Posted by sar on September 1, 2001, at 9:41:38
In reply to Sorry about the stupid question, posted by Else on August 31, 2001, at 23:41:35
dear else,
no stupid question.
a few months ago i really felt like dying so i went to a crisis center, where they said they could treat me only if i were actively suicidal. i told them that i was having recurrent thoughts of hanging myself or buying a gun, but that i was not planning on it that very day or anytime soon, and they gave me the 'script i wanted. they would not treat my other symptoms (social phobia, for one) because "depression" was the only mental illness dire enough, in their book, to deserve immediate treatment (which i think is really ridiculous, because i think a vast number of mental disorders contribute heavily to depression).
i read the rules and learned how to play their game. i got treatment without being hauled off to the loony bin. (i've been hauled off before, but that's another story.)
i'm 23 year-old suburbanite white girl, and doctors are fond of labelling me "borderline" or "histrionic." an ex-friend of mine called my depression "white middle-class malaise." f*ck that sh*t. depression is real. psychosis is real too, and probably scarier to those who witness it, but--we're stuck with our mental health systems. i think they suck and i don't mind playing around with them. i'm a drug addict. if i don't get my meds i will die by my own hand. so i do what i can. at times i am a bit crafty.
yeah, maybe we are neurotic, whatever, but f*ck labels and doctors who don't know you as well as you know yourself. my best advice is to play by their rules (whether it means being honest or not) and have an idea of drugs you'd like to try before going in.
good luck to you, else.
sar
poster:sar
thread:77205
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010828/msgs/77270.html