On mental illness, real vs fake bipolar and corporal punishment
I enjoy listening to a weekly web radio show on magic and spirituality, where people can call in and get advice/remedies to their spiritual issues. However, today's show really upset me.
A caller said her boyfriend, who has bipolar disorder, took a purposeful overdose of his psychiatric medication at their home; she called 911 and had him hospitalized involuntarily for 72 hours. Now he is very angry at her, refuses her visits at the hospital (he is no longer involuntarily committed but is in a psych hospital) and blames her for having him hospitalized.
She was calling in for advice as to blessing or healing work that she could do for him, and if their relationship could be saved.
One advisor (there are two hosts of the show; those listening can also comment via chat room) said "You did the right thing, and of course his illness is making him not act rationally towards you. There may be prayer work you can do for him but being in a romance with a bipolar person is very very hard, and this may not work for you in the long term."
(This is paraphrased.)
The other advisor said he didn't believe this man's bipolar disease was a mental illness, that it stemmed from early childhood trauma, and then he went on to say that (and again I'm paraphrasing) "too many children are over medicated in this country and they aren't physically disciplined like they were in my day. No one had it harder than us living under Jim Crow in the South, but we knew how to behave ourselves. In my day, if you acted at all 'bipolar', you got your ass beat by the parents and you weren't bipoar anymore."
And all these people in the chat room were responding "Yeah, you tell 'em!"
I'm like WTF!
First off, this call hit a nerve with me: my boyfriend in college, R, made a suicide attempt while he was on the phone with me. Did I mention I was at my internship at the time? In a panic, I called the paramedics in our college town (I was a few hundred miles away) and they took him to the hospital. When he got out, he was pissed that I "stuck him with a big ambulance bill".
Second of all, I fail once again to see ANY FUCKING REASON WHY HITTING OR BEATING A CHILD FOR DISCIPLINARY PURPOSES IS AT ALL NECESSARY. And I REALLY don't see how it has an affect on someone's adult mental health. My dad was the oldest of 10. They all were physically punished by their parents. Two wound up with mental illness and my uncle killed himself when I was 16. The rest are fine. Your math=fail.
I was so damn angry; I put in a fairly calm response that Bipolar disease is a legitimate diagnosis from medical professionals, that it can be treated with medication and therapy. And of course no one wants to listen la la la la...
I logged out, dammit dammit. Fuckin' a. Just 'cuz you're spiritual doesn't mean you don't have your head up your ass.
A caller said her boyfriend, who has bipolar disorder, took a purposeful overdose of his psychiatric medication at their home; she called 911 and had him hospitalized involuntarily for 72 hours. Now he is very angry at her, refuses her visits at the hospital (he is no longer involuntarily committed but is in a psych hospital) and blames her for having him hospitalized.
She was calling in for advice as to blessing or healing work that she could do for him, and if their relationship could be saved.
One advisor (there are two hosts of the show; those listening can also comment via chat room) said "You did the right thing, and of course his illness is making him not act rationally towards you. There may be prayer work you can do for him but being in a romance with a bipolar person is very very hard, and this may not work for you in the long term."
(This is paraphrased.)
The other advisor said he didn't believe this man's bipolar disease was a mental illness, that it stemmed from early childhood trauma, and then he went on to say that (and again I'm paraphrasing) "too many children are over medicated in this country and they aren't physically disciplined like they were in my day. No one had it harder than us living under Jim Crow in the South, but we knew how to behave ourselves. In my day, if you acted at all 'bipolar', you got your ass beat by the parents and you weren't bipoar anymore."
And all these people in the chat room were responding "Yeah, you tell 'em!"
I'm like WTF!
First off, this call hit a nerve with me: my boyfriend in college, R, made a suicide attempt while he was on the phone with me. Did I mention I was at my internship at the time? In a panic, I called the paramedics in our college town (I was a few hundred miles away) and they took him to the hospital. When he got out, he was pissed that I "stuck him with a big ambulance bill".
Second of all, I fail once again to see ANY FUCKING REASON WHY HITTING OR BEATING A CHILD FOR DISCIPLINARY PURPOSES IS AT ALL NECESSARY. And I REALLY don't see how it has an affect on someone's adult mental health. My dad was the oldest of 10. They all were physically punished by their parents. Two wound up with mental illness and my uncle killed himself when I was 16. The rest are fine. Your math=fail.
I was so damn angry; I put in a fairly calm response that Bipolar disease is a legitimate diagnosis from medical professionals, that it can be treated with medication and therapy. And of course no one wants to listen la la la la...
I logged out, dammit dammit. Fuckin' a. Just 'cuz you're spiritual doesn't mean you don't have your head up your ass.