I’ve been seeing a disturbing tendency among atheists to compare religious belief to mental illness. Sometimes this comparison is made explicit, as in this article. Other times, however, the comparison is more implicit–for instance, when words like “crazy” and “delusional” are used to describe religious people or their beliefs (hi Dawkins). These comparisons are inaccurate …
Tag Archive: mental illness
Oct 08 2012
[guest post] The Dharma of Depression
My friend Seth, who has guest-posted here before (read it, it’s awesome), returns to talk about depression and Buddhism. Note: The following is a transcript of a speech given at the weekly College Meeting for Worship at Earlham College. Good afternoon, and thank you all for coming. It means a lot to me that people …
Oct 04 2012
What We Talk About When We Talk About College
It’s been rather quiet around here lately. I’ve just started my senior year, and with that came a lot of reflection–what I want this last year to mean, how I can improve on the years that came before it, and, perhaps most importantly, why it is that my time at Northwestern has been so fucking …
Sep 11 2012
[storytime] At The Edge Of The Known World: What It's Like To Consider Suicide
Somebody, somewhere in the world, kills themselves every 40 seconds. Set a timer on your phone or watch for 40 seconds. When it beeps, another precious, beloved life is gone. Yesterday, September 10, was World Suicide Prevention Day. Although suicide prevention entails important things like improving mental health screening and treatment, increasing access to mental …
Sep 11 2012
[storytime] At The Edge Of The Known World: What It’s Like To Consider Suicide
Somebody, somewhere in the world, kills themselves every 40 seconds. Set a timer on your phone or watch for 40 seconds. When it beeps, another precious, beloved life is gone. Yesterday, September 10, was World Suicide Prevention Day. Although suicide prevention entails important things like improving mental health screening and treatment, increasing access to mental …
Sep 05 2012
The Circular Logic of Internet Misogynists
Yesterday–the same day, incidentally, that I discovered that I’ve inspired my first pathetic little hate club–a blogger I respect announced that she’s taking a hiatus from blogging after enduring constant abuse and harassment for daring to be a woman with opinions on the internet. Jen McCreight wrote: I wake up every morning to abusive comments, …
Aug 31 2012
[In Brief] How to Talk About Mental Illness Recovery Without Shaming
Remember that post about celebrity gossip I just wrote? Well, here’s an example of how reading that stuff can be useful and enlightening. I’m reading an interview in the September issue of Cosmo with Lucy Hale, a 23-year-old actress most known for her role on Pretty Little Liars, a guilty pleasure of mine. In the …
Aug 02 2012
Abortion and Suicide: A Spurious Link
In South Dakota, it is now legal to require doctors to tell women seeking abortions that they are putting themselves at risk for suicide. This move is brilliant from a PR standpoint. Unlike banning certain types of abortions entirely or, say, forcing women to undergo invasive screenings that are medically unnecessary, this seems completely apolitical …
Jun 14 2012
[Guest Post] An open letter to the woman who said I wasn’t skinny enough to have an eating disorder
Another guest post, this time by my friend Kate. You are the mother of my greatest friend. Your house was my refuge in high school. I wanted to surprise you and share my happiness with you when I got into my dream college. By my senior year, I spent almost every day after school at …
Jun 14 2012
Depression is Not Sadness
Yesterday I came across the story of Junior Seau, an NFL linebacker who committed suicide on May 2. He shot himself in the chest and was found in his home by his girlfriend. Although little is known of Seau’s mental health leading up to his death, he had apparently suffered from insomnia for the last …
About the Author
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- "I have a family. I have friends. I have neighbors. I have loved ones. But that’s not why I deserve..."“I have a family. I have friends. I have neighbors. I have loved ones. But that’s not why I deserve to be treated as a human being. That’s not why you should reduce the stigma around mental illnesses, or increase mental health access, or change societal attitudes. That’s not why people with mental illnesses deserve help. Not to mention the fact that some peo […]
- Tell Kickstarter Not To Fund This Gross Book About How To Get Laid By Assaulting WomenTell Kickstarter Not To Fund This Gross Book About How To Get Laid By Assaulting Women: [Content note: sexual assault] There’s a project that’s just gotten funded through Kickstarter. It’s a book called Above the Game: A Guide to Getting Awesome With Women and it’s being written by a Redditor and pickup artist named Ken Hoinsky. Predictably, the book promise […]
- "There are some pretty grim consequences to the trope of highlighting ”friends and family” of the..."“There are some pretty grim consequences to the trope of highlighting ”friends and family” of the mentally ill at the expense of actual people with mental illness. I mean, aside from otherization and erasure (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, like those aren’t grim consequences in and of themselves, oh, I do make myself laugh). Ahem. First, it adds to an already-potent […]
- "I don’t think that friends and family members of people with mental illnesses don’t struggle, or..."“I don’t think that friends and family members of people with mental illnesses don’t struggle, or that their struggle isn’t important. I don’t think that friends and family members of people with mental illnesses don’t do great things to help, or that those things aren’t important to talk about. What I object to is centering their experience and their work a […]
- "Note the construction of the sentence: “We all know somebody – a family member, a friend, a neighbor..."“Note the construction of the sentence: “We all know somebody – a family member, a friend, a neighbor – who has struggled with mental illness.” The person with mental illness here is always someone else. They are always removed from ourselves. They are the people we help, the people we are sad for, the people we want to save. The people who are sick, the peo […]
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Two things to keep in mind:
1. I am bad at answering lengthy emails. Sorry!
2. I may ask you for permission to blog about our correspondence. However, if you are harassing/abusive/trollish, then I no longer have to ask you for permission. Proceed with caution!
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