Musings..... I work with an 11 year old who was diagnosed in utero with underdeveloped lungs (pulmonary hypoplasia,) he's had 13 surgeries now, and also has a 'messed up brain' (that's the 'clinical' term,) due to all of the anesthesia...... He has psychotic symptoms, rages and Trichotillomania (is nearly bald from pulling out his hair.) The brain stuff started about 2 years ago. he's gone after his mom with knives, and is generally a mess these days.
Parents talked at length the other night about how they're aware that they've failed as parents. Their son is suicidal and strange, doesnt relate well to peers. It's all pretty sad. They love him a lot..... So, I was sitting their listening to them and I asked "before your son had the mental health symptoms, did you question your parenting?"
They appeared shocked.... No, they actually hadn’t thought of themselves as bad parents when all he had was bad lungs and a heart condition. They saw it was medical issues. But b/c of the stigma of mental health issues, they now see themselves as bad parents b/c their son is bald, and strange, and aggressive.
No one offers to do a beef and beer for the kid with Trichotillomania and weird behaviors. No one raises money for the suicidal 11 year old. But in fact what happened to this kid is MEDICAL, a lack of oxygen to his brain made him this way. The brain is part of our whole medical system. and yet we still see it as separate.
Musings..... I work with an 11 year old who was diagnosed in utero with underdeveloped lungs (pulmonary hypoplasia,) he's had 13 surgeries now, and also has a 'messed up brain' (that's the 'clinical' term,) due to all of the anesthesia...... He has psychotic symptoms, rages and Trichotillomania (is nearly bald from pulling out his hair.) The brain stuff started about 2 years ago. he's gone after his mom with knives, and is generally a mess these days.
Parents talked at length the other night about how they're aware that they've failed as parents. Their son is suicidal and strange, doesnt relate well to peers. It's all pretty sad. They love him a lot..... So, I was sitting their listening to them and I asked "before your son had the mental health symptoms, did you question your parenting?"
They appeared shocked.... No, they actually hadn’t thought of themselves as bad parents when all he had was bad lungs and a heart condition. They saw it was medical issues. But b/c of the stigma of mental health issues, they now see themselves as bad parents b/c their son is bald, and strange, and aggressive.
No one offers to do a beef and beer for the kid with Trichotillomania and weird behaviors. No one raises money for the suicidal 11 year old. But in fact what happened to this kid is MEDICAL, a lack of oxygen to his brain made him this way. The brain is part of our whole medical system. and yet we still see it as separate.
People fear what they don't understand. Mental illness isn't a broken leg or a burst appendix or something else that can be remedied with a procedure. It's nebulous and ill-defined and yes - stigmatizing. It's something humanity has yet to grasp.
Location: i believe, i believe, it's silly, but I believe Gender:
Posted:
Nov 3, 2014 - 7:29am
Coaxial wrote:
It is something that many just don't understand...I, and I'm sure you too, have many friends that to look at seem perfectly normal but each one has a devastating chronic disease they are dealing with...People just don't get it. I feel for this child and his parents. My nephew is just starting to be mainstreamed a little more in his schooling...It had just been him and a teacher for each class...He'd still get pissed and lash out...Hitting teachers and all kind of stuff...His mom was strung out and it left him with serious anger issues...He's 13 now and they are starting to see him take responsibility for his actions and behaving better in class so that he is now mainstreamed in 3 of 6 classes...It took them a long time to find the right mixture of happy pills for him and then they don't work after a while and they mess with dosage...It is a mess...Much respect for what you and those in your business that work so hard to help these parents try to make a better life for their kids. My SiL is raising this kid and it has basically put her life on hold....
Musings..... I work with an 11 year old who was diagnosed in utero with underdeveloped lungs (pulmonary hypoplasia,) he's had 13 surgeries now, and also has a 'messed up brain' (that's the 'clinical' term,) due to all of the anesthesia...... He has psychotic symptoms, rages and Trichotillomania (is nearly bald from pulling out his hair.) The brain stuff started about 2 years ago. he's gone after his mom with knives, and is generally a mess these days.
Parents talked at length the other night about how they're aware that they've failed as parents. Their son is suicidal and strange, doesnt relate well to peers. It's all pretty sad. They love him a lot..... So, I was sitting their listening to them and I asked "before your son had the mental health symptoms, did you question your parenting?"
They appeared shocked.... No, they actually hadn’t thought of themselves as bad parents when all he had was bad lungs and a heart condition. They saw it was medical issues. But b/c of the stigma of mental health issues, they now see themselves as bad parents b/c their son is bald, and strange, and aggressive.
No one offers to do a beef and beer for the kid with Trichotillomania and weird behaviors. No one raises money for the suicidal 11 year old. But in fact what happened to this kid is MEDICAL, a lack of oxygen to his brain made him this way. The brain is part of our whole medical system. and yet we still see it as separate.
It is something that many just don't understand...I, and I'm sure you too, have many friends that to look at seem perfectly normal but each one has a devastating chronic disease they are dealing with...People just don't get it. I feel for this child and his parents. My nephew is just starting to be mainstreamed a little more in his schooling...It had just been him and a teacher for each class...He'd still get pissed and lash out...Hitting teachers and all kind of stuff...His mom was strung out and it left him with serious anger issues...He's 13 now and they are starting to see him take responsibility for his actions and behaving better in class so that he is now mainstreamed in 3 of 6 classes...It took them a long time to find the right mixture of happy pills for him and then they don't work after a while and they mess with dosage...It is a mess...Much respect for what you and those in your business that work so hard to help these parents try to make a better life for their kids. My SiL is raising this kid and it has basically put her life on hold....
Musings..... I work with an 11 year old who was diagnosed in utero with underdeveloped lungs (pulmonary hypoplasia,) he's had 13 surgeries now, and also has a 'messed up brain' (that's the 'clinical' term,) due to all of the anesthesia...... He has psychotic symptoms, rages and Trichotillomania (is nearly bald from pulling out his hair.) The brain stuff started about 2 years ago. he's gone after his mom with knives, and is generally a mess these days.
Parents talked at length the other night about how they're aware that they've failed as parents. Their son is suicidal and strange, doesnt relate well to peers. It's all pretty sad. They love him a lot..... So, I was sitting their listening to them and I asked "before your son had the mental health symptoms, did you question your parenting?"
They appeared shocked.... No, they actually hadn’t thought of themselves as bad parents when all he had was bad lungs and a heart condition. They saw it was medical issues. But b/c of the stigma of mental health issues, they now see themselves as bad parents b/c their son is bald, and strange, and aggressive.
No one offers to do a beef and beer for the kid with Trichotillomania and weird behaviors. No one raises money for the suicidal 11 year old. But in fact what happened to this kid is MEDICAL, a lack of oxygen to his brain made him this way. The brain is part of our whole medical system. and yet we still see it as separate.
Musings..... I work with an 11 year old who was diagnosed in utero with underdeveloped lungs (pulmonary hypoplasia,) he's had 13 surgeries now, and also has a 'messed up brain' (that's the 'clinical' term,) due to all of the anesthesia...... He has psychotic symptoms, rages and Trichotillomania (is nearly bald from pulling out his hair.) The brain stuff started about 2 years ago. he's gone after his mom with knives, and is generally a mess these days.
Parents talked at length the other night about how they're aware that they've failed as parents. Their son is suicidal and strange, doesnt relate well to peers. It's all pretty sad. They love him a lot..... So, I was sitting their listening to them and I asked "before your son had the mental health symptoms, did you question your parenting?"
They appeared shocked.... No, they actually hadn’t thought of themselves as bad parents when all he had was bad lungs and a heart condition. They saw it was medical issues. But b/c of the stigma of mental health issues, they now see themselves as bad parents b/c their son is bald, and strange, and aggressive.
No one offers to do a beef and beer for the kid with Trichotillomania and weird behaviors. No one raises money for the suicidal 11 year old. But in fact what happened to this kid is MEDICAL, a lack of oxygen to his brain made him this way. The brain is part of our whole medical system. and yet we still see it as separate.
Location: i believe, i believe, it's silly, but I believe Gender:
Posted:
Nov 3, 2014 - 5:32am
Musings..... I work with an 11 year old who was diagnosed in utero with underdeveloped lungs (pulmonary hypoplasia,) he's had 13 surgeries now, and also has a 'messed up brain' (that's the 'clinical' term,) due to all of the anesthesia...... He has psychotic symptoms, rages and Trichotillomania (is nearly bald from pulling out his hair.) The brain stuff started about 2 years ago. he's gone after his mom with knives, and is generally a mess these days.
Parents talked at length the other night about how they're aware that they've failed as parents. Their son is suicidal and strange, doesnt relate well to peers. It's all pretty sad. They love him a lot..... So, I was sitting their listening to them and I asked "before your son had the mental health symptoms, did you question your parenting?"
They appeared shocked.... No, they actually hadn’t thought of themselves as bad parents when all he had was bad lungs and a heart condition. They saw it was medical issues. But b/c of the stigma of mental health issues, they now see themselves as bad parents b/c their son is bald, and strange, and aggressive.
No one offers to do a beef and beer for the kid with Trichotillomania and weird behaviors. No one raises money for the suicidal 11 year old. But in fact what happened to this kid is MEDICAL, a lack of oxygen to his brain made him this way. The brain is part of our whole medical system. and yet we still see it as separate.
Psychiatrist and author, Allen J. Frances, believes that mental illnesses are being over-diagnosed. In his lecture, Diagnostic Inflation: Does Everyone Have a Mental Illness?, Dr. Frances outlines why he thinks the DSM-V will lead to millions of people being mislabeled with mental disorders. His lecture was part of Mental Health Matters, an initiative of TVO in association with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
Not making light of anyone's own personal battles, but. . . we humans have such thin skin at times. I know that for myself, I sometimes get quite bothered by relatively inconsequential matters.
I guess that depends more on the perspective of the person doing the battling than someone not involved.
Not making light of anyone's own personal battles, but...we humans have such thin skin at times. I know that for myself, I sometimes get quite bothered by relatively inconsequential matters.
Psychiatrist and author, Allen J. Frances, believes that mental illnesses are being over-diagnosed. In his lecture, Diagnostic Inflation: Does Everyone Have a Mental Illness?, Dr. Frances outlines why he thinks the DSM-V will lead to millions of people being mislabeled with mental disorders. His lecture was part of Mental Health Matters, an initiative of TVO in association with the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.
This rather long essay (imo), misses one very essential point: Suicide is, for many, perhaps the vast majority who commit, a relief of unbearable pain. It is not, for most, an intellectual exercise as described above.
I have been twice clinically very depressed, but fortunately not suicidal, though "I could see it from there". What struck me both times was the unrelenting intense physical pain that accompanies the overall anguish. In such a situation, one does not make a reasoned and rational decision. It is to end the pain, quite simply. Medical intervention in most cases is the only avenue to survival...and, sadly, it doesn't always work.
Good point, also. The sicker I get when I experience a period of intense depression and anxiety, the physical pain I live with is amplified many times over and I even experience pain in new places. chest pains, migraines, arthritis, I get to the point where I'm unconscious or I'm barely conscious but I can't move any of my muscles. Completely paralyzed by the depression - all kind of things that I don't normally feel. But the psychic pain is by far the worst. I used pray - if there is a god, I would gladly have my legs amputated and have a "normal" neurotypical brain. I still feel that way. I have no desire to live but I'm forced to for obvious reasons.
Location: i believe, i believe, it's silly, but I believe Gender:
Posted:
Aug 13, 2014 - 5:09am
ScottN wrote:
This rather long essay (imo), misses one very essential point: Suicide is, for many, perhaps the vast majority who commit, a relief of unbearable pain. It is not, for most, an intellectual exercise as described above.
I have been twice clinically very depressed, but fortunately not suicidal, though "I could see it from there". What struck me both times was the unrelenting intense physical pain that accompanies the overall anguish. In such a situation, one does not make a reasoned and rational decision. It is to end the pain, quite simply. Medical intervention in most cases is the only avenue to survival...and, sadly, it doesn't always work.
I absolutely agree with you Scott, and you're right, there is not necessarily rational "perhaps I'll stay" for others thinking that goes one when we're that close to the dark. Thanks for those thoughts.
Location: Half inch above the K/T boundary Gender:
Posted:
Aug 12, 2014 - 5:49pm
meower wrote:
As we have seen, suicide has captured the attention of most of the finest thinkers in Western civilization. The story of suicide, as fact and as idea, runs through Socrates and Aristotle, Cleopatra and Cicero, Judas and Jesus, Augustine and Aquinas, Dante and Maimonides, Chaucer and Shakespeare, Voltaire and Wittgenstein. The history of Western philosophy and religion is, among many other things, one long dialogue on the propriety of taking your own life.
......
None of us can truly know what we mean to other people, and none of us can know what our future self will experience. History and philosophy ask us to remember these mysteries, to look around at friends, family, humanity, at the surprises life brings—the endless possibilities that living offers—and to persevere. There is love and insight to live for, bright moments to cherish, and even the possibility of happiness, and the chance of helping someone else through his or her own troubles. Know that people, through history and today, understand how much courage it takes to stay. Bear witness to the night side of being human and the bravery it entails, and wait for the sun. If we meditate on the record of human wisdom we may find there reason enough to persist and find our way back to happiness. The first step is to consider the arguments and evidence and choose to stay. After that, anything may happen.
First, choose to stay. ~~ Jennifer Michael Hecht
This rather long essay (imo), misses one very essential point: Suicide is, for many, perhaps the vast majority who commit, a relief of unbearable pain. It is not, for most, an intellectual exercise as described above.
I have been twice clinically very depressed, but fortunately not suicidal, though "I could see it from there". What struck me both times was the unrelenting intense physical pain that accompanies the overall anguish. In such a situation, one does not make a reasoned and rational decision. It is to end the pain, quite simply. Medical intervention in most cases is the only avenue to survival...and, sadly, it doesn't always work.
(...) Rumors began to circulate about Grimaldi’s private life almost as soon as he became a celebrity, rumors that not only dogged him for the rest of his career but would also shape the way comedians have been conceived of ever since. Newspapers claimed that, when not onstage, Grimaldi was somber and prone to depression. As soon as Mother Goose closed, one periodical wrote that he was “resolved to betake himself to sackcloth and ashes!,” reports he himself chose to confirm with a punning quip: “I am grim all day, but I make you laugh at night.” Without doubt, the apex of these rumors was an anecdote that appeared some time in the 1820s and is still used, frequently misattributed, even to this day. The story involves Grimaldi’s reported visit to the famous surgeon John Abertheny, to whom the clown had gone in search of a cure for his melancholy. Abertheny, unable to identify his patient without his slap and motley, briskly prescribed the diversions of “relaxation and amusement”:
“But where shall I find what you require?” said the patient.
“In genial companionship,” was the reply; “perhaps sometimes at the theater—go and see Grimaldi.”
“Alas!” replied the patient. “That is of no avail to me; I am Grimaldi.”
Grimaldi’s moment coincided with developing attempts in psychology to understand the hidden reaches of the brain. (...)
(...) Rumors began to circulate about Grimaldi’s private life almost as soon as he became a celebrity, rumors that not only dogged him for the rest of his career but would also shape the way comedians have been conceived of ever since. Newspapers claimed that, when not onstage, Grimaldi was somber and prone to depression. As soon as Mother Goose closed, one periodical wrote that he was “resolved to betake himself to sackcloth and ashes!,” reports he himself chose to confirm with a punning quip: “I am grim all day, but I make you laugh at night.” Without doubt, the apex of these rumors was an anecdote that appeared some time in the 1820s and is still used, frequently misattributed, even to this day. The story involves Grimaldi’s reported visit to the famous surgeon John Abertheny, to whom the clown had gone in search of a cure for his melancholy. Abertheny, unable to identify his patient without his slap and motley, briskly prescribed the diversions of “relaxation and amusement”:
“But where shall I find what you require?” said the patient.
“In genial companionship,” was the reply; “perhaps sometimes at the theater—go and see Grimaldi.”
“Alas!” replied the patient. “That is of no avail to me; I am Grimaldi.”
Grimaldi’s moment coincided with developing attempts in psychology to understand the hidden reaches of the brain. (...)
"I'm sure most of you have heard the story of the man who, desperately ill, goes to an analyst and tells the doctor that he has lost his desire to live and that he is seriously considering suicide. The doctor listens to this tale of melancholia and then tells the patient that what he needs is a good belly laugh. He advises the unhappy man to go to the circus that night and spend the evening laughing at Grock, the world's funniest clown. The doctor sums it up, 'After you have seen Grock, I am sure you will be much happier.' The patient rises to his feet, looks sadly at the doctor, turns and ambles to the door. As he starts to leave, the doctor says, 'By the way what is your name?' The man turns and regards the analyst with sorrowful eyes. 'I am Grock.'"
for you SiL
