(1/8) I’ll take “Shitty Behaviour You (Shouldn’t) Have to Put Up With” for $500
I’m often mistaken for an employee at @CAMHnews, instead of the patient I am. (What does a #mentalhealth patient LOOK like anyways?). I don’t hesitate to correct someone because I’m not ashamed...
(2/8) ME: [standing in the parking lot by my car in-between #rTMS treatments]
MAN: [cutting through #CAMH grounds with walking group of seniors behind me] “...and here we are at the insane asylum, ha ha ha, if we’re lucky we’ll see some of the crazies doing their crazy shit...”
(3/8) If I wasn’t so exhausted (and nauseated), I’d have schooled you. Instead, I’ll wait outside every day in between treatments while I’m here, and maybe one day I’ll be lucky and you’ll walk by. And I’ll invite you to have a conversation. And I’ll share my history with you...
(4/8) Being admitted to this hospital, being diagnosed with mental illness, receiving #shocktherapy & #rTMS. How research at this hospital is saving lives, and creating better, less invasive and more accessible treatments. I’ll share what this illness has robbed from me and...
(5/8)...the gifts it has given me - like compassion. I’ll even share stories of the beautiful people I’ve met - those with schizophrenia and psychosis, bi-polar disorder, eating disorders, addictions, depression... Those ‘crazies’ as you call them. I’ll tell you about...
(6/8)...the transformations they take when they receive the right diagnosis and treatment. But I’ll change their names, because their stories really aren’t mine to share, and many choose not to share because of the judgement of people like you...
(7/8) Maybe you’ll walk away laughing, because inside you’re uncomfortable. Maybe you’ll never understand because you’ve been fortunate enough to not experience it personally or through a loved one. Maybe you’ll learn something and the world will become that better place....
From @CAMHnews... According to the World Health Organization, around 450 million people currently struggle with mental illness, making it the leading cause of disability worldwide... #BellLetsTalk
Here at home, it affects more than 6.7 million of us. In fact, one in two Canadians have—or have had—a mental illness by the time they reach 40 years of age... #BellLetsTalk@CAMHnews
From camh.ca:
The Cost to Society Is Immense.
Mental illness is a leading cause of disability in this country, preventing nearly 500,000 employed Canadians from attending work each week. @CAMHnews#BellLetsTalk
This thread is about depression - but it isn’t ‘sad’. I've accepted that my mental illness was ongoing and cyclical. Caused by a faulty part in my brain. That’s ok! I could have had a pancreas that didn’t work or a heart that malfunctioned, too. But I got a broken brain...
Fine! Let’s deal with it. What does treatment look like for a broken brain? Last week, my brain received 72,000 ‘zaps’ through a magnetic coil to the part of my brain that’s ‘broken’. I’m weepy because I already feel a difference...
I’m weepy because I keep forgetting what it feels like to not be ‘sad’ all the time (it’s deeper than this). If we think of emotions as chemicals and electrical impulses, those zaps have encouraged the part of my brain that makes emotions happen to work again...
Today was a big day for @diesel6751 and I. It was also #BellLetsTalk Day. Please read the thread to see how it unfolded...
Derek and I were up at 4am to arrive, in the dark, at @CAMHnews . I was able to join one of the @CAMHResearch doctors, Dr. Daskalakis, for an interview with @JamieGutfreund from @CP24Breakfast. We discussed #rTMS (Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation)...
Dr. Daskalakis discussed some staggering statistics about #mentalhealth. He said that if 350,000 people were waiting - and not receiving - cancer treatment, there would be an uproar. There are 350,000 people waiting for mental health treatment...