h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't know what kind of psychology is offered in Germany. In the UK, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is the treatment of choice for depression. It has proven effectiveness. I found it - and still find it - very, very helpful. It's absolutely nothing to do with psychoanalysis. It's simple common sense - identifying when you're thinking negatively, looking for evidence that shows you there's no reason to be negative, changing/dismissing the thought. Never mind *why* you're being negative. That's psychoanalysis, but who cares?

Try here:
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/therapies/cognitivebehaviouraltherapy.aspx
This also has some links to online resources for people feeling depressed.

Try here too:
http://www.mind.org.uk/Information/Booklets/Making+sense/MakingsenseCBT.htm

Oh...and the other thing that really helps is relaxation. Do you have a new-age, hippy-trippy relaxation CD?

Hmm... Franz Ferdinand probably don't count as relaxing . I'll have a look through my cupboard full of music.

Will take a look at the links now Ed, thanks.

I meant the kind of CD that takes you through relaxing each muscle in turn. Then gets you to imagine a beach or a stream or something. Often accompanied by flutes and whale song. Seriously - they're a good idea. Maybe the university psychologist has some?

Franz F - I'm not a major fan myself - they'e OK - but by coincidence, yesterday I was listening to a download of Alex Kapranos reading from his book about all the food he ate on their world tour. Rather good! Plus he mentioned my favourite Indian restaurant, where he used to be a delivery driver. Sometimes I lecture at the Glasgow School of Art where he used to go to school and later lectured.

Upbeat Franz F type music can't do any harm either. I find that when I'm depressed I lose interest in music. It's a warning sign for me.

I've had an e-mail from a German friend. Your Hausarzt should be able to prescribe for you, no problem. Also, s/he should be responsible for making sure you get a quick appointment with a specialist - you shouldn't have to do that yourself. If you don't think it's working properly, phone your Krankenversicherung and they will *definitely* speed things up.

But, yes, I know it's difficult to deal with all these people, especially when you're not in the mood for it. But remember - they will have seen all of this *many* times before. (and 1 in 5 of them will be taking anti-depressants already!)

I hope you have a good relationship with your Hausarzt. That makes everything less scary.

A book about all the food he ate on tour?? I almost never lose interest in music, it's probably the one thing that has always stayed with me. I like all the new british guitar guys, Franz Ferdiand, Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs and so on . Wouldn't say that I *love* their music, but it's fun and you can jump around the room .

I'll report back soon with news on the doctor-front hopefully

Kapranos and one of the other FF guys used to be chefs. (In a funky, Glasgow Scottish-Fusion restaurant called Stravaigin). His book (Sound Bites) is very, very good.

As for all these British guitar bands...dunno...they're OK...but I'm old enough to remember all that kind of stuff the *first* time around.

The book:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sound-Bites-Eating-Franz-Ferdinand/dp/1905490097/sr=8-1/qid=1169572093/ref=pd_ka_1/202-3025971-5322216?ie=UTF8&s=books

Ah, I didn't know that they were chefs. That's pretty . About music: well, I take what I can get . I discover stuff mostly by following references you know: I read an article about The Kooks where they are compared to some bands I like, so I get their album without knowing one song by them. And it turns out that it's not bad. It's really quite often that I get myself something I don't know anything about, I discovered The Smiths, Belle & Sebastian, The Pixies and probably some other bands through this Überraschungsverfahren

Ooh! Überraschungsverfahren is a good new word. The best English translation would be 'serendipity'. That word has an interesting history. It's from 'Serendap', the Arabic for Sri Lanka - which was discovered by Arab traders via an Überraschungsverfahren. Or even, I guess, an Überraschungsverfarht? (Überraschungsshifffahrt? How many f's does that word have these days?). It's certainly the best way to approach CD/book shopping - even life in general.

The Pixes, yes.
Belle and Sebastian, yes. I'd ignored them for a long time, thinking they were a bit...wet? namby-pamby? bedwetting?. I love their lyrics.
The Smiths. *HELL* yes! The defining band of my youth.

My favourite German word is Peng! Also...La La Peng!

I like english words like flabbergasted, anything that sounds silly . Schifffahrt is indeed spelled with three fs They made new spelling rules a couple of years ago. And then spent a couple of years deciding if they shouldn't abandon them again. Result: everybody writes the way he likes .
Bands of my youth* nothing special, late nineties didn't provide that much. As a teenie-girl I liked pop and r'n'b, the Mariah Carey stuff and other american things. I don't think I should feel ashamed saying that. Different times, I suppose. Kids seem generally to go for simpler pop stuff. When I was ten, I was a huge fan of the Spice Girls, I still know the songs by heart .

* Hmm, so do I consider my youth to be over?

It's snowing heavily outside, I like that.

Bamboozled? Discombobulated?

What on earth is discombombu...??

Yeah, bamboozle... I once read the beginning of "Life of Pi" (didn't read the whole book), and there's this scene: A man goes to India for the first time. His friend says they use all kinds of funny words like bamboozle. So the man tries it at a train station "You're not trying to bamboozle me?" "No Sir, there is no bamboozlement here."

Discombobulated... sort of suddenly confused but in an agitated way. It's one of those peculiar words that is clearly the opposite of something, but nobody talks of being 'combobulated'. See also 'gruntled', 'shevelled'...

Go on - teach me another new German word. Another one I like is 'die Erotischeanzieungskraft'. 'Erotic pulling power' is so much more descriptive than 'sex appeal'.

Good Scots words (since tomorrow night is when we celebrate our national poet:
dreich
stooshie
stromash
squinty
besom
clipe
cowp

Even though I'm English, I sometimes forget the English translations of thee.

Another one from our poet: Houghmagandie! (That's the best one. Google it!)

Not much to say, but waves hi.

Hi JEllen!

I googled Houghetc. and it translated with the lovely Unzucht.

I don't know any of the scottish words though.

Did you learn German in school Ed?

I like words that aren't really used anymore and sound funny, like Rummelplatz, that's a cute word. Or you can try and affront someone with Unhold or Schurke

How about wohlfeil, you know that?

Ja. Ich habe Deutsch gelernen, aber ich habe alles vergessen.

(I get a bit more fluent when I spend more tie in Germany.)
All my words are standard Scots words. The wouldn't be out of place in newspapers or on TV. Or in parliament, even.

dreich - grey, miserable weather. This one is in use in England now. Most BBC weather presenters seem to be Scottish
stooshie - roughly, controversy - only a bit more agitated.
stromash - as above, only agitated to the pint of violence
squinty - bent. At an angle. There's a new bridge in Glasgow called 'The Squinty Bridge'
besom - literally, a broom made from twigs. Also - a cheeky girl.
clipe - to tell tales. To snitch.
cowp - an interesting one. In English English it's a tecnical term for a mound of waste from a mine. The normal word for this mifgt be 'a tip'. But in Scottish it's a verb, *to* tip. As in (English) 'to tip over'. "Don't sit on that - you'll cowp it!"

Tonight we Scots (and Scots of English etnic origin) celebrate our poet Robert Burns by eating liver, spleen and oats boiled in a sheep's stomach (or vegetarian version with lentils, nuts and oats):
' Fair fa' your honest sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race.
Aboun them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe or thairm.'

Burns himself was rather fond of a little houghmagandie with a milkmaid.

'Wohl' I understand. A very useful and adaptable word. I'm not sure I understand how it combiles with '-feil' to mean 'inexpensively'. Are there any other words with '-feil'?

Interesting - the German use of 'wohl' is like the modern British (not American) use of 'well' - like 'well hard' or 'well sorted' or 'well good'.

Another good German phrase: "Ich bin fix und." ('I'm well knackered')

Tschuess! (sorry - no umlaut or s-z)

Knackered is a funny word I think . I sometimes say "fix und fertig", others say "fix und alle" "alle" meaning empty in this case.

I can't think of any other words with -feil, but wohlfeil is a pretty old word, also fällt es etwas aus dem Rahmen (meaning it's unusual).

In the rhine area you can also say Tschö instead of Tschüß. Here in Bavaria you can use Servus as a greeting or to say goodbye. Nobody seems to say Guten Tag here, it's always Grüß Gott and to say goodbye "Pfiati", but I think that's more of an Austrian expression.

Maybe you can compare the difference between German and Austrian language to the difference between British and American English. Especially names for food are strange.

I spent a short time in Vienna. It was pleasnt to hear people say Grüß Gott - but not pleasant not to be able to afford anything! I thought it was spelled Grüß Goooott.