My battle with Mental Illness

[Belacqua]

So... questions? Comments? In case you're wondering what it was I actually did I literally just walked into a house that wasn't my own, sat on the sofa and watched TV while talking shit. Literally it.

Wow, this brings back memories. 

I grew up near Larned, Kansas, and then spent time in Lawrence and the Overland Park area. So I know the places you mention, though I haven't been back for a long time. I'm pretty sure I've driven through Osawatomie. 

Somehow I imagine Kansas doesn't have the best health care in the world. My best friend in high school was in and out of the hospital with emotional issues, and definitely didn't get the help she needed for a long time. So it doesn't surprise me if it took the people there a while to figure out what you need. 

It sounds as if you are in a good situation now, though, and working on good stuff. I really hope things are going well for you.

[T.J.]

Kansas is a backwards conservative state so no, we don't have that good of a healthcare system. When I was needing help for a mental crisis back in 2014 I was given the runaround and never got help. I just got some sleeping meds to put me out because I almost went an entire week without any sleep.

After jail Larned was a breath of fresh air. Still not a place I'd prefer to go to, but for someplace I had to be it wasn't too bad. The staff were all nice and understanding. Though I've seen some crazy shit there. OSH was a lot better of a facility than Larned though. And Countryside is even better than OSH so my step down program is doing wonders for me.

I also had a really good therapist at Larned. Though she wasn't assigned to me. I had to ask to receive therapy because I had a lot on my plate I wanted to talk about. They gave me a really nice lady who knew what she was doing and she helped me a lot. I'll never forget her. I had some cool therapists at OSH too that were really down to Earth and fun to talk to. Yeah I actually enjoy therapy. I had good experiences with it thankfully.

[Angrboda]

I'm glad to hear that you are doing better. I have schizoaffective disorder, but have been experiencing mental wellness for about 4 years.

[T.J.]

I'm glad to hear you've been well for four years.

Oh I have another Larned story I want to share. You guys can appreciate this. The librarian at Larned is a fucking badass. They wanted to ban some of his more graphic books and you know what he did? He took out the mother fucking bible, slammed it on his desk and said, "Have you read this book? There's death and incest in the first chapter."

He officially became my favorite person after hearing that story. He also enjoyed getting the conservatives there all worked up.

[Belacqua]

Kansas is a backwards conservative state so no, we don't have that good of a healthcare system. When I was needing help for a mental crisis back in 2014 I was given the runaround and never got help. I just got some sleeping meds to put me out because I almost went an entire week without any sleep.

After jail Larned was a breath of fresh air. Still not a place I'd prefer to go to, but for someplace I had to be it wasn't too bad. The staff were all nice and understanding. Though I've seen some crazy shit there. OSH was a lot better of a facility than Larned though. And Countryside is even better than OSH so my step down program is doing wonders for me.

I also had a really good therapist at Larned. Though she wasn't assigned to me. I had to ask to receive therapy because I had a lot on my plate I wanted to talk about. They gave me a really nice lady who knew what she was doing and she helped me a lot. I'll never forget her. I had some cool therapists at OSH too that were really down to Earth and fun to talk to. Yeah I actually enjoy therapy. I had good experiences with it thankfully.

I'm glad to hear you found good people! That makes all the difference. And I admit I may have been a little unfair about Kansas -- there are plenty of sincere and kind people. Maybe that's a kind of good old fashioned conservatism -- just wanting to do a good job and help people. 

And, as I say, I'm thinking of experiences from decades ago. In fact my friend from high school got things sorted out and is now working as a psychiatrist, so she also found help -- after a few rough years. And my niece trained as a music therapist at KU, so I know that high-level therapists are out there. She does great work. 

I agree with you about talk therapy. I did a few years of it here in Japan, and there's no question that it was a great experience. Like a college class where I am the teacher, and the only student, and the subject of the class is me. When I am emperor, talk therapy will be free and highly recommended for everyone.

[T.J.]

Yeah conservatives who work in the mental health profession are a lot more understanding of these kinds of things than conservatives who are on the outside looking in. I met more conservatives at Larned and OSH than I did liberals and while some were unfortunately vast Trump supporters, they were at least pro mental health awareness.

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

I'm glad to hear that you are doing better.  I have schizoaffective disorder, but have been experiencing mental wellness for about 4 years.

Wonderful to hear! I'm really pleased to hear to you are able to live a normal life. 

My battle with depression/social anxiety has been on and off for over 50 years. Currently stable for 5 years.

Learning that I'm on the autism spectrum in 2012 helped great deal. Since then I've been working on self acceptance rather trying to fix myself. Used alcohol for many years as a totally ineffective form of self medication. Now sober since 2002.

[The Grand Nudger]

 I met more conservatives at Larned and OSH than I did liberals and while some were unfortunately vast Trump supporters, they were at least pro mental health awareness.

Thinking about it, that probably buttressed their trump support.  They knew he couldn't really help but be himself, he's sick.  Can't hold that against a person. 

[TheClearCleanStuff]

You're lucky  you didn't end up pushing a shopping cart and standing on the corner with a cardboard sign begging. That's what happens to probably most of our mentally ill. We just stick a label in them calling them "homeless" as if all they need is a house and they'll be fine. So sick of hearing this homeless garbage when the "homeless" are nearly all displaying obvious symptoms of severe mental illness a 12 year old kid could recognize. Why isn't anyone protesting about this if protesting is the thing to do these days? I guess we're lucky society takes our physical illnesses seriously at least.

[The Grand Nudger]

People did, back while they were being made homeless as communities disabused themselves of a responsibility to care, emptying out wards. Started back in 1965 when medicaid and medicare were established. Mentally ill people living on their own were eligible, but psychiatric patients were not. Discharging them was a way to push the cost to the federal government.

After they'd emptied the wards to push off those costs, they used the now nearly empty wards as a reason to cut funding for mental health programs. Pretty sure Saint Ronny got in on that action...but I might be wrong, I constantly mix up the dates and neer do wells. I know that he ended up, when he was president, pushing the bill back on the states - but they'd already slashed funding because of the prior grift......so, here we are.

People saw this for what it was at every step of the way - but there's little that can be done about it in the here and now.