Much appreciated.  I get a lot of hope from Joey and many other stories of recovery around here.  Thank you for visiting my site.

Take Care,

Sandy

Dear Jim,

You said in a blog response ... sorry forgot where ...

"I think initially it was a good idea to see mental health as a medical problem so people could get treatment under insurance coverage. Unfortunately, that allowed for a lot of misunderstanding about mental illness, and created the stigma that we are now trying to eliminate today. Part of that is making mental illness "normal." Then that goes toward medical necessity and what insurance will cover for counseling and treatment."

.. and I was trying to figure this out in terms of my own search for help and treatment over 40+ years.  

And to add to the strangeness of my story, my mother was an M.D. psychiatrist who practiced in the 60's, 70's, and 80's.  She was also (ironically -- my soap opera of a life -- extremely verbally abusive to me and, well everyone.)

Though I had symptoms of anxiety, depression, and depersonalization that she was diagnosing in her own patients she never "allowed" me to get help, as it would be "shameful for a psychiatrists doctor to go to a psychiatrist" -- see my website for the insanity, lol.

At any rate, what I encountered over the years was observing a transition from the "50 minute hour" with psychiatrists who provided both medication and psychoanalysis (Freudian), to pure psychoanalysis, to a move towards the biological model.  It wasn't until that last stage, in the 1990s that I received the proper medical and therapeutic treatment.

Bottom line, making certain mental illness was MEDICAL was the key to getting someone to listen and gave my illness some legitimacy.  Unfortunately, and Joey has said this -- why isn't the brain in the same category as the liver or kidney or heart in that the brain can "malfunction", "get sick."  Every mentally healthy person I know DOES NOT UNDERSTAND THIS ... some who are very intelligent people.

IMHO, there is a pervasive belief that mental illness is "mumbo jumbo", "laziness", etc.  It is THAT stigma I still run across.  And I also have seen medical residents (less expensive way to continue my meds, I see an ACSW for therapy) who know NOTHING of what their dealing with.

My biggest beef in that is no understanding of depersonalization/derealization -- my feelings of unreality, which are actually very common; in my case, they are chronic and have been for years.

I'm rambling on, but I guess it seems KEY that we make people understand that the brain can "get sick", just like the heart can "get sick."  We MUST promoted the medical model, not just for parity, but for others to believe this is something that is as disabling as many other physical illnesses.

My saga, which is there for both promoting understanding of depersonalization as well as for mental health advocacy is at http://www.dreamchild.net  

I am thrilled with Joey's activity, as it seems to focus on this ... he found after so many years of suffering that there was a medical solution to his suffering ... and yet he is still not able to talk openly about it.  A diabetic who requires insulin for the rest of his/her life -- people "get" that.  Someone who needs medication to function in society due to any mental illness ... no one gets it.

Maybe I should post this somewhere as in my own blog, but I was mulling your comment and it made me think.

Cheers.  Thanks for reading.  Curious about a response.

Sandy