I found out via Jen’s Place in the Blogosphere that it was National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week a couple weeks ago. I am (as I am usually) a little late to this party, but given that awareness is one of those things that shouldn’t really be limited to a week, I figure there’s no harm in suggesting you bloggers out there contribute your thoughts via this 30-point meme.
[PS -- The new and improved DF layout lets me post "asides" in addition to full-blown entries. Pretty cool, right?]
Without going into too much boring detail, let’s just say that I’m in the middle of two completely separate health insurance problems, with completely separate insurance companies. On one hand, I’m trying to resolve a series of claims with my previous insurance company from last year with regard to which that company is exhibiting some of the most asshole-ish, unprofessional, and borderline illegal behavior I’ve seen in a long while. On the other hand, I’m trying to establish new coverage with a different company that is clearly operating in some sort of discriminatory loophole.
So, I gotta ask: How do you pay for your mental health care? If you are insured, do the technicalities of your insurance plan have an effect on your care? (Does it affect your visits, your provider choices, which medications you take?) If you are uninsured, how do you manage?
On top of all that, shall we start a discussion on mental health parity in general? It’s no secret that mental health care is really very expensive. It’s also no secret that more often than not mental illness impedes one’s ability to work. Further, it’s no secret that pharmaceutical companies are out there to ruthlessly gouge whomever will pay and that insurance companies really don’t feel like being gouged. Tack on the stigma that suggests that mental health disorders aren’t “real” illnesses…and we’re looking at some serious problems, in the middle of which I am currently sitting.
Here we go — a real, nuts-and-bolts discussion topic. One I’m hopeful we all have some suggestion or method or useful tip to offer.
Our friend Dave asked today Does anyone have any tips or suggestions about how to motivate yourself when depressed or when you don’t feel like doing anything?
We’ve never outright had a brainstorming session on what we do when we don’t, won’t, or can’t do anything. So…whatcha got?
[Complete side note as evidenced by the number of times I just hit "Enter": Clearly I have a new image strategy: For the time being, I'm searching the Flickr Commons (public domain photographs from various library-type sources) for some key words from each post. Easy!]
Sometimes (perhaps if and when we are so lucky) there comes a time and a need to tell some (perhaps unsuspecting) soul about the things we think, the things we feel, the things we hear, the meds we may or may not take. My hunch is that it’s a conversation that some of us have practiced and that others have for the first time each time. Maybe there are long versions and short versions we tell. Maybe it’s something some of us have done more than a few times and something some of us have never really done.
To whom, when, and how do you come clean?
Regardless of the differences, it’s not easy. And wrapped up in its difficulty are fears and misconceptions and persistent stigma and questions of responsibility. Compounding that difficulty is the understanding that this conversation crosses multiple thresholds, all of which constitute points of no return. Nothing said can ever be unsaid — and whether it’s with a friend or colleague or someone we’re starting to date, if a relationship will change after mental illness is disclosed, it will stay changed. We cross our fingers and hope for the best.
As I wrote “…and hope for the best,” I realized I have spent most of my adult life not knowing what it is that I’m hoping for in that conversation, not knowing what I thought the “best case scenario” really looks like. And, so I want to ask: What is it you hope for when you come clean?
To take that question just a tad further, For whose benefit do we talk about our illnesses? And what do you personally gain from it?
Over the next couple weeks, Define Functioning will be rolling out a few changes. Some are organization (e.g., the Current Reading list has been moved to the Reading Room, where it probably makes more sense). Some will be more content-oriented, aiming for new and continually improving discussions. At the end of that process the “Beta” notice on the uppermost part of the right column will disappear. So, as I execute the tweaks I’ve gathered during the Beta stage, any and all suggestions you may have are more than welcome!
Last May, Define Functioning ran a little experiment and asked what you want people to know about mental health and mental illness. The results were amazing. So amazing, in fact, that it has presented a small conundrum for the book that will compile the responses: We are just in between a “put it in your pocket” sized book and a “put it in your bag” sized book. And as these things go, it’s not really an option to be “in between.” (It’s actually too big for a pocket-sized book…and looks silly as something bigger right now.)
So, I’ve concocted a way to fix that: I’m extending submissions through 2011 in order to have a book finished and ready for Mental Health Awareness Month (May) in 2012. I’ll be adding a new Project page to the site to collect submissions (part of the aforementioned changes). Until then, please feel free to add comments to the previous discussion post or email them to me at definefunctioning [at] gmail [dot] com.
Last thing: I’ve been unforgivably negligent when it comes to providing any sort of imagery with recent posts. So, in some super lazy brainstorm, I thought I’d screen clip whatever happened when I googled any given phrase. The Universe seemed to smile down on this plan, because when I did she offered this:
