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I’m Writing. And Writing, and writing….
I’m going to attempt something that I know, right out of the gate, is a massive stretch. November marks worldwide challenges to writers, with two events encouraging us to get out of our ruts and write. NaNoWriMo is the meme for National Novel Writing Month, wherein the goal is to write 1,000 words of a…
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Have You Been Reported Yet for Child Abuse?
I got an email this week from a frantic friend. She had gotten a phone call from an investigator for the county Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) informing her that she and her husband are under investigation and they needed to meet with him. She is the mother of two children; one diagnosed…
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Order and Oblivion
Photo by Rick&Brenda Beerhorst I sometimes joke that I can see the diagnose a mental illness in anyone. Obsessed with eliminating clutter? OCD. Involved in 40 projects at once? ADHD. Use anger as a defense mechanism? Bipolar. I’ve always tried to focus on the symptoms, but my need for order and organization pushes me towards a…
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Childhood Onset Schizophrenia: Orphaned, or Overlooked?
A fellow mental health mom (a freaky term for us, but hey, it fits) asked me last week about a statistic that states 0.1% of the population of children have childhood onset schizophrenia. There are reports that this is the case, but statistics vary. I read one recent report that suggested two in every million…
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When Doctors Won’t Diagnose
I regularly receive emails from parents of children experiencing emotional problems who are distraught because the psychologist or psychiatrist they are seeing won’t officially diagnose their child. When your child clearly isn’t well, you want to know what the condition is that’s making them unwell. That’s natural. And this is a phenomenon that is almost…