It occured to me yesterday while I was filling out a 200 question “personality profile” as part of my job search, that I’ll never be able to sit and take that sort of things without thinking about the hours and hours spent filling out similar profiles for depression screening, etc. back when I first started therapy, and when I was in the hospital during the psych consult. I’ve taken too many of those in my life….
It’s holiday time here in the US again. We’ll be traveling later today and spending Thanksgiving with the in-laws. Should be nice to spend some time down there with them. But being with family isn’t what I want to talk about today, it’s being thankful. It may not seem like, as an abuse survivor, there’s…
Pin Earlier this week, I wrote a post on what I refer to as my “day job” blog about how admission offices do actually look at the social media profiles of prospective students. I went on to talk about something that I write about often: using social media to put your best professional image out so…
Is there anything more sad than watching someone suffering from depression and being unable to see their own talents and skills? Someone who’s view of themselves is so low that they don’t even try anymore because they can’t see themselves being successful at anything. Or is it just me, looking back, knowing that I’ve been…
Pin I have said it many times – the reason you don’t “know anyone with mental health issues” is most likely because you aren’t a safe person to talk to about those issues. More than that, by creating an environment where mental health is not talked about, or is maybe even stigmatized, you are making it less likely that the people you care about will seek out help when they need it.Â
Suppose your family and friends can have open conversations about mental health, including their own experiences with therapy or other resources. In that case, it’s more likely that the people you care about will seek the help they need.Â
Pin When Laura talks about the reactions she’s afraid of getting she is 100% correct. A big part of why I hesitate often to tell people when I’m struggling, feeling incredibly anxious, depressed, or just mentally out of sorts is because I absolutely do not want to hear about how many other people are struggling worse. I already know there are a lot of people struggling. People who don’t have the resources I do, don’t have the support I do, with poor physical health issues or being a part of an underprivileged group, etc. I know, and I understand that I am privileged to have the things that I do and the tools to try and take care of myself that others do not.
And yet, my struggles are still struggles. If I am telling you about them it’s because I need someone to know. I need to be heard. I need to explain what is happening in my own head to someone who will listen to me. I am not negating anyone else’s struggle by talking about my own. Please understand when I, or someone else you know, comes to you and tells you that they are struggling with our mental health, it has likely taken all of our energy just to gather up the courage to tell anyone, so when you deflect like this it’s devastating to us. We carry these heavy, heavy, burdens with us every single day of our lives and we simply need someone to recognize them and maybe help us a little bit every now and again.
It’s been a very eventful couple of weeks in the workplace for me, but it’s also provided a very interesting look into the people I work with. One of my coworkers needed to take a leave of absence. Nothing that doesn’t go on in the business world every day, but in a small office like…
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Subscribe to our Newsletter
See a sample before subscribing here
If you’d rather use RSS – that feed is here.
Oh those labels have a habit of bringing up all those memories. Well they do with me!
Do you declare that you suffer from depression or to being an inpatient during Psychiatric observation?
Regards
Dan
Hi..My name is amber, and i am a victim, but i have not been able to overcome my past. I am in a relationship with a guy that understands, but he is sick of dealing with my issues, and i don’t know how to make the issues stop. I feel like there is something wrong with me because i can’t get over this. Someone please email me at xkgftheonekx@msn.com i really need someone to talk to! thanks
Dan,
It’s been over 5 years since I was on antidepressants or in therapy on a regular basis, so I don’t really feel the need to acknowledge any “current” depression in those sort of things, but if it comes up in as a question in mypast work history, I talk about it.
How did you find the response when you do talk about it?
When i missed my final year exams through a breakdown, one of the first questions my personal tutor asked me was “Why didnt you put down depression on your application form?”
I think my reply was thus “You must be joking … … Would you have taken someone on that in the past few years has been diagnosed with clinical depression”? My tutors silence spoke volumes!
At the time we thought it was depressive episode but a future diagnoses was made of PTSD after I had disclosed about my past sexual abuse.
Ive got a new blog oing if interested as usual comments are encouraged. Let me know and I will send you the url (its on a different domain)
Dan