busyOne of them gave me a shout-out today for a comment I left. We're talking about how and why the treatment of mental complaints lags behind that of physical complaints, and it started with a previous discussion about whether and why drugs can be helpful.
Basically, I have noticed certain patterns in dealing with friends who have mental challenges, and that has built up a little basket of ideas on the topic. Sometimes when an opportunity arises, I set one of them out. One of these days I need to flesh these out and present them in full. You can see bits of several here: different solutions work for different people because there are many different causes of mental complaints, and there's a difference between mental illness and mental </i> injury, and we just don't have ways of perceiving exactly what needs to be fixed let alone the ability to reach in and repair it. So we ... muddle.
Hmm...
August 10 2009, 23:11:48 UTC 11 years ago
I agree.
>>Hand in hand with that assumption is the idea that because one has a mental illness or injury, one is completely incapable of managing other areas of their lives.<<
As an assumption, it may or may not apply to a particular person. Some people can get around a mental illness -- particularly if it's a single problem -- and be otherwise fine. But often mental illnesses gang up on a person, and often there are other physical or social hindrances, so that some people just wind up generally ineffective at producing anything approaching a normal or healthy life. So you have to look at the person and their problem(s) and try to figure out what they can handle and where they will go smash, then arrange circumstances so they can do all the stuff they are capable of doing while having someone else help them with (or keep them away from) stuff they can't do.
The challenge is that this isn't easy or obvious; it takes a lot of work. You can look at a guy in a wheelchair and figure out that you need to ask a couple of your other dinner guests to help hoist him over the couple of steps to the door. Figuring out that someone else is going to be distressed by scripted banter that's part of the evening's celebration ... not so easy. Some people are just so uncomfortable with other folks' limitations that they give up and cling to normal friends. Others have more energy and willingness to try mapping out who can do what and where each friend's weaknesses are.
I believe more discussion would be useful.
Re: Hmm...
August 12 2009, 13:49:51 UTC 11 years ago
Interestingly enough, research clearly shows that in all cases, when an individual who is mentally ill participates voluntarily in competitive employment, he or she is less likely to be symptomatic. By competitive employment, I mean employment in the community under the same circumstances as people who are not mentally ill, as opposed to the kind of "protected" employment that has generally been provided by social service agencies. The Social Security Administration is currently doing a major study concerning this (I know this, because I'm in the study), and this has been the focus of the social service agency with which I am involved (http://www.thresholds.org).
If you want me to discuss this in more depth, let me know.
Raven
Re: Hmm...
August 12 2009, 16:59:47 UTC 11 years ago
Supported Employment
August 12 2009, 23:19:01 UTC 11 years ago
Follow this link (http://www.thresholds.org/find-services/supported-employment) for a brief description of the program. I can say for myself that when I am working (and the Thresholds program is an important part of getting my work going), I am less symptomatic - not because I'm expected to be (I have my own business and work from home), but simply because I am. And the research bears this out in other cases.
Raven