you why you're back
They fit you with position
and the keys to your daddy's Cadillac
In the darkness of your room
your mother calls you by your true name
You remember the faces, the places, the names
You know it's never over it's relentless as the rain
Adam raised a Cain

In the Bible Cain slew Abel
and East of Eden he was cast
You're born into this life paying
for the sins of somebody else's past
Daddy worked his whole life for nothing but the pain
Now he walks these empty rooms looking for something to blame
You inherit the sins, you inherit the flames
Adam raised a Cain

Lost but not forgotten, from the dark heart of a dream
Adam raised a Cain

Copyright © Bruce Springsteen (ASCAP)