Okay, so I was just reading of a member here having to sign a "safety contract" promising not to kill himself but to take other measures if he feels suicidal. Presumably this contract is to access health services. I've agreed to no-suicide before but never actually signed a fricken contract. WTF? Are they going to sue him if he attempts?
Also today - my husband heard on the news that major grocery chains say that their "holiday freeze" on grocery prices has ended so expect prices to go up. But everyone I know is already talking about how prices have already gone up - at a much higher rate than the cost of inflation.
Also recently watched a video that a member here posted, about a charity that helps veterans in the UK opening their doors to other people. Several people who are clients said they would be dead by suicide if this charity hadn't provided them with some free food, companionship and activities.
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So I know that nobody probably throws up their hands and says "Grocery prices are up - I'm going to kill myself!" Yet each little stress is another straw piled onto the camel's back, and poverty is a huge stress. Canada just released statistics that say it will cost $16,288.41 per year to feed a family of 4 in 2023.
Meanwhile workloads increase for workers, rents go up as corporations purchase rental buildings and jack up rates. Disability can be almost impossible to qualify for.
Here's a New York Times article that a member here forwarded me, about mental health being political:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/opinion/us-mental-health-politics.html
It ends with : "Solving the mental health crisis, then, will require fighting for people to have secure access to things that buffer them from chronic stress: housing, food security, education, child care, job security, the right to organize for more humane workplaces and substantive action on the imminent climate apocalypse.
A fight for mental health waged only on the terms of access to psychiatric care does not only risk bolstering justifications for profiteering invoked by start-ups eager to capitalize on the widespread effects of grief, anxiety and despair. It also risks pathologizing the very emotions we are going to need to harness for their political power to get real solutions."
-Danielle Carr is an assistant professor at the Institute for Society and Genetics at U.C.L.A. She is working on a book about the history of neuroscience.
Discussion welcome!
Also today - my husband heard on the news that major grocery chains say that their "holiday freeze" on grocery prices has ended so expect prices to go up. But everyone I know is already talking about how prices have already gone up - at a much higher rate than the cost of inflation.
Also recently watched a video that a member here posted, about a charity that helps veterans in the UK opening their doors to other people. Several people who are clients said they would be dead by suicide if this charity hadn't provided them with some free food, companionship and activities.
-------------------------
So I know that nobody probably throws up their hands and says "Grocery prices are up - I'm going to kill myself!" Yet each little stress is another straw piled onto the camel's back, and poverty is a huge stress. Canada just released statistics that say it will cost $16,288.41 per year to feed a family of 4 in 2023.
Meanwhile workloads increase for workers, rents go up as corporations purchase rental buildings and jack up rates. Disability can be almost impossible to qualify for.
Here's a New York Times article that a member here forwarded me, about mental health being political:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/20/opinion/us-mental-health-politics.html
It ends with : "Solving the mental health crisis, then, will require fighting for people to have secure access to things that buffer them from chronic stress: housing, food security, education, child care, job security, the right to organize for more humane workplaces and substantive action on the imminent climate apocalypse.
A fight for mental health waged only on the terms of access to psychiatric care does not only risk bolstering justifications for profiteering invoked by start-ups eager to capitalize on the widespread effects of grief, anxiety and despair. It also risks pathologizing the very emotions we are going to need to harness for their political power to get real solutions."
-Danielle Carr is an assistant professor at the Institute for Society and Genetics at U.C.L.A. She is working on a book about the history of neuroscience.
Discussion welcome!
That's the last thing I want. You are welcome to report it and ask for some kind of trigger warning, although I'm not sure what is triggered. Too much reality? That's why I rarely watch the news.