#Mental health advocacy

[glitchdollmemoria]

please can we stop describing bigots as delusional. please. im so fucking tired. someone being sucked into a hate group surrounded by others who believe minorities should be oppressed and encouraging them to believe in conspiracy theories that the rest of the group believes, is fundamentally different from someone having a mental illness that causes delusions.

delusions, by definition, cannot be explained by things like cultural background - such as having a belief constantly reinforced by intentional attempts to rationalize it for the sake of maintaining power over minorities. yes, someone can be both delusional and a bigot, and yes conspiracy theories can feed into delusions, but the two are not fucking synonymous.

i did not spend my teen years convinced that i was being stalked by demons just to hear so many of you people equate my disability with incel behavior and genocidal propaganda. stop reinforcing harmful connotations about mental health struggles.

[uncanny-tranny]

I recently had to do a project in one of my psych classes, and man, I knew that CBT was used for every little thing, but seeing over and over, "do CBT! CBT is the best for every mental illness!" was so jarring. I'm absolutely biased because of my own experiences, but I just don't think it's as universal a treatment model as it's touted.

If you didn't benefit from CBT, it's not because you're lazy or didn't try hard enough or lacked intelligence or foresight into your own needs. Frankly, it's a therapy model that (I think) shouldn't be the only readily-accessible model and among the only therapy models covered by insurance. Some of us should not be treated in a CBT model and that's okay. It's not a sign of poor character or unreasonable demands, and if you don't think it's a model that works for you, then it's your right to express that!

[autumnbell32]

Do you want to hear about my coffee routine when I was on the psych unit?

They always gave us a full carton (like a carton…a school lunch carton) of 2% milk on our trays. And I hate milk, hate it- so every day I would throw mine out and that made me feel some kind of bad/guilty. So I started asking for their shitty cup of decaf coffee. I’d sit with the stryofoam cup of hot coffee and the carton of milk in front of me for a fair amount of time, way past when my unit mates went back to their rooms or started walking around just to ease the passage of time (I didn’t really talk to anyone anyways, but I would sit among people…though somewhat removed at a table in the corner on one of those god awful plastic chairs filled with sand so no one could throw it in a rage- I had back pains from those monstrosities for a few days after discharge, by the way). I’d sit there and wait for the black coffee to cool enough so I could guzzle half of it, then add a few packets of sweetener, and then dump all the milk in there. The cup was almost overflowing every time, the precious meniscus jiggling at the edges.

But sitting there with my doctored decaf coffee, the tv on in the day room, watching the cars drive past outside- not knowing how or what I would do when I was discharged…You just do what you can to get by and to alleviate some pain and give your poor little, cortisol-bathed brain some dopamine. And you survive, and the pain becomes another memory and part of the reason you are able to remind yourself that you deserve to be here and you can count on yourself to take care of you. Even in little ways.

[linuxfemme]

i say this in the most sincere way i possibly can. we as a society need general information on schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders to be well known it is IMPERATIVE that as a society if we want to improve that we begin to demystify schizophrenia in the public eye. do you know what negative symptoms to look out for in the prodromal period before positive psychotic symptoms begin when early treatment is crucial? do you know what you would do if you or a loved one began to experience acute psychosis and there was no opportunity to make a plan or discuss anybody's wishes?

schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are a part of being human. we don't know what causes them but there are documented cases of it happening for very many years across all cultures. some studies believe around 2million americans (1 in 100) are affected by a psychotic disorder. you and your loved ones are not immune.

stop viewing schizophrenia as the mysterious ~most serious mental illness~ that only exists in hushed voices. schizophrenia is an illness that is not shameful to have. read about it. talk about it. ask people if they knew it comes with so many symptoms other than hallucinations and delusions. ask them if they knew it was so hard for people to receive treatment for it. did you know it's hard to estimate how many people have it because homelessness and financial issues are so closely tied to the illness?

let's create a world where schizophrenia is not seen as scary but as an illness. let's create a world that is kinder towards people with it and with better access to care.

[anotherblogforborderlines]

On the topic of NPD and "narcissistic abuse".

So, I've been a victim of a few abusive relationships. I've been starved, guilt tripped, gaslit (to the point I STILL have trouble figuring out if I'm right about something that has been confirmed several times.) And out of the few people I was hurt by, do you know how many of them were diagnosed narcissists?

One. Just one. Though, the others were autistic. Hell, even severely depressed! But I'm not out here advocating against "autistic abuse." That sounds pretty ableist, right?

So what gives you the right to do that to people who are also struggling? How would you feel if a psychiatrist or therapist told you that you were evil or could not be helped due to a disorder. How would you feel if when trying to figure yourself out and going through the symptoms, all you find are articles upon articles of how you're inherently abusive and no one should love you or give you any attention?

If someone is abusing you, it is not BECAUSE they are a narcissist. It's not BECAUSE they have a disorder you seem as uncouth or scary. And you're not wrong for being upset or angry about your abuse. You deserve to feel your feelings!!!

But when you start shooting down your fellows in struggling with mental illness, you drag us all down. You make the people you claim to care for feel unsafe.

Do better. Be better to people. Encourage people to get help if you notice dangerous or hurtful behavior. You can be hurt, but don't let your actions further hurt others and perpetuate the cycle.

[crippledpunks]

don't judge the severity of someone's disability based upon whether or not they use mobility aids, are on disability, take medications, seek medical care, or how much/often they show symptoms that others can see. you have no idea what is going on inside of a person's body, these things are not required for someone to be disabled. be respectful and mind your own business.

[girlcalledwhatsername]

One of those "is it worth it" debates i find myself having with myself is about mental health related posts that may make good points otherwise but subscribe heavily to and reference and frame mental illness through the biomedical model and the widespread (but false) idea that a chemical imbalance causes these issues. Comprehensive explanation for this + resources here. (Also worth looking into this activist's work where she describes what paychiatric gaslighting looks like)

The thing is I do not want to spread that misinformation anymore. It was presented to me as fact despite there being little proof of it, for a long time in my life from psychology teachers to therapists to psychiatrists of course. Just treated as a natural fact when it was literally pseudoscience on the same level as most rudimentary psychoanalysis.

So I have to make the decision to either simply not reblog it and therefore not engage with the wider mental health discourse and let people be mistaken from what is possibly just an honest mistake as something that has been taught to us all so so largely, they very well might just honestly not know it not be true, and then by leaving it alone I am letting that myth perpetuate from well-meaning people...

Or...

I actually correct the person, get a bunch of people who find their worldview so suddenly challenged being angry about it and calling me anti science as often happens and get retraumatised over my experiences with Psychiatric abuse at large.

And although I mostly choose the former and simply don't engage it leaves me feeling uneasy because I know I was that person once who didn't think to question the validity of chemical imbalance theories and if someone had told me about it honestly it would have saved me a world of pain. But too many people are progressive only on the surface and hate to have to consider abolitionist approaches to oppressive systems, too many people genuinely believe a host of more stigmatised symptoms and disorders to be deserving of incarceration or erasure, and i have no way of knowing who these people would be. And this is why pop psychology and liberal mental health advocates have run the anti-psych movement into the shadows - a movement to which we owe every step of our liberation as mentally ill people.

So how do you make this a bigger conversation again?

Like. Tell me this isn't blatantly a mass misinformation campaign at this point

[linked here]

[neuroticboyfriend]

honestly, for me addiction is all about coping with pain. and i don't just mean coping directly with drugs. sometimes it's coping without drugs, either because they're not available or not working. the entire point to my drug use is that i don't want to be in pain, but am unable to utilize healthy coping skills. the amount of pain i was (and still am) in became too much for what i could realistically handle, given my abilities and the support (or lack thereof) around me.

an example is. i ran out of drugs A, B, and C, which all help my anxiety and physical pain. drug D also helps my anxiety and physical pain, but can also cause me panic attacks and dissociation. do i stop doing drug D? no. i finally pull some self-soothing out of my ass. is it difficult? yes. incredibly fucking so, and sometimes, i cant do it. but it is a lot easier for drugs to take up most of the coping work and for me to try my best to fill in the gaps.

a lot of the time, drugs are what people resort to when they have quite literally exhausted every other option. it doesn't mean other options aren't out there somewhere, or they're doomed forever. it just means that right now, that person is at their fucking wits end and is desperate for relief from their pain. addictive self-medication is still medication - it's just a very chaotic, painful, and unsustainable one, that ends up creating as many problems as it temporarily fixes.

so please, for the love of god, give addicts a break. they're trying their best to take care of themselves, and it isn't a failing to not be able or willing to do that better or more healthily. people experience pain. it's a fact of life, and it doesn't have to express itself in a way you find digestible to be needing of support and care.

[glitchdollmemoria]

on one hand, want to get angry, tell non schizospecs/psychotics to take their turn defending, protecting, speaking up for us. should not need to put self in danger, risk of harassment, of attempts to trigger psychosis. should not be my fucking job. if people want to be mental health advocates, should do the fucking work. money in mouth. words from mouth. defend us. befriend us, if we want. shut down fuckers who harass and threaten and belittle. shut them down. make them unwelcome in communities. be open in support for us, show you believe we are people worthy of care. show it. show it to me right now. show it in the future. do the work. support us. protect us. care about us LOUDLY. we need you to be LOUD, be LOUD.

on other hand, i dont trust. dont trust you to not speak over us instead of for. to actually see us as people. high horse, savior complex, infantilization, clout, fake and shallow. speak, your words fall, but falling short. still internalize, "so weird, creepy, stupid, dangerous, insane". assume you think lesser of me, us.

beg, demand, challenge, prove me wrong. prove im in your worldview. prove i matter in your head. prove i can be safe. prove WE can be safe, my community, fellow schizospecs/psychotics. prove it. will continue being loud for self and siblings either way, but fucking help me. boost my voice and our voices and take our saying - include take saying from us who can say, about siblings who cannot say for selves, catatonic and completely lacking language ability and all else - and internalize it and speak up without speaking over. cannot do this by ourselves. need to be heard, need to be protected, need help. help us.

(non schizospecs/psychotics, reblog fully ok, encouraged. aimed at you. aimed at you.)

[uncanny-tranny]

I think it would really benefit people to internalize that mental illnesses are often chronic and not acute. Some of us will never be able to jump the hurdle of managing illness, much less sustaining a sense of normalcy. Many of us will never "recover," will never manage symptoms, will never even come close to appearing normal - and this is for any condition, even the ones labeled as "simple" disorders or "easy-to-manage" disorders.

It isn't a failure if you cannot manage your symptoms. It isn't a moral failure, and you aren't an awful person. You are human. There's only so much you can do before recognizing that you cannot lift the world. Give yourself the space to be ill because, functionally, you are.

[inniave]

something i've found that non drug users tend to not understand is that sometimes using drugs is harm reduction.

sometimes the cost of not using is so much higher. this is one of many reasons why autonomy is so important- if u take my drugs away, are u just plunging me into crisis? what options am i left with? are they safer? will it lead to more suffering? does it help me in any immediate material way? or are u just making my life harder, more painful, riskier, less stable, and deadlier?

sometimes drug use is the safest, healthiest, least harmful option available

and we as a society should be doing everything we can to reduce harm & stigma around drug use. provide tested drugs, clean needles, safe use centers, naloxone, the list goes on and on.

please treat the drug users in ur life with respect. don't take away our autonomy. don't assume u know what's best. do what u can to make the world safer for those of us who use <3

[swifteainthesummer]

It's hard to put into practice but if you want better results you're gonna have to make things differently. Changing and healing is so hard and scary but it's worse to stay bad forever. I'm proud of you

[glitter-stained]

One must imagine Sisyphus happy, the voice says as I walk down to the well. It echoes against the walls, empty and wet in that peculiar way in which voices only echo in a cave, this deep, dark loneliness that chills you to the bone. One must imagine Sisyphus happy, it whimpers from very far away; my knuckles are rubbed red as they tie the bucket to the rope, and send it down below, and fill it with water. But I know Sisyphus. Who cares if he's happy? He was a bad man, but first he was a child, but first he was a man. What does it matter know, when the boulder rolls up and when it all falls down? I pull the bucket up, and fill my amphora ; watch the blood where I ripped my finger nails drip through and taint the water red. Something about eternity, I suppose. One must imagine Sisyphus happy, is the rule, but I hear him scream out every day, and he deserves it so much I am glad, and I pity him so much I could cry. And no one really cares if you are able to convince yourself that he could learn to love this endless, aimless task, and I could scream all my despair to the well and the well will never answer me; nothing changes around here, only the mind of those that are trapped, and that empty, violent freedom to imagine your neighbour is happy. Maybe one day it will be too much; perhaps, one day, it will be enough. For now I carry my amphora and feel it emptying and look for my sister. One must remember I'm a murderer. Plic, ploc. The water drips through.

[diamarian-art]

“Don’t let pride ever cause you to stumble. Baby steps are still progress and keep us humble. It’s better to move slowly than to turn or hide. Keep your eyes focused, let God be your guide.” – J. Allen Shaw

[selfhelpforghosts]

It's okay to vent and express your feelings.

[girlcalledwhatsername]

Genuine question, I'm not trying to say the studies you linked are wrong or anything, but if a serotonin imbalance isn't the reason for depression, then why do SSRIs seem to work for so many people? Are we just accidentally treating the wrong problem with the right medication, or is it a huge placebo effect?

That's a great question!

Let me preface by saying that in the absence of any actual science as of yet about "causes" so to speak of these symptoms, someone like me who isn't a scientist cannot comment properly on this. However there are quite a few people for whom a bunch of meds work out. We're actually quite exaggeratedly told that most people find the right medication eventually when it tends to be more of a trial and error split down the middle. Here's what I think is happening from what I've observed and people I've talked to and their experiences:

1. Yes it is possible that for a small portion there is a sort of placebo effect. For eg, even when I was worse off on my medication(s) throughout a whole bunch of different combinations and psychiatrists I tried, I had convinced myself that what I am experiencing is still okay and would probably just be worse and was worse when i wasn't on meds. It's only after the costs got too high and I left the meds that i realised the case was quite the opposite (this is particularly a problem with anti-psychotics, where reportedly a lot of psychotic people have their psychosis worsened under those meds, while others - like with SSRIs - report that it helps them). My therapist had me believe that very very VERY few people exist for whom meds never work out but admitted later (and I learned from other psychotic people later) that it's far more of a 50/50 situation.

2. I do think that a placebo effect cannot be extremely widespread. Yes it can be the case that a lot of people felt they had to justify the medication like I did with mine but I still do not believe placebo explains away a large chunk of these experiences. I would hazard a guess that because, while serotonin is not proven to have anything to do with mental illness it does have an impact on your sleep and sleep cycles, which are often disturbed in some way or the other in most mental disorders. It is possible (but again, studies would have to be done honestly on the same) that SSRIs are alleviating a few symptoms like sleep issues and related stress, and the people who experience those symptoms hence feel better in some respects. Which is great actually, I've always said you should figure out what works individually for you and stick with it. Which brings me to the third and very important point -

3. Bipolar people or even psychotic people are told that SSRIs will make them worse and should not be prescribed any. I personally haven't gotten any relief from them as a bipolar person but many others have and they simply aren't prescribed it. I want you to keep this in mind because this next bit is the foundation of what is wrong in the present systems:

Mental Illness Categories are Arbitrary

That is KEY. They aren't set categories scientifically proven or with any sort of basis. There are overlapping symptoms. There are a whole variety of issues that we all experience, these are human differences that have been pathologised and arbitrarily given a name. Mental Illnesses as set categories are simply constructed. SSRIs help some people, they don't help other people, they help people they aren't "supposed" to and harm people they aren't "supposed" to. Much like with any psych meds. And I'll go a step further, much like with a lot of alternative methods of coping people use from medical marijuana to a ton of different kinds of therapy to peer-based support groups. Coffee helps some people stay awake and puts other people to sleep, it's the same sort of difference. Maybe SSRIs helping have absolutely nothing to do with 'mental illness' and 'depression' and 'bipolar' as we have been taught to categorise, but rather just a matter of more specific issues and individual differences in what alleviates them.

4. There is one more thing I would add that is not exactly an explanation for why SSRIs help but has more to do with the statistics we see again, like point 1. People who try meds a while and then quietly stop taking them when it doesn't help don't get considered in studies very often. People who are anti psychiatry and refuse to be forcefully medicated aren't counted, are labelled as non-cooperative, and then if they are force-fed meds their opinions aren't taken into consideration. People who say anything negative about meds often find themselves ostracised even from circles of mental health advocacy. People who tell their doctors their meds aren't helping often get told to stick with it, to find the right meds combo, or get given higher doses, or in many cases are simply forcefully medicated by family members whose care they are in. There are a lot of blind spots in studying these meds which need to be fixed.

I would conclude now by saying that I do not believe at all that SSRIs are completely unhelpful in every situation. I do think that people who say their meds aren't working for them tend to be dismissed, erased, and forcefully medicated a LOT more. I also know that some psych meds have better results than others (ADHD meds like Adderall for instance, definitely and noticeably have a higher success rate than, say, anti-psychotics). But we will never be able to find what meds are helping who for what reasons without honest research which includes letting go of the biomedical model. And people should have the freedom to find which meds and methods work or don't work for them and tailor their recovery to their individual needs. But that won't happen till we keep forcefully medicating people and show utter disregard for consent when it comes to mentally ill/ neurodivergent people. And that won't stop happening till we dismantle psychiatry as an institution.

I apologise if I said anything scientifically inaccurate but I have refrained from making any scientific claims besides proven stuff (serotonin shit) for that very reason. If you find anything amiss feel free to send me the issue along with sources.