Shared Links (weekly) Oct. 5, 2025
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I spotted another book review over on PyschCentral for G. H. Francis’ book: For those of us outside of that experience, it can be difficult to understand the lives of those dealing with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. In Icarus Redeemed, G.H. Francis seeks to relate his encounters with what he calls “madness.” Diagnosed with bipolar…
Of course, he’s right. What he sees in the UK is the same thing I see from my “much less qualified but simply paying attention” seat in the US, and I’m sure many of you see where you live as well. Our current mental health resources are designed to help “fix” something wrong with us. I can’t say they even do that well, but at least that is the plan, and that plan makes sense for many mental health struggles.
It is only part of the picture, though. In all seriousness, how would the 6-8 therapist sessions a good insurance plan covers help someone escaping domestic abuse or trying to feed a family on a minimum wage job? How is the teenager being abused at home, bullied at school, and overwhelmed by the bleakness of what the world might look like when they are an adult supposed to find hope in one crisis text line conversation?
How will we provide hope and connection to people without first understanding their world and how they navigate it every day?
Admittedly, this series looking in depth at the growing problem in New Zealand is not for everyone. But, if you want to see an in depth look at how one country is dealing, or failing, when it comes to mental health, this might be of interest to you: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/tags/Break-the-silence/1504326/ For more information about the series,…
We have to have serious discussions about mental health resources, for adults and kids. This isn’t even about stigma or awareness, this is a system with fundamental flaws, that creates this lack of available, and affordable, resources. This is a society that is unable, and unwilling, to provide basic care for too many of its own members. Is that the society we want to live in? I hope not, but as long as we continue down a path where the best plan we can come up for a teenager struggling with suicidal thoughts is 17 days on a gurney, and sedated, inside of an ER, we are not that society.
The headline is just one of many interesting finding in this poll. Personally, what I find interesting is that 73% of respondents know someone with a diagnosed mental health disorder, yet less than 50% are very comfortable talking to their friends about mental health, and the number of people who feel like they know a…
The article below provides many more details, but similar to what I wrote earlier this week about taking a mental health day, boundaries are personal. How I decide to interact with my family may look very different from how other survivors do it. My boundaries have changed over the years. What they look like now is different from what they were when I was struggling more with my mental health as a younger man. I still have boundaries. I define them for myself every day.
You should, too. You can decide where your boundaries are and when they can be adjusted. You decide what is safe for you. You decide who is harmful to you.