Comments on: Annotated 29-9

By: Zak McKracken

Zak McKracken — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 00:06:05 +0000

The crazy thing is, I didn’t even realize at first reading that this page explains why Shanna hates fantasy so much. I had just seen the Harry Potter reference and filed it under “okay, so her mom is having very difficult mental health issues”.

I didn’t need an explanation because I know people who have that bias (in slightly reduced form) simply out of ignorance. But I guess the looongwinded discussions in the previous page’s comments sensitized me to the topic :)

By: Zak McKracken

Zak McKracken — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 00:01:14 +0000

That stuff isn’t made easier that most relatives or people otherwise close to the affected person don’t really have any idea what drives them, and therefore have a decent chance of making it harder for them by trying to help (Heck, even some drug counselors are only slightly ahead of that curve … ).
That makes for a really nice guilt trip if/when you start thinking that maybe you might have had a part to play in the issue, but ultimately you can’t have known better. In lots of cases, even the person affected didn’t know any better, either.

I have a drug counselor in the family, and it’s crazy how many clients don’t even have a real theory of what the heart of their issue is, and how the efforts of a clients’ family (who understand the issue even less) are often not half helpful or sometimes directly counterproductive because blaming themselves for causing their loved ones trouble or for not meeting their expectations to clean up already can (can! Not always! I’m not a psychologist, just regurgitating some stuff I’ve learned!) reinforce the whole issue.

In other words: It’s not helping to beat oneself up over not being able to help a loved one with debilitating psychological issues (drug-related or otherwise) — you do as well as you know how to, and if that’s not working then going beyond what you think you can take is not likely to make things better.

By: TxGator

TxGator — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 21:58:54 +0000

Sure. But the same could be said about “Green Earth Day.” The point of the day is to try and bring awareness to the problem.

Though to be fair, after 30 more seconds of Googling, it looks like World Mental Health Day is more about going outside and taking a breather. Or taking the day off just to relax. And not so much about mental health issues.

By: TachyonCode

TachyonCode — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 09:38:21 +0000

Without sounding too tongue-in-cheek about it, the world does not exactly inspire mental health.

Bit of a problem if a single day annually is all the time we think we need to be mindful of it, if I’m being honest.

By: Sahara

Sahara — Wed, 14 Oct 2020 04:15:40 +0000

The previous page is where I finally started to like Shanna’s story. And this page was where I really got drawn in, especially the first two panels.