I remember the family Christmas parties when I was a kid. Generations, cousins, the entire extended family crowded into Grandma and Grandpa’s living room, and Santa Claus would arrive with a present for each child and an ample knee to sit on and dream. Somehow he knew each of our wishes and exactly what we wanted.
I just started reading your book, Anxiety in a Time of Crisis. So far, I like it. I'm glad it wasn't really thick, which I would have found intimidating in terms of the required focus. In fact I was holding it up over my head, to read, during a very long radiologic test, the other day. Perfect spot to be reading about anxiety.
Going to the dept. stores to sit on Santa's lap every year, was worth waiting for, all year -- and we were not even Christian! Santa, and parents driving us around to see all the neighborhood Christmas lights, was the best! Plus we got 8 *days* of presents! Best of both worlds, surely. :-)
I, too, found that counseling services became least available when they were most needed, which was when the pandemic began. There is still a dearth, and I refuse to do therapy over Zoom. I don't blame therapists for leaving their jobs to take care of their own health or loved ones, but at this point I think they just don't want to pay the overhead costs of renting office space, so they just sit home and conveniently do things virtually. My dr. has now refused to require masks in her office in violation of state law, so I must talk to her only on the phone. If I didn't need her so much, I would switch drs, but she is special -- and also the "covid isn't real/serious" philosophy is so pervasive that there'd be slim chance of finding another dr. who will enforce the mask requirement. (Also, there are a LOT of bad, i.e., harmful, therapists out there.)
In response to you mentioning that no one from your company checked to see how you were, on your leave of absence: I took a months-long leave of absence from a prior job, and no one contacted me either. I really think that the employer chooses to stay silent, rather than risk getting sued for potentially contributing to a mental health decline -- and it sounds like your former employer perhaps had reason to worry about that. Most employers are thinking about their bottom line -- not getting sued. And they may instruct their employees to stay mum, as well.
1. How do you know if someone's sporadic but chronic cruel behavior is emanating from their illness, or if it's just who they are, morally?
2. Should it make a difference? When someone who has been diagnosed as bipolar behaves this way toward me, I am afraid to be around her -- I am always waiting for the outburst, the other shoe to drop. And sooner or later, it always does, and I have to go through months of painful emotional recovery. Would you advise I just stay away from this person to protect myself? It's someone in my family, whom I care about, so it's tough for me to completely walk away.
I just started reading your book, Anxiety in a Time of Crisis. So far, I like it. I'm glad it wasn't really thick, which I would have found intimidating in terms of the required focus. In fact I was holding it up over my head, to read, during a very long radiologic test, the other day. Perfect spot to be reading about anxiety.
Going to the dept. stores to sit on Santa's lap every year, was worth waiting for, all year -- and we were not even Christian! Santa, and parents driving us around to see all the neighborhood Christmas lights, was the best! Plus we got 8 *days* of presents! Best of both worlds, surely. :-)
I, too, found that counseling services became least available when they were most needed, which was when the pandemic began. There is still a dearth, and I refuse to do therapy over Zoom. I don't blame therapists for leaving their jobs to take care of their own health or loved ones, but at this point I think they just don't want to pay the overhead costs of renting office space, so they just sit home and conveniently do things virtually. My dr. has now refused to require masks in her office in violation of state law, so I must talk to her only on the phone. If I didn't need her so much, I would switch drs, but she is special -- and also the "covid isn't real/serious" philosophy is so pervasive that there'd be slim chance of finding another dr. who will enforce the mask requirement. (Also, there are a LOT of bad, i.e., harmful, therapists out there.)
In response to you mentioning that no one from your company checked to see how you were, on your leave of absence: I took a months-long leave of absence from a prior job, and no one contacted me either. I really think that the employer chooses to stay silent, rather than risk getting sued for potentially contributing to a mental health decline -- and it sounds like your former employer perhaps had reason to worry about that. Most employers are thinking about their bottom line -- not getting sued. And they may instruct their employees to stay mum, as well.
Sincerely asking, 2 things:
1. How do you know if someone's sporadic but chronic cruel behavior is emanating from their illness, or if it's just who they are, morally?
2. Should it make a difference? When someone who has been diagnosed as bipolar behaves this way toward me, I am afraid to be around her -- I am always waiting for the outburst, the other shoe to drop. And sooner or later, it always does, and I have to go through months of painful emotional recovery. Would you advise I just stay away from this person to protect myself? It's someone in my family, whom I care about, so it's tough for me to completely walk away.