The End of the Innocence
I’m not one of those who believes the recent spate of weird and graphic crime is due to Katrina. I mean, we’ve used this excuse for so many things. Whack jobs are whack jobs and they’re going to do their thing at some point. Not that I’m a fatalist — I just think our storm recovery might have only slightly accelerated or possibly delayed the inevitable in these cases. Or maybe altered some circumstances. But what do I know?
What I find more disturbing and nefarious as this city tries to move ahead are the kinds of things chronicled by Chris Rose in today’s paper. All of us, from the time we exit that amniotic Attica that is the womb, begin Having Issues. Be they innocent or serious, light or dark or whatever — we have them. For some, be it for physical or emotional reasons or whatever, we’re already set up to face depression, anger management, bipolar or other challenges. But when you add in a year’s worth of daily post-Katrina stress, the challenge goes from being a hamster in a small cage to being an elephant on a shallow tether in the back yard — in that it can potentially break down the fence and wreak major havoc in the neighborhood before it is corralled, subdued and, possibly and unfortunately, put down.
With 80% of the mental health professionals in this city gone, it’s tough enough to find someone willing to deal with such cases. And what about those who don’t have insurance? So many are walking around trying to deal with this pile of emotional baggage on their own, sometimes with devastating results. Not that large numbers of us are going to shoot up an RTA bus or commit suicide by cop tomorrow, but I wonder how all this is going to manifest itself as the years go by.
I’m seeing so much of this very up-close and personally. Things that were hard enough to deal with anyway are now being doubled and tripled — broken stoplight by devastated house by inflated Entergy bill. While most of us are still giving each other a lot of space, too many are coming to the end of their internal rope. Many are simply leaving, and who can blame them? Most people are simply dealing best they can — and there’s certainly no shame in getting some chemical help to balance things out.
For the rest of us, there are the Saints.
No pressure, guys.
Really.
today’s Chris Rose article was his best.
right from the heart, and very honest.
everyone is doing the best they can.
go saints.
Even for those with good medical insurance, mental health coverage may be quite lousy. Mental health (even after traumatic incidents)is treated as being of secondary importance by many major insurance providers, akin to being somewhere between regular medical bills and dental costs. It’s a quasi-luxury.
To sum it up: Regularly meeting with a psychologist or shrink is incredibly expensive even with good insurance. And in addition to making you pay larger than normal co-pays for mental health-related visits, you often can’t meet past a certain number of pre-agreed days, etc. Because, y’know, people might take advantage of the system with mental health in a way they don’t with medical insurance. (I’d tell you more, but I didn’t suffer from depression. Just note, Anxious people generally don’t like to go on and on about what they are going/went through, as Chris Rose did with that column. Whatever would people think? Will I look stupid? Yeah, I’ll look stupid, probably. Well, no I won’t, nobody cares. Well, I might…)
One might try to get off their ass and exercise before throwing in the towel and buying into the “drugging of emotions” rollercoaster. Studies have shown the positive effects of exercise on the mind and the body.
Exercise balances your hormones out which is
a good thing if you aren’t juicing, if you are juicing
you have already shot yourself.
One should take up tai chi or belly dancing,
but be careful belly dancing with the wrong intentions causes earthquakes.
Laurie
For some reason, my earlier comment was not approved, but please be aware that one can be in top shape and still suffer greatly from either depression or anxiety. I was running, cycling and swimming regularly before I a traumatic incident left me sleepless and overly anxious. Exercise helps, but … don’t be so judgmental. It seems clear from the article, in any case, that Rose was trying to take walks, and may not have had the energy or mental capacity to do much more.
Why I was not allowed to say as much I do above earlier is bizarre.
I read the article too. I learned a little too much about Chris Rose. He was right though, I used to take Lexapro. That shit really worked, I ain’t kidding. Craig mentions the problem of having no healthcare. I don’t have it, so I had to stop taking it. I was given eight months of free samples. That helped out, the doctor knew I was broke. After that, back to business as usual. I kind of knew what Rose was talking about when he started writing in a more dreadful tone. I do that now!:) I wasn’t as bad off as he was, but I can tell you it really does work. Anybody got any samples hanging around?
Exercise is great, but if you can’t gather the strength to crawl out of a funk, it isn’t going to help anything. Every day I question why I am still living in this world of shit down here. I talk to patrons every day who have left and are back to visit. They talk about the places they live in now.
They desribe these Norman Rockwell towns in Alabama and the Carolinas and it makes you want to circle the wagons and head out. There is too much here for me to leave behind , so the impulses dissipate. My posts tend to be a little bitter and angry, but it isn’t meant to piss anybody off, it is my way of hitting the punching bag. Peace out Suckas.
Does the P stand for Prudomme?
Laurie
I really appreciated what Chris Rose had to say. I’ve been reading him for…forever and he’d make me laugh. I wondered what was happening and to me to. I thought it was just the aging process and for some reason it was happening faster to me than any one else. It’s odd how the “funks” get so bad that you don’t even recognize them in yourself. And for the record I’ve always exercised and still do though it’s becoming less often. I even had to put my cat on drugs (yes, there are anti depressants for cats) his behavior has been so off the wall. And I didn’t realize mine was until I read this article. I for one appreciate whats been written.
It doesn’t stand for Prudhomme, it stands for Mr Popularity!
So, you’re not a race car driver ether?
Laurie