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guys, i just wanna say this: we as a society gotta get off our asses and do something about clinical depression.
so many people have the idea that you can hit it with talk therapy, and that is bullcrap. talk therapy is great and a super important tool in helping people deal with a disease that makes it impossible for you to trust your own emotions, but it is, at best, half the battle.
most sufferers of clinical depression (in my own experience, and those of the many many people i've known who have it or got it, ymmv) are perfectly normal people who would just go on and do their normal people thing, if only they could get out of fucking bed. i recognize some people are going to be insane no matter if their brain chemistry is jacked or not, but most of those who suffer this disease are just like you and me. you know, if you and me were asked to endure constant misery.
i don't know why there aren't clinics for it, like with physio and chiropractic services. you'd go there and they'd run you through the incredibly simple checklist to see if your brain was borked, and if it was they would say, "okay, so, your brain is borked. that is our medical diagnosis. but we are going to give you meds and fix this goddamn problem, so it's okay. take this beeper, we're going to program it to remind you to do really basic things so you don't die. then we'll book you in with the doc and the therapy and the person who's going to come by daily and make sure you listened to the beeper. don't be scared, tons of people go through this and i mean tons. you're gonna be okay. it's a real fucking thing."
because it IS. once you know more than, say, three people who have this problem, you start getting mad. like, hey, my friend is always depressed and sleeping weird hours and tired all the time and never eats except when they order six cartons of chinese they can't afford and keeps insisting they're fine. wait, i know this song. why don't the people who deal with fucking illness know this song too? where are the incredibly basic supports this guy needs? why does the fucking ER insist that my friend has to be almost literally in the process of killing himself before they'll admit him? why is my friend waiting for weeks to see his doctor when he is already on the fucking pills, obviously needs an adjustment and the disease is fucking life threatening?
one time i broke my leg, right, and i mean BUSTED that fucker. it was bad. now, i live in canada, so everybody knew just what to do. they took me through the ER, set it, brought in a specialist surgeon to pin it, and then gave me a cool removable cast. they sent me to a rehab hospital while they weaned me off the pain meds, and the nice physio and occupational rehab guys taught me how to get around without putting weight on it, how to get in and out of chairs and bed and stuff so that even if i fell i wouldn't knock it, that kind of thing. they made sure i had crutches and stuff from the central organization that lends out equipment to people that break themselves, and then set me up with a nurse to come to my house every day to make sure i was doing okay. they scheduled follow-up with my surgeon and my GP, they sent me to a rehab clinic set up with everything i could possibly need, and this entire massive organization was just business as usual, taking care of folks who needed taking care of because it needed doing - and people had recognized that, and demanded that their government put everything in place.
part of the stigma of mental illness in our culture is denial. people are either outright told there's nothing wrong with them (just snap out of it, cheer up) or it's implied by a health system that won't fucking help them without being strongarmed into it, and even then the help they're offering is a pitiful shadow of what it should be. i'm grateful for the help i got when it was worst for me, but i'm also keenly aware that, without a lot of support from my friends and family, i'd be proper fucked right now - and there are people who don't have ready access to those supports. and there is no earthly reason they shouldn't.
IT'S JUST AGGRAVATING OKAY.
long story short: it should be easier to survive this thing. people should be safe and i hope we get better at getting them there. rrr.
so many people have the idea that you can hit it with talk therapy, and that is bullcrap. talk therapy is great and a super important tool in helping people deal with a disease that makes it impossible for you to trust your own emotions, but it is, at best, half the battle.
most sufferers of clinical depression (in my own experience, and those of the many many people i've known who have it or got it, ymmv) are perfectly normal people who would just go on and do their normal people thing, if only they could get out of fucking bed. i recognize some people are going to be insane no matter if their brain chemistry is jacked or not, but most of those who suffer this disease are just like you and me. you know, if you and me were asked to endure constant misery.
i don't know why there aren't clinics for it, like with physio and chiropractic services. you'd go there and they'd run you through the incredibly simple checklist to see if your brain was borked, and if it was they would say, "okay, so, your brain is borked. that is our medical diagnosis. but we are going to give you meds and fix this goddamn problem, so it's okay. take this beeper, we're going to program it to remind you to do really basic things so you don't die. then we'll book you in with the doc and the therapy and the person who's going to come by daily and make sure you listened to the beeper. don't be scared, tons of people go through this and i mean tons. you're gonna be okay. it's a real fucking thing."
because it IS. once you know more than, say, three people who have this problem, you start getting mad. like, hey, my friend is always depressed and sleeping weird hours and tired all the time and never eats except when they order six cartons of chinese they can't afford and keeps insisting they're fine. wait, i know this song. why don't the people who deal with fucking illness know this song too? where are the incredibly basic supports this guy needs? why does the fucking ER insist that my friend has to be almost literally in the process of killing himself before they'll admit him? why is my friend waiting for weeks to see his doctor when he is already on the fucking pills, obviously needs an adjustment and the disease is fucking life threatening?
one time i broke my leg, right, and i mean BUSTED that fucker. it was bad. now, i live in canada, so everybody knew just what to do. they took me through the ER, set it, brought in a specialist surgeon to pin it, and then gave me a cool removable cast. they sent me to a rehab hospital while they weaned me off the pain meds, and the nice physio and occupational rehab guys taught me how to get around without putting weight on it, how to get in and out of chairs and bed and stuff so that even if i fell i wouldn't knock it, that kind of thing. they made sure i had crutches and stuff from the central organization that lends out equipment to people that break themselves, and then set me up with a nurse to come to my house every day to make sure i was doing okay. they scheduled follow-up with my surgeon and my GP, they sent me to a rehab clinic set up with everything i could possibly need, and this entire massive organization was just business as usual, taking care of folks who needed taking care of because it needed doing - and people had recognized that, and demanded that their government put everything in place.
part of the stigma of mental illness in our culture is denial. people are either outright told there's nothing wrong with them (just snap out of it, cheer up) or it's implied by a health system that won't fucking help them without being strongarmed into it, and even then the help they're offering is a pitiful shadow of what it should be. i'm grateful for the help i got when it was worst for me, but i'm also keenly aware that, without a lot of support from my friends and family, i'd be proper fucked right now - and there are people who don't have ready access to those supports. and there is no earthly reason they shouldn't.
IT'S JUST AGGRAVATING OKAY.
long story short: it should be easier to survive this thing. people should be safe and i hope we get better at getting them there. rrr.
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Date: 2012-02-11 11:20 pm (UTC)penguin hats.
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Date: 2012-02-11 11:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-11 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-11 11:33 pm (UTC)So much word, I can't even. As an amazing psychiatrist said to me with passion and yearning, if we could only have a tiny FRACTION of the money spent on other, more 'popular' conditions... He's fucking embarrassed about the state of mental health services. In our whole area there's basically... nothing to follow a person. As my husband said, either you're locked up or you're on your own.
:((((
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Date: 2012-02-11 11:37 pm (UTC)the people who are out there now, like, the front line staff who see patients - this is not about them. every therapist or psych MD i've ever met has been nothing but dedicated to their patients and their craft, just like you said.
your husband was spot on, man. just. it needs more attention. the attention it has, people resent. it's just crazy.
*HOLD MOAR*
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Date: 2012-02-11 11:42 pm (UTC)*holds back*
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Date: 2012-02-12 12:49 am (UTC)This is fucking brilliant. WHY doesn't it exist? I am basically the opposite of a sympathetic hand-holding people person, but if this sort of support system existed I would drop my current job/career path to be the person who goes around to people's houses every day to check that they listened to the beeper. In a heartbeat. I would be excellent at that.
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Date: 2012-02-12 12:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 12:58 am (UTC)herding catsorganisation and time management. Spend a few minutes making sure the person is clean/fed/watered/comfortable/not going to break themselves for the next 24 hours, and let them go back to bed. So simple. You've sort of blown my mind, here.no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 01:09 am (UTC)that's why, when you're sending in this Basics Person, their only job should be to make sure this person has the rock bottom foundations of living. like, is your heat/power/water going to get shut off because you haven't paid your bills or rent? (this may require opening their mail; you'd need a waiver for that.) if so, you hook them up with a social worker (who might pass it to a family member or whatever but that is their job). the Basics Person doesn't do that stuff, they just check that it's being handled by SOMEONE. the job is literally to open mail and deal with the shit inside the envelope. it's not difficult or time consuming.
because people with depression CAN'T DEAL. so why in fuck would anyone just send them home? they can't deal! they're going to wind up in the ER with a stomach pump, okay, just send them a social worker! it's cheaper!
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Date: 2012-02-13 02:16 am (UTC)Urgh. This post. It's awesome.
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Date: 2012-02-13 02:29 am (UTC)there should just be a number to call. you call the number, you type in a number from 1 - 4 depending on the severity of your freakout, and they send people to deal with it.
1: minor - patch through to the mental health phone support line where a support worker will talk you down, tell you it's okay to eat supper or open the envelope or whatever, check if you need to be scheduled with your doc or if it's just a one-off. copy of the incident report forwarded to your GP, psychiatrist, therapist and clinic (if you're in one).
2: average - as above, but it will bump your call up higher in the queue, because you're probably a couple of seconds away from a panic attack.
3: serious - patch through to a triage psych nurse who will determine which supports to implement. this nurse will assess the situation and react appropriately (911, send out a support worker for a house call, etc). copy of the incident report and nurse's recommendations forwarded as above, with an automatic booking made to see your psychiatrist for a med check, and therapist to discuss the incident.
4: major episode - as above, but with a priority/severity flag for the triage nurse.
and people diagnosed with depression should be assigned a case worker to follow them until they've "graduated" whatever programs they're on.
how. hard. could that possibly be.
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Date: 2012-02-12 03:01 am (UTC)My mom's former boss from years ago, who was a wonderful guy, had depression, and while they put him on meds, the doctors didn't bother to check with him to see if they were working. He did not survive it, and it gets me mad.
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Date: 2012-02-12 03:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 05:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 05:33 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 07:08 am (UTC)This is so goddamned sensible. Like, epiphany of all mental health profession epiphanies.
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Date: 2012-02-12 07:59 am (UTC)when your brain chemistry goes bonkers you forget things and can't focus, which since you're already having trouble sleeping tends to compound itself. i have had friends come to me a dozen times and go jesus i have such a headache and i'm so tired, and i say, when was the last time you ate, and they're like, uh um. and then they eat something, their blood sugar goes back up to a reasonable level and, surprise surprise, they don't feel quite so much like death warmed over and things aren't so bad.
now, a reminder system is hardly foolproof - sometimes people just can't face it, reminded or not. but if they really weigh the options and just can't make themselves take a bath and eat some food once a day, WHY AREN'T THEY IN THE FUCKING HOSPITAL.
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Date: 2012-02-12 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 10:09 pm (UTC)*hold*
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Date: 2012-02-12 09:50 pm (UTC)*hugs*
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Date: 2012-02-12 10:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 09:56 pm (UTC)On one notable occasion, I asked one of the umpteen walk in docs what I could do to get myself a GP so that I could help. I was desperate (as desperate as one can be when they can barely lift their head up), and she looked thoughtful and told me 'well, you could get pregnant. Then someone would have to take you on.'
...
I think I blinked at her for a solid minute because WTF. The solution to me not having a doctor who can treat me for my depression... was to get knocked up. I do not even. I didn't end up being able to get help until we moved back to BC again.
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Date: 2012-02-12 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-12 10:18 pm (UTC)Bless my doctor back in BC. But even still, I had to deal with my parents and their concerns that No one Must Know that I'm depressed because what will they THINK? Fuck that. If I had diabetes, I wouldn't have to hide it. So I talk about it, if it's topical, because I have an illness and I don't think I should have to pretend I don't so that people don't mind me so much.
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Date: 2012-02-12 10:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 12:32 am (UTC)My parallel was being pregnant with twins. I had some pretty major physical restrictions placed on me by my doctor, and people could see y'know, giant huge baby tummy, so they rolled with it, and no one said 'bitch, get up out of that chair and get your own water'. Because it took a team of five and some heavy lifting equipment to get me out of said chair, and my doctor had written out directions saying that I was to STAY there. When I was depressed and couldn't go to family functions because I could not deal? Hell, no. Just get over it and make the macaroni salad. FROM SCRATCH, bitch!
*sympathizes like whoa*
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Date: 2012-02-13 03:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-13 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-05 07:14 pm (UTC)Tl;dr I would have given half a liver and a kidney for someone who would come around every second day to check my mail and the status of carrots in the fridge, I think the social worker is a good idea.
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Date: 2012-03-06 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-16 07:11 am (UTC)But everyone doesn't have her. The system should so look like this, I can't even. The fact that it's so incredibly difficult and time-consuming to get help for a disease that makes even the tiniest thing exhaust you--ugh.
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Date: 2012-06-16 04:10 pm (UTC)