Hi @Willy .🙂 I think you must've overloaded the SANE servers with this thread. Like @Appleblossom , I didn't recieve any notifications for the numerous tags you did of my name.
@Willy wrote:
What the hell does "psychosocial" - let alone ""biopsychosocial" mean?
I didn't invent these terms. I just try to use the same jargon that all the pro's use so that I am not quite so easily labelled as a deluded idiot which has been something of a problem throughout my life.
I know. I apologize if it came off as if I was attacking you for the language used in your post; that was not my intention. I was more raging against the fact that these are the official terms that dominate the conversations these days.
The mere fact that these are the terms that have been settled upon by all the pros more or less railroads laypeople like us in to having to use them in our conversations, even though the terms are mostly so vague and nonsensical as to basically be meaningless.
@Willy wrote:
If you contact your general medical practitioner and they are not all for medication which in my experience at least a few of them aren't they may help you skirt around the state government system and get set up with a qualified psychologist subsidised by medicare.
Which is just as useless - and potentially harmful - as the pill pushers. My pill-pusher psychiatrist was no day at the beach, but by far the worst dammage I experianced was done by my psychologist.
For me, the issue with involving my GP in my dillemma was that I was uncomfortable airing my personal problems, and personal values to him. A GP's sole job, as far as I'm concerned, is to attend to my medical needs. I didn't want to face funny looks that said: "Oh, it's that creepy, screwed up guy again," every time I needed to wander in to the clinic to get some bronchitis, etc. treated. What I wanted was a completely detatched helper who would fix my problems for me, and then disappear from my life forever, so that I wouldn't have to permanently be entangled with someone who looked at me like some kind of walking defect, whose mentality creeped them out and spoiled their sense of community.
But even putting my personal hangups aside, I don't know if GPs actually help with non-medical problems these days.
My family tells tales of a great-aunt we had, who was unemployed and so her doctor gave her a job. That would've been back in the 40s or 50s; they don't seem to do that anymore. Instead, they just push you on to a therapist, and they don't help, either.
@Willy wrote:
When a person loses their job, can't pay the bills, experiences the death or serious illness of a loved one etc etc they are not "mentally ill". They are distressed, sometimes horribly so. The reality is that normal life can be very difficult at times for many people. Facilities like the SANE forum try to act as a substitute or perhaps supplement for family and friends but imo, it is done in an incompetent, cumbersome and often arrogant way that often severely limits its usefulness.
I think I can relate to your gripes there, somewhat.
Last year, the government beaurocracy started coming after me (due to a data screwup on their part). I had an early inkling that I was about to encounter some grief with them, so I came on here, asking for help finding therapists/services that sort out beaurocracy stuff-ups for people.
Much to my frustration, I was told that no such service exists, or at least, nobody here knew of any such service, and that I was essentially on my own. Yet again, I reach out for help only to be told it does not exist. And the MH campaign ads & anti-suicide billboards: "No matter what your going through, there is help available!" keep rolling. As do my eyes whenever I have to see them.
Thankfully, my beaurocratic grievance was corrected rather promptly. But I know many others aren't so fortunate - often leading to extreme depression, anxiety, and suicides.
I'm not faulting SANE for not having any answers. But I'm more or less agreeing with you that it's folly for the public and government to think that places like this fill the needs that go untended by the rest of the mental health industry. Because clearly they don't.
@Willy wrote:
Do the words "A caring and sharing community" mean anything to you?
They didn't. 😉 But I Googled them, and I believe I know who your talking about, now. Can't say I'd heard much about them beforehand.
