Betsy

Therapists are just…. Common sense filters

Therapists finding loopholes for mental illness things is one of my favorite things about dealing with mental illness because it really helps me understand that just because a reaction is Common doesn’t mean it’s Right. Does doing dishes stress you out a lot? Buy paper plates. Do your obsessive thoughts make you worry about leaving your curling iron on so you drive home from work to check? Just put the curling iron in your purse and bring it to work with you while we work on tackling where this worry comes from. Symptom management doesn’t have to look like drudgery.

I love this post

Hmmm

These kinds of loopholes make life so. Much. Better.

One of my favorite stories is this lady had extremely bad OCD. Every day she’d be late to work because she was convinced that her hair dryer was going to burn down the house so would always have to turn around and check it. Multiple times a day even. A bunch of doctors tied to “fix” her of that fear, until one day she got a doctor that suggested she bring the hair dryer with her. Other doctors were annoyed, saying that wasn’t a the correct way to help, but she gave it a go. When she had that fear, she’d look over and see the hair dryer unplugged in the seat next to her and was able to carry on. I think it’s such a perfect example of actually helping someone instead of forcing them into a neurotypical standard.

That story helped me stop repeatedly checking if my front door was locked. Instead of checking that the door was locked over and over I would check my security system app. If it’s on it will alert me if the front door opens.

“…actually helping someone instead of forcing them into a neurotypical standard” should be added to the Hippocratic Oath.

Started reading about the door and I thought they were gonna say they took the door with them

They’re👏called👏adaptive👏behaviors👏and 👏are 👏literally 👏how👏you 👏fight 👏mental👏 illness👏

brb gotta go darken my clothes and strike a violent pose

university is also just *rereads email wording for twenty minutes* *pdfs* *waits for bus* *lofi beats* *bounces leg* *forgets student card* *forgets laptop charger* *forgets lab coat* *refreshes email* *tupperware* *prints something* *stares at wall for ten minutes before getting out of bed* *makes tea* *waits for appointment* *daydreams on bus* *climbs stairs* *stares at google calendar* *almost gets hit by bike* *recycles*