Post by Admin on Jun 19, 2015 17:47:32 GMT
The following are some of my favorite lessons individuals on the internet have said they would most want to see taught in schools. Here I will do my best to explain why they resonate with me and how my lived experience supports them (even though I am not the one who came up with them). The individuals who came up with these will be left anonymous out of respect for their privacy.
1. “[Teach] that having a dx isn't a sentence to a life of just getting by."
It’s pretty common for people to comfort individuals going through a difficult experience by saying “don’t worry, these things don’t last forever, this will all blow over if you just hang on”. I have even heard hospital staff say this to patients in a psych ward. In one instance, I observed a patient who was told this pointedly reject the notion. And rightfully so. She had been struggling with depression for 30 years. She needed to hear something else.
It's a natural and well-intentioned thing to comfort someone who's in pain by saying the pain is going to end. But the fact is, these issues ARE lifelong for many people. In light of this fact, a message like the one above may actually by more universally helpful.
2. “Make sure to incorporate success stories.”
I'm a big believer in teaching mental health issues by presenting real accounts of people who have struggled mental health issues. I tend to focus on this as a way to fight minimization, to impart the seriousness and even the horror of these issues to people.
For me personally, the above reminder is extremely helpful. Some people don't need to be reminded of how painful these experiences can be; some people need to be assured that there is a way out, or at least through, what they are dealing with. I know for me personally there have been times when hearing a teacher use real life examples to convince people that depression is absolutely more horrible than most people can imagine would not have been a helpful thing to sit through, and could have been downright dangerous. The key is not to dumb it down, but simply to provide stories of strength and success as well.
3. “Call attention to the misleading use of words like ‘OCD, Depressed, Manic, Crazy’ as slang.”
I don't know if I would personally advise people NOT to use these words as slang or simply encourage people to be aware of the dual meanings, but having a vague, slang version of each of these clinical terms (well, except for crazy) can be extremely confusing for people trying to navigate these issues, and can sometimes be downright offensive.
4. “Teach kids to be smart consumers around mental health.”
It has absolutely been my experience that intelligently choosing what treatment methods and services to pursue/consume/pay for has been one of the most important skills in my journey of learning to manage depression.
There are so many different treatments and services for mental health issues on the market, and there are so many new ones being invented all the time. It seems that for any given individual, some will help, some will do nothing, and some will actually make things worse. It would then seem like one of the critical skills for a person dealing with mental health issues is to be an educated consumer. This is even more true for individuals who have a limited amount of money to spend on goods and services relating to mental health.
So, what if we started framing mental health as a consumer tool? This could mean teaching students how to read a clinical study (what a placebo is, what “double-blind” means, etc…). It could also mean teaching and contextualizing the DSM so that students understand that the diagnostic language that comes out of it is artificial, imperfect, and quite capable of being misused and overused, even by clinicians. My lived experience with this is that I was given seven new diagnoses by a psychologist about a year ago, only to have several different clinicians assure me that this was a frivolous and inappropriate use of diagnostic language.
5. “Teach activism and social engagement as wellness tools.”
Activism and social engagement are NOT purely sacrificial things. I know from personal experience that these sorts of activities can foster all sorts of positive feelings; feelings of empowerment, purpose, connectedness, and even FUN. Civic engagement can be a great way of combatting negative feelings too, especially feelings that life is meaningless or pointless. So, why not teach these activities as wellness tools? It makes perfect sense, and the implications for society as a whole could be pretty profound.
1. “[Teach] that having a dx isn't a sentence to a life of just getting by."
It’s pretty common for people to comfort individuals going through a difficult experience by saying “don’t worry, these things don’t last forever, this will all blow over if you just hang on”. I have even heard hospital staff say this to patients in a psych ward. In one instance, I observed a patient who was told this pointedly reject the notion. And rightfully so. She had been struggling with depression for 30 years. She needed to hear something else.
It's a natural and well-intentioned thing to comfort someone who's in pain by saying the pain is going to end. But the fact is, these issues ARE lifelong for many people. In light of this fact, a message like the one above may actually by more universally helpful.
2. “Make sure to incorporate success stories.”
I'm a big believer in teaching mental health issues by presenting real accounts of people who have struggled mental health issues. I tend to focus on this as a way to fight minimization, to impart the seriousness and even the horror of these issues to people.
For me personally, the above reminder is extremely helpful. Some people don't need to be reminded of how painful these experiences can be; some people need to be assured that there is a way out, or at least through, what they are dealing with. I know for me personally there have been times when hearing a teacher use real life examples to convince people that depression is absolutely more horrible than most people can imagine would not have been a helpful thing to sit through, and could have been downright dangerous. The key is not to dumb it down, but simply to provide stories of strength and success as well.
3. “Call attention to the misleading use of words like ‘OCD, Depressed, Manic, Crazy’ as slang.”
I don't know if I would personally advise people NOT to use these words as slang or simply encourage people to be aware of the dual meanings, but having a vague, slang version of each of these clinical terms (well, except for crazy) can be extremely confusing for people trying to navigate these issues, and can sometimes be downright offensive.
4. “Teach kids to be smart consumers around mental health.”
It has absolutely been my experience that intelligently choosing what treatment methods and services to pursue/consume/pay for has been one of the most important skills in my journey of learning to manage depression.
There are so many different treatments and services for mental health issues on the market, and there are so many new ones being invented all the time. It seems that for any given individual, some will help, some will do nothing, and some will actually make things worse. It would then seem like one of the critical skills for a person dealing with mental health issues is to be an educated consumer. This is even more true for individuals who have a limited amount of money to spend on goods and services relating to mental health.
So, what if we started framing mental health as a consumer tool? This could mean teaching students how to read a clinical study (what a placebo is, what “double-blind” means, etc…). It could also mean teaching and contextualizing the DSM so that students understand that the diagnostic language that comes out of it is artificial, imperfect, and quite capable of being misused and overused, even by clinicians. My lived experience with this is that I was given seven new diagnoses by a psychologist about a year ago, only to have several different clinicians assure me that this was a frivolous and inappropriate use of diagnostic language.
5. “Teach activism and social engagement as wellness tools.”
Activism and social engagement are NOT purely sacrificial things. I know from personal experience that these sorts of activities can foster all sorts of positive feelings; feelings of empowerment, purpose, connectedness, and even FUN. Civic engagement can be a great way of combatting negative feelings too, especially feelings that life is meaningless or pointless. So, why not teach these activities as wellness tools? It makes perfect sense, and the implications for society as a whole could be pretty profound.