It's the 3 anniversary week of Pickle (our cat) coming to live with us. So, for long term fans of my ridiculous feline, or new followers who may like to know more about him, here's a thread of #ClassicPickle
Pickle was a rescue kitten, from a litter of 7. Kids wanted one of the 2 *identical* tabbies. Then one jumped head first into an empty food sack. Couldn't get out
"Let's get this one, he seems stupid" I said. So it's technically its all my fault
And yes, I KNOW Galaxy Quest did a very similar thing. The whole premise of this idea is essentially a piss take on Hollywood's tendency to make the same film over and over again, so I figured that just made it even more 'meta'
People have been voicing concern about the down-sides of 'mindfulness' and 'mediation' approaches (and the somewhat zealous championing of them) for years
E.g. @anandamide did a whole guest post about it for my Guardian blog
As @anandamide (and many others) flag up, meditation/mindfulness can certainly 'help' with depression. Or, more specifically, the symptoms. But they don't really do much about the root cause, be it biological, social, or whatever. They can't, really
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No, I didn't 'draw the short straw'. They're my children. I like them a lot
No, it's not 'mum's day off'. It's the exact opposite, she's in work. Women can have official jobs these days. It's a thing.
While I'm on about unhelpful sexist tropes, the whole 'man flu' thing can do one as well
Men believing they can't show any vulnerability ever causes major problems in our society. The immediate mocking of them when they confess to any illness at all just strongly reinforces it
This tweet blew up somewhat. Clearly it's still a big and an annoying everyday occurrence.
However, in case anyone thinks I'm some sort of uber-parent, here's one incident that shows how *adept* I am at being a hands-on Dad
I don't know who needs to know this, but as A-level results are coming up and people will be making decisions and asked advice about careers, here it is
Psychiatrists and Psychologists are different things
To be a Psychiatrist, you need a degree in medicine, not psychology
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You may think this is a painfully obvious thing to tweet. Perhaps it comes across as horribly patronising. Sorry if it seems so, but I promise you, countless people are unaware of it
Psychiatrists and psychologists are different things with different qualifications
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And I don't mean teens still in school. It's perfectly acceptable for them to not realise that psychiatry and psychology are separate disciplines.
But many adults, often highly educated ones, are also unaware of the (very important) distinction. And that's not great
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