I have been scouring the blog world and what seems to be
popular with moms and wives/ fiancés is we lose ourselves. I have read about 4
posts asking who am I…I too lose my own identity in the day to day hustle that
is life. So in an effort to stay true
the Toya that is more than mini me’s mother or the Mr.’s fiancé I will be
adding a little something each week to my blog…
As a mental health therapist in community mental health I
see the worst of the worst. Think of the lowest of the socioeconomic status and
the lowest level of education coupled with the highest level of illness. I am
over worked highly underpaid and very much under appreciated. Let’s be clear no
one ever gets into the helping profession for the money aside from doctors LOL.
No seriously if you saw my check, and compared it to my work load, and
expectations you would understand. Still I love helping others and I am passionate
about mental illness. Mental illness is like the black sheep of the world. It
gets the least amount of funding and attention. Think about it. When the election
was happening did either candidate mention mental health? Education, homeland security,
money, gay marriage, all very important and discussed to some degree but no one
said boo about mental health. It was as if depression schizophrenia,
depression, PTSD, addiction, anxiety, or paranoia we nonexistent. I could on
and on about this for days but instead what I will do is weekly I will do a
small education type post about mental health. These post will range from funny
stories about my day to day grind, to education about specific illness, and
just things that bug me in regards to mental illness…. We will start with the
term “manic depressive.” PLEASE PLEASE
for the love of GOD, BUDDAH, BROTHER ROCK, and all things holy stop saying
manic depressive. This is no longer an acceptable term. The correct term is
bipolar (I will explain in a later post). Manic depressive was used in earlier
versions of the DSM (another post) to describe a condition where the person
goes from manic stages to depressed stages in there moods. This term is no
longer appropriate and the only people who use it are those who do not know any
better. Those of us in the field, or who have access to Google secretly laugh
at you and think “Ha they are stupid who says that.”
So consider what are some things that bother you about your
chosen profession? Is there anything in particular related to therapy or mental
health you would like to see featured on one of these posts? Please comment and
tell me what you think. I would love to hear from you.
Mental health, so very near and dear to me and my husband. We both are in recovery. He from drugs and alcohol and I from bulimia. You're right, people do not give enough attention to the mental health arena. Mental health disorders often times get passed over or played off to be chosen behaviors instead of issues that effect the brain to the point of involuntary actions.I'm not saying that people with an addiction are innocent of their actions. Only that when they decide to quite, the affect on the brain is sometimes sooo potent that it is almost impossible to overcome their addiction.
ReplyDeleteAlso, in light of what happened at Sandy Hook and other killings of that nature it would behoove everyone to take notice of how important addressing mental health issues is. If we can help more people through their mental disorders it may decrease the potential risk of these kinds of incidents.
P.S. I am not learned in the full gamet of mental health disorders. People may not agree that addiction is part of Mental Health. From my experience I feel that it is. Whether it is or it isn't I still think society would do well to give notice to both.
Thanks so much for commenting!!! I applaud you for being open about your own recovery. I am very excited about adding this piece to my blog. How long have you two been in recovery? Just so you know Bulimia is an eating disorder that is fully recognized as a mental illness as is addiction. Both disorders are recognized by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Addiction is very hard to deal with and recovery never comes easy. I work primarily with those who suffer with a co occuring disorder (mental illness and addiction) so addiction is near and dear to me and I will definitly post about it in the future. If you like You could do a guest post and just tell your story its up to you. My email is on my contact page feel free to email me. I dont have a 1000 readers and Im not sure who would see it but I would be honored if you wuould do it. Thanks again for commenting and reading!
DeleteToya
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. So much information! Can't wait to read more informative pieces like this one.
ReplyDeleteThank you.. While I enjoy silly ramblings, and weight loss post Im sure we all want to be informed about something too...Im excited next week I have a guest post from someone who is willing to share their story stay tuned!!!!
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