Perspiration instead of Medication
For people undergoing stressful and life-changing events (i.e. divorce, break-up, bankruptcy, addiction recovery), depression and/or anxiety can become acute. Unfortunately, in an age where popping a pill is much easier and less time-consuming than push-ups, medication is taking the place of perspiration.
Exercise is rarely given much thought despite the fact that studies show how much physical activity can release endorphins, elevate mood, increase self-esteem, not to mention the social camaraderie that can come from being with like-minded people. Continue Reading
Genie, You’re Free: But We’re Trapped (Addiction, Depression, & Suicide)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released a tweet with this picture of Disney’s Aladdin hugging the genie, voiced in the movie by Robin Williams, with the message “Genie, you’re free.”
But is Robin Williams really free? No, he’s dead. He’s free from living and learning. He’s free from his battle with depression and his addiction to alcohol. Meanwhile, the public is trapped in a strange predicament when it comes to suicide. How to honor the man and his creative genius while not glorifying suicide?
Unfortunately, tweets like these that are meant to uplift do nothing but create conflicting messages about how to handle mental illness. Maybe you can find the image reassuring and comforting but for those struggling with suicidal thoughts and impulses, this same image could trigger a vulnerable person to commit suicide by associating “freedom” with the act. Blogger Holly Thomas shares her concerns in the Independent:
“I find that message troubling. Its immediate simplicity belies extraordinary scope for misinterpretation and misrepresentation. … Suicide is not freedom. It’s a cry for help that always comes too late…to intimate, however subtly or unintentionally that taking your own life is a liberating action, is irresponsible and dangerous. While someone who is not suicidal might look at the picture of the genie and find comfort, someone whose mind is weighed heavy by depression may see something dangerously different.”
As a psychotherapist, I work with clients regularly dealing with depression, addictions, and sometimes suicide. The challenge is instilling a personal sense of hope for those dealing with suicidal tendencies and helping clients find the root cause for some of their symptoms as well as challenging and changing their cognitive distortions (i.e. negative thought patterns).
While people dealing with depression and suicidality is a mental condition, I would remind folks it is not unequivocally a “disease” like Parkinson’s or cancer that leaves choice out of the equation. Suicide for the general population (i.e. those who can still hold down a job, raise a family, etc.) is a choice. It’s a choice that’s made of free will. Clients who feel suicidal and want to end their pain oftentimes have negative core beliefs about themselves that need changing.
In Robin Williams’ case, it’s hard to speculate what the issues were but it’s clear he thought (emphasis mine) he had no other choice but to kill himself. Williams was a functional and productive member of society who chose to commit suicide because of an irrational belief system that convinced him there was no other way to persevere through his emotional anguish.
But as a therapist, I’m here to encourage those who are struggling with addictions, depression, or suicidal urges that there is a way out and that’s to live it out. Or better yet, maybe I should quote Robin Williams who played a character quoting Walt Whitman:
“What good amid these, O me, O life? Answer. That you are here — that life exists.”
Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/14/upshot/the-science-behind-suicide-contagion.html?_r=2
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/youre-free-genie-why-the-academys-goodbye-to-robin-williams-was-dangerously-irresponsible-9666141.html
Vincent Chin: Deplorable White Revisionist History
Thirty-two years ago this week, Vincent Chin lay crumpled on the streets just outside Detroit and uttered these last words, “It’s not fair”. He died from injuries suffered after two disgruntled, white autoworkers beat him mercilessly wielding a baseball bat.
On that fateful June 23rd night in 1982, Chin and his friends were celebrating his bachelor party at a strip club in Highland Park, Michigan. An argument ensued between Chin and Ronald Ebens, a Chrysler plant supervisor along with his unemployed stepson Michael Nitz. Witnesses said Ebens instigated the incident by shouting, “It’s because of you little motherfuckers that we’re out of work!”, a reference to the anti-Japanese sentiment of the time amidst high unemployment, inflation, and Detroit’s economic paralysis as American car manufacturing jobs were being lost to Japan. It’s reported Ebens and his stepson Nitz also used the racial terms “chink”, “jap”, and “nip” in this deadly bar brawl. Continue Reading
Asian-Americans: Never American?
My SoundCloud audio commentary on this story
In the Asian-American experience, there will be times when you are disregarded as a true American. In this particular case, it gets even worse as the Chicago police officers in this raid physically hit her and verbally abuse her despite her stance that she is a citizen.
Here’s a transcript of what was caught on camera:
Police officer: You’re not f—— American! I’ll put you in a UPS box and send you back to wherever the f— you came from!
Klyzek: I’m a citizen, OK?
Police officer: No you’re not! No, you’re not a citizen! No, you’re not! No, you’re not! Continue Reading
A Case for Trader Joe’s: Gentrification over Ghettoization
Listen to my SoundCloud audio blog on Gentrification vs. Ghettoization
I can’t quite remember the first time I walked into a Trader Joe’s store but I do remember the experience. Staff wearing t-shirts emblazoned with Hawaiian prints, bells ringing, spirited employees, healthy and specialty foods.
Trader Joe’s succeeds because it’s found a niche that welcomes it’s unique approach to the entire grocery store shopping experience. Shopping at traditional grocery stores is just that-a chore, an errand, another thing to check off my to-do list. With Trader Joe’s, my pulse quickens thinking about the hummus, the salads, and the atmosphere of levity which encapsulates it’s anti-establishment ethos. Continue Reading
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