Thursday, August 16, 2007

Grand Rounds, Campgrounds, & Breakdowns


Okay, folks, I'm back and refreshed and will put up the podcast we did a few weeks ago later on today (I thought about posting it while hanging out at the campsite, but -- and I hate to say it -- it felt too much like "work") .

BTW, two of the four campgrounds (as in tents, mind you, not hulking Winnebagos) we stayed at had Wi-Fi... not sure if this is good or bad.

Just wanted to be sure you noticed that this week's Grand Rounds is over at Med Journal Watch. Christian did a great job with it (apologies for not keeping the Grand Rounds link in our header current while I was away).

Also wanted to point you to a very thoughtful and useful post from Jayme over at Rayne's World, called How I Deal with Mental Breakdowns. Very well done (and check out her amazing drawings... hint: they are NOT black&white photos).

-Roy

10 comments:

Dinah said...

Hey, spectacular photo.

Someone's messing with my sidebar poll. 1800 votes for Chocolate? And someone wants us to post on Argentina, on Hellen Keller, etc...

Jayme said...

Awwww...gosh Roy. I never imaagined any shrink would read that post, let alone like it. I'm honored. Thank you!

DrivingMissMolly said...

Gee thanks, Roy. Like I don't feel bad enough about myself. Now I read about "wonder woman" who continues to eschew psych meds and struggle through, allowing herself to "embrace" and fully feel both her depression and anxiety.

Maybe Monday I'll call my boss and say I won't be able to come in because "I'm embracing my depression."

I think I will just not take my Xanax and allow myself "permission" to, in a frenzy of anxiety, run through the street barefoot and in my pyjamas.

I can't believe you included this new age bullshit. However, I will get my angry ass back to her blog and read more of it. I wonder if she has a job? Kids? Goes to grad school?

Whatever.

Lily, because, yes, anyonymous, I have the balls to write my name next to an angry/controversial comment.

Roy said...

Lily, I don't believe her approach is for everyone, but I do recognize that there is a "hard-core" group of people who choose, for whatever reason, good or bad, to NEVER go on a psychotropic medication.

If that's the choice they make, then they need to find other ways to cope with a very disabling condition. That is why I linked to her post. The profession has an obligation to educate people about the value of treatment. That does not mean, IMHO, that we should just say to those who refuse to listen, "Tough nuggies... good luck with that, Jack." I don't have to agree with it, but I recognize that this exists.

DrivingMissMolly said...

Roy,

I cannot even begin to express the comfort that your validating post has had on my mind and heart.

Thanks for your explanation.

It really isn't about Jayme. It is about the fact that I have put all of my eggs in the psychiatry basket and have been disappointed again and again.

I believe that I am so deeply and fundamentally flawed, personality wise, plus afflicted with depression and anxiety, and there is no hope.

Again, thanks. I am glad that you enjoyed your vacation, but worried that the fact that doing anything Shrinkrappy felt like work. Maybe that is a bad sign and you won't want to do this anymore.

Lily

Anonymous said...

Okay Lily, "you can call me Al".

Paul S.

DrivingMissMolly said...

Anon, AKA, "Al"

Can I call you "Dick" instead?

It's funny, but my word verification letters are "mvfck."

Let's have a meaningful discussion, shall we?

So, if it is as you have stated, then I took Roy's bait. Anti-psychiatry and activism in that realm is a valid and interesting topic anyway, so, who cares how it got started?

Lily

Monica Cassani said...

we choose to go off meds because they made us worse. isnt' that simple enough? And we discover we can cope with our difficult feelings.

you said roy, "we refuse to listen??" like we're difficult children. that is just plain patronizing.

Steve & Barb said...

Gianna, you're right. That did come off wrong (sometimes *we* are the ones who refuse to listen). I'm sorry.

Monica Cassani said...

Roy,
I appreciate your apology. One of the reasons us "ex-patients" are in general so angry is because we are indeed, often, not listened to.

I am at the moment grateful to have a psychiatrist who is listening and helping me get off the meds that have made me sick.

http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com/