sheepthechicken

I wanted to say I appreciate you and your peers being open to ‘admitting’ and discussing the “We don’t knows.” Too many practitioners in not-YET-conventional areas of medicine will downplay the unknown or the uncertain in an attempt to oversell what is for certain.

The hardest thing with mental health is everyone needs something different, and it’s incredibly hard to know what to ask for when you’re lost yourself. And for the friend on your end of the conversation, I can’t even imagine how scary and overwhelming it is.

I’ve found there’s a power in being direct and providing validation. Are you safe right now? If yes...you feel this way and that’s ok...but let’s see what we can do to get you to the next minute.

Your friend is lucky to have someone who cares as much as you do.

How do ‘gut microbiome’ stool studies account for natural daily variation in types/volume of bacteria? My naturopath had me do one of those tests, and she told me that results are rarely consistent - if I did a test on Monday and Tuesday, the results wouldn’t be exactly the same - but that they’re not SO varied as to be useless.

I...fourth?...this recommendation!!

This is an incredibly important question...sort of the top tier of shitty views of mental health. There’s a fear of being “punished” for thinking that way...leading to feeling wrong and invalidated...deepening the cycle of depression.

I don’t know what the answer is but in my experience most people not in the mental health field react poorly to suicidal ideation. There’s people in the field that do!! If the person is in imminent risk, they should be able to actually talk to someone who knows what they’re doing, not someone who’s scared they’ll have another death on their hands if they don’t immediately wheel their patient off to the psych unit.

Last year I was hospitalized after a half-hearted suicide attempt. The staff at the ER were terrible, and they assigned a “sitter” to wait with me...and she wasn’t even allowed to talk except to yell at me when I got up to pee. Shit, if they had handed me a phone and a crisis line number I would probably be in a much better place now. I just wanted to be heard, and I didn’t know what to do to get there.

(Side note: I do agree with involuntary holds if the person is at risk for hurting others or they’re in a state...like psychotic or completely dissociated...where they may “unintentionally” harm themselves)