Awareness days shouldn’t be a replacement for proper mental health care
The 5 Most Common Things Clients Tell Me In Therapy
– Spoiler Alert: If you feel worse than anyone knows, you’re not alone.
Joe Tracini: This is an article about hope for anyone who needs it, any time
Fight, Flight, Freeze and Fawn: What are the Trauma Responses?
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
I stumbled across Carolyn’s post with reviews about fictional books that happen to feature depictions of anxiety and depression. I especially love her intro: “Anxiety, depression, and panic disorder are featured in these recommended books. They are, in my opinion, well-depicted with realism and authenticity. Often, mental illness is isolating, and these books remind those…
It’s Time to Stop Blaming Men for Their Mental Health Woes Male suicide rates in Wales ‘a national emergency’ Those with mental illness need more programs not just more slogans ‘Like hearing their voices’: Researcher analyzes suicide notes to save lives What It Was Like Doing the ’10-Year Photo Challenge’ as a Childhood Trauma Survivor…
I agree with Sherri that with all of the contributing factors to our mental and physical health, why do we assume there is one “solution” out there for everyone? And why do we offer flippant responses to people who are struggling to find what helps them? We are all unique beings, so it shouldn’t be shocking that we don’t all reach wellness in the same way.
I feel like 2020 has been one of the only times I can remember when admitting you’re struggling with things like anxiety and depression is met with nods of agreement and understanding. That’s an opening for us to continue to talk about mental health issues, of all types, and for people to understand how common it is to need some type of mental health support, whether that be professional, or just supportive friends and family.
On the other hand, I also feel like we all understand that feeling anxious and upset right now is a “normal” reaction to world events, and that having similar issues at another time will be met with skepticism instead of understanding. I hope I’m wrong about that.
In the mean time though, have more conversations around mental health. It will only help all of us feel less alone.
Now, here comes a study, linked below, that has done the real scientific research and found:
“ACE scores can forecast mean group differences in later health problems; however, ACE scores have poor accuracy in identifying individuals at high risk for future health problems.”
Yes, there are statistics that show that there’s an impact at the societal level from childhood trauma. We should be addressing those issues as a society, things like child poverty, parents in the prison system, abuse, neglect, etc. because we know that as we lessen those impacts on kids, and make resources available for the kids who’s trauma we can’t prevent, we can impact the overall increases in depression, addiction, crime rates, etc. that are a direct result of childhood trauma. But, at an individual level, these things aren’t fate. How one person navigates trauma and is impacted by it, is not going to come down to just the number of traumas they dealt with as a child. When we identify one person with 4 or more ACEs according to the survey, all that really tells us is that it’s basically 50-50 whether or not they are depressed, or there’s a close to 30% chance they’ve used illicit drugs, but a 70% chance they haven’t. One person is not going to neatly fit every category and shouldn’t be treated as if they do.Â
We’re a long way from actual proof, but the research so far is showing some promise. This could be huge, as one of the most frustrating things for people who do finally make the effort to get help for mental health issues, is a lack of available resources. Being waitlisted for even an initial appointment…
