Shared Links (weekly) Oct. 13, 2024
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To my way of thinking, the answer to that question is way too many. The article below lays out some interesting ways of looking at social media, why things are the way they are, and maybe some different ways we should be thinking about it that might help it have less of a negative influence…
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I think this is good advice for mental health issues, or disclosing past child abuse. Think about when and where you want that information out there. “The experiences I’ve had over the past several years make me really think about where and when disclosing my mental illness is helpful. My comfort level changes with each…
Look, I get it, you tried something and it helped you, or you’ve seen it help someone else. Clearly, you are excited about the possibility of helping others, but you’re forgetting something. You’re forgetting that the person you are sharing this advice with, isn’t you.
When you come walking into a conversation with friends, or especially into online communities with statements like the ones above, the message you are actually sending is “Gee, fixing this is easy, you’re just doing it wrong”.
Imagine using those actual words towards someone you barely know. You wouldn’t, would you? At least if you’re a decent human being, you wouldn’t. But you are totally willing to take your beliefs, your own experience, and completely railroad another person’s current reality with it, you are doing something awfully similar. In a moment of emotional vulnerability, you have come in, guns blazing, with the suggestion that all of this pain they are in, and all of this struggling they are going through, should have been easy to avoid.
There have been some efforts to make health care more accessible in rural areas, but I’m not sure that we’ve done nearly as much when it comes to mental health and addiction treatment. I’ve read too many stories of people needing to travel 100 miles or more to see a therapist, or get a prescription for medication, let alone finding a rehab clinic with an opening. Throw in a system that too often forgets that they exist, or uses them as pawns in power grabs instead of trying to meet the needs of these communities, and it’s no wonder that many would be feeling helpless in the face of addiction and mental health issues.
One, this sounds like a very interesting book to pick up. Two, this interview with the author, Alisa Roth, is enlightening in many ways. “In her new book Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness, Roth investigates the widespread incarceration of the mentally ill in the U.S., and what she sees as impossible burdens placed…