Shared Links (weekly) Nov. 20 2022
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Sexual abuse survivors launch national day to encourage others to speak up– The Aussie only came forward when he read another man tell his own story. This is why we speak.
Sexual abuse survivors launch national day to encourage others to speak up– The Aussie only came forward when he read another man tell his own story. This is why we speak.
This is not great. Medication can be incredibly helpful, but it’s really not a “fix” for depression.
“Lucy Schonegevel, the deputy campaigns director at the mental health charity Rethink, said there was a “big risk of antidepressants being prescribed with no support”, adding that such medications should “go hand in hand” with therapy.
Her concerns were echoed by the mental health campaigner Natasha Devon, who said: “People are going to their GPs with symptoms of mental illness and being sent away with a bag of medication, having been put on an 18-month waiting list.””
If this gap feeling describes where you are in your healing, turn your gaze around from looking at the goal and how far it may be to how much further along you are on that path than you were 1, 3, or 5 years ago.
You might be surprised by how far you’ve come in that time. You might even take a moment to feel proud of yourself.
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For many of us, child abuse was normal. Not because there is anything remotely acceptable about it, but because it happened to us. Turning away from our stories and ignoring our voices because you don’t want to think about it isn’t good enough.
We don’t have that choice. We deserve more than being kept silent in order for you not to be upset by our realities.
The reality is that we know what kinds of societal change will positively impact mental health. We know that poverty, pollution, discrimination, violence, etc., are environmental factors that harm mental health. We know that medication, exercise, touching grass, etc. won’t make the slightest difference for those factors. (They may help some of the things that factor into mental health issues, but when you’re unhoused or being discriminated against, a walk in the park won’t change that.)
We also know what it will take to correct some of those environmental factors, lift people out of poverty, invest in local resources to support each other, eradicate discrimination by creating inclusive programs aimed at the needs of different groups, etc.
The only question is whether we care enough to do those things, and the overwhelming answer we’ve gotten in recent months is no.
Maybe, most importantly, these parents seem to think they know better, that the mental health of their kids is something they can handle on their own. We know that isn’t true. We know the number of teens who have considered suicide is much higher than the number of parents who think their teen has. That doesn’t suggest that what we’ve been doing is working, it suggests that having mental health resources available at school is a net positive for everyone.
But that fact appears to be no match compared to stigma and conspiracy theories.