In a culture hellbent on productivity as a hallmark of success, and even individual value, it can be difficult to accept that my square-peg underachiever status is a matter of faulty wiring, not personal failing.įinding the proper medication, or medications, to treat overlapping mental health conditions is more often a wavy course than a straight line, as exhibited by my own trial-and-error. Had I been diagnosed in childhood, when the symptoms first appeared, I might have had an easier time calming the tides of negative feelings. Anxiety around finding effective treatment. Shame around feeling abnormal and difficult. diagnosis, I was overcome with emotion - relief, yes, at having an explanation for why my mind pinged between daydreaming, emotional overload and obsessive hyperfocus, but also shame, anxiety and grief. Underdiagnosis is even greater among Black girls and women.Īfter my A.D.H.D. Research shows that women are underdiagnosed, improperly diagnosed and diagnosed much later in life than boys and men, as women tend to have the inattentive type of A.D.H.D., rather than the garrulous, constantly-in-motion variety often equated with the disorder. have another mental health condition and according to a 2017 article in the medical journal BMC Psychiatry, in adults, depression and anxiety are among the most common comorbidities. “Comorbidity,” the ominous-sounding term for simultaneously occurring conditions, is common. The juggling of schoolwork, house work and my own work overwhelmed me to the point that my mind would skate into blankness, like my system had been knocked off-line, as it has been many times in my life.Ī.D.H.D., anxiety, depression: I’d hit a comorbidity hat trick. The glitchy chaos of my daughter’s Zoom classroom frustrated me endlessly. I am one of many Americans whose emotional well-being nose-dived during the pandemic. The nickname allows me to efficiently keep people apprised of my status, as in: “Bruce has really been bringing me down this week.” The nickname helps me lighten up about my own darkness. For expediency’s sake, I gave the whole bundle a nickname: “Bruce,” in homage to Springsteen, who has been open about his own struggles with mental health. I was not only “mentally ill,” nor was I merely “neurodivergent.” “Serotonin-deprived with executive dysfunction rising,” while a clever description, was more likely to be taken for an odd diagnosis than for the joke that it was.
After I got my third diagnosis, inattentive-type attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which I came to suspect I had while supervising my young daughter’s remote schooling during lockdown last spring, I was still honest about my mental health, but it was harder to discuss without a term that encapsulated everything.
CD KEY COUNTER STRIKE CONDITION ZERO 1.6 PLUS
But over time, the diagnoses have added up: depression plus generalized anxiety disorder.
To counter the stigma, I share that I go to therapy, and that via daily medication I am in the Better Living Through Chemistry contingent. Since being diagnosed with depression in my 20s, I have been candid about my mental illness. I’m probably not going to make the strongest case for my mental soundness by telling you that Bruce Springsteen lives inside my brain.
0 kommentar(er)
