My Physicalmental Illness
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- čas přidán 9. 08. 2021
- In which John discusses labyrinthitis, OCD, categories, the body in thought, and the body in pain.
TWO MAJOR NOTES:
1. Stigma is complicated. When it comes to stigma around mental illness, I've found this paper extremely helpful (I reread it often): www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti... One heavily stigmatized illness not mention in the video is HIV, and there has been a lot of research around the causes (and the consequences) of stigma w/r/t HIV; I recommend this overview: www.icrw.org/publications/com...
But in general, illness is stigmatized partly based on our ability to treat them/our level of understanding, partly based on who tends to be most affected by them, and partly based on what the illness does and which bodily systems it affects (like, colon diseases are stigmatized in a way that heart diseases aren't). All of this has real impacts on health and healthcare delivery. Consider, for instance, this famous study showing racial disparities in pain assessment and treatment recommendations: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...)
2. This is largely coincidental, but I think it's interesting that it's possible to imagine a patient with OCD being treated with both the medications that were used to treat my labyrinthitis. Althought it is not widely administered, meclizine (which is primarily an anti-nausea medication; you may know it as dramamine or antivert) may have some ability to treat so-called "diminished gating" in patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti..., and diazapam (commonly known in the U.S. as valium) is often prescribed to treat severe anxiety and panic attacks. (With regular use, patients often become tolerant to diazapam and/or physically dependent upon it, so it is often--or should be, anyway--prescribed with constraint and careful monitoring.)
p.s. Thanks to Rosianna Halse Rojas for very helpful feedback on this video! / rosianna
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My wife shared a quote with me once that I find really helps me de-categorize the way I think of things: “Categories are useful. Categories are not real.”
"Of course it is all happening in your head, Harry, but why on earth should that mean it is not real" -Dumbledore
Reading Dumbledore say this was the first time I ever encountered that idea and I am happy it stayed with me ever since - and sad it took 25 years of my life to ever hear that sentiment at all because I am still struggling with accepting it for my own self.
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It baffles me how JKR manages simultaneously to have incredible insight into the human condition and be a close-minded bigot. People contain multitudes I guess.
@@auditoryeden My theory is that it's a case of "hurt people hurt people".
I could be wrong here but as someone that's been through . . . let's just say an adjacent trauma to the one JKR went through, I can kinda understand what she's doing and why. It doesn't excuse her at all. But when you have that kind of trauma it's like it embeds a fear of men on a deep, instinctual level. So she sees what a lot of people are telling her is something that is dangerous to cis-women and she believes them because that's what her fear is telling her too. She tries to make a logical argument about why her fear is justified. Because if she can't justify it then she'd have to admit it's not logical and she's being bigoted against transwomen. So she keeps looking up more and more that proves she's right to be scared, and unfortunately there's plenty of people who love publishing stuff that feeds these fears.
It's painful to admit that you don't trust an entire group of people and it's your fault, not theirs. The trauma isn't our fault, but it's our responsibility to make sure we don't let that fear guide our actions and make sure we don't pass on the trauma to others.
Sorry about the long reply. It's just my unprofessional theory.
@@ampz1466 remarkably well put.
Every time John tells this story, I think “How will I ever get out of this labyrinthitis?” and it’s still incredibly funny to me
A+ comment that deserves more attention 👏
I've also had this thought! -John
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The way John talks about OCD & health is so comforting. I always feel calmer when I finish a video - frankly, I would listen to you read your grocery lists!
next p4a perk!
@@thelastcube. PLEASE!!
Do you want to hug me? Then I have to shatter your dreams: I am in a relationship with TWO females! They are also huge fans of me, YT Megastar AxxL! Please don't be too disappointed, dear luka
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If you haven’t already, definitely check out the Anthropocene Reviewed podcast!
Something a friend said that's always stuck with me on this topic. "Telling someone with poor mental health it's 'just in your head' is like telling someone with pneumonia that water is 'just in your lungs'"
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Both has valid reasons and emotions burried in their body.
My dads a physical therapist. He talks about "rewiring the brain" all the time but struggles understanding my mental illness. I never thought of it like this and I think this way of thinking about it will be super helpful with him and others. Thank you!
This made me think of my uncle who loves cars and also suffers from anxiety - once he settled on the term "brain mechanic" for his therapist, he was so pleased with the image of it that he tells everyone about what his brain mechanic suggests for fixes. I love to see it
@@amazingdancingturnips9236 How sweet! It's wonderful that he could find a context for it that made therapy more approachable for him.
I once heard mental health, specifically the use of meds, described this way (by a pastor, for what it's worth):
When you break your leg, you are often given crutches. Crutches are a temporary helper that, once your leg is healed, you no longer need. Sometimes, however, you might require a brace. Braces are a longterm helper that you would expect to use daily. Crutches and braces do similar jobs. Could you heal a broken leg without them? Maybe....but it would take longer, your life would be severely limited, and it might not even heal properly...or at all.
Sometimes, mental health struggles are situational -- we might only need medication for a brief period of time. More often, we need a brace -- meds (and therapy!) that we take daily to improve our ability to live life and heal properly.
I imagine this comparison would make total sense to your dad! Hope it helps, DFTBA 💜
“To have great pain is to have certainty and to hear about pain is to have doubt” I'm in love with this quote now, it makes so much sense sadly.
what does it mean? What is the doubt about?
@@pessimistkai5569 hi! So the quote means: when you experience pain, you are certain that you had or have been experiencing pain. But when we “hear about pain” we may doubt it was experienced. Because we aren’t feeling the pain, we often doubt pain. Especially pain that is foreign to what we knowing/have experienced.
The older I get the more life feels like a “both/and” and not an “either/or” but medicine and diagnostic criteria doesn’t always account for that complexity or duality.
👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Honestly, if every time you think "is this A or B?" you add "or both? or neither?", you get such a much more interesting discussion and a better understanding of both A and B. We should start a movement.
@@RainaRamsay and if it is remotely imaginable, "and everything in between".
...let alone insurance coverage...
@Aminda R. Courtwright This is a really kind comment. Thank you. It made me feel better after a hard day.
As a person who deals with anxiety, depression and an autoimmune disease that is exacerbated by the other two, I have a deep understanding of this issue. Thank you again John for your candid conversations about topics that are usually avoided.
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I definitely agree with you ! I have an illness that is not very much understood/ researched. so my anxiety, and depression is always exacerbated by my autoimmune illness, especially it being somewhat hidden/invisible.
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Same. I do wish doctors would realize that it’s interconnected and stop pushing things onto their colleagues/blaming symptoms solely on other illnesses. One doctor tells me to see the other instead of them-not as in referral for an issue but as in “oh that’s not a this problem that’s a that problem.” Every one of my problems exacerbates the other, so that’s not an excuse for not treating me.
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The phrase “it’s all in your head” never made sense to me because yeah, you got it, that’s where the problem is. My brain is in my head, and it’s a whole organ that’s part of my body! What do you mean my illness isn’t real because it’s in my head!
It's "in your head" in much the same way that a skull fracture is.
They wrongly associate it being mental with it being contious. And there is the assumption typical people make that you have control over your brain and it's functions because they so rarely are faced with situations where that control is removed from them. Or so I would assume.
I feel this hardcore.
+ 1000. My mother continues to tell me I can think myself out of my anxiety and depression, because I clearly thought myself into it. It's really demoralizing when I can't.
@@curiousKuro16 There will always be someone who can't or won't understand but that shouldn't be on you. You already have more to deal with just living your life than a typical/"healthy" person.
Hi. There is a typo in the footnote in the video. This a catastrophe. I am immensely sorry. Here are the promised expanded footnotes to this video. Also, thanks for being here with us and I hope you like the video and I hope you are doing okay.
1. Stigma is complicated. When it comes to stigma around mental illness, I've found this paper extremely helpful (I reread it often): www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3248273/ One heavily stigmatized illness not mention in the video is HIV, and there has been a lot of research around the causes (and the consequences) of stigma w/r/t HIV; I recommend this overview: www.icrw.org/publications/common-at-its-core-hiv-related-stigma-across-contexts/
But in general, illness is stigmatized partly based on our ability to treat them/our level of understanding, partly based on who tends to be most affected by them, and partly based on what the illness does and which bodily systems it affects (like, colon diseases are stigmatized in a way that heart diseases aren't). All of this has real impacts on health and healthcare delivery. Consider, for instance, this famous study showing racial disparities in pain assessment and treatment recommendations: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4843483/ )
2. This is largely coincidental, but I find it interesting that one can imagine a patient with OCD being treated with both the medications that were used to treat my labyrinthitis. Althought it is not widely administered, meclizine (which is primarily an anti-nausea medication; you may know it as dramamine or antivert) may have some ability to treat so-called "diminished gating" in patients with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder ( www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3895242/ ), and diazapam (commonly known in the U.S. as valium) is often prescribed to treat severe anxiety and panic attacks. (With regular use, patients often become tolerant to diazapam and/or physically dependent upon it, so it is often--or should be, anyway--prescribed with constraint and careful monitoring.)
p.s. Thanks to Rosianna Halse Rojas for very helpful feedback on this video! czcams.com/users/rosianna
If you have any further questions, feel free to leave them in replies! -John
1st
Thank you, John! You are awesome. Remember to breathe. 😊
John it’s not a catastrophe. You did a great job. I learned new thinks from this and am feeling marginally more hopeful about my own struggles with mental health. I call that a success.
John one of my favourite parts of Turtles was the anxiety that treating mental illness with medication might make you less of a person. Do you think that this is some sort of spiritual/emotional stigma? And in which case how does one address that?
Can become physically dependent... on a psychiatric drug. Because mind is body is mind
I have never before felt more seen than now, by the eyes of a man not looking at me, but at a camera, telling through it that the illness and pain I felt is not any less real. Thank you for this, John.
With Simone Biles stepping out of the Olympics, I’ve been seeing a lot of discussion about physical vs mental health. I think this idea that the two aren’t so separate is a really good solution to the unnecessary discourse around Biles’ decision. A mental health issue is a health issue.
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Yes! I find the concept of “the twisties” so interesting because it is such a physical manifestation of how mental health is literally physical health. At least, your brain is a part of your body, so it being ill should be treated as any other organ being ill. I don’t really understand what causes the twisties but I imagine it’s somewhat similar to the yips. It doesn’t really make sense to me why we separate brain illnesses from any other illness
The stuff Simone Biles does puts her at significant risk every time she gets on the mat, on the bars, or goes over the horse. If she's not 100% on her game the consequences could be very, very severe. In addition, she's a leader on her team and what she does affects not only herself but the younger athletes, as well. I see her decision to withdraw from some events until she could get her head and body back in sync as evidence of extraordinary mental health. Not a mental health "issue."
John - here's the thing: I think about you every time I garden, because I think I enjoy it almost as much as you do :) So if you ever run out of ideas for videos - I think I speak for all of Nerdfighteria when I say a veggy garden tour would be really nice!
I have a lot of great beans this year!!! Maybe I'll do a vid about it. -John
@@vlogbrothers that's great!! :D I picked my green beans yesterday and kept thinking of word "abundance" :)
As a fellow garden nerd, this is something I can get behind :)
+ YES. Every year I wonder how John's garden is doing.
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John, I want to thank you for this video. In 6th grade I suffered from a severe concussion that has now led to me having chronic headaches. During the first few months of near constant migraines and headaches, staff and teachers dismissed my pain and thought I was lying for attention or lying to avoid school because of my anxiety. To hear the words “other people’s pain is as real as our own” is not only a reminder for myself but is a reminder that there are people out there who believe you and your pain.
As a chronic pain patient, I cannot thank you enough for saying all of this out loud. I've had doctors actually roll their eyes when I tell them what I have. Doctors! It's so frustrating.
Been there. Gentle hugs
"we just don't really understand those differences very well yet."
yet.
that one word brought me so much hope.
I was diagnosed with ADHD literally days ago after struggling my entire life and feeling like a total failure. The diagnosis was validating but I’ve also been feeling kind of ashamed. In short, this was very timely for me and really comforting, so thank you ❤️
I hope you come to learn that you are in no way a failure! ADHD is entirely not your fault. Now that you have your diagnosis you can find more answers, but if course it is still hard to live with. This video was great.
I was diagnosed less than a year ago and I can definitely relate to that feeling. It's a lot to take in, but now you can find the tools and resources to help you struggle less. You are not less of a person or more of a failure because your brain doesn't function the same as others. It can be frustrating the mistakes we'll sometimes make because of the gaps our brains forget to fill, and it can be hard to not blame ourselves, but at least now we have a word for these things and a way to find more targeted support. Hank and John have helped me a lot grappling with ADHD & my mental health, so they're a great place to start:)
Welcome to the clan! I was diagnosed as a high schooler. I'm in my 30's now but the older I get, the more I'm able to use my diagnosis to prepare me for my symptoms. Knowing that I'm probably going to forget to do something later makes me more likely to write it down and actually remember to do it.
Check out "How to ADHD" for some helpful tactics!
I got my diagnosis last Monday and my first meds yesterday! I'm 35, and kind of expecting to end up grieving the life I could've had if I had been diagnosed earlier. As one does.
I definitely agree with Marie that there's definitely a lot of grief that has to go into a late diagnosis like this. I got diagnosed last year, and on the one hand, it's so nice to have meds that work and know why I have to do some things in the way I do them instead of the way most people do them, and to be able to google "That ADHD thing where ...." and find out what it's called, and then google "time blindness management" and get tips and ideas instead of having to make everything up on my own.
And on the other hand, it's so frustrating every time I realize that I could have had this 30 years ago, if my parents weren't so focused on the idea that my being "smart" means I must not have a brain disorder.
I was diagnosed with vestibular migraines about six years ago when I was 14. That was after about two years of a misdiagnosis of virus-caused inner ear nerve damage. That physical therapy you talked about just didn’t work for me (because what I was dealing with was actually not supposed to be treated by it) and I had pretty much come to terms with the fact that I’d be dizzy and untrusting of my balance for the rest of my life. Luckily though, a new and wonderful doctor took a second look and diagnosed me with migraine. It made a lot of sense- my bouts of vertigo were often stress induced, which migraines often are and I was a “high achieving female” (🙄) which migraines seem to affect more frequently. The second best part of this diagnosis, behind the fact that I was getting answers after two years of confusion, is that it could be treated with a pill (an antidepressant, actually) which I’ve been taking for six years and have had immense improvement in my quality of life. Thanks John for putting into words the weirdness that is vestibular illness. Describing the indescribable symptoms is one of the hardest parts of having a messed up inner ear. Though I would never wish vestibular migraines on my worst enemy, they certainly are a great way to understand how the mind and body are inextricably linked.
About 2 years ago, my therapist at the time suggested I go on disability due to my depression (I didn't, out of sheer stubbornness) but it was the strangest wake up call to me that depression is real and PHYSICAL and recognized by the government as potentially debilitating. Fun fact: the World Health Organization lists depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide-throwing that out there for anyone else who needs the validation
I applied for -- and got -- workplace accommodations for my PTSD and I'm still kinda confused and disbelieving that people are willing to treat it like a real illness that causes real problems and for which I need real help.
I have been on disability for a couple years now. I am most disabled by my mental health conditions (bipolar disorder and generalized anxiety/panic disorder), but they approved me mostly based on my physical disabilities (EDS and POTS, among others). I am incredibly grateful that I receive the benefits, but it was disheartening to have my mental health glossed over when that is where I struggle the most.
I need to make a playlist of every video where john talks about categories because they're always *so good*
It's a whole category of vlogbrothers videos, really :) -John
Please let us know if this manifests one day! This could be a springboard for some really fascinating analysis- seeing how the theory developed over time etc. And the same could also be true for other categories of vlogbrothers videos!
I'm commenting here with the hope that someone will make this.
Hearing you even mention endometriosis makes me happy since the vast majority people I know have no idea what it is. I have very severe endometriosis and it is 10000% impacted by my mental health and vice versa. Great video, thank you!
Yes! I was happy to hear it too! I got diagnosed last year and if it wasn’t for my doctor who had also been diagnosed I don’t think I would have ever gotten the treatment I needed
@@spacey-sam I got diagnosed about four years ago after yelling at my doctor that my symptoms were in no way normal and then this past year found a new doctor who is amazing and got a confirmed diagnosis from surgery. It’s such a pain to get taken seriously
I'm so sorry for everyone here who was doubted by their doctors. Surely that's medical malpractice?!
@@emilymartin5418 when no one listens to you, it’s hard to pursue things like that. Until more doctors work to educate themselves, we are kinda stuck here
It was the best right? I'm facing some struggles now because it would seem in UK you only get treated for endo prior to having kids. Having had a baby they won't treat me because I can get pregnant so I must be fine right? Uhhh.
I was not ready for that bombshell at the end.
"Other people's pain is as real as our own."
That's an incredibly comforting statement. I needed that, thank you.
i needed this today. thanks for sharing. i love how open you are about mental health. as a young person, it’s reassuring to see an adult live a normal life and be successful AND open about his struggles. i hope to be the same way some day :)
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I was fully convinced it was Wednesday. This notification told me otherwise 😅
Same??
I thought it was Monday 🥲
I am here primarily to inform nerdfighteria when it is Tuesday. -John
There’s also the fun question of “is my neurological chronic condition causing my depression/anxiety or am I depressed/anxious because I’m sick all the time and that sucks?” (I have a condition that affects my autonomic nervous system.)
I’m having this same thought today with my POTS. Sending you good thoughts ❤️
And then there are the super fun docters saying "you're just anxious". Like, no, but if I were, I would still need your help and compasion
(Fellow POTS-sie here)
@@afriend9079 hEDS here. So lots of pain that also takes energy away from me
@@afriend9079 me/cfs for me, still looking into a diagnosis for some other things
Nearly all of my symptoms could be either cause or effect, so I get that "fun" all the time. Is the fatigue a somatic symptom of PTSD? Or is the PTSD causing hypervigilance which causes muscle tension which pulls joints out of place which causes joint pain and headaches and inflexibility and poor coordination, and the fatigue is just because pain is exhausting? Is the GI dysregulation because of the enormous number of neuroreceptors in the intestines? Or is it because fatigue causes me to not get as much exercise as I need, so my core is weak, so my GI tract is pulled out of shape? Or both! Or neither!
I'm years late to the party but as someone who was told for 10 years that my endometriosis was "in my head", having organs attached to each other and bleeding was very real. It became a mental illness because I felt weak and pathetic. Why was I in pain when it's not real? You put it very well and I feel very validated. We need to spread the word more for people with Endo
im thinking a lot about the connection between physical and mental illness lately and i’ve been trying to honour that connection. i’m very emotionally exhausted lately which makes me physically exhausted, and i always thought “emotional exhaustion” was fake or an excuse for my own laziness or lack of ambition.
it really isn’t, and our physical bodies are where we feel all forms of exhaustion. emotional pain is physical in some way or another, psychological pain is as real as physical pain.
i’m trying to be kinder to this body of mine that knows all forms of pain, including that which i cannot see or touch but that i do vividly feel. i’m trying more often to let it recover from what it goes through instead of cruelly expecting it to endure everything without space to heal.
I hope you feel better, both mentally and physically. Lots of love
This is so difficult, and I am so proud of you for recognizing this. Reading this reminds me of one of my beloved friends who told me point blank that I needed to stop pretending like I had control over what caused me [psychological] pain and acknowledge that I needed to take a break from the pressure I put on myself.
Sending you lots of love and warmth and comfort 💖
As a burnout survivor and risk management coach, I can't say enough about how important this comment is. You are completely right.
I’m going through something very similar - thanks so much for sharing your experience. Made me feel a little less alone this afternoon 💜
I'm really good about telling my friends who struggle with this "It doesn't matter; mental illness is illness, and you need rest either way." But I'm really BAD about believing it for myself.
It’s been a particularly difficult year. For someone like me (with OCD and Trichotillomania) I tend to wear my grief on the outside. People can physically see what happens in my brain on my body, and yet they don’t understand that for me, a thing happening inside my brain is also happening to my body. It’s mental AND physical. The pain is felt on every level.
I did not know I needed videos with footnotes. Now that I've experienced one, I'm not sure how I go back.
Also take care John! I really appreciate how you acknowledged the sanctity of all kinds of pain: whether physical or mental. It's so sad that we live in times when people are still dismissive of others suffering.
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Careful, now that you've seen one video with a footnote it's not long before your mainlining something like Kurzgesagt with dozens of citations and references
At the end I was so expecting John to say, “our minds are made out of body and our bodies are sandwiches”
we need this blooper, honestly
It’s always a good day when there’s a vlogbrothers video posted, especially when it’s on my birthday and when it’s deeply thoughtful like this one is. Thank you, John.
Happy Birthday! -John
@@vlogbrothers thank you, this made my day😊
happy birthday!! hope you have an awesome day:)
@@antsinmypants4060 thank you!!
Happy birthday!
In physical therapy school we have talked often about pain, including its relationship with the brain and mental illness, and what we've learned about recent pain research is in concert with what John is saying. Especially in cases of chronic pain, the pain that a person experiences is not necessarily correlated with the degree of damage to the tissue: the brain, and how the person is doing mentally and emotionally, is the source of the pain. This isn't to say that this pain is any less real -- *psychosomatic pain is pain!* Rather, it's to say that "rewiring the brain," as John's therapist put it, is an important part of managing any illness or injury!
I enjoy your common refrain that "Pain defies language", because it is true for illnesses that we think of as physical and those we think of as mental. When I try to talk about my depression, I often want to point people to a photograph I've hung above my stove for about 5 years. The foreground is sunny and there are bright blue and white waves crashing on the beach. As you look into the background, there are very dark grey, angry clouds, and the water below is almost black. The background is always there, often, helpfully, in the background of my life, but sometimes I walk out and don't see the dropoff, or the tide comes in and I haven't noticed, and I have to remember that the foreground is always there, too.
I’m autistic and have fibromyalgia, and this is my day-to-day life. Everything you touched on in this video is something I’m already intimately familiar with, but it was still comforting to hear someone else voice it and explain it so well. Sending solidarity and well wishes for your recovery.
Have you got pain all over
I love footnotes. I love bonus information. And I love when that bonus information both educates and reassures me about my world. I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis a few years ago, and I can't help but be frustrated by the prevalent notion that, if I just change my diet to the latest trend food, I'll be cured, as if my immune system isn't actively wounding the organ that provides much of my nutrition, as if I am not in a varying amount of pain every day from UC complications like arthritis and nausea. But because it is internal, only I know, only I understand, and sometimes I feel quite alone about that, but seeing a footnote about how other people experience the same thing, just slightly differently, is a welcome reminder that none of us is alone.
I can relate to tfw you finally get a diagnosis for symptoms that you thought might be ‘in your head’. When a CT scan showed a huge tumor that was likely cancer, my 1st response was “Yes!!!!”. The doctor looked at me like I’d lost my mind. (Radiation & chemo, major surgery ensued, so far so good) I also have generalized anxiety/panic disorder & major depression. My family, I believe, just thought I was being overly dramatic. It wasn’t until my cancer treatment that they realized they were wrong. Good video John.
I believe this demonstrates how in a lot of cases, it would feel better to have cancer than to suffer in silence and have those around you not believe you. It really makes you think, for others who experience similar silent, lonely suffering but don't have a label for it that others widely consider to be valid, society only compounds their suffering by stigmatizing it so much.
I wish you a speedy recovery!
I always feel so ashamed when I wish I just had some common horrible illness so people in my life, both personally and professionally, would take my pain seriously, when I do, in fact, suffer from both physical and mental issues. It’s just that no one takes those issues (severe depression, ocd, adhd, PCOS, chronic migraine, chronic pain and fatigue and nausea, etc.) seriously because they aren’t “real enough”.
From a psychologist: I also want to add that some mental disorders cause physical difficulties for the long-term because they can change your brain. Most notably functional neurological disorder can cause lasting changes by adding pathways related to movement. This can cause long-term non-epileptic seizures for example.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have a constellation of both mental and physical symptoms/illnesses/disabilities that limit almost every part of my daily life. Some were brought on and others became worse when I suffered extreme burnout as a result of untreated C-PTSD. There is absolutely no untangling the mental and physical connections in this case. I wish more people understood this.
Thank you so much for this. I really needed this right now.
Jason Bourne, it's Jesus Christ.
Hey Jesus! Hope you're doing well
someone tell my grandma that I finally found jesus
Even Jesus feels this.
John likes this shirt. I am also wearing the same shirt I wore last week today.
it’s a pain to get the ER to take you seriously when they have it documented that you take anxiety meds. I was turned away when I needed surgery twice in a year!
That’s awful! Is there another hospital nearby that may be more respectful? If they’re turning you away, it may be worth driving a little further distance to get the treatment you need. Gosh, that’s so infuriating and rude.
I did not tell the doctors I had anxiety when I went to the ER for breathing problems. I know the difference between an anxiety attack and the shortness of breath I had which I’d never experienced before. They sent me home and told me to take some Tylenol. After I got a little better, I began to have actual anxiety attacks for fear of getting sick again whilst having exertion-induced breathing problems. Go figure. 😃
i find that the mind-body dichotomy is not helpful for most things but *especially* not in the conversation around mental health
i’m someone who struggles with a pain disorder that has yet to be diagnosed but nonetheless very real. i think i needed to hear this. thank you.
what i wish i had in common with John: writing ability, being an inspiration to many, having a lovely relationship with family and friends, etc. what i do have in common with john: physicamental instability. shoutout to fellow ocd + vertigo folks out there, may everything stop spinning for you today
@@untappedinkwell hey, guess what? i finally got my first vaccine! the second is early september
@@lorenabpv Congratulations!!! I am so, so happy for you! And early september for dose two sounds magical.
You're doing so good. ^^
I can think of quite a few doctors that need to watch this video. I've been in constant pain for over a decade, and they shrug and do nothing. I do not understand how they can look at a 27yr/old and condemn me to a life of disabling pain through their inaction. (I have chronic lyme disease, which said doctors do not believe exists, and therefore refuse to treat.) Thanks for sharing your experiences John, DFTBA
As someone with fibromyalgia that, as you mentioned often receives doubt and questioning, this video hit me in just the right way. Thank you John for, as always, vocalizing the things that I cant.
Had a similar experience. After years of headaches, anxiety, depression, fatigue. etc. My wife made me go talk with a therapist. Glad i did that. not only for the chance to talk about stuff i wouldn't talk with someone else, but also because she remitted me to do a blood test. It showed that my immune system was attacking my thyroid gland. I'm now medicated for it and feel so much better :D and as for you just the knowledge of it being a disease is somehow comforting
Thank you John. I can’t tell you how much this video means to me. Five years ago I was diagnosed with extreme physically manifesting anxiety which causes me to have severe stomach aches, drops in body temperature, headaches, and shallow rigid breathing. My OCD, as I’m sure you understand, also has a number of physical manifestations. Though many around me can understand the physical pain related to these illnesses, I have spent my life trying to convince others and even myself that the mental pain related to these illnesses is real and valid. Thank you for putting this into words, starting a discussion about it, and making such an eloquent argument for belief and validation. Thank you.
Back in January, I started not being able to eat much food without vomiting and I got really sick. I had gastroparesis, paralysis of the stomach, for 4 months straight after having previous shorter episodes. After getting an endoscopy at the tail end of that, it turned out my stomach was completely normal at that point in time. Talking to some doctors, they decided it was triggered and caused by stress and anxiety. While this was great news that I didn't have another fully chronic illness, I somehow felt as though it were my fault, or like the past few months were less valid or less traumatic because of it. I'm doing a lot better both mentally and physically right now, but I can definitely connect with you John, when you talked about the difference in responses from others and yourself when it was physiological rather than just mental. These videos about mental health and chronic illness that both you and Hank make are ones I always come back to when I'm feeling alone and defeated, so thank you for being there and saying what I need to hear.
The connection between physical and mental illness is something I think about a lot because I have bipolar disorder. Our brains, too, work measurably differently (way more midbrain/emotional center and not so much prefrontal cortex, or at least that is my simple understanding). Sometimes I sit and stare at my medication, and I don't know how it works, I don't know how it changes the processes in my brain, but it does, and generally the less I think about how it works, the better off I am. (Also, side note about meds being used for multiple "mental health" disorders: bipolar meds/mood stabilizers are generally also anti-epileptic drugs. Brains are weird.)
Bipolar is a physical genetic illness. Technically all (or at least most) mental illness is directly attributable to genetic factors alone, making my illness just as real AND just as life-threatening as, say, type 1 diabetes. But people are skeptical of bipolar as a disease (and its impact on one's ability to do productive work in society).
Too often in the phrase "mental illness" too much stress is placed on the word "mental" and not nearly enough on the word "illness."
Yes, yes and yes!
Ok, long reply ahead:
My psychiatrist had me do a genetic test, and from it, we could see that one of my brain's calcium-channel genes is wonky. It's programming things so the hole that let's calcium into my excitatory neurons is a tad too big, which let's more calcium in, which messes up how long the neuron fires, which messes up it's recovery time for the next signal, which messes up the signal it's supposed to pass on, etc, etc.
Basically, it's a 1920's electrical grid up in here, complete with cloth-insulated wires and glass transformers 😂 She gets overloaded easily. And they're finding this is a common gene of interest in people with Bipolar, MDD, ADHD, Autism, Schizophrenia - this silly little calcium channel.
So it makes sense to me why the anti-epileptic drugs work on bipolar disorder - they're treating the same type of electrical issue. Kinda like how it doesn't matter if your power went out because you overloaded the system, or your hair dryer simply blew the fuse for the bathroom - in both cases, you gotta reset the breaker box to get the power back on.
It also helps explains why so many of us have comorbidities. I'm not just dealing with bipolar, but also ADHD and OCD too. All the symptoms we have are emergent from basic physical causes - just like every other disease on the planet. The DSM-V labels them all as different disorders, when really, we could just call it all "CACNA1C Kerfuffle". Or "BDNF Fluster". Or any of the other genes they're finding (or gonna find) that play a big part.
But none of us would've known this a decade ago, let alone two, four, ten, etc. We just happen to be in the infancy of finding out the genetics behind what's going on. But it doesn't change our symptoms. It doesn't make the illnesses any more or less real than they've been for millennia.
Yet here I am, feeling more validated that I can point to at least one physical cause. But it's because of what you said - other people's skepticism. It's easier to dismiss something when we don't know why, _especially_ with mental illness. Give a cause, expel some doubt.
But like you said, these illnesses have physical causes and are just as life-threatening as other genetic diseases, like sickle-cell or Type 1 diabetes. Knowing why doesn't change any of that. It just points us in better directions for treatment. And maybe grants us some of the grace we deserve, in being believed.
@@lunacouer Exactly! That is sooooo interesting about the brain channels and the calcium. I loved your analogy, and as much as I very much want to identify as a 1920s electrical grid because it sounds cool, I also realize that there was a lot that could and did go wrong there. lol.
Also, comorbidities of mental health diagnosis are so real. The more I research, the more I'm thinking "hey maybe not all of my problems were the bipolar, it sounds like there might be adhd in there too." It's rough for me especially because I'm female, so the diagnosis for adhd is wayyyyy harder to do, AND I was homeschooled, so I never had an "outside" opinion to measure how I did my work. If I do have it (and at this point, honestly, it's less of an if and more of a when do I maybe see about getting this diagnosed), I lean towards the attention deficit side. (It literally takes me 30 minutes to make a pourover cup of coffee, let alone a real breakfast.)
The whole history of the treatment makes me so glad I was born in this era and not before, because at least now people do take it somewhat seriously.
Also I love your username, please never stop being so fabulous.
@@rosesonarainyday6556 Oh my gosh, that was so sweet! Thank you 😊
I know right? We have steampunk brains. They look cool, but phew do they need some upgrades. 😂
I don't know if this helps, but I'm a woman too, and I only got my ADHD diagnosis last year - the inattentive type. And I'm just a little older than John. I asked my psychiatrist about it because even though I'd had my suspicions for years, the symptoms got so bad last year that I finally said "Hey, can we look at this?"
I brought in an online ADHD test I took specifically for adult women, just to have the symptoms laid out so we could talk about them. We went over it and then she had me do an official question/answer test. The test I brought in was this one: www.additudemag.com/self-test-adhd-symptoms-women-girls/
As an aside, she explained that for women that end up with bipolar, ADHD is a super common start. She said it's a brain-development thing - ADHD in elementary, anxiety and depression in adolescence, then the mood disorder later. As the layers of the brain develop, so do additional symptoms with how things wire. Not all girls with ADHD go on to develop bipolar, but a lot of women with bipolar can trace it backwards to ADHD. Just some info for you.
I can imagine how tricky that would be, catching it as a kid when there wasn't anyone outside your home to maybe say "Hey, have you had her evaluated?" And with girls, a lot of us get missed as it is because a lot of us aren't disruptive. Add bipolar, and well - she's a diva that wants all the spotlight. 😂
I just wanted to share all that to let you know it's not impossible to have what you already know validated. Do you have a trusted psychiatrist to talk to about it? About your symptoms?
@@lunacouer Wow that's super interesting about the developmental stages and correlation between the two! I am actually super sad (and kind of annoyed) because my psychiatrist whom I absolutely LOVED left her practice, so I have to start all over again (which is frustrating and scary enough as it is without the additional "do I also have another thing going on?" part).
It's been a struggle because I've looked at tests like that and then written down two full journal pages of symptoms I have experienced, but then I start thinking "maybe I just don't have these skills because I've been depressed for so long that even having the energy to focus on one task is not something I'm used to," which obviously isn't terribly helpful for my overall mental situation. I think the combo of symptoms (with anxiety, of course!) makes it much harder to sit down and call a psych office or call a therapist's office (because I need that too).
Send me some good vibes or say a prayer that I can find a good psychiatrist and a therapist! Thank you so much for sharing with me and giving me more hope for where I'm at. 💜😊
My diabetes feeds my depression feeds my anxiety feeds my lack of sleep feeds my low energy feeds my improper nutrition feeds my diabetes. As another person familiar with terrible circles, it's comforting to hear you talk about this.
Me too. I have diabetes and it definitely impacts my mental health, which can lead to unstable blood sugars which can lead to me being hard on myself, and- it just goes on and on. You're not alone even when it feels so isolating in your illness
This is such an important topic John! I’m an MD working with patients who suffer from “rare diseases” (I dislike the terminology), and we see first hand how much a disease affects every single part of the body, including the brain.
There is still a lot to uncover about the interaction “brain-body” (it is not a dichotomy).
That's very interesting. I'm also an MD, how did you get into this?
@@monkiram hi! Sorry, i don’t understand the question 🙈. How did i get into what?
@@julianalores4 Like working with patients with rare diseases? Did you do a residency or is it purely research-based?
@@monkiram i’m in a medical genetics residency ☺️
@@julianalores4 Oh I see, that makes sense! Thanks for replying :)
I can't tell you how much it means to me when you talk about your OCD (as someone who also has it). Talking about it is often so hard because of the way it - and other mental illnesses - are so stigmatized, but you always make me feel seen and understood. So thanks, John. DFTBA
Exactly why last week I was "happy" to know my toe really was broken : after more than a year fighting depression, with my toe I felt that for once I was suffering for something "real" 😔
Why'd they have to make such a beautiful name for such a horrible thing?? They couldn't have made that a new flower name or something?? I'm offended
MY COMMENT GOT LIKED DNDNDNSJXND KDJGMXLUD
@@urmomlovesclover206 CONGRATULATIONS
@@Emily-un1wp THANK YOU IM SCREAMING
I'm now picturing a very bendy flower that would suit that name.
@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 I feel like it'd have to fit the movie the labrynth so definitely a purple flower
Coming to terms with this has been a big part of my healing journey and self-acceptance. Really hope this idea becomes a solid and shared belief in medicine over the next decade.
John, I'm starting therapy tomorrow, and before watching this I felt scared and emberassed of myself. I am still afraid, as I am unsure what exactly to expect from the experience, but your video today has given me a comfort I am unable to put into words. Thank you for talking about the things that can be hard to talk about but need so badly to be said. ❤️
Good luck with your therapy, it can be scary but I'm glad you're seeing someone who can help you and I know nerdfighteria is proud of you for finding that help
@@sierraveree Thank you. This community is incredible and ever so kind.
When I was hospitalized it was the first time I felt like people saw how sick I was, before when I would sleep it off or go on autopilot for months, everyone treated it like I was just sad. I doubt that I'm sick a lot, and your work and nerfighteria has helped me feel understood. (I've missed you on the podcast btw, glad to have you back, both of you )
I went through some 'chronic tendonitis' for 9ish months, about 5 years ago. I was given some half-hearted advice and told to take it easy, take a break from work. So I did, and a month later I still had the pain when I used my hands or feet. Doctors were no help, and I didn't know enough about talk therapy to understand how best to utilise the space to help me overcome it. Enter John Sarno and TMS, and I was basically back to 90% in two weeks. Another couple of weeks and the pain may as well have been a distant memory. Physical pain is caused by both the body, but also the mind. It can be a distraction tactic, a way of making you think about how much your back hurts instead of how much you hated the way your Dad was so dismissive of your fears as a kid, or how you're stuck living paycheck to paycheck with no easy way out but you're still so grateful that you're even given the chance to exist in your space that you find it difficult to face your subconscious anger at your situation.
IMO, physical and mental health are often the same thing! The mindbody is real, one affects the other in the same way that if you only stir one half of a glass of water, the other half will still move. Heartbreak can physically hurt! A dodgy knee or a bad back can mentally tear you down.
Thank you for this John. I suffer from anxiety and depression as well as IBS and they love to feed off each other. trying to exist when everyone says i look fine when i really dont feel fine is a struggle. thank you for being so open.
"Mental illness is also really real" is something I needed to hear today. When people around you don't take your mental illness seriously it's easy to also start convincing yourself too that it's not real. Hearing something as obvious as "mental illness is really real" is a much needed reminder sometimes.
This just reinforces my path to becoming a physical therapist, thanks John!
as a chronic pain patient (spinal disc injury) with other chronic health issues as well, just approach PT as the patient is the boss of their own body. I've encountered many PTs who just don't understand this
Thank you for this video, John. I often am nervous to talk about my gender dysphoria, as many people have never heard of it and many won’t listen to it. Especially talking to doctors, who have the power to withhold treatment if they personally want to. It’s a mental illness. And like many others, it has mental and physical causes and effects
thank you, john. i've been needing to hear that lately. i always feel like i should be able to control my brain but i know that's not how it works. it's nice to hear it from someone who deals with their mental and physical issues in a healthy and responsible manner.
I remember when you talked about this in the book. I cried reading that essay. I cried again watching this video. And while I have neither labyrinthitis nor OCD… I do have cerebral palsy, ADHD, and major depressive disorder. And most of the time people are either really upset that I don’t function like they want me to, or they make excuses for me because they think that the conditions I have above should relegate me to not doing much of anything. And when I hear you talk about these things, John… I start feeling like what I think I am that very few people manage to treat me like…. Human. Thank you
I was recently diagnosed with OCD. I have been dealing with many of the confusions and gray areas you discuss here. This video made me tear up in the same way that you might tear up when you finally tell your mom or dad or partner something and they tell you it’s gonna be okay.
Oh! Look it's a perfect encapsulation of my PMDD! The physical pain exacerbates the mental anguish and vice versa! But everyone I have talked to has neatly seperated those things into two categories and treated them seperately. Thank you so much for giving me the vocabulary to finally explain to doctors what I mean!! This is genuinely... a life changing video. Thank you so much.
When I can’t sleep and am in a doom-scrolling spiral, the thoughtfulness and comfort of y’all’s videos helps me relax and escape the self-perpetuating need to keep scrolling because if I only keep going I’ll find the thing I need; it never actually arrives, but it’s always so hard to remember that, and even harder to act on that knowledge to pull myself away. This channel helps stop that particular spiral, and I really appreciate the way you make these videos and this community.
I think your comment is helping me stop that spiral right now, thank you!
What a wonderful video - thank you for being so real with us, John. As someone who suffers from a mental illness brought about by trauma (CPTSD) which does change the physicality of the brain, it is so validating to hear and remember that the distinction can be so limiting. Especially so when the illness becomes your new normal, and affects both your mental and physical health. Wishing you all the best 💖
Thank you for the shout out to endometriosis! I have been beyond blessed to have care providers over the past 18 months who took my pain seriously, and to have a health care infrastructure that gave me access to specialized physicians at no cost to me, but I spent nearly a decade prior being largely ignored.
People don't like to talk about chronic illnesses, especially when they don't have an easy answer or fix. And they especially don't like to talk about chronic illnesses specific to women. Every one I have met in the community who struggles with the same illnesses I do always say, "If a man could have this, it would've been cured ages ago." Endo is not only stigmatized because it is a chronic illness that is difficult to explain, diagnose, and treat; it is also stigmatized because it affects only those with a uterus. There is little research into endo, there are limited clinical trials for better treatments, and scarce resources for those afflicted and wanting support.
I am so grateful for incredible communities like Nerdfighteria that always remind me I am not invisible, Nerdfighteria sees the unseen. Thank you, John and Hank, for leading the charge that makes people feel seen and believed.
I am suffering from debilitating burnout right now. This video makes me feel just a little bit better about how my mind and body have refused to function over the last couple of days. So, thanks for that.
This also feels like trying to separate your "heart" from your "head"... it's a dichotomy that just isn't that easily definable, because your "heart"/emotions are all part of your brain. Just like the mind and the body are hard to separate for the reason John listed: your brain is made of body; your body thinks, and it is orchestrated by your brain.
I needed this video today. Filled with unknown stress, not feeling well in general (health issue or just brain who knows at this point) and it felt like someone wanted me to know it’s okay.
It's gonna be okay, kimmy, I hope you feel better, lots of love!
Some good ideas for when you're not feeling well or the brain weasels are running rampant: be extra nice to yourself. Slow down. Cover the self care basics. And then go for comfort--favorite media, snuggle a [consenting] soft thing, whatever makes sense to you.
Sending you lots of best wishes and hopes for better days.
I have both physical & mental illnesses. Unfortunately all of my chronic illnesses are Invisible illnesses& unfortunately like you said means that my illnesses are much more stigmatized than illnesses that people can see with their eyes. I’m so thankful for this community& my best friends Who support me and love me always 💜
Been a while since I have commented, but this video gives me so much peace. I have one of those chronic pain disorders - fibromyalgia - and I cannot begin to express how exhausting, frustrating, demoralizing, and debilitating it can be, and how isolating it can be when no one can understand because pain is a uniquely individual sensation and no one here can feel MY pain. The moments when I feel like I've been stabbed in the side or the knee or the back or the neck at a random moment and work through it, trying to act as if I don't have pain radiating throughout my body is, again, exhausting. Countless doctors visits, visits with specialists, lack of restful sleep, and the stress of first-year teaching (and right now, the cold winter weather) all add up mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
Anyway, this video brings me so much peace because you articulate so clearly and so succinctly the experience of diagnosis. I went through my life with a fine-tooth comb on my own to try to find a *physical* cause because of the stigma surrounding mental illness, and because of the stigma surrounding fibromyalgia, since so many people view it as a "made up" disease - "it's all in your head." "It's not a real diagnosis, go to more doctors until they diagnose you with a *real* condition." I could go on. But as you said - it is a both-and. Our minds and bodies are intimately connected (our brain runs our bodies basically, so of course mental illness can cause manifest physically. I digress. Again, thank you for this video. So grateful for you and this community! DFTBA :)
I would like to add to that sometimes, especially when someone has been abused, the opossite phrase can be useful.
"Your own pain is as real as everybody else's"
Often abuse victims dismiss their own pain as unimportant or even not real, and to be reminded that all of us are human and function similarly can bring great comfort.
This is exactly what I was thinking; thank you. I was confused when he said it, I thought he accidentally got it reversed, lol.
Sometimes I forget there are people with mental illness who are able to realize the significance of it.
JOHN I BOUGHT A POCKET VERSION OF LOOKING FOR ALASKA
Hooray! -John
As someone who also deals with a chronic mental illness, and someone who is a health care worker it’s always lovely to hear other people in healthcare take both issues seriously. So many times I’ve seen mental illness not brought into play or considered when the physical illness seems to be more of a priority. It gives me wholehearted joy to see them brought together in such an important way. Great way of saying it, John.
Thanks again for speaking out about "non-visible" illnesses. I have PTSD, depression, and chronic pain. Now that I'm retired, I find myself withdrawing more and more. I live in fear of conversations triggering my mental issues or having to explain why I can't take part in some group activity. I lived in a very small town where most people knew my issues and would help me. But small northern Canadian towns don't have the health care facilities I need. Now I live in a city where no one knows me. It is hard at times and I do have an excellent support group but I'll never be a part of the community here.
Thank you for mentioning endometriosis. I have this and had to fight to get it taken seriously.
After years of waiting on my surgery for this, I got it done last month. I feel about a squillion percent better and the pain is almost completely gone.
Keep pushing for the treatment you deserve everyone 💪💕
THIS!! I have been trying to get doctors to believe my chronic pain issues for several years now. It may be "all in my head" but a) it's still real to me inside my body and I'm the only one who knows what I am experiencing and how badly it is effecting my life and b) even if it's "all in my head" therapy will not make it disappear overnight, so some help until therapy makes it less crappy would be fantastic. I have never asked for pain pills. I do not want pain pills if it is the condition that I think I have (they don't help). Yet still, no one will help me seek further treatment from a rheumatologist and I cannot afford to go without a referral.
Just started with a new doctor and hopefully she will listen...
I hope your new doctor listens!
All the way back in 1948, WHO defined health as: "A state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."
I wish we would all embrace that definition much more fully. Each component is as important as any other.
Thank you for this I enjoyed the video so very much, in part because I am not doing well but this made me feel at least a little bit better.
It is hard to deal with all the internalised stigma around mental illness and the way we moralise the effects of symptoms.
Thank you for being so open about this. Your honesty is much appreciated. I see how much vulnerability is in this. Thank you.
How useful would it be to just be able to transfer consciousness for a minute? Like for a minute, feel another’s perception of reality, so people couldn’t quite ‘doubt’ the existence of anxiety.
If you're interested in more Green Brothers wisdom about that very thing, I recommend Hank's books!
@@sparklydino234 can you add a spoiler tag to your post and hide the second part of it under some extra blank lines so people can decide to 'read more' or not?
Oh gosh, I've dreamed about that for years. I just wanted some 3rd party to tell me that I was not imagining my constant pain and exhaustion.
I'm training as a music therapist, and as part of my training, and part of my personal therapy, I've spent a lot of time thinking about how we treat mental illness as this separate category, when in fact, it's so deeply connected to every other part of our lives - physical illness, oppression and marginalisation, social norms, the list goes on. And "physical" illness is so often linked to mental illness as well; part of my learning in my first year was a placement working with people with Parkinson's disease, which is thought of as a physical illness, but one of the most common and most concerning side effects is depression and social isolation. There's no simple categorisation for most things in life. Thank you for expressing this so well, John
I'm a med student, and the model in which we are taught to understand illness and medicine is a biopsychosocial one, which means that every single pathology has biological, psychological and social implications. So we a lot of times talk about conditions being either organic or functional, like you may have diarrhea for different reasons, but the fact that your bowl is not working right is still true and that biological aspect needs to be addressed no matter the cause. And this change in mind set makes it easier to change the category of a disorder that we thought was more psychosomatic when we discover an organic etiology, and for conditions to also be in the middle, cuz psychological problems can absolutely express themself not just as physical symptoms but am very real physical changes, especially in the way your nerves are wired not just your brain.
My mental illness always affects the rest of my body. It's tough.
Mine too; it seizes up and hurts a lot
I'm sorry but when you said "Physical or mental illness? Yes." it reminds me of the "why not both?" meme hahaha
Anyway, thanks for the video. It is unfortunate that people don't see that mental illnesses are as real as physical ones
As someone who deals with postherpetic (post-shingles) neuralgia over the last six years, I could really relate to this video, John. Daily pain flares that are reliably exacerbated by my body's stress response taught me very quickly that the mind-body model is completely flawed and unhelpful. The pain comes, it hijacks your life, it will get worse or come on more quickly if I'm stressed, so I do my best to pay close attention to intercepting my stressors before they flip the pain switch (which usually involves mere seconds). Meditation, creative visualization, distraction, regular exercise, time with friends--these strategies are essential for effective coping. Gabapentin in small doses interrupts the pain signals in my brain, but with the added side effect of a fuzzy mind. Never before have I felt so much a bystander to "normal life." Your videos are incredibly helpful for me and for teaching other people what chronic pain or illness is like, thereby opening the window of compassion. This is what life is like for millions of people. Wow. Okay then. Steady on. There's good work to do, and living to get on with.
Thank you for talking about this. I also deal with chronic anxiety, depression, among other things.
You mentioned endometriosis and I felt the need to comment as I am currently recovering from excisive endometriosis surgery. It's sad, but I feel comforted? whenever a man, particularly a white man 45 or older, acknowledges the mistreatment of and misunderstanding of "invisible" diseases or illnesses such as endometriosis.
My (older, white, male) surgeon was the most reaffirming doctor I've ever met IN MY LIFE. I openly wept at our initial appointment when he told me that I had been gaslit my entire life and that he was so angry for me and for anyone in my situation.
to anyone who may read this: if you suffer from painful, debilitating periods, talk to your obgyn or get a referral and know that you have treatment options and ultimately it can be completely removed. It's not in your head and you have every right to cuss out anyone who tells you "just take a midol" or to "suck it up." You don't need to live in pain.
Categories arbitrarily confer visibility in an SEO-driven world. They are the “hooks” that machine learning algorithms (like CZcams) use to predict our behavior and then sell that insight. But the tail wags the dog now. This generation that has grown up essentializing the syntactic behavioral hooks of algorithms as a patsy for enlightenment rationalism has no frame of reference to distinguish between the two.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by "syntactic behavioral hooks of algorithms"?
The problem with using computers to categorize things is that nobody knows how to categorize things in the first place.
The truth evades simplicity.
The idea that categories are an internet thing is something I wildly disagree with, we've been making up boxes to place other things and people in for centuries if not millenia, it didn't start (or even get more stark) in the mid 1990s)
@@hoodiesticks This isn’t enough space. Read Jonathan Rauch’s “The Constitution Of Knowledge” followed by Eli Pariser’s “Filter Bubble” to elaborate on what I try to condense here.
I need an extra few brain cells to read this
GOOD HELLO JOHN, HAPPY TUESDAY
I work as a professional chaplain, help support people emotionally and spiritually when they are hospitalized. I have worked in mental health units, as well as neuro/spine units. There is a lot of truth to what you talk about here with mental illness and physical illness and I would also say spiritual illness that are connected probably more than some would like to admit. I have witnessed people's pain go down when they work out a spiritual issue in their lives. For example integrating a life change (death or divorce) into your life so that you can speak about it without feeling huge pangs of guilt or grief. The many parts of our life are connected and there is nothing wrong with any of it. We all experience loss in some way and we grieve that loss. Many of us might struggle with that grief or trauma more than others and it changes our brains enough that we need support to integrate that loss.
John thanks for using your story and your voice to bring this to people's attention!
When I began my vestibular rotation of physical therapy school, I found a population of people who were suffering in what I call a "visible invisible way". So many illnesses and pathologies we treat in PT are invisible, and the suffering that comes with people's assumptions can be so debilitating. Balance and dizziness were a whole new world of people whose illness was invisible but who were afraid of appearing drunk or incapable in public on top of their primary suffering. For everyone suffering from mental and physical maladies, I hope you can find accessible healthcare that brings you peace from suffering. You deserve wellness, you deserve peace, and you deserve happiness. -- a fellow spoonie
i love this video. last year, soon after i turned 18, i started experiencing a sudden onset of intense OCD symptoms and I was just recently diagnosed. At the time, TATWD was my biggest comfort because even though I didn’t have many behavioral compulsions, I had and have a crap ton mental compulsions that I would go through to try to get the thoughts to stop, and I didn’t know anyone else other than that book that understood what I was dealing with so suddenly. This video is a wonderful reminder to myself, and others i’m sure, that OCD is a real illness and it’s okay to take meds for it. I need treatment and just because i’m not throwing up everyday doesn’t mean i’m not actually sick. this video also made me feel like the physical symptoms i do have from OCD (sleepiness, nausea, etc all caused by the stress my symptoms produce) are real and i should do what i need to do to take care of my body. thank you john :)
3:11 - 3:54 that's soooo true!
"" WHETHER IT IS MENTAL OR PHYSICAL, OTHER PEOPLE'S PAIN IS AS REAL AS OUR OWN.""
Me, drowning in admiration: "I love it when you talk medical to me."
John how did you know that I needed this video? We took my mom to the ER today after she suddenly had a vertigo attack that left her unable to walk. After she got home, we snuggled in bed and talked about her experience as a concussion patient and me with an anxiety disorder, and all the ways we have learned the hard way about the mind body connection 🧡
Thank you for this omg. Thank you so much!! People try to tell me my anxiety and chronic migraine are in my head, and I go "Yeah, just as much as pneumonia is in the lungs," It is so frustrating. Thank you so much for this, again.