According to Wikipedia, cyberchondria refers to the unfounded escalation of concerns about common symptomology based on review of search results and literature online. Cyberchondria is a growing concern among many healthcare practitioners as patients can now research any and all symptoms of a rare disease, illness or condition, and manifest a state of medical anxiety. [...]
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Unpacking Our View of Mental Illness & How We Address It
Today in the U.S. it seems the predominant narrative available to make sense of much internal suffering is a scientific narrative, the belief that, much like diabetes or cancer, mental illness can be “found,” accurately identified through formal diagnostic procedures, and addressed through scientifically vetted treatments. Much as we colloquially understand diabetes to be an imbalance in, or a compromised capacity of the body to interact with, insulin, one recent narrative of depression is that there is a similarly challenged relationship between the brain and serotonin. More generally the common colloquial explanation for much of what we categorize as mental illness has become that it is, or is often caused by, “a chemical imbalance,” a graciously vague statement which most of us could accurately use to describe as a major influence of our mood before having our morning coffee.
Coping through difficult times
As we begin our blogging journey we hope to create a source of information which is helpful to those who read it and in some way can provide a source of healing, inspiration, hope and learning. To change our attitude we will need to change our self-talk to a more positive, less pessimistic, less rigid, thinking pattern in order to cope more effectively with current and future challenges we will face.
