Minds

Whenever [my last therapist and I] got to talking about the ways that being fat had shaped my romantic experiences, or the ways that racism or xenophobia had shaped my family’s life, she would get this far-off look. Like, she wanted to believe me, but that she was grappling with this belief that I was choosing to see life this way.

Prescribe, refer, repeat — that was the drill for several years. It wasn’t until I started to explore the impact of childhood adversity that I saw the big picture, and it began to make sense.

Seasonal Affective Disorder, a common mood disorder that was first described by Dr. Norman Rosenthal in 1984, is mostly discussed in terms of how it affects people in winter.
When I found out about summer SAD a few years ago through some online sleuthing, I felt relieved. I finally knew what was going on with me.

Back in my early twenties, I struggled financially. But more so in that much-mocked Millennial quest of “finding myself,” I made a number of questionable decisions.

How can we combat stigma? One way is to debunk the myths about addiction that currently saturate the public conversation. By breaking down these oppressive narratives, we can create an environment where people aren’t afraid to ask for the help they need to get well from the disease of addiction.

I was 40 years old the first time I said the words I need help — even though more than three decades had passed since I first became aware that something was not right.

As storytellers, disabled writers have thousands of stories inside of us, some related to our disabilities and some not. Some of us are lucky enough to have some sort of outlet for our words — in public and/or private spaces — while others still struggle to find the voice that lives within.

Imprecise, hurtful language is a problem, because it legitimizes other people’s use of the c-word. This perpetuates the stigma around mental illness, because if a mall full of people, or a rampaging toddler is “crazy”, that re-enforces the image that mental illness isn’t real disability. It says “crazy” just equals chaos, impulsiveness, or the inability to get your life together.