I submitted a "what BC means to me" story for the Obama/Biden campaign. Erin provided a link in the article for anyone else who is interested in doing the same.
I don't understand how people work AND have kids. I feel like I could do one or the other. I am emotionally and physically drained as it is... How do people go home and play Mommy and Daddy AFTER playing Office? I totally salute them.
For anything I read that leaves me mopey about the idea of not having children and tethers to the earth and the memories and all that, I find this sort of reality-slap-in-the-face exceptionally helpful.
Sure, this part doesn't last long. But the worrying and the fear never stops; it only takes new forms. I believe people when they say it's worth it, but that means it's worth it for them.
I may have kids yet, and I think it would be a great joy. I also think that the money, time, and anxiety saved, not to mention the places I will live and trips I will take will also be a great joy. Shit, I just got offered a six-month work stint in South Africa TODAY. I asked my boss if he wasn't interested in taking it. "I'd love to," he said. "But I've got kids."
Biltong, baby. MMMMM.
Because it's bigger-picture than that. I bet a lot of us reading this have been to a therapist. Are you not interested in the therapist's perspective? I am. My own father is a psychiatrist and has never discussed his casework with me. He couldn't, of course, and wouldn't. But we would read through literature and studies together (because I was extremely interested, as a child), and what he COULD discuss were different treatment options, symptoms, etc. for various problems and illnesses. He didn't share his personal experiences, as a psychoanalyst, with me, and I wish he could.
I remember him being called to the hospital at crazy hours in the middle of the night through my childhood, and I would find out things years later from my mother ('oh, there was a rash of PCP use in the early '90s'), and I remember him being very quiet and reserved ('one of your father's patients killed himself'). That's the limit of the info I would get. He takes his responsibilities to his patients very, very seriously. So while he couldn't and wouldn't discuss his patients with us, he could talk to me about other, published case studies. I assume he had a supervisor with whom he discussed his own patients and his experience as an analyst.
Long response short - I think demystifying this is a good thing. Not only crazy people go to therapists. They see all ends of the scale and some raw edges of humanity to which we're not all privy. It IS possible to share and discuss this stuff without violating patient confidentiality, and I am in favor of this the ideas behind this series.
The concerns you raise are all valid and grave, but I am both interested in this and inclined to give it the ethical benefit of the doubt, because these 'specific' examples are actually not specific at all.
With absolute respect for your very genuine points, I hope my perspective makes some sense as well.
I fully understand your point and agree with you, excepting the fact that I assume the examples given were NOT his/her actual patients. They're, in my opinion, examples culled from studies/literature that mirror his/her experience in terms of his/her REACTION to the generic details without actually revealing anything more than the types of situations a therapist in this setting might encounter.
These are extreme examples. If the series continues, I would expect the therapist would present more common issues (this post seems a bit more sensationalist, as a hook). I see it as an attempt to edify and demystify the therapeutic experience.
If it turned out these were existing patients, then yes, that's unethical. But I seriously doubt that's the case.
I would not assume these examples to be literal truth. S/He may have substituted 'port wine birthmark' for a patient who had another kind of facial abnormality, for example. I felt that the therapist was addressing his or her own reaction to individuals presenting with various issues, and less discussing the patients themselves or their course of treatments. That could change in future entries, but this seemed more about the experience of being a practicing clinical therapist than gossiping about specific patients.
Replying to approve. Dear god.
Agreed on both counts (Yank, and that there's no way a Brit wrote this).
It's British rhyming slang. Instead of saying, I'm starvin',' you might say "I'm Hank Marvin." Ergo, 'Yank' and 'Septic Tank.'
Google 'rhyming slang' and you'll find a slew of these. And I can confirm, as a native Texan and U.K. resident, that I get called a Yank with some regularity. You best believe I shut that shit down.
I just realized that I've never watched Santorum speak before, only read transcripts and news articles, and it was interesting - because he thinks he's at a pulpit, not a podium! He has the exact same cadence and rhythm as a preacher. OF COURSE HE DOES.
God, but that takes me right back to high school! So many Randall's, so many dairy aisles...
But really, if she she had a scary reaction (if this is at all true), it may be because she's in generally ill health. She certainly looks... brittle, lately. I've never cared for Demi, but have serious love in my heart for G.I. Jane. She clearly has inner resources of awesome, and I hope she digs for them.
Ditto! Did you ever see that Onion article, "Celine Dion Secluded in Lab Developing New Perfume?" (Google it, if not). I thought, but I would! I would devise the most amazing signature perfume ever! And then I would hoard bottles of that shit and burn the recipe, bwahahahaha.
Ooohhh, do I ever hear you! Well said. I suspected your comment was sympathetic rather than empathetic, but wasn't certain. *raises a glass*
I'm impressed with everyone kindly sharing their perfume tips and faves. I jealously guard my own! I have one especially 'signature' perfume that is fairly unusual, and I am loathe to give up my secret, even when complimented. Y'all are nicer people.
I have a different auto-immune disease, but all that shit you mentioned is in no way outside the ordinary. I gave up drugs after college, but the drinking and smoking is hard to shake, and it's all interconnected with the disease (studies have shown...). It's fucking complex, but even though these things make my disease worse, I persist, in a large part as some sort of 'fuck you' to the parts of me that betray me. I'm not special in this respect, and I've been 'ill' for over 20 years. Anyway, I appreciated your comment, which I thought was very sensitive.
I see Ashley Judd in a Lifetime Original. Natasha Bedingfield on the soundtrack. Harry Connick Jr. as love interest. Boom.
Did anyone else in London catch this Evening Standard article yesterday about men taking receptionist jobs??
I found it blood-boiling. To wit:
''The increasing number of men in receptionist and other traditionally female roles, such as PAs, represents a dramatic breakdown of the Mad Men office image of submissive secretaries like Joan - played by Christina Hendricks - working for alpha male executives.
And the recession has helped remove the stigma from being a male receptionist, with banks and law firms giving the role far more responsibility - and pay to match.'
Ignoring that fact that Joan is hardly a submissive secretary and that I am all for men working in 'female' employ - that's great! - that this is directly linked in the article to pay rises made me gnash my teeth.
*Mmmmmmm - NO! Think appropriate, respectful thoughts about your President, Tailfeather, think appropriate thoughts MmmmmDAMNIT*
This is interesting. I thought Lilley's portrayal of Jonah in SHH was amazing - the accent, facial expressions, terminology, body language... He just inhabited the character. He did the same for J'amie and Mr. G, but they were obviously reprehensible, whereas Jonah made me cry. He was simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking, and I thought Lilley actually did a brilliant job conveying a troubled young 'FOB.' I, too, am tempted to give him a pass, because he didn't play Jonah strictly for laughs. There was a lot more depth there.
I haven't seen 'Angry Boys' yet, so will reserve judgment, but I'm cautiously optimistic. I thought with SHH, Lilley proved that he's a hell of a lot more than a cheap laugh in orange tanner and a curly wig. I thought that was genuine social commentary.
Side note: I have apparently picked up 'povo' as part of my vocabulary, thanks to J'amie. Jokingly, of course, but need to be careful with that one. Hmmm.
"We even have a black, and are considering taking on an Asian!" *beams proudly*
