Yes, I’m sorry that you have a mental illness, or that one of your family suffers from a mental illness. However, that doesn’t make your concerns pressing or your case a priority!
Yes, I know you want a lawyer referral, but we only have one elderly retiree to answer questions and he’s not here right now. No, we don’t have anyone else–I repeat, WE HAVE ONE VOLUNTEER AND HE’S NOT FUCKING HERE! Sorry, but unless you are willing to pony up money to hire a full-time person or can rustle up lawyers who are willing to volunteer their services 8 hours a day for absolutely fucking FREE, then shut the hell up, leave a voice mail, and wait your goddamned turn! I don’t care if you want someone right now, I forgot to bring my magic wand today so I’m unable to summon a lawyer into existence to serve your needs without pay.
You may have a point but I’m still crazy. Now get the blue fairy you work with to summon me a lawyer cause government goons are trying to sue me for the flying saucer I damaged.
From the title, I was terrified that you were/are talking about me. After reading it though, I don’t believe so. But if anything does need to be said to this specific nut of the board, please let me know. I really don’t want to run this into the ground and only make readers roll their eyes with its constant inclusion.
And if there’s anyone out there who feels this way regardless of whether gobear or not, I apologize. I try to keep control of it, but the little pink fairy that sits on my shoulder always swears that it might help someone else. Ya know, because there’s such a stigma attached and it’s usually a taboo subject and blah, blah, blah. If I’m wrong though, shout out to, or at, me.
I work at a nonprofit that supports a network of support groups for mental health services consumers and the people who love them. So, I talk to crazy people (although we’re not allowed to say the c word) all day long.
And I do sympathize with people who live with this affliction. it has to bve hell living with bipolar illness or schizophrenia. And I understand the desperation of a parent who needs help getting her 45-year-old son out of jail because he beat the hell out of a stranger he thought worked for the CIA. But it’s extremely difficult to get a mentally ill person free AND competent legal help, and I damn sure can’t get it for her this very minute. There are other people with equally pressing need and just not enough help to go around.
What does them being crazy have to do with anything? There are pushy rude people all over the world, both crazy and not, so I think you should have left the “crazy” part out. Mental illness is a serious thing…
I know it’s a serious thing, you idiot, I’m VENTING! I have a high-stress job where I have to be helpful, understanding, soothing, and caring with clients as well as working my ass off writing articles, attending meetings, and planning events.
Very typical. I get calls every day from people with adult children who have gotten into horrible trouble from their illness. Unfortunately, the law enforcement community is not as understanding of mental illness as they should be, and it’s extremely common for people with mental illness to be locked up instead of receiving treatment. The funds for commnity-based mental illness treatment just isn’t there–thank your tax cuts.
Mental illness is a brain ailment, just as serious a disease as cancer or stroke. Sadlty, insurance often won’t cover care for mental illness, and there are few resources for people who need help. I can’t give people the help they need–I can’t give them housing, or jobs, or money for medication. I can point people to local government and private agencies, but they don’t have the resources to help either.
gobear, I know that trite consolation won’t help. But it’s so sad that you get bombarded with that regularly and have to try and come up with solutions daily. One can only hope that those medications, and patience, kicks in.
Good vibes are coming your way. And lots of empathy over here.
::: now backs slowly and politely out of thread :::
Probably because the people calling in and demanding help this very minute are using that very point trying to persuade gobear that he has to produce miracles, like, “My son has bipolar disorder and needs help, what do you mean you can’t ___________________ right this second?”
I used to work in a pediatric cardiology clinic. We had parents who’d call in and when we would, say, put a normal, no health problems patient who just needed a twice-yearly follow-up down for an appointment a month from then, the parent would freak out and go into this “My child has a heart condition, and I don’t see why we have to wait a month, and blah blah blah,” even after you explained that if the kid didn’t have symptoms and the doctor said it was just for a regular checkup and was no rush, then we were going to schedule it a little further away than if the kid actually had symptoms. (Especially since we were short on clinic hours for the number of patients we had, and ended up overbooking clinics to hell and back because of emergency appointments.) Some parents would insist on talking to the doctor, and after they did, would sheepishly (but without apology) call back and say that the month-from-now appointment was fine.
Whenever we’d get a parent who’d be spouting off with “my child has a heart condition” I’d always think to myself, “Yeah, so do all of our patients, we’re pediatric cardiology after all.” The worst part was that typically the parents who’d use that line were the ones who would be no-shows for repeated visits, but when little Johnny needs a doctor’s note for phy ed excuse/clearance, and then all of a sudden the parent is very intent on getting the kid seen soon.
Gobear, have you ever read this series over at Opal’s Fathom board? It’s some of the hardest core delusion I believe I’ve ever seen. The whole series of threads goes back years. Here’s a random sample:
That’s not amusing, **Lib[/]b. most people who aren’t affected by mental illness have no idea how tough it is to function with it. I listen to tremendously heartbreaking stories every damned day and I just can’t handle seeing all this woe and knowing that there is very little I can do to give concrete help. Sure, I can work with an aide to Senator This or Congresswoman That to get a hearing for a bill organized or work on a position paper, but people need material help, like finding a brother who took off on Greyhound across the country 5 years ago, or getting a person legal help, or helping to find funds for an indigent person to get medication.
And now I have to get back to writing for a deadline.
gobear: I answer phone lines for the state mental health program office, and I feel your pain. On the one hand, I’m wishing to god that I could get help right this second for, say, the woman who is convinced that the doctors have implanted exploding devices in her legs. On the other hand, I know for a fact that there’s not enough money and odds are good she’s going to fall by the wayside no matter how many direct consumer care staff members I give her number to.
