Connection

  • Sharing – I’m a psychologist – and I believe we’ve been told devastating lies about mental health

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    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?

  • Reviews Elsewhere – The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How we Learn from Love and Loss.

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 3 minutes

    Losing a spouse, parent, sibling, etc. for me would be different than losing one of my friends. I love them differently, and I imagine I would grieve differently.. Losing anyone you love hurts but you likely have a variety of different relationships with people so it only makes sense that you would grieve them differently too, and then it also becomes obvious that we all will grieve differently from each other. There’s no straight line, there’s no “normal” way to grieve, there is just one individual processing the loss of another person that they had a unique connection to.

    Wherever you are in that process is where you are. It’s not a contest and it’s not a pre-defined timeline. It’s a loss and you are free to mourn that.

  • Sharing – When Childhood Trauma Leads to Anxiety

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    When you grow up constantly on the lookout for the “next” danger that was coming your way, or constantly worried about your own safety as a result of other people’s moods and actions, that doesn’t just stop when you become an adult. And, when you cannot turn it off, that can easily roll right into an anxiety issue.

    And, I can also tell you firsthand that even when you do the therapy and some of the other suggestions from the article below, it can come back during especially stressful times.

    Like now.

    So, if this describes you, you’re not alone.

  • Sharing – Human Connection: Why It’s Important

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 2 minutes

    Here’s the thing that I tend to forget, you don’t need to wait for an emergency to make someone feel seen, heard, and valued. In fact, we can maybe avoid more emergencies if we were in the habit of doing this. We have an opportunity to do that any time we spend time with the people we care about. But, we have to actually spend the time to do that.

    I have a tendency to simply tell people that I’m here when they need me, instead of reaching out with a quick message, text, or even coffee just because.

    I can’t help but wonder how many chances I’ve had to see and hear them, that I’ve missed. The holidays are, of course, a really good chance to send that text, get in touch, and remind people that you value them. You can read the article below to see just how much good that might do.

  • Sharing – Why telehealth for mental health care is working

    ByMikeM Reading Time: 1 minute

    It’s all about flexibility. As the article below points out, online appointments don’t work for everyone. They do require a stable and fast internet connection for video, and not everyone has that.

    On the other hand, they also point out that not everyone has transportation to a therapist’s office, time away from work to regular travel to appointments, or the ability to get the whole family, for example, transportation to the same location.

    For those folks, the switch to Telehealth that the pandemic thrust upon all of us is proving to be a godsend because they have something that was inaccessible to them previously. Even as others need a place to meet with a therapist, or simply connect better in person.