tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233625.post4806696229047963525..comments2023-08-17T14:11:19.206+01:00Comments on Lisybabe's Blog: ♫...It all keeps adding up, I think I'm cracking up...♫Lisahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16714918894319998184noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233625.post-42487389613944327632014-12-12T10:05:38.274+00:002014-12-12T10:05:38.274+00:00I know this is an old post (found your blog throug...I know this is an old post (found your blog through following you on Twitter) but my god, this is like looking in a mirror. Your analogy of the never ending night is just so perfect. You've put into words exactly how I feel. All my friends are online. Local support is non-existent because people freak out about disability and run away. Sometimes the only people I speak to for weeks are medical staff. I know when the sun rises I *can* go out and do all those "normal" everyday things - assuming I can get down my steps that day; I too live in a flat that isn't suitable for my mobility (EDS) - but it's like someone's thrown this huge black weighted blanket over me that prevents me from doing any of it and I'm completely powerless to explain why I can't just take it off and *do* it; meanwhile, the world goes on around me.<br /><br />Do feel free to contact me - I'm following you on Twitter @Leese72.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233625.post-28774820406206307462013-08-19T15:40:20.484+01:002013-08-19T15:40:20.484+01:00When I studied psychology, this was the great iron...When I studied psychology, this was the great irony we came up against. There are lots of problems you can help folks to manage, and lots of bad experiences (and unfortunate programming) you can help folks to recover from. But sometimes people have problems because they are currently in really bad circumstances.<br /><br />I do think it's a public health scandal. You can't actually save everyone from life events which might make them mentally unwell, but we shouldn't have systems that almost guarantee it. This government in particular has done the equivalent of polishing the pavements on the poorest streets of the country so folk can be slipping and sliding all year round.<br /><br />It must be reiterated that you're not a failure. Consider the other disabled people you know - including folks who have never had a job, never finished an undergraduate degree, have never exhibited any creative or sporting talents or aren't particularly good at social media. I bet if we ran through your friends, you'd find reasons why each individual is not a failure. There are as many reasons why you're not. Your past adventures with swimming, comedy and academia shouldn't be put down as ways you've failed, but things you achieved. The fact none of them (as yet) have lead to glittering prizes isn't entirely beside the point - they feel lost (and certain aspects may be gone for good), that really sucks. But you still did them; those achievements, rather than the absence of greater things, are part of who you are. <br /><br />It's entirely legitimate to argue that your life is crap. But you aren't. This is very important because while hardship, discrimination and loneliness can be endured, self-loathing cannot. You're great - you write things like this.The Goldfishhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15213378454070776331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233625.post-65437739060084126712013-08-16T22:38:37.665+01:002013-08-16T22:38:37.665+01:00What an awesome post. I agree you have got to the ...What an awesome post. I agree you have got to the crux of the relationship between physical disability and depression. The causal link is not so much the actual physical limitations but the crippling social exclusion. But it breaks my heart when you call yourself a failure. No-one who writes as powerfully and as truthfully as you do should be able to think of themselves as a failure. Catherine Halehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18404235448808729042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6233625.post-15334185503843705592013-08-16T20:34:42.121+01:002013-08-16T20:34:42.121+01:00I'll admit to being slightly freaked out, I...I'll admit to being slightly freaked out, I'll take issue with you on whether you failed, or society failed the Social Model test, but I think this is one of the most illuminating pieces of writing on depression I've read. People talk about the bio-chemical nature of depression in order to distinguish it from 'simple' sadness, or grief, but this piece has made me realise, or remember, that the brain is not just chemistry and cell-structure, but also thought, and if we focus only on one aspect of it when we talk about depression, then we fail to consider the entire condition, and if we actively refuse to consider both aspects, and that thoughts flow out of the life we experience, not just the chemistry and structures of our brain, then we fail the person, not just the condition.DavidGhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11734028655032503805noreply@blogger.com