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Tag Archives: bipolar
Going Into the System: Welfare
I was on Welfare. It was the early 1970’s and I had what was diagnosed as “major depression, severe and recurrent.” In fact, it was bipolar depression, type two, but it wouldn’t be correctly diagnosed for another couple decades. I had … Continue reading
Posted in Depression, disability, Government Services, Housing, Poverty, Values
Tagged bipolar, Bipolar disorder, depression, Dept. of Social Services, disability, extended family, families, family, Food Stamps, government subsidies, independence, mental disorder, mental illness, nuclear family, Onondaga County, Post-Standard, poverty, poverty line, psychiatric disorders, standard of living, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, The System, values, Welfare
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Men, Women and Doctors
The sun has risen on a skiff of snow covering the houses and hills outside my window. My home and I are quiet this morning. James Taylor’s “You’ve Got a Friend” accompanies tea. Rainbows are dancing off the prism … Continue reading
Posted in activism, advocacy, American medical industry, drugs, God, Health Care, Medical care, Pharmaceuticals, physician, Power, Sex, Spirituality, Values
Tagged antidepressants, Ativan, bipolar, Bipolar disorder, bully, complaince, Conditions and Diseases, disability, doctors, Drug, drugs, God, health care, Lorazepam, Medicine, men, MS, multiple sclerosis, patients, pharmaceutical, pharmaceuticals, Physician, physicians, power, psychologist, relationships, sex, side-effects, sleep, Sleep apnea, Sleep disorder, spirituality, therapist, women
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Welfare Isn’t Welfare Anymore
Temporary Assistance is the term used in New York State for public assistance (welfare) programs. Temporary Assistance provides families and individuals with short-term help while they work toward self-sufficiency. In New York State there are three financial assistance programs: Family Assistance … Continue reading
Posted in Government Services, Poverty
Tagged abuse, assets, automobile, bipolar, Civic Center, County Office Building, David Sutkowy, Dept. of Social Services, disability, Disabled, emergency temporary assistance, eviction, family assistance, food, funeral, HEAP, heat, homeless, income, Intake Unit, Onondaga County New York, public assistance, safety net assistance, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, utilities, violence, Welfare
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Behind the Locked Doors
One day I asked a writer-friend who had read a lot of my writing what he was most interested in reading. He said, “The things about inpatient psychiatry.” The doors are locked—nobody knows what goes on behind them. I’ve been … Continue reading
Posted in Health Care, Mental Illness & Health, Power, disability, Medical care, American medical industry, Depression, Powerlessness, Pharmaceuticals, Poverty
Tagged health care, mental illness, psychiatric disorders, diagnosis, mental disorder, suicide, depression, bipolar, antidepressants, Medicare, Medicaid, doctors, drugs, mental health, pharmaceuticals, power, disability, Medicine, Physician, patients, Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health, Community General Hospital, inpatient psychiatry, Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse Psychiatric Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, Hutchings Psychiatric Center, Benjamin Rush Center, Four Winds, CPEP
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Behind the Locked Doors of Inpatient Psychiatry: About the Author (Part I)
When I was fourteen, I was diagnosed with depression and saw a psychologist for psychotherapy twice a week for about a year and a half. It was ineffective, so I got shipped off to boarding school. The bouts of depression … Continue reading
Posted in Depression, Medical care, Mental Illness & Health, Pharmaceuticals, Poverty, Powerlessness
Tagged antidepressants, bipolar, borderline personality disorder, depression, drugs, hospital, immune system, inpatient psychiatry, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicine, mental disorder, mental illness, overdose, pharmaceuticals, pheromones, physicians, power, psychiatric disorders, Psychiatrist, Psychiatry, psychologist, Psychotherapy, suicide, therapist
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About Me
I am a tenth generation American, descended from a family that has been working a farm that was deeded to us by William Penn. The country has changed around us but we have held true. I stand in my grandmother’s kitchen, … Continue reading
Posted in activism, advocacy, American medical industry, Death, Depression, disability, disability rights, God, Government Services, Health Care, Housing, Medical care, Mental Illness & Health, Pharmaceuticals, Poverty, Power, Spirituality, Values
Tagged antidepressants, bipolar, Conditions and Diseases, death, depression, disability, disability rights, doctors, drugs, end-of-life, God, Governance, Health, health care, Holy Bible, HUD, immune system, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicine, mental disorder, mental health, mental illness, Onondaga County, paratransit, pharmaceuticals, Physician, power, problem solving, psychiatric disorders, Religion and Spirituality, values
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The “Chemical Imbalance” Theory of Depression
I have bipolar depression, which is triggered by powerlessness, and I am kept powerless when I’m in the doctor’s waiting room. We all need—each and every one of us—a certain degree of power over our own lives. We have to have … Continue reading
Posted in activism, advocacy, American medical industry, Depression, Health Care, Medical care, Mental Illness & Health, Power, Powerlessness
Tagged anger, Antidepressant, antidepressants, bipolar, Chemical imbalance, Conditions and Diseases, depression, diagnosis, doctor's waiting room, doctors, drugs, Health, health care, irritability, Major depressive disorder, Medicine, mental disorder, mental health, mental illness, National Institute for Mental Health, National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH, Patient, patients, pharmaceuticals, Physician, power, problem solving, psychiatric disorders, Psychiatry
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Depression: What Your Psychiatrist Doesn’t Know or Won’t Tell You (part II)
Periodically, the system would get Mary Lou jammed in. She was “powerless” and could not move, except that Mary Lou never saw herself as powerless. She would sit down, take a legal pad, swivel around to look out the window, … Continue reading
Posted in activism, advocacy, American medical industry, Depression, Health Care, Medical care, Mental Illness & Health, Power, Powerlessness
Tagged antidepressants, bipolar, Conditions and Diseases, depression, diagnosis, Disorders, doctors, drugs, Health, Jesus, Major depressive disorder, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicine, mental disorder, mental health, mental illness, Mood, patients, pharmaceuticals, Physician, physicians, power, powerless, problem solving, psychiatric disorders, Psychiatry
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Depression: What Your Psychiatrist Doesn’t Know or Won’t Tell You (part I)
Depression is anger born of powerlessness and turned inward by people with a certain genetic predisposition. Depression is not your fault but you can beat it. It is triggered by an interaction between your genes and your world—“depression via a … Continue reading
Posted in activism, Depression, Mental Illness & Health, Power, Powerlessness
Tagged alcoholism, anger, antidepressants, bipolar, Conditions and Diseases, depression, diagnosis, doctors, drugs, Gene, genetic, Health, Medicine, mental disorder, mental health, mental illness, Mood, National Institute of Mental Health, NIMH, NYS Office of Mental Health, power, powerlessness, psychiatric disorders, psychiatric peer support, Psychiatry, stress
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The Body of Mental Illness, part II
I was in the hospital and I needed to take a nap. I have severe obstructive sleep apnea, so I needed my CPAP (no, dearies, not a Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program, but a Continuous Positive Air Pressure machine—it blows air … Continue reading
