tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post1358037724812219478..comments2023-10-20T08:03:50.579-05:00Comments on Blogging While Feminist: Why everyone is not entitled to an opinion about everything.Plain(s)feministhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15056404699624958898noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post-32646640717003026832009-06-27T13:46:49.213-05:002009-06-27T13:46:49.213-05:00Chiming in much later - this is a really powerful ...Chiming in much later - this is a really powerful post that's helped me think about mental ableism in the feminist community. Thanks.RMJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14239084819919682523noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post-30980932535543980792008-01-15T02:32:00.000-06:002008-01-15T02:32:00.000-06:00Here's what I don't understand:Why does anyone nee...<I>Here's what I don't understand:<BR/>Why does anyone need or want my approval to do something they need or want to do? </I><BR/><BR/>Um, no, that's not how it works. You say what you please; you don't get to control how people do or don't respond to what you say. Them's the breaks.belledame222https://www.blogger.com/profile/13947289856453172848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post-12871648724981465092008-01-13T22:48:00.000-06:002008-01-13T22:48:00.000-06:00This discussion is interesting to me. I agree with...This discussion is interesting to me. I agree with Elaine on a couple of things: no one understands brain chemistry well and no one understands how anti-depressants work. This is something we can all agree upon no matter what our position.<BR/><BR/>In my life as a bookstore owner/volunteer, I once hosted a talk by Bruce Levine. I read his book, heard his arguments and encountered activists who believe all drug prescriptions are bad.<BR/><BR/>There were two issues that these people simply cannot explain nor are they willing to contemplate. <BR/><BR/>1. There are a lot of people who do not benefit from medications. There are also a lot of people who do. Some of these people are hopeless dimwits who pop pills for any damn thing and probably aren't doing themselves or the world any good by taking anti-depressants. BUT, there are some people whose lives have been saved by anti-depressants. True, our scientists don't know why this happens. True, our society might be able to provide cures for these people if we took care of each other responsibly. But since we, as a society, have not chosen this option, we can hardly cry foul when some people choose antidepressants as a way to survive in this world.<BR/><BR/>2. Anti-drug activists have absolutely NO answer for people who are endangered by the mentally ill. They have no accounting for people who are a danger to others, like Kactus' husband or my father or any other individual who chooses to cause misery, pain and even death to the people with whom they share their lives. I am absolutely clear that science has no explanation for the psychotic and no cure for their behavior. We do have a responsibility to protect those endangered by this small percentage of humans. If drugs can make a difference NOW, we have every reason to use them until we find another way to solve the problem.<BR/><BR/>I'm all for telling people to question big pharma and to second guess their doctors' tendency to over-prescribe medications. <BR/><BR/>Elaine's mistake is in believing that rejecting pharmaceuticals is a worthwhile goal. Until she can provide solace to those who cannot survive without medication or provide protection to those endangered by the dangerously mentally ill, her solution shows a reckless regard for the lives of her fellow human beings.Ravenmnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11578771107514349258noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post-52984125026642787262008-01-11T12:12:00.000-06:002008-01-11T12:12:00.000-06:00Elaine,No one needs your approval, just as you don...Elaine,<BR/>No one needs your approval, just as you don't need anyone else's approval to do anything.<BR/><BR/><I>Why must I listen to their experiences with how antidepressants saved their lives and they mustn't have to listen to my experience with how antidepressants almost took my life? Really. Explain that to me.</I><BR/><BR/>Glad to.<BR/><BR/>That's not what happened. You didn't just share your experiences. You declared for all people everywhere, based on your experience, that depression is not a mental illness; that anti-depressants don't work; and that all depression can be managed through self-control (not allowing oneself to have depressing thoughts), exercise, and exposure to sunlight.<BR/><BR/>Others have shared their own experiences because they are different from yours and thus suggest that your own conclusions are not true for everyone.<BR/><BR/>Of course, no one is <I>making</I> you listen to any of this.Plain(s)feministhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15056404699624958898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post-57146590612065798132008-01-11T00:53:00.000-06:002008-01-11T00:53:00.000-06:00Here's what I don't understand:Why does anyone nee...Here's what I don't understand:<BR/>Why does anyone need or want my approval to do something they need or want to do? <BR/><BR/>Why must I listen to their experiences with how antidepressants saved their lives and they mustn't have to listen to my experience with how antidepressants almost took my life? Really. Explain that to me.Elaine Vigneaulthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02678177594055407926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post-31915771451863075292008-01-08T19:46:00.000-06:002008-01-08T19:46:00.000-06:00Hi Dianne and Oblion,I'm glad you liked the post!I...Hi Dianne and Oblion,<BR/>I'm glad you liked the post!<BR/><BR/>I was thinking on my drive home today about something I think is related. Before I gave birth, I was really suspicious of medicalized childbirth (still am). I basically thought that pitocin (they drug they give to cause contractions) was evil, and most of what I'd read in my quest for a natural childbirth described it this way. I had a midwife at a hospital as my birth attendant, and I had a doula, so I felt confident that I would have as drug- and intervention-free a birth as possible.<BR/><BR/>But I also had a horrible case of PUPPP (a really miserable rash) that left me sleepless during my last few days of pregnancy, and I went into labor about as exhausted as I could be. My contractions began to weaken, and because Bean's head was at an angle, there wasn't uniform pressure on the cervix, which was beginning to swell (not a good thing), and it wasn't dilating properly. I needed stronger contractions to straighten him out. After trying everything else to stimulate contractions, my midwife ordered pitocin (the doctor on call wanted to do a cesearian).<BR/><BR/>So what I learned from my experience was that there are times when pitocin is necessary, even useful. That doesn't excuse the frequency with which it is given patients according to medicalized pregnancy, and boy, I still have a lot of cricisms of that whole thing. But I did realize that I simply couldn't assume that everyone's experience was just like mine and draw universal conclusions from it.<BR/><BR/>To be honest, I still have trouble with this - a lot of my feelings about things come from what I've lived. But I think it's really important that we keep listening to other experiences without judging them by what we know experientially.Plain(s)feministhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15056404699624958898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post-36971620793515241562008-01-08T17:38:00.000-06:002008-01-08T17:38:00.000-06:00Thank you for posting this!!!! This issue is perso...Thank you for posting this!!!! <BR/><BR/>This issue is personal for me, but also just having my psych background from undergraduate years, her analysis leaves lots of room for critique. <BR/><BR/>I could say so much more on this, but I'll try to limit myself. I become quite irritated when people proclaim medication is horrible when the may not have experienced what it's like to be truly depressed and all other things do not work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20435429.post-44924332718316527982008-01-08T15:50:00.000-06:002008-01-08T15:50:00.000-06:00"all opinions are not created equal" - I may need ..."all opinions are not created equal" - I may need to steal that. It made me think of the wonderful quote from Daniel Patrick Moynihan - "you're entitled to your own opinions, you are not entitled to your own facts"<BR/><BR/>I recently went back to therapy after almost 20 years and for the first time in my long and illustrious life I also felt I needed meds - it was a hard decision to come to, I've always been a just keep moving type of gal but that was exactly IT - I literally couldn't move - it was a physical pain unlike anything I ever felt before.<BR/>I still haven't been able to really blog about it - not out of shame - I am who I am and I'll show you me every time - but out of it all still being so new.<BR/><BR/>I loved this post - made me get started on telling another piece of my story.Diannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02946500110072411468noreply@blogger.com