Someone just reminded me of this one, for stuff ppl with #depression hate hearing: "Cheer up! A lot of people have it way worse than you do, you know!"
I got that from the intake social worker the one & only time I went to the ER for mental health help. I was far into crisis, going through SSRI withdrawal & a bunch of other severe symptoms I won't go into here. "Nervous breakdown" isn't a clinical term, but it's a pretty good descriptor of what was going on.
I seriously wish I'd known about eFeedbacks way back then. Or that I'd had the chutzpah to report her.
But that's the thing: I didn't. Because ppl expect that ppl w/mental health conditions will advocate for ourselves. But we often *can't*. How can we, when we're at our very worst? When we haven't slept for days, can't think straight, have no energy, can't focus?
That's the time when we're supposed to be able to stand up & be at our most effective, to have enough energy & time & thought to be able to fight a system that would seriously rather we just die.
I don't know how anyone does it. I've always had terrible trouble. & I think I've just been lucky sometimes, because I've gotten some good care & it's almost by accident.
The social worker told my then-SO that I "needed a vacation". She told me that I "needed to get some perspective" & compared me to the people they actually had in their PBMU at the time - I was too coherent to be admitted, she said. & that was that. They sent me home.
I never actually saw the psychiatrist on call. And I will never, EVER go back to the ER if I'm in crisis again. Fuck that.