I often lament the fact that as a culture we have come to believe that if you’re feeling anything other than wonderful in every moment, that you could be suffering from the disease, and that there is a pill to help you.
I’ve just finished two important and disturbing books that add to this conversation, Saving Normal by Dr. Allen Frances, former Chairman of the Dept. of Psychiatry at Duke, and responsible for the task force that produced the previous edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-4). He warns that the explosion of mental illnesses in the new DSM-5 have no scientific validity, and that we are experimenting on adults and children with potentially harmful drugs. The other is by author/psychotherapist Gary Greenberg called The Book of Woe, which made me cringe with its disturbing depiction of the abuses that result when we turn suffering into a reimbursable commodity.
Instead of more diagnoses consider this simpler proposal; all mental illnesses are a manifestation of a spectrum disorder called Life, and in this life we are all Bananas.
Most of us are Ordinary Bananas, we have our own unique personalities, styles, characteristics, and whatever our quirks/peculiarities, most of us learn to live with them and hopefully even learn to thrive because of them.
However, in life ‘stuff happens’ that can throw us for a loop and we become symptomatic (angry, depressed, withdrawn, addicted, etc.). We become Smoking Bananas, and we need help. 11% of all Americans take antidepressants, but there are many other ways to feel better. What it requires is reaching out and finding support… in people/ places/ institutions/ groups/ communities on whom you can depend, who remind us that we are not alone on the journey, and inspire our hope.
Some of us can smolder and smoke for a long time; it doesn’t matter how intense the pain, we choose to hang on to our suffering. If you smolder long enough it’s a short jump to becoming a Flaming Banana. You don’t need to be a psychiatrist to tell you who these people are; at this end of the spectrum people are hallucinating and delusional, they can’t tell the difference between what’s real from what’s make-believe…these people need more serious intervention.
Because we suffer on life’s journey doesn’t mean we’re mentally ill. Our suffering is generally time limited, and our potential for joy and blessings unlimited. Lighten up! We are all bananas, and the most important thing in thriving on the journey is to love the banana you are.
It never stops amazing me how full of shit you are….how is it that I know all of your daughters both biological and adopted and that one from each party speaks of you being full of shit and how toxic and worthless your wife is?
I do not expect an answer to this in a public forum since you are a fake, a fraud and a part time broad but we will see.
Me tacky we acouy or whatever it is that shit you sign off with! Since there is not a shot in hell that you have the nuts to post this response I will throw it out via social media and see how you respond.
I love this post. I used to work as a mental health professional and I too am alarmed (maybe not the right word) about the medicalization/psychiatrization of life. Yes, there are many people who are in or have had painful life experiences that leave them hurting. A friend of mine used to remind me to thank Creator not just for the good times but (maybe more importantly) give thanks for the hard times because these are our biggest teachers. Most of us have life scars and are crippled to some extent (including the professionals). Being able to talk with someone is one way to make sense of and see what one can learn from the experience to effect meaningful change, though there are many other modalities. Sometimes medications are necessary but popping a pill for everything that we are told is outside the norm is numbing and/or killing us. I used to work for one federal agency where hardly any of my clients were on medication, we talked and with kids we communicated through play. Then I went to another federal agency and it was a totally different culture, a different mindset. In the 9 yearsI worked there, only two or three of my clients were NOT on medication. They chose not to fit into the mold.
Hi Pam:
I’m posting your message because it relates to this weeks subject material.
Be assured that if any of my daughters confronted me with your accusations, I’d surely pay attention. But we don’t know each other, so you have no idea of how full of shit I really am, or what a toxic, worthless broad my wife of 53 years is; still you are convinced that your perception of reality is the way it is… you sound like a Flaming Banana to me.
Hi Carl, I was just catching up on some past Schlagbytes and just wanted to send a short note to say thank you, as always, for sharing and providing support and insights into our life and healing journeys. From one banana to another thanks for all your love and support and assistances along my “banana” journey. Take care. Tony D.
Thanks Ruth and Tony for your warm thoughts and delighted we share the banana journey together. :O)
Dear Dr. Hammerschlag;
I wanted to write to you to say how heartening your journeys in mental health are to me, personally. I have endured life-long PTSD; it began at three days of age, and continued, pretty much most of my life. Repeating every single incident would be like teaching a pig to sing, but as horrendous as some incidents have been, they have shaped me into a kinder, gentler, more compassionate version of who I was meant to be. Psychoneuroimmunology has fascinated me for the past decade, and the two men who ignited the interest are John Goodheart, and Bruce Lipton. I *LIKE* my banana; just wish there was some way to share it with more like-minded folks. Bless you(my Dad always called me a banana; I wonder if he knew you…), always.
Brooke Pugh
PS…I’m a firm fan of Patch as well:))
Delighted you have hung in through all the traumas and are still singing, with joy, :O)