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Name calling has been around longer than pancakes and pine straw. But that doesn’t mean we have to participate. In some cases, it’s simply lack of education. In others, it’s a cop out and a way to bolster one’s own self esteem by putting down another.
I am an emotionally naked mental health speaker, and author of the Book, Diary of a Broken Mind and co-author with Kim O'Brien PhD, LICSW of Emotionally Naked: A Teacher's Guide to Preventing Suicide and Recognizing Students at Risk. I raised two boys, Richard and Charles, and lost my younger son, Charles to addiction and suicide on June 5, 2015. I help people foster a culture of connection to prevent suicide, reduce substance misuse and find life after loss. My motivational mental health keynotes, training and workshop topics include suicide prevention, addiction, mental illness, anxiety, coping strategies/resilience, and grief. As talented and funny as Charles was, letting other people know they matter was his greatest gift. And now the legacy I try and carry forward in my son's memory. Mental Health Speakers Website. Trained in ASIST and trainer for the evidence-based 4-hour training for everyone called safeTALK. View all posts by Anne Moss Rogers
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Unfortunately, so many of the addiction professionals also perpetuate myths and misinformation about addiction. It is so hard for us as parents to navigate through this morass of outdated and sometimes even downright harmful info. So much has changed since the 1930s, when many of the myths were born of lack of knowledge. Everyone was just doing the best they could to fight the cunning and baffling disease that is addiction. However, it is time now to incorporate new knowledge and update our thinking and treatment of what we have come to realize is a complicated brain disease! Knowledge saves unnecessary heartache and also saves lives! What has really helped me has been to read information about the brain. There is a website that I love called NeuroscienceNews.com that has many great articles that help to connect the dots between the addicted brain and suicide and how huge a role dopamine, serotonin, and other neurotransmitters and chemicals come into play. Then when you add the effects that insomnia and anxiety, and other personality disorders also have on the brain, you have a fatal recipe going on, that needs to be addressed medically and in many other levels.
You are right Anne. Addiction is not a choice. Neither is suicide. Both are products of pain and the inability to get the help needed to stop it. ❣️
This is so true. Our words can either be used to perpetuate shame and stigma, or to promote healing and understanding. ❣️
You said that so perfectly! I am saving that line. I will say I thought is was a choice to keep using when, in fact, it’s not