I have not seen the new movie Spotlight, and with my current travel/work schedule there’s not much chance that I will see it any time soon. If you have, what did you think of how it portrayed the abuse?
If you’re planning on seeing it, consider submitting a review?
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A few of the best (and simplest) things I do for my mental health
The BBC’s Newsnight ran a report into children abused by other children last night and you can read a general summary here. Now there seems to be a postcode lottery for funding into treatment of both offending children as well as their victims, though when the offending takes place within the family it will introduce…
In the immediate aftermath of Robin Williams’ suicide, his daughter, Zelda, left Twitter and other social media platforms after hearing from the worst of humankind about her father’s mental health problems. Now she is back and speaking out in hopes of ending the sort of stigma that created those previous comments. So please, let’s help…
I, obviously, agree. Awareness is great. Ending stigma, and having a crisis resource is great. It’s also not enough. What are we doing after the immediate crisis to prevent the next one, or to provide treatment and resources for all of the people who aren’t getting any now? What are we doing to accommodate people in the workplace who need to see a therapist on the regular, or need to be medicated and have some accommodation made? What are insurance companies doing to make sure mental health coverage is on par with physical health coverage, and who is enforcing the law when it isn’t? What are we doing to support families and loved ones who are doing their best to support people dealing with mental health issues?
As long as there are still so many not getting the help they need, the obvious answer to all of these questions is, not enough.
I’m surprised I didn’t hear about complaints from Jewish communities about this episode of Law and Order SVU, as it basically uses the religion as one massive wrong-footing swerve for the audience as to who attacked and raped a five year old boy, for at least half the episode as they hunt their prime suspects…
I like this comparison to the flu, because the flu is something we all deal with in one form or another, and most people struggle with it for a time, and then get better. Some get treatment, and get better. Some get treatment, and don’t get better. Some have it worse than others, some let it linger without treatment and it becomes a more serious problem, etc. And some people, just don’t get the flu much at all, for some reason.
That sounds a lot like the diverse ways many of us deal with mental health struggles. Some are more dangerous than others, but many, many people end up dealing with it, even if just for short time.
Perhaps, if we viewed depression, anxiety, as something closer to the flu, as opposed to something to be kept secret at all costs, more people would have minor cases that are treated and recover quickly, as opposed to letting them fester and become more complicated. And the folks with more complex issues, akin to pneumonia, would not be told to just suck it up because it’s all in their head. They’d get the treatment that their illness requires, because we all recognize that mental health issues are easily as common as physical health issues, and there’s no weakness associated with them.
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RT @SurvivorNetwork: Link – Survivors of clergy sexual abuse discuss how ‘Spotlight’ portrayed their trauma: I have not seen the new… htt…