Dear noname:

“I feel like when people suggest medication to me it is because they want to help and don’t know how, even though just being heard is all I need from them. It suggests a discomfort with pain. Please don’t recommend medication to me. I don’t have bipolar disorder either…. it’s more like a relief from the belief of ‘not good enough'”- I accept: (1) I will not recommend again that you re-consider psychiatric medications, (2) I will do my best to remember that all you need from me is to hear you, while I respect my need to develop the thoughts you present in my replies to you, so to increase my understanding of you.. and of me.

Regarding suggesting medications indicating “a discomfort with pain” on the part of the person making the suggestion: I am not aware of the possibility of experiencing comfort with pain (?)

“I have chosen an alternate path to treat my depression that will never involve pharmaceuticals. I want to discover what relief is possible through connection both internal and external, to give hope to the millions of people like me who haven’t found what they are looking for through pharmaceuticals, and hopefully create a model that can be easily taught and duplicatable in communities to help heal the world… It is obvious to me the societal disconnection or collective trauma we experience has sustained my depression, I want to help engage in healing this disconnection, not put a band-aid over it”-

– (1) Reads like you are hoping to individually create a new model of healing that will work for you,  and then teach that model to millions of people, and in so doing- heal the world, (2) I very much agree with you that we, as individuals, are all affected by the reality of societal disconnection and collective trauma. Global warming as a consequence of human misbehavior comes to mind as a current and growing collective trauma of global proportions.

“I’ve always appreciated your attention although I really didn’t want to explain my stance on anti-depressants today. I wanted to share my progress, and get some support to keep progressing which has been so valuable to me”- I promise: I will never again bring up to you the topics of anti-depressants, other psychiatric medications, and mental diagnoses.

“I have felt intense pain this week and was able to work through it and distance my trauma from my identity, and now have hope that my internal relationship can be improved and continue to get better, which can help me build the external relationships I need without sabotaging them. This week was tough but I’m happy how I treated myself”-

– I am glad to read that you are happy with how you treated yourself. I  never read these wordings before: distancing one’s trauma from one’s identity, and improving one’s internal relationship.

anita