you say potato, I say quality of life.
Jun. 13th, 2010 03:01 amI've been reading around the responses to Robin Hobb being WRONG WRONG WRONG about how you can get through mental illness if you just Think Happy and it'll make you a better artist in the long run and pardon me while I trail off into an enraged mumble about all the stupid wrong hurtful shit she said.
The general tenor of the responses was along the lines of "who says shit like that, everyone knows she's wrong" and![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
avendya pointed out that actually, yes, people do say shit like that all the time. People do tell you that it's all in your head and if you just think positive you'll get better. People do harrumph disapprovingly when you buy a box of painkillers within a couple of weeks of buying the previous box. People do tell you all the goddamn time that your health problems would just go away if you lost weight or stopped medicating so much or spent less time on the computer.
Fuck that. I am so angry when this shit happens, and it makes me angriest when it happens around issues of mental health. ( (mention of symptoms, may be triggery?) )
FUCK THAT. There should be no more stigma about brain chemistry that needs medication than asthma or diabetes or migraines or ... oh wait, they all have that ridiculous image as not being 'real', don't they? Fuck that, too. When you can heal your broken leg or your skin cancer or your ebola with positive thinking, losing weight, or just gritting your teeth, then I'll try them as treatment options for depression, chronic pain, or anything else you don't think is worthy of medical treatment. Sound fair?
ETA: Yes, this should probably go on my "RL" journal, but there's a ton of readers there who know him and I'm really not in the mood for dealing with deraily concern trolling about "yes but losing weight would help with chronic pain" from the lurkers who read me over there.
The general tenor of the responses was along the lines of "who says shit like that, everyone knows she's wrong" and
avendya pointed out that actually, yes, people do say shit like that all the time. People do tell you that it's all in your head and if you just think positive you'll get better. People do harrumph disapprovingly when you buy a box of painkillers within a couple of weeks of buying the previous box. People do tell you all the goddamn time that your health problems would just go away if you lost weight or stopped medicating so much or spent less time on the computer.Fuck that. I am so angry when this shit happens, and it makes me angriest when it happens around issues of mental health. ( (mention of symptoms, may be triggery?) )
FUCK THAT. There should be no more stigma about brain chemistry that needs medication than asthma or diabetes or migraines or ... oh wait, they all have that ridiculous image as not being 'real', don't they? Fuck that, too. When you can heal your broken leg or your skin cancer or your ebola with positive thinking, losing weight, or just gritting your teeth, then I'll try them as treatment options for depression, chronic pain, or anything else you don't think is worthy of medical treatment. Sound fair?
ETA: Yes, this should probably go on my "RL" journal, but there's a ton of readers there who know him and I'm really not in the mood for dealing with deraily concern trolling about "yes but losing weight would help with chronic pain" from the lurkers who read me over there.
