Rossa Forbes again writes amazing brilliant observations in the post in response to the CNN piece on childhood bipolar. Simple, profound and simply missed by almost everyone. This is why I love her work. As a mother of a child who was labeled with a psychiatric illness she is able to say with plenty of self-respect what others cannot say. Without self-blame she is able to take appropriate amounts of responsibility while also encouraging her son to do the same. Her whole blog is worth reading by anyone but especially parents who find themselves in the mental health system with their children regardless of diagnosis.
From today’s post:
Being on the person’s side, seeing life from someone else’s point of view, is huge in healing. Most parents are too busy settling disputes amongst siblings to really focus on the child’s point of view.
When we landed in the mental health system, after a while I began to wonder who was really on Chris’s side. It took me a while, but I finally realized that Chris’s perceptions were real, not something that should be dismissed as lunatic ravings. Okay, psychosis is an unusual way to express yourself, but for some people, it is the only way until they master a way of not retreating into psychosis. The doctors claimed they were on Chris’s side, but then they referred to him as a patient, they spoke of his delusions, they gave him drugs to sedate him. They encouraged a view of a limited future.
Parents can easily fall into the same trap and will take the side of the doctor, which is a negative and mechanical view of the individual. Ian and I cajoled Chris into taking his meds because the doctors said it was essential. We looked at Chris as if he was the crazy one. We were not on his side. We confused empathy with pity. read the rest
Today on twitter was this tweet (via @damici2):
The near enemy of compassion is pity, which keeps one at a distance and does not urge one to help.
Everything matters 