This is true for trafficking, and it’s true for child sexual abuse, and it’s true for a variety of other ways in which people might try to take advantage of someone. People with poor mental health, poor connections to other people, and living in chaotic situations are more vulnerable. The best tool to prevent these things is to work on having fewer vulnerable people.
Mental health resources could go a long way.
I especially identified with the section on maladaptive schemas that may have developed during childhood because I’ve always been a big believer that children growing up in abusive situations will develop whatever mechanism they need to survive and then carry those same mechanisms into adulthood instead of learning the things they should learn as kids.
That’s a maladaptive schema if there ever was one.
Read, and learn more below:
The mental health of Americans has been in decline for years. Don’t let the political talking points fool you into thinking this is pandemic related. Shutdowns, masks, social distancing, and all the other things that happened due to the pandemic did not cause a spike in mental health issues like depression out of nowhere. The spike was already happening.
Get educated about trauma and the conditions that can be caused by trauma. Do it for yourself so that you can understand and heal from your trauma and do it for the people around you impacted by trauma.
Don’t tell me you don’t know anyone who’s been impacted by trauma. That’s simply not true.
I found it interesting because I think the show does a good job of talking to people involved with treating kids and showing what the problem is. Starting with the conversation with a pediatrician, we learn that medical schools don’t effectively train doctors to deal with mental health issues. The risks to children they’ve been taught to deal with are external. These include viruses, broken bones from accidents, stitching cuts, etc. Today, however, the risks to kids have become much more internal. They are harming themselves due to mental health issues at rates we’ve never seen before. Doctors have not been trained to deal with those kinds of risks, and it is made clear that if you’re studying to be a pediatrician, you focus on the external risks because if a kid comes in with an internal risk, you’ll refer them to someone who specializes in mental health.
Of course, there’s a problem with that.
And on and on. No matter the struggle, there will always be someone there to tell you what you’re doing wrong to explain why you aren’t getting better.
What if we simply understand that life is hard? Anxiety and depression are hard. Living in poverty is hard. Living with bipolar or chronic illnesses is hard. Going outside isn’t always going to fix that. Being positive isn’t going to fix it; some days will just be hard and miserable.
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