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transmutationisms · 1 year

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I feel like this is likely a bat to a hornet's nest topic but I deeply respect your takes and thoughts overall a lot so here goes: I really appreciate that the show frankly goes out of its way to not pathologize its characters and lets the audience sit with them in the context of their own lives. So I'm kind of baffled that so much focus is given to "diagnosing" them in fan discussions, the vast brunt of which Kendall gets. I don't understand how you can watch this show and understand him as someone who's been heavily abused and had his reactions to being abused weaponized against him and come away being like "wow it's so cringe he acts like that, he must have a brain disease and is just too stupid to understand that. every action he takes is because he is manic/depressed/letting the disease manifest. if only he took the good moral Legal drugs that I do instead of the ontologically bad ones that are Illegal and for dirty addicts. hopefully one day he will Get Help and Receive Treatment so he will be more palatable (no whatever he's done up to this point doesn't count because it didn't work which must inherently be due to his own moral failings)." How did a show like this attract so many Reganites??

bat at a hornets' nest yes. yeah i've said before that i dislike diagnosing fictional characters as a general rule. it's tautological ("they do [x] because they have [y], and they have [y] because they do [x]") and abrogates further analysis of their motives or the meanings of their actions. and it's doubly irksome to me with succession, because unlike a lot of tv, i genuinely don't think that it's written within the weltanschauung of dsm neurobio determinism. ie, it's not a show where the answer to "why did he do that?" is ever supposed to be "his brain is just like that"—these actions are supposed to mean something about what the character wants and needs, and the effect of the capitalist milieu on those things. it's psychological, not psychiatric (& of course, psychoanalytic approaches are common in formal literary studies, whereas blunt psychiatric diagnosis is decidedly less so).

with kendall's drug use there are some particularly irritating ways this all plays out. i've been fiddling with my own reading emphasising the context of logan's demands on kendall and the construction of bourgeois masculinity, and have tried to place kendall's drug use as a response to neoliberal control mechanisms à la deleuze or foucault. i could certainly be challenged on elements of this reading, but what i see on this website is generally just an endless slog of very biomedicalised reads that seem to have no awareness of the particular historical and social baggage present in that model. i do agree there's an element of reactionary DARE-esque moralising going on here (stg if i have to read one more post written by someone who, like, has never so much as met a coke user and thinks all drugs instantaneously give you irreversible morally weighted heart damage, lmao), but it's honestly not just that.

i think most of the time when people do this they're not trying to be reactionary or regressive, and often they not only don't believe themselves to be moralising affective distress, but actually think the dsm diagnosis is the way to avoid that type of moralisation. this is essentially the "it's a discrete disease entity, so they have no control over it and can't help it, so it's not their fault" argument. in practice this fails on many levels. for one thing, it often implicitly assumes that 'ending the stigma' requires any kind of mental disability or affective distress to be treated analogously to physical disability or illness, as though those latter are not also consistently stigmatised and moralised—because ableism is actually more complex than that and has to do with the fact that capitalism values people on the basis of the 'use' it can make of them and their bodies, etc etc. it is also, again, a wildly decontextualised understanding of affective distress, the reasons why people use drugs—including in a manner that feels compulsive and out of control—and so forth.

i'll add also that wrt succession, i actually do see a LOT of pathologisation thrown at roman as well, and more than an incidental amount directed at connor, tom, shiv, and logan. which is to say, i don't think this is solely about people's discomfort with addicts. there's a broad tendency among fans, echoing the even broader social tendency, to see medical diagnosis as personally liberatory, and medicine and psychiatry as passing 'objective' judgments that are necessary in order for a person to 'get better.' this is essentially positivism and is very much a status that the medical profession has fought to obtain (in france you can trace certain 18th-century discourses on national decline, aristocratic luxury, and the corrupting influence of the city -> the birth of clinical medicine after the first revolution -> social hygiene and the pathologisation of the parisian urban poor -> the third republic's 'physician-legislators' and the general class status and professionalisation of medicine; i know less about the gory details of the american and british cases simply by dint of what i do professionally).

we tend to forget these histories when talking about science; it presents itself as a set of timeless, incontrovertible truths that are simply waiting to be uncovered, and we have entire industries of science communication and journalism that propagate this view. which is to say, circling back to succession, i don't believe that most people diagnosing and pathologising these characters are trying to be reactionary or are aware that there are reactionary and moralising elements inherently built into these discourses. i think they're largely people who have not been given the tools to see alternatives, like the perspectives dominant in the history and sociology of science, which are very much kept paywalled and inaccessible on purpose because this is profitable for the academe.

this type of popular literary analysis is simply not going to go anywhere as long as this is still the status and the moral resonance of medicine (and psychiatry by extension because it gained its professional independence without sacrificing the appeal to medico-scientific epistemological authority). i don't think succession viewers are any more or less prone to this type of thinking than the general population they exist amongst. i firmly disagree with this attitude, obviously, and like i said, i don't actually think succession is written 'psychiatrically,' which cannot be said for all tv lol. but i more or less expect to encounter this type of deference to medico-psychiatric judgments in 95% of social interactions and contexts, again because of a combination of institutional control of information, other forms of inaccessibility, and physicians' and psychiatrists' advocacy for their own class and professional interests, both historically and ongoing today.

#psychiatry

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galaxywarp · 3 months

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I like and appreciate using NA as a tool for my recovery but I’ll resent anyone trying to force me to make it mean something to me that it doesn’t.

I go to meetings once in awhile when I need the community and to share about how im feeling with other addicts. And There was a point in time where I went to a meeting every single day for months because during that time, that’s what I needed.

But I’ve always been very angry about how much 12 step programs get railroaded onto everyone with an attitude of “you must do it this way. This is the only way and if you don’t do it right you’ll die”.

Like any addict ever is a bad horrible person if they don’t make AA or NA into their whole lives.

If you were sick with some disease and the medicine the doctor gave you to treat it didn’t work for you, it would be crazy and cruel to say it’s YOUR fault that it doesn’t work.

Yes it worked for some other people. But it not working for you isn’t some moral failing

You just find another treatment.

#the backbone of so many rehab places being to force people into AA and then take thousands of dollars for it #offload all of the actual psychological work onto overzealous Christians and bill them and call it a day.

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strangestcase · 1 year

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honestly it was already obvious with Jekyll saying he can get rid of Hyde any time he wants, as if Hyde wasnt a person to him but an addiction he fails to realize he is struggling with, but Hyde very much symbolizes Jekyll's addiction (to the drug/to being a bad person/to the euphoria both give him, etc, compare and contrast with: cocaine, alcohol; remember how prevalent alcohol is in this book? how the salts on Jekyll's table look like powdered cocaine? that's deliberate!)

and later, when Jekyll gets to narrate and describes the abstinence syndrome (from taking the potion/being Hyde) as he attempts to quit cold turkey as Hyde struggling for freedom (Hyde the addiction), then compares himself to an alcoholic when he talks about how he eventually consumed again (Hyde the drug)... and later as he describes his constant fixes as Hyde struggling to be born, born of him, overtake all he is or can be.

Then, as the transformations become more unstable he needs more serum, now no longer to experience a high but to REMAIN "normal", to remain "himself", to avoid experiencing pain which in this case comes from the transformations (into Hyde, remember, Hyde the addict) taking on the role of that very same abstinence syndrome, pushing him to consume whether he likes it or not.

what's more, during the last chapter, it seems that Jekyll transforms randomly into Hyde, but he associates those transformations to moments of mental vulnerability: any sort of moral weakness, faltering, even falling asleep, when he's most in touch with the subconscious mind that Hyde embodies!

So. knowing Stevenson was an addict as well... he anthropomorphized addiction as Hyde as much as Jekyll did. He gave it a face and a name (Edward Hyde), and meanwhile, as an echo of his creator, Jekyll takes his symbolic addiction and casts it away from him.

Notice how at first, Jekyll only refers to Hyde as "he", as someone other, when he's specifically talking about Hyde as a persona alone, as a side of himself; by the end of the narrative, he does so because he's disgusted of what he has become, because Hyde can't be human, and eventually Jekyll reasons he also can't even be a living thing, just something that can mimic life, something that can mimic a person. Which starts making sense when you take that for an allegory of addiction, and not a literal description.

the more evident it becomes for Jekyll that he's addicted to his creation (again- Hyde as the drug), that he's losing his body and mind to it, that it is a disease that is killing him, the less he wants to accept he is Hyde (the addict), but can only fight to keep him under control, can't kill him. likewise, as the addiction metaphor becomes more and more evident, Hyde also becomes more self-destructive, attacking and tormenting Jekyll out of pure spite, regardless of wether Jekyll is Hyde or not at the moment, because the addiction is always there even when you can't see it...

when you start the narrative it's clear that Hyde symbolizes the addict in Jekyll and the substance he craves, what has killed him, eventually taking over so much time of his life..., but also, the pervasive nature of addiction itself, in its most abstract and painful form. substance abuse can't create, only destroy.

And as a result, the story becomes more powerful and terrifying. Hyde becomes a formidable monster when you come to realize, you could be like him. You could be forced to fight him, to outsmart him, every day of your life, just like Jekyll, if the right circumstances arose. The monster is addiction. Something many readers might be familiar with, or also struggle with. The monster is in you. And it becomes all the easier to pity Jekyll even despite the horrible things he's done and allowed to happen- because what else there is to do in that situation? Who wouldn't turn to consume, even knowing the risks, in an oppressive, repressive society that rewards you for doing so?

So, that's why Hyde works so well as a villain, in my opinion. Not only he is a metaphor for the reader to decipher, but a metaphor within the universe of the story itself.

#jekyll and hyde #jekyll and hyde weekly #dr jekyll and mr hyde #the strange case of dr jekyll and mr hyde #long post

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secularprolifeconspectus · 1 year

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Abortions do not save the lives of young girls.

CW: CSA, rape, sui mention

It's a misconception that girls below teenage years can't safely carry a pregnancy to term. Provided they receive sufficient and timely maternal/prenatal care, doctors will follow the same protocols with smaller girls as they would for very short women. For some young girls it may be best that they not give vaginal birth, but the overall risk of harm to their bodies is mitigated by the timing and quality of their pregnancy care.

The reasons childhood pregnancies often have more complications is NOT because the bodies of young girls can't handle it. Complications commonly arise because childhood pregnancies are often discovered late (girl is too young to know signs of pregnancy and adults don't know until she starts showing), and because girls often lack access to good prenatal care (either because care is not available, or they aren't aware of the availability and necessity of such care).

Without early pregnancy care, girls are more likely to develop preventable disease or to let treatable disease progress. Pregnancy is not disease, but disease may happen within pregnancy.

Young girls are also more likely to experience complications from abortion procedures, such as asherman's syndrome and preterm birth in later pregnancies. Some studies found girls who experience abortion to be more at risk for cancer, addiction, and death by suicide later in life. Whether a childhood pregnancy ends in abortion or childbirth, there is no option that is free from risk of further harm.

And there is no option that guarantees reduction of trauma. Additional trauma may be caused by disease and stigma, or come from parenting and adoption. Childbirth may be traumatic. Abortion may be traumatic. None of this may be traumatic. All of these traumas are separate from the initial traumas of rape and forced impregnation.

However, pregnancy itself is not inherently traumatic. Abortion is not evidence-based treatment for the trauma of CSA. Abortion is not a standard of care for the treatment of trauma. Abortion cannot undo or prevent trauma.

But abortion can, and often is, used by abusers to hide the traumatic harm they have done to a girl. Abortion clinics do not report abuse because it's bad for business; they need girls to come back for more abortions. That is their business model.

None of this is an argument for or against the morality of abortion after CSA. These are just objective facts.

When abortion occurs after CSA, the rapist ought to be held accountable for both the abuse of one child and the death of another. Rape destroys lives. That is truth. Abortion kills people. That is also true. Some victims feel deep relief after abortion. Some survivors find healing in keeping their babies. All of this can be true.

But don't say young girls can't survive pregnancy, so abortion saves their lives. That is objectively untrue.

If you are a CSA victim who was told you would die if you didn't get an abortion, or that you had no choice but to abort, I am so sorry that you were lied to and that you were failed by the people that should have protected you. I am so sorry you were violated and exploited. I am so sorry they hurt you and that they hurt your baby.

From one CSA survivor to another, I want you to know that you didn't deserve that. You deserved the truth, and you deserved your baby. You deserved better than abuse and abortion. It has never been your fault. We love you. The folks at supportafterabortion.com want to help you heal.

To learn about preventing CSA, to seek help for a victim, or to find support as a survivor, I highly recommend 1in6.org, regardless of your gender. Call 988 if you're in crisis. It gets better, I promise.

#hide #abortion #pro life #anti abortion #disquisitions

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funstyle · 5 months

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I wanna hear an alcoholics/addicts rant

and rant i will baby!!!!

it just like. consistently drives me crazy how people who arent addicts always fucking treat it like a moral stance you make to be an addict. like it's a MORAL FAILING if you relapse or something because they cant comprehend that something would take away your willpower. they just see it as a selfish thing rather than a disease (that they think they're above and could never be so weak as to be addicted to anything themselves). or people who dont drink cant understand why it's so hard for you because they never depended on it in the first place.

and part of me gets where that comes from because there are addicts in my life! ive been on the other side! visiting my alcoholic grandma fucking sucked! but i also understand it's not as simple as "this person is having a bottle of chardonnay right now because theyre selfish and dont care about anyone else" and it's more like "this person's brain is predominately wired to figure out how to get a bottle of chardonnay in her right now and everything else takes a backseat to that". at a certain point in addiction you stop driving the car and it takes a long time and a lot of effort to wrestle the wheel out of its hands and it's sitting in the passenger seat trying to cover your eyes and biting your arms and stuff the whole time. and more often than not one addiction will end and another will start because your brain is wired to seek out SOMETHING to depend on. anyway im getting off track. non-addicts shut up about addicts you dont know what youre talking about ❤️

#like im a year and 2 months sober and i almost relapsed a few days ago. it doesnt just Stop when u do either.#also the 'i could never be an addict' attitude leads to 'i can stop whenever i want' which is a key addict attitude. it can happen to any1💕

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nicklloydnow · 11 months

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“For most of my life I have been a “high-functioning” depressive — so high-functioning, in fact, that it will seem implausible to many, even to those who know me fairly well, to learn of my long psychiatric record. But another way of saying “high-functioning” is “high-performance”, which is to say that I have generally been all-too-aware of the Goffmanian performative dimensions of social life, and have mastered my own performance in the same way I mastered my GPA and the various standardized tests I have had to take: propelled forward only by the fuel of anxiety, self-hatred, and certainty of my own fraudulence.

The intake questionnaires have never really captured my subjective experience of “what’s eating me” very well. They ask: “Do you have trouble getting out of bed?” No. “Have you lost your appetite?” I wish. “Are you able to complete your work tasks?” Always. Some diagnosticians, amateur and professional alike, have rushed to DSM-splain to me that I seem to suffer only from “anxiety” and not from “depression”, but this is a meaningless distinction to me, and I don’t see any reason why a manual that in any case is always in the course of revision, and only captures one way of dividing up psychiatric kinds in a certain place and time, should trump the first-person phenomenology of the condition under diagnosis. Anxiety is the opposite of a good feeling; it’s bad. In the end it may be that eudaimonia and kakodaimonia, good and bad “vibes”, are really the only two conditions with any ontological robustness to them. And even these two elementary states shade into one another in ways that make it extremely hard for a lucid observer of his own condition to put feelings into language. Sometimes the condition of the soul gets so bad that it starts to feel like a sort of ecstasy, in which one has circled all the way back around to communion with the good daimon: the horseshoe theory of depression and mental health.

All self-presentation is performance, but to remain hyper-aware of this at all times is handicapping, and leads to a sharp sense of one’s own fraudulence. The watered-down way to speak of this sense, much invoked in online grousing about the stresses of academia, is in terms of “impostor syndrome”, but that doesn’t quite capture the pervasiveness of the feeling. Those who have this syndrome feel out of place in a particular line of work; those who are depressed feel out of place in the world. “Fake it till you make it” is the jocular advice given to people suffering from mild impostor syndrome, and it is implied that this sort of fakery is not just morally tolerable, but laudable. Yet such dishonesty, like “pride”, straddles a boundary between two different and wholly incompatible moral orientations that somehow continue to co-exist in our society. This is the same divide that tells us, in the name of being a morally upstanding person, both to give away our money, and to save it. Bourgeois liberal philosophy will gaslight you into thinking you must simply not be smart enough if you fail to understand how this incommensurability can be smoothed out. But every now and then the voice of a Kierkegaard breaks through, strong enough to make itself heard through the bullshit, to tell us in no uncertain terms that it is impossible to live in this world, that whatever form of life you choose, you will be wrong.

The great comedian Mitch Hedberg, dead of an overdose at thirty-seven, said of addiction that it is a disease, but a weird one: “It’s the only disease people yell at you for having”. Our man is piercing here right into the heart of the incommensurability in question. In the end, if we cannot help but blame others for things that are beyond their control, this may be because wretchedness is our basic condition, as inevitable as it is blameworthy, and only an ideology —such as the one that has reigned throughout modernity— that stresses our earthly perfectibility will place the wretched in the earthly purgatories of rehab clinics and “correctional institutions” and psychiatric outpatient clinics, where in each case the purported goal is to purge the wretchedness right out of a person.

Today we find it easy to mock humoral medicine, such as Robert Burton’s explanation in his Anatomy of Melancholy (1621) of the condition in question as literally a “surfeit of black bile”. But in truth our facile resort today to the idea that depression is nothing more than “a problem with our brain chemistry” is just as worthy of mockery. It marks nothing more thn a shift in the bodily system held responsible for the psychological state, without any clearer understanding of the social and spiritual dimensions of the state. In fact Burton was vastly more sensitive, in his paramedical reflections on the melancholic life, to all the ways such a life is more than just an imbalance of the humors, than your average prescriber of meds today is sensitive to all the ways in which depression is more than just a matter of serotonin reuptake.

(…)

I will try to describe in a few words what it has been like since then. The most striking thing about this new life is that the whole world looks to me somewhat the way our elementary schools look to us when we revisit them as adults: a place we don’t belong anymore, a place that seems so much smaller and so much more modest than we had once taken it to be, so disenchanted that one is left perplexed as to how it could ever have been the source of such wild flights of the hopeful imagination. Life has a quality now that can only be described as “spectral”. I have sometimes imagined that I must have ended up in one of those refrigerated trucks myself, and everything I’ve experienced since then is just me haunting the old sites of my life, as in the Nicole Kidman vehicle The Others (2001) where she believes her home is infested by poltergeists but slowly comes to realize she and her kids are the ghosts, while the “ghosts” that torment her are just regular human beings.

A second feature of this new “mature” manifestation of depression (as opposed to its “juvenile” expressions in California, New York, Ohio) is what the diagnosticians sometimes call “derealization”. I have moments where I just cannot believe that any of this is real. I used to mock Nick Bostrom’s “simulation hypothesis”; now, most of the time, it seems to me intuitively obvious (if still not for the reasons he thinks) that the world is not at all what we take it to be. This shift manifests itself partly in a collapse of the system of values that had previously enabled me to take seriously all the clamoring after social distinctions —all the prizes and acclaim I used to find it meaningful to seek— that keep our institutions running and our little lives full. But more strongly, at certain moments I find myself literally unable to comprehend how I ever could have taken the social bodies that offer the prizes and acclaim, or indeed the opprobrium and rejection, to be in any sense real.

This derealization surely has something to do with the very real historical process of dematerialization: institutions really are disintegrating as they shift to videoconferencing and e-mail as the primary channels of their endurance. What made universities real for some centuries, for example, were in large part their august edifices. These still exist, generally, but they seem increasingly disconnected from whatever it is we still pretend to be doing under the universitarian banner. Anxiety enables me to keep doing my work under this same banner, but I find myself unable to recall how I once accepted it all, unquestioningly, as real. At its most intense, my incomprehension extends not just to social reality (work, recipes, “sport”, popular entertainments, and most of all politics), but to all reality: I can’t make any sense of what the edifices themselves are supposed to be, or clothes, or utensils. Unlike for Bostrom, most of the time the one thing that does not become “glitchy” for me, does not begin to show signs of its simulated character, is nature. But nature loves to hide, as Heraclitus said, and to have it alone as the one thing that appears real, while suitable for isolated contemplation, is hardly sufficient to provide the experience of community that sustains a properly human life.

A third feature of this mature depression is the way it affects my moral character, no matter how much rhetoric is invested in the idea that it’s “just a disease” like any other. I have already described it as a “disease” that has dishonesty as one of its symptoms. Another symptom is that it makes a person —let’s be frank— a real jerk. In my own case I definitely discern a correlation between the occasional remission of feelings of depression, on the one hand, and my capacity for generosity or big-heartedness on the other. Eric Schwitzgebel has provocatively argued that if you are surrounded by fools, you’re probably a jerk. When I am depressed I tend to conclude from his argument, very much against the grain, that I must be a jerk, because everyone around me is definitely a fool. Schwitzgebel of course means to dispel the idea that others are really fools, by “reducing” their foolishness to a mere effect of the perceiver’s “jerkitude”. But depression militates in favor of a “Copernican revolution” in the new field of jerk theory.

(…)

Here is how the foolishness of humanity manifests itself. We have become familiar in the social-media era with the notion of “copypasta”, where people with no real thoughts of their own simply reproduce the language of others, and attempt to pass this off as political engagement, for example regarding the “problematic” character of Disney princesses. But in deep depression, every human utterance sounds like copypasta; everyone sounds as if they are simply channeling the language of others. Proust thus comes to seem a rare and loyal friend to the isolated depressive, when for example his narrator dissects the new phrases and idiosyncracies in the language of Albertine, to discern, in his own internal Académie Française, exactly who she has been seeing since she returned to Paris from Balbec at the end of summer. She thinks she’s just “being herself”, with all that language; he thinks she’s just delivering so much copypasta.

It is terrifying and alienating to apprehend all language in that way, and the easiest reaction is misanthropy. One is wrong, of course, morally wrong, to react in this way, and the Copernican revolution in this case cannot really succeed. It is, as Schwitzgebel claims, jerkitude that gives rise to the appearance of foolishness, and not foolishness that justifies jerkitude. But depression is a strange disease, and we will never be able to adequately deal with it if we pretend it’s just like diabetes or whatever. Depression makes you a jerk. One should not be a jerk. Ergo, if depression is a disease, it is a disease that it is morally wrong to have.

One of the most peculiar expressions I have learned since moving to France is péter un plomb. This means literally “to fart a lead weight”, and so might seem to suggest a meaning similar to the English “to shit a brick”, but in fact describes something closer to failure, or to an irreversible running out of steam, than to the heroic feat of parturition described by the English idiom. Thus for example if you are sitting outside at a café in Paris, and a rough but still handsome beggar comes to your table and, in perfect classical diction, recites a monologue from Molière, you might say after he has moved on: Il a dû péter un plomb. “He must have farted a chunk of lead”. The idea here is that this mendicant thespian clearly used to “be somebody”, but some bug in his internal program caused him at some point to stray from his path and to take up this new lowly position in the world with only faint vestiges of who he once was. High-functioning depressives might do well to adopt as their mantra Samuel Beckett’s famous line: “I can’t go on, I’ll go on”. But if you have farted your chunk of lead in life, you lose the second half, and are left only with this: “I can’t go on”.”

#depression

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artemisiatridentata · 1 year

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so I stopped eating meat, dairy, and eggs nearly seven years ago after my grandma died of Alzheimer's disease. The consumption of those foods has been linked to a higher chance of developing Alzheimer's, due in part to high cholesterol. Now my grandpa on the other side of my family is dying from it as well, and when I went back to visit for the holidays, it broke my heart to see how frail and confused he was, and how bone-tired my mom was from being his primary caretaker and medical POA. She showed me all these Alzheimer prevention cookbooks she'd gotten recently, and was determined to make at least one recipe from them while I was visiting (it was delicious btw. stuffed acorn squash w/ farro and cranberries and other yummy things). My parents kept making a conscious effort to limit their processed sugar intake, too, even though it was, y'know, the holidays.

anyways it just made me sad to see their grief, but also I just love them so much for being so determined to do what they can to lessen the chance that my siblings and I will never have to lose them that way (the amyloid plaques that cause Alzheimer's can start forming in the brain like 20 years before diagnosis, so you gotta be proactive).

GOD anyway the reason I even logged on to post this is that I'm trying to cut back on my processed sugar intake since that's another thing that has been linked to increased likelihood of developing Alzheimer's. I eat a lot of whole plant foods, butttt I also have a fucking massive sweet tooth and definitely have been eating an excessive amount of pop-tarts, cookies, chocolate, candy, etc. So since I got back home after visiting my family for the holidays, I've made an effort to not buy those things and to eat, like, a piece of whole-wheat toast or unsweetened yogurt w/ honey or berries whenever I crave sugar.

And mostly it's working!! But ugh tonight I have like an overwhelming craving to just stuff my face with pop-tarts and oreos :((( don't get me wrong I don't think this is a moral failing on my part or whatever, I'm just so FRUSTRATED GODDD it feels like my brain won't let me stop thinking about sugary treats!!! I fucking hate being dependent on anything, that's why I don't regularly consume caffeine and why I take as few meds as possible (again not passing judgement on anyone else here, before anyone gets twitterbrained on me! this is me voicing my personal preferences on my blog!). So this feeling of "I NEED I NEED I NEED I WILL GO MAD IF I DON'T GET THIS RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW RIGHT NOW" is driving me up the wall lol. I do have an incredible amount of spite though so I've decided to frame it like Big Sugar is trying to pull a fast one on me, and I will not succumb to their tricks (imo it is a conscious marketing choice for them to include so much processed sugar and high fructose corn syrup in everything cuz they KNOW people are gonna get addicted to it and keep buying more of their product. it's insidious and no i'm not exaggerating).

#diaryposting on main again #whoopsies #alzheimer's #i was just gonna tweet about it but then i didn't feel like typing 15 different tweets lmao #plus so many Important People and ppl I know irl follow me on there now i kinda don't feel like i can just post into the void there anymore #once again tumblr is my last refuge on the internet #personal #i am proud of myself though - i was dead set on going to the store to get... SOMETHING anything sugary #but then I decided no i'll wait till tomorrow and see what I feel like then #and i immediately felt less frantic!! W for gentle... parenting? myself #and not berating myself and being like no stupid you're a failure

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punksrespectpronouns · 2 years

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I think more people need to be aware of this idea. Like illness is so moralized in our society and they act like it's something in our control. Like if we meditate enough or do enough therapy we can prevent the massive burnout and existential nightmare that the world currently is.

These ideas are subtle but they moralize the blame like it's something we can control. When oftentimes it's systemic issues that we did not cause. I can not strong well my way out of being disabled and I shouldn't have to.

Like current society especially when it comes to current covid responses. The powers that be to be going, "oh what's wrong with you? why are you mentally ill" like it's something we have any control over. meanwhile we're still in a pandemic and so many people have died. and the gov response now seems to be let's just get back to normal whatever it takes. and that it doesn't matter if disabled people die

When we are in a housing crisis and a livable wage and employment crisis. People don't have enough to live. And our rights are being threatened, like abortion access and trans healthcare is being demonized. With many people losing access to these essential services. of course people aren't mentally healthy right now! what do you expect!

Yet people treat mental illness like it's something we can mindfulness our way out of. When I try and find resources for my OCD so many people talk about it like it's an addiction. like it's something I have to overcome as if that's even possible. these ideas are toxic. Your disability is not something you have to "overcome".

This insta post from woke science talks about the topic well...

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A post shared by Dr Ayesha Khan═طبیبہ عائشہ خان (@wokescientist)

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And hey I get it. I instinctively take the blame for this stuff too, because at least that means I have any control over it. But so don't. And I think all this really does is make people feel bad about how their coping. And by acting like systemic injustices are within an individuals control to change. By perpetuating these ideas were (unwittingly) freeing society of the responsibility of changing these things. Make a more accessible world. If you want suicide rates to go down, fund affordable housing, let people get their basic needs met and not blaming them for societal problems.

Book - Disfigured: on fairy tales, disability, and making space by Amanda

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3 pictures of pages from the book "Disfigured"

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In Illness as Metaphor, Susan Sontag notes that disease has often been associated with moral failings.

Psychological theories of illness are a powerful means of placing the blame on the ill. Patients who are instructed that they have, unwittingly, caused their disease are also being made to feel that they have deserved it... Nothing is more punitive than to give a disease a meaning - that meaning invariably being a moralistic one.

In literature, this has also been the case with disability. In the same way that sufferers of a disease become poster children for the ravages of the disease itself (TB, cancer, AIDS), disabled people become iterations of loss, of struggle, of the ways in which the world is not kind to those who are different. And in the same way that disease, for Sontag, then becomes a metaphor - something is a cancer, something spreads like the plague.

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And in the same way that the medical model places the fault of disability at the body of the disabled person and lifts the medical professional up as the 'expert,' in the same way that the charity model removes the blame for society from the shoulders of the magnanimous philanthropist and rein forces hierarchical norms, psychological theories of illness lift the blame and responsibility for illness from the shoulders of society and place it squarely within the fault of the patient.

If one had only refrained from some behaviour or practised others or been more devout or had more faith, the illness might have been avoided. (In the nineteenth and early- to mid-twentieth centuries, it was believed in some circles that melancholy patients might have avoided cancer if they had been happier; in the eighteenth century, those who were deli cate and high-strung and prone to fits of excitability and high emotion might have avoided tuberculosis by practising a calmer, quieter kind of life.)

This sort of thinking sounds ridiculous now - except that when it comes to disability, it's often still engaged in, albeit in subtler (and arguably more damaging) ways. Disabled people are still brought to faith healers; they are told to drink more water or drink green tea or do detoxes or try hypnosis to remove barriers of the mind as a way of overcoming physical impair ments. Disabled people are encouraged to 'push through' and 'exercise' and are reminded over and over again that the only disability is a bad attitude.

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As with the charity model, psychological approaches to disability work to take the blame away from society and put it on the individual - to make disability not a lived, mundane reality but a temporary struggle that can be overcome if one has the inner and outer strength to do it. (The corollary here is that those who do not 'overcome' their disabilities - or fail to appreciate the so-called 'accomplishments' they make in the world of the disabled body's lowered bar - fail because of their own lack of strength or effort.)

Your disability is causing you pain? Do yoga. Struggling because of mental health issues? Meditate. The more you focus, the more you'll improve, and the less society at large needs to worry about having different kinds of dance classes or accessible entryways or accessible bathrooms or clearly marked accessible parking, to say nothing of captions or ASL or quiet rooms that offer respite from external stimuli.

After all, the kingdom didn't need to change for the Maiden Without Hands, did it? She got her hands back because of her faith. (The only disability is a bad attitude.) She did that all on her own.

ID ends]

#fuck moralized views of illness al my homies hate moralized views of illness #spoonie #actually disabled #banquo rambles #anti psychiatry #chronically chill

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nashachudaokender · 29 days

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Nasha Mukti Kendra in jammu

Introduction:

In the tranquil valleys of Jammu lies a beacon of hope for those ensnared in the shackles of addiction - the Nasha Mukti Kendra. Amidst the serene surroundings, individuals embark on a transformative journey, breaking free from the clutches of substance abuse and rediscovering the essence of life. This article delves into the profound impact of Nasha Mukti Kendra, shedding light on its unique approach towards rehabilitation and the stories of resilience that unfold within its walls.

Understanding Addiction:

Addiction, a complex interplay of biological, psychological, and social factors, often plunges individuals into a vortex of despair and hopelessness. Whether it be alcohol, drugs, or other substances, addiction wreaks havoc on both the individual and their loved ones, eroding relationships and dimming the light of potential. Recognizing the dire need for intervention, Nasha Mukti Kendra emerges as a sanctuary, offering a lifeline to those grappling with addiction.

Holistic Approach to Rehabilitation:

Unlike conventional rehabilitation centers, Nasha Mukti Kendra adopts a holistic approach toward recovery, addressing not only the physical manifestations of addiction but also delving into the underlying emotional and psychological triggers. Through a blend of therapy, counseling, and skill-building exercises, individuals are empowered to confront their demons and chart a course toward sobriety. The nurturing environment fosters camaraderie and support, instilling a sense of belongingness crucial for long-term recovery.

Individualized Treatment Plans:

Central to the ethos of Nasha Mukti Kendra is the recognition that each individual's journey towards sobriety is unique. Thus, personalized treatment plans are crafted, and tailored to address the specific needs and challenges of every participant. Whether through cognitive-behavioral therapy, group sessions, or alternative therapies like yoga and meditation, individuals are equipped with the tools necessary to navigate the tumultuous waters of addiction recovery.

Family Involvement and Support:

Acknowledging the pivotal role of familial support in the rehabilitation process, Nasha Mukti Kendra actively involves the family members of the participants. Through family therapy sessions and educational workshops, loved ones are empowered to understand addiction as a disease rather than a moral failing, fostering empathy and resilience within the family unit. By strengthening familial bonds, the center endeavors to create a robust support system conducive to sustained sobriety.

Embracing Life Beyond Addiction:

As individuals progress through the stages of rehabilitation, Nasha Mukti Kendra endeavors to instill a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. Vocational training programs and skill-building workshops pave the way for reintegration into society, equipping individuals with the tools necessary to lead fulfilling and productive lives post-recovery. Moreover, ongoing support networks ensure that individuals remain steadfast in their commitment to sobriety, navigating the challenges of everyday life with resilience and determination.

Success Stories and Testimonials:

Within the hallowed halls of Nasha Mukti Kendra, stories of triumph and resilience abound. From individuals who once grappled with the depths of despair to emerge as beacons of hope for others, each success story serves as a testament to the transformative power of rehabilitation. Through testimonials and firsthand accounts, the indomitable spirit of those who have walked the path of recovery serves as a source of inspiration for others embarking on a similar journey.

Conclusion:

In a world fraught with challenges, Nasha Mukti Kendra stands as a symbol of hope and redemption for those battling addiction. Through its holistic approach towards rehabilitation, personalized treatment plans, and unwavering commitment to fostering familial support, the center offers a lifeline to individuals yearning to break free from the chains of addiction. As stories of resilience and triumph continue to unfold within its walls, Nasha Mukti Kendra remains steadfast in its mission to empower individuals to embrace life beyond addiction, one step at a time.

For more information visit us :

#mukti #nasha #nashamuktikendra

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besttreatmentcenter · 1 month

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"Living Authentically: Honoring Your True Self in Drug Addiction Recovery"

In the journey of drug addiction recovery, one of the most profound transformations a person can undergo is the process of rediscovering and living authentically. It's about stripping away the layers of addiction and societal expectations to reveal the true essence of oneself. At the Best addiction treatment center in Lahore, we understand the importance of this journey and provide comprehensive support to help individuals honour their true selves as they navigate the path to recovery.

Understanding Authentic Living

Authentic living is about aligning your actions, values, and beliefs with your true self. It's about being honest and genuine, both with yourself and with others. For individuals in recovery from drug addiction, this can be a particularly challenging but rewarding endeavour. Substance abuse often leads people to adopt a false persona, hiding their struggles behind a mask of denial or deceit. However, true healing can only occur when we confront these falsehoods and embrace our authentic selves.

The Role of Self-Exploration

Self-exploration is a crucial aspect of living authentically in drug addiction recovery. It involves delving deep into your thoughts, emotions, and past experiences to uncover the underlying causes of addiction. Therapy and counseling play a vital role in this process, providing a safe space for individuals to explore their innermost thoughts and feelings. At the Best addiction treatment center in Lahore, our experienced therapists guide clients through this journey of self-discovery, helping them confront the root causes of their addiction and develop healthier coping mechanisms.

Embracing Vulnerability

Authentic living requires vulnerability – the willingness to be open and honest about your struggles, fears, and insecurities. This can be especially challenging for individuals in recovery, who may have spent years hiding their addiction from others. However, by embracing vulnerability, we create deeper connections with ourselves and those around us, fostering a sense of authenticity and belonging.

Cultivating Self-Compassion

Self-compassion is another essential aspect of living authentically in drug addiction recovery. It involves treating yourself with kindness and understanding, rather than harsh self-judgment. Many individuals in recovery struggle with feelings of shame and guilt, but self-compassion allows us to recognize that addiction is a disease, not a moral failing. By practicing self-compassion, we learn to forgive ourselves for past mistakes and embrace the journey of recovery with kindness and acceptance.

Finding Your True Purpose

Living authentically also involves finding your true purpose in life – what truly brings you joy, fulfillment, and meaning. For many individuals in recovery, drugs or alcohol may have once provided a false sense of purpose, but true fulfillment can only be found by aligning your actions with your values and passions. This may involve exploring new hobbies, pursuing meaningful relationships, or finding ways to give back to others. At the Best addiction treatment center in Lahore, we help clients explore their interests and talents, empowering them to create a life filled with purpose and meaning.

Practical Strategies for Living Authentically

While the journey of authentic living is deeply personal and unique to each individual, there are some practical strategies that can help guide you along the way:

Practice mindfulness: Mindfulness techniques, such as meditation and deep breathing, can help you stay present and connected to your true self.

Set boundaries: Learn to say no to things that don't align with your values or goals, and surround yourself with people who support your journey of authenticity.

Journaling: Keeping a journal can be a powerful tool for self-reflection and exploration, allowing you to track your progress and uncover insights about yourself.

Seek support: Surround yourself with a strong support network of friends, family, and professionals who can help you on your journey of recovery and authenticity.

Conclusion

Living authentically is a courageous and transformative journey, especially for individuals in drug addiction recovery. It requires honesty, vulnerability, and self-compassion, but the rewards – a deeper sense of self-awareness, fulfilment, and connection – are immeasurable. At the Best addiction treatment center in Lahore, we are committed to helping individuals honor their true selves as they embark on the path to recovery. By providing comprehensive support and guidance, we empower our clients to live authentically and create a life filled with purpose and meaning.

#addiction recovery #drugs #addiction

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ekantar-foundation · 3 months

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Nasha Mukti Kendra In Ghaziabad

Transformative Recovery at Ekantar Foundation's Nasha Mukti Kendra in Ghaziabad

Struggling with addiction can feel like being trapped in a never-ending cycle. But at Ekantar Foundation's Nasha Mukti Kendra in Ghaziabad, we offer a beacon of hope and a path to liberation.

Understanding Addiction:

Addiction is a formidable adversary, affecting millions across the globe. In Ghaziabad, Ekantar Foundation stands as a bastion of support for those battling substance abuse. Our Nasha Mukti Kendra recognizes addiction not as a moral failing but as a disease that requires compassionate treatment and understanding.

A Comprehensive Approach:

At Ekantar Foundation, we take a holistic approach to addiction recovery. Our Nasha Mukti Kendra is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and staffed with experienced professionals dedicated to guiding individuals towards a life free from the shackles of addiction.

The Ekantar Experience:

Located in the heart of Ghaziabad, our Nasha Mukti Kendra provides a nurturing environment conducive to healing and growth. With a focus on physical, mental, and emotional well-being, we offer personalized treatment plans tailored to meet the unique needs of each individual.

Community Support:

At Ekantar Foundation, we understand the importance of community support in the recovery process. Our Nasha Mukti Kendra fosters a supportive atmosphere where individuals feel understood, valued, and empowered to reclaim their lives. With round-the-clock assistance and a compassionate team of professionals, we're here to walk alongside you every step of the way.

Why Choose Ekantar Foundation:

When it comes to overcoming addiction, choosing the right treatment center is crucial. Ekantar Foundation's Nasha Mukti Kendra in Ghaziabad stands out for its unwavering commitment to excellence, compassion, and transformative care. If you're ready to break free from addiction and embrace a brighter future, Ekantar Foundation is here to help you take that first step towards liberation.

In conclusion, Ekantar Foundation's Nasha Mukti Kendra in Ghaziabad is more than just a treatment center—it's a sanctuary of hope, healing, and transformation for those seeking to reclaim their lives from the grips of addiction.

#Ekantar Foundation's Nasha Mukti Kendra in Ghaziabad

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bellanirvanacenter · 3 months

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Sacramento's Secret to Sobriety: Inside Medical Detoxification

Sacramento, California, known for its rich history, diverse culture, and vibrant community, harbors a secret that's quietly transforming lives: medical detoxification. Behind the bustling streets and serene neighborhoods lies a haven for individuals battling addiction, where Medical detox in sacramento serves as the cornerstone of recovery. In this comprehensive exploration, we delve into Sacramento's unique approach to detoxification, uncovering the science, the stories, and the strategies that make it a beacon of hope for those seeking sobriety.

Chapter 1: Understanding Addiction

To comprehend the significance of medical detoxification, it's crucial to grasp the complexities of addiction. Addiction is not merely a matter of willpower or moral failing; it's a chronic disease that affects the brain's structure and function. Whether it's alcohol, opioids, or other substances, addiction hijacks the brain's reward system, leading to compulsive substance use despite adverse consequences. In Sacramento, healthcare professionals recognize addiction as a public health issue, emphasizing compassion, empathy, and evidence-based treatment.

Chapter 2: The Science of Detoxification

Medical detoxification is the first step on the path to recovery for many individuals struggling with substance abuse. Unlike quitting "cold turkey," which can be dangerous and even life-threatening, medical detoxification involves the supervised withdrawal from drugs or alcohol with the assistance of healthcare professionals. In Sacramento, detox programs are tailored to meet each patient's unique needs, incorporating medications, counseling, and holistic therapies to manage withdrawal symptoms and ensure safety.

Chapter 3: Inside Sacramento's Detox Facilities

Sacramento's detox facilities offer a refuge for individuals ready to confront their addiction and reclaim their lives. From cozy residential centers to state-of-the-art hospitals, these facilities provide a supportive environment where patients receive round-the-clock care from experienced medical staff. Through a combination of medical interventions, behavioral therapies, and peer support, individuals undergo a transformative journey toward sobriety, guided every step of the way by compassionate professionals dedicated to their well-being.

Chapter 4: The Role of Medication-Assisted Treatment

Medication-assisted treatment (MAT) plays a pivotal role in Sacramento's approach to detoxification and recovery. By combining FDA-approved medications with counseling and behavioral therapies, MAT addresses the physical and psychological aspects of addiction, helping individuals manage cravings and prevent relapse. From methadone and buprenorphine for opioid addiction to naltrexone for alcohol dependence, MAT offers a lifeline for those navigating the challenges of withdrawal and withdrawal management.

Chapter 5: Navigating Withdrawal Symptoms

Withdrawal symptoms can range from mild discomfort to severe medical complications, depending on the substance and the individual's history of use. In Sacramento's detox programs, medical professionals are adept at managing withdrawal symptoms safely and effectively, using a combination of medications, nutritional support, and alternative therapies to alleviate discomfort and promote healing. By addressing physical withdrawal alongside psychological and emotional needs, Sacramento's detoxification protocols ensure a smoother transition to sobriety.

Chapter 6: Holistic Approaches to Healing

In addition to traditional medical interventions, Sacramento's detox facilities embrace holistic approaches to healing, recognizing the interconnectedness of mind, body, and spirit in the recovery process. Yoga, meditation, acupuncture, and nutritional counseling are just a few of the complementary therapies offered to support patients on their journey to sobriety. By nurturing physical wellness, reducing stress, and enhancing self-awareness, these holistic practices empower individuals to cultivate a lifestyle of balance and resilience beyond detoxification.

Chapter 7: Overcoming Stigma and Shame

One of the greatest barriers to seeking help for addiction is the stigma and shame that often accompany it. In Sacramento, efforts to reduce stigma and promote understanding are integral to the detoxification process. Through education, advocacy, and community outreach, healthcare professionals work tirelessly to challenge misconceptions surrounding addiction and encourage individuals to seek treatment without fear of judgment. By fostering a culture of acceptance and support, Sacramento's detox facilities create a safe space where individuals can heal and thrive free from stigma's shackles.

Chapter 8: Success Stories and Testimonials

Behind every statistic and study are the real-life stories of individuals who have found hope and healing through Sacramento's medical detoxification programs. From overcoming opioid addiction to reclaiming sobriety after years of alcohol abuse, these success stories serve as beacons of inspiration for others embarking on their recovery journey. Through courage, determination, and the unwavering support of healthcare professionals, these individuals have transformed their lives and discovered the power of resilience and renewal.

Chapter 9: Continuing Care and Support

Detoxification is just the beginning of the recovery journey, and ongoing care and support are essential for long-term success. In Sacramento, comprehensive discharge planning ensures that individuals leaving detox facilities are connected with resources and services to support their recovery, including outpatient counseling, support groups, and sober living arrangements. By fostering a continuum of care that extends beyond detoxification, Sacramento's healthcare community reinforces its commitment to helping individuals achieve lasting sobriety and fulfillment.

Conclusion:

Sacramento's secret to sobriety lies not in isolation or shame but in the compassionate embrace of medical detoxification and holistic healing. Through evidence-based treatment, personalized care, and unwavering support, individuals battling addiction find hope, healing, and a renewed sense of purpose. As Sacramento continues to lead the way in addiction treatment, its commitment to innovation, inclusivity, and empathy serves as a beacon of inspiration for communities far and wide. In the journey from darkness to light, Sacramento stands as a shining example of hope, resilience, and the transformative power of recovery.

Welcome to Bella Nirvana Center, a trusted drug and alcohol treatment center located in Folsom, California. Our compassionate team is dedicated to helping individuals on their journey to recovery. With a holistic approach, we provide personalized treatment programs, therapy, and support to address addiction's physical, emotional, and mental aspects. Our serene location in Folsom, CA, offers a peaceful and nurturing environment for healing. At Bella Nirvana Center, we are committed to empowering our clients to reclaim their lives and find lasting sobriety. Your path to recovery starts here, with us.

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newvista857 · 3 months

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Finding Hope and Healing: Addiction Counseling in Lexington, KY

Addiction is a pervasive issue that affects individuals and families across the globe. In Lexington, KY, individuals struggling with addiction can find solace and support through addiction counseling services. These services offer a beacon of hope for those grappling with substance abuse and provide a path towards recovery. In this article, we'll explore the importance of addiction counseling in Lexington, KY, and how it can help individuals reclaim their lives from the grips of addiction.

Understanding Addiction Lexington KY:

Addiction, whether to drugs, alcohol, or other substances, is a complex disease that impacts the brain and behavior of the affected individual. In Lexington, KY, addiction rates mirror national trends, with many individuals facing the devastating consequences of substance abuse. Addiction is not a moral failing but rather a chronic condition that requires professional intervention and support for effective treatment.

The Role of Counseling Lexington KY:

Counseling plays a crucial role in addiction treatment by addressing the underlying issues contributing to substance abuse and guiding individuals towards recovery. In Lexington, KY, addiction counseling services offer a comprehensive approach to treatment, incorporating therapy, education, and support to help individuals overcome addiction and rebuild their lives.

Benefits of Addiction Counseling:

Personalized Treatment: Addiction counseling in Lexington, KY, offers personalized treatment plans tailored to meet the unique needs of each individual. These plans may include individual therapy, group counseling, family sessions, and holistic interventions to address physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of recovery.

Coping Strategies: Counselors equip individuals with coping strategies and life skills to manage cravings, triggers, and stressors without resorting to substance abuse. By learning healthy coping mechanisms, individuals develop resilience and self-awareness essential for long-term sobriety.

Support Network: Addiction counseling provides a supportive environment where individuals can connect with peers who understand their struggles and experiences. Building a strong support network is crucial for maintaining sobriety and navigating challenges along the road to recovery.

Addressing Co-Occurring Disorders: Many individuals struggling with addiction also experience co-occurring mental health disorders such as depression, anxiety, or trauma. Addiction counseling in Lexington, KY, addresses these underlying issues concurrently with substance abuse treatment, promoting holistic healing and recovery.

Relapse Prevention: Counseling equips individuals with relapse prevention strategies to identify early warning signs and intervene before a relapse occurs. By developing a personalized relapse prevention plan, individuals gain the tools and confidence to stay on track with their recovery journey.

Seeking Help for Addiction Lexington KY:

If you or a loved one is struggling with addiction in Lexington, KY, it's essential to seek help from qualified professionals. Addiction counseling services offer a compassionate and non-judgmental space where individuals can explore their challenges, set goals for recovery, and receive the support they need to thrive.

Conclusion:

Addiction counseling plays a pivotal role in supporting individuals on their journey to recovery in Lexington, KY. By addressing the root causes of addiction, providing personalized treatment plans, and fostering a supportive environment, counseling services empower individuals to reclaim their lives from the grip of substance abuse. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, don't hesitate to reach out for help. With the right support and resources, healing and hope are possible.

#Addiction Lexington ky #counseling Lexington ky

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