Solidarity. I wish you the best in getting through this episode with your sense of self (and your life) intact. I fake it. I hide who I am at work and around acquaintances- and even some family members. I lie to my psychiatrist too. Also I never even considered that I could be affected by anti-DEI until I read this. I'm glad I lied at the DMV recently when they asked if I had any of ten conditions posted on a list: one of them was "mental illness." So people are already being asked by the government to report that.
Thanks Amelia, Maybe I've lived a life too long burned by seemingly innocuous questionnaires, but I leave forms blank and only disclose my illness to those very close to me. And, of course, the few hundred people that read this newsletter, ha!
Wow, the DMV asked this? Scary. I know all the drs' offices are now verbally asking about anxiety, and usually -- but now always -- I refuse to answer. I'm going to have to get more careful about it, now. Last time, after I refused to answer, they asked if I was worried about my medical condition and of course I said yes -- and they used that response to answer the anxiety question. They can be very manipulative.
I think I understand where you are coming from when you described the difficulty in admitting to your psychiatrist that you’re feeling worse. It’s a human and caregiving relationship and it’s natural that you feel that you want to reward his efforts to support you with evidence that you’re getting better because of it. But from reading some of your previous posts, it sounds like the issue for you is at the next level of remove from your close and supportive relationships. So I think it’s good that you managed to tell him. Hopefully he can help you as you reassure him that he isn’t part of the problem, and that you both can deepen your understanding of what is undermining your recovery, and look at some of the other things going on in your life at the network and community level maybe. Sending you warm wishes anyway in what can feel like a very cold world sometimes.
Thanks Sarah, In a way, all the faking I write about can make it hard to be honest even in the face of genuine, empathetic help. Thanks for the insight.
It's a fine line, I think. Telling one's doctor how one really feels, can trigger a commitment to a hospital -- which is rarely helpful, and often harmful and dangerous.
Here is the remainder of the book's description, from Amazon: "Americans are a 'positive' people -- cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: This is our reputation as well as our self-image. But more than a temperament, being positive is the key to getting success and prosperity. Or so we are told.
In this utterly original debunking, Barbara Ehrenreich confronts the false promises of positive thinking and shows its reach into every corner of American life, from Evangelical megachurches to the medical establishment, and, worst of all, to the business community, where the refusal to consider negative outcomes--like mortgage defaults--contributed directly to the current economic disaster. With the myth-busting powers for which she is acclaimed, Ehrenreich exposes the downside of positive thinking: personal self-blame and national denial. This is Ehrenreich at her provocative best--poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science and ending with a call for existential clarity and courage."
As always, thanks for writing again. I wish I had the words to make it all go away, for you -- and for me, too. There's a lot to grapple with, in what you wrote. One of my first thoughts was this book, which I read yrs. ago, & loved. Not sure if you've ever heard of it: Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America. by Barbara Ehrenreich (Author)
"Barbara Ehrenreich's New York Times bestselling Bright-sided is a sharp-witted knockdown of America's love affair with positive thinking and an urgent call for a new commitment to realism."
Solidarity. I wish you the best in getting through this episode with your sense of self (and your life) intact. I fake it. I hide who I am at work and around acquaintances- and even some family members. I lie to my psychiatrist too. Also I never even considered that I could be affected by anti-DEI until I read this. I'm glad I lied at the DMV recently when they asked if I had any of ten conditions posted on a list: one of them was "mental illness." So people are already being asked by the government to report that.
Thanks Amelia, Maybe I've lived a life too long burned by seemingly innocuous questionnaires, but I leave forms blank and only disclose my illness to those very close to me. And, of course, the few hundred people that read this newsletter, ha!
Wow, the DMV asked this? Scary. I know all the drs' offices are now verbally asking about anxiety, and usually -- but now always -- I refuse to answer. I'm going to have to get more careful about it, now. Last time, after I refused to answer, they asked if I was worried about my medical condition and of course I said yes -- and they used that response to answer the anxiety question. They can be very manipulative.
I think I understand where you are coming from when you described the difficulty in admitting to your psychiatrist that you’re feeling worse. It’s a human and caregiving relationship and it’s natural that you feel that you want to reward his efforts to support you with evidence that you’re getting better because of it. But from reading some of your previous posts, it sounds like the issue for you is at the next level of remove from your close and supportive relationships. So I think it’s good that you managed to tell him. Hopefully he can help you as you reassure him that he isn’t part of the problem, and that you both can deepen your understanding of what is undermining your recovery, and look at some of the other things going on in your life at the network and community level maybe. Sending you warm wishes anyway in what can feel like a very cold world sometimes.
Thanks Sarah, In a way, all the faking I write about can make it hard to be honest even in the face of genuine, empathetic help. Thanks for the insight.
It's a fine line, I think. Telling one's doctor how one really feels, can trigger a commitment to a hospital -- which is rarely helpful, and often harmful and dangerous.
Here is the remainder of the book's description, from Amazon: "Americans are a 'positive' people -- cheerful, optimistic, and upbeat: This is our reputation as well as our self-image. But more than a temperament, being positive is the key to getting success and prosperity. Or so we are told.
In this utterly original debunking, Barbara Ehrenreich confronts the false promises of positive thinking and shows its reach into every corner of American life, from Evangelical megachurches to the medical establishment, and, worst of all, to the business community, where the refusal to consider negative outcomes--like mortgage defaults--contributed directly to the current economic disaster. With the myth-busting powers for which she is acclaimed, Ehrenreich exposes the downside of positive thinking: personal self-blame and national denial. This is Ehrenreich at her provocative best--poking holes in conventional wisdom and faux science and ending with a call for existential clarity and courage."
As always, thanks for writing again. I wish I had the words to make it all go away, for you -- and for me, too. There's a lot to grapple with, in what you wrote. One of my first thoughts was this book, which I read yrs. ago, & loved. Not sure if you've ever heard of it: Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking Is Undermining America. by Barbara Ehrenreich (Author)
"Barbara Ehrenreich's New York Times bestselling Bright-sided is a sharp-witted knockdown of America's love affair with positive thinking and an urgent call for a new commitment to realism."
Thanks Janet. I’ll check out the book.