A while back, I read an online essay by David B. Feldman, titled: “Is Mental Illness Real?” The subtitle reads: “Some psychologists argue calling emotional difficulties ‘illnesses’ is nonsense.” I have been thinking a lot about the concept of mental illness and wanted to engage this piece, as a way into debates about the meaning of mental illness and disorder. My primary focus here is the issue of mental health diagnosis: what does it really tell us? I am also choosing to focus on the more common mental illnesses – roughly, anxiety and depression – as I believe there are important differences between these, and other disorders that are perhaps more biologically defined (e.g. neurocognitive disorders, Schizophrenia, etc.). Diagnosis: Causal… read more →
After an exhausting pregnancy and a challenging delivery, you have finally returned home with your baby. You expect the weeks and months that follow to be the happiest time of your life but instead you find yourself feeling quickly overwhelmed and frustrated. One minute everything seems fine, and the next you feel a wave of sadness and are unable to stop crying. You hold your baby, expecting to feel an instant bond but instead you are filled with anger and resentment, or maybe even nothing at all. You start feeling guilty because this isn’t what you expected motherhood to look like, and you begin to question whether you are even cut out to be a mother. Looking online only serves… read more →
