Woodcarving for mental health

[grampabatball]

Hi All, As I have reached that stage in my life wherein one becomes concerned about holding on to mental faculties I am trying to make certain that my activities assist me in this area. My question is: Does woodcarving help people stay mentally alert? Do you know of any woodcarvers that have fallen victim to dementia, Alzheimers Etc. There is a growing body of research that indicates that stimulating mental activity helps keeps us sharp. I'm hoping that my woodcarving helps us do that. Anyone have insights into this? As always I look forward to hearing from any and all. Thanks

[billwdcrvr1]

yes, woodcarving does help for mental illness..I have suffered thru depression on and off for the past 15yrs..one thing I can still do..is pick up a knife and whittle a peice of wood..when all the worlds troubles seem to rest on your shoulders..try doing some carving...take up a small corner in your basement away from the other traffic of the household...and keep chipping away..my advise is keep a woodcarving/wood working project in your mind all the time..that way it you wont clutter up your mind with other worries..and actually make an attemp to do that project..I have suffered with right frontal lobe dementia for 13yrs at the time of diagnosis. 15 different meds didnt work..so I have been med free for the past 8yrs 2 verses from the bible seemed to lift alot of baggage off my shoulders..john 3:16 and psalm 23 ..my concentration was away down..but those verses seem to lift me up and let me read them till I understood them. Never been better since...Amen

[Kenny_S]

Rumors have it that there are a few on this board. Heard tell HiHO and Lynn lives close by Vnita Ok where there was a mental Hospital. Me thinks he escaped and they had to close down the hospital a few years back. Then, my little bride says I am a mental case. couldn't be the 39 years with her, could it. Anyway, Now that is jsy rumors on HiHo and Lynn.

Seriously, anything to keep the mind going and occupied. Reading,crossword puzzles, carving, so as long as you use your mind. Npw that doesn't mean watching TV for get up time till go the bed time. Hmmmm, an hour after i get up I want to go back to bed. Ahhh, the early stages of dimentia. Oh No Mr Bill!

[LCorbett]

WOW...interesting topic Grampabatball!...

Here's another angle on the mental health issue...I have an Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder. I spent some years in talk therapy and am currently on a relatively low dose of Luvox. OK...here's the thing about the art...many folks know I carve birds...really, really minutely detailed birds. Been doing this since around 1986, but before that I did really, really minutely detailed pen-and-ink drawings (grin).

My psychiatrist told me nobody knows where creativity originates when it comes to "mental health"...meaning that you don't necessarily have to be "tortured" to be an artist, but many artists are. So...bottom line is, my chosen artform is a direct manifestatation of my obsessive/compulsive disorder...so it's both my curse and my gift. The medication dosage was carefully monitored so as not to interfere with wherever my art was coming from, while still allowing me to function fairly "normally" (anybody who knows me already knows I'm not "normal" anyway...grin).

Making art has been both my sanity saver and nearly made me go the other way...would I trade "perfect mental health" for my art? Not on your life! I believe that it does keep my mind alert because there's a problem to be solved every single day. I have learned to recognize the triggers as to whether today will be a "sanity" day or a "torture" day and deal with it accordingly.
I also firmly believe that an active mind will help forestall some forms of dementia...when I'm not making art, I've got my nose in a book (voracious reader of nearly everything...fiction & non-fiction), plus an advanced crossword nearly every day. I also write...most of it never sees the light of day, but the practice of stringing words together in new ways is the challenge (OK, some of the stringing of words is verbal and not too pretty if I happen to hurt myself with a carving rasp...completely new animal species have been invented as well as the physically impossible things I tell them to do...lol).

Now, I'll be the first one to make fun of my OCD (and the rest of you can make fun of me too...really!), but I would never make fun of anybody else's...my disease makes me do some hilarious things sometimes...I'm very candid about it because it's nothing to be ashamed of...it's just part of who and what I am...it'll never go away, so I may as well try to see the humor in it...

[Lynn O. Doughty]

Mental health? What's that? I talk to my horse. Does that make me nuts? Sometimes he even answers back. I talk to my wife and she says I'm nuts. She always answers back! Seriously though, I don't think objects with points and sharp edges would be a proper activity for someone with unstable grey cells.

[Ron Davidson]

I know for myself I can carve and think about solutions to problems etc. You also have to have a clear mind to carve. You can't go out carve with a chip on your shoulder or in other words you don't want to carve mad. Now what were we talking about?

[Kenny_S]

Dang it Lynn, Ya take all the fun out of scareing people with a pointed object.

.

[Nancy-G]

Then there's me ...... I had brain surgery in Feb.

[wade clark]

I've learned to be comfortable with my mind and grin at those who are not. Mental stimulation doing anything you enjoy is good for the brain, sometimes even for the brains of others... But that's their concern, not mine!
Wade
p.s. I like fruit cake and didn't even get a bite of it this Christmas! Got plenty of other goodies though!

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Originally Posted by grampabatball

Hi All, As I have reached that stage in my life wherein one becomes concerned about holding on to mental faculties I am trying to make certain that my activities assist me in this area. My question is: Does woodcarving help people stay mentally alert? Do you know of any woodcarvers that have fallen victim to dementia, Alzheimers Etc. There is a growing body of research that indicates that stimulating mental activity helps keeps us sharp. I'm hoping that my woodcarving helps us do that. Anyone have insights into this? As always I look forward to hearing from any and all. Thanks

Woodcarving helps keep our knives sharp lol, not sure about our minds