I had to quit seeing an M.D. who just wanted to switch me to an atypical that could cause monster weight gain. He told me: “Everyone’s doing it.”

That sounded like a brand new dance the locomotion in the 1970s with the lyrics that “everybody’s doing it.” And I dance like a washing machine with kooky rhythm.

What I’m against:

Cookie-cutter treatment.

Warehousing people with MH conditions in adult homes that are poorly supervised. High doses of medication.

What I’m FOR:

Getting the right help right away. Using the Asset Model to treat a person.

Family support. Social skills training. Cognitive remediation. Goal-focused and time-sensitive treatment in a mental health system.

I was sent to clerical school in 1989 because there was no practical career counseling offered to me. Though I’m glad I was able to find my first job as an administrative assistant it led to tumbling down a hole into a career that was ill-fitting.

I say: do what you have to do right now if that’s what you have to do.

Yet if this thing turns out not to enchant you or sustain you yes you can do something different next.

I’ll end here by saying what I’ve said before:

We have the right to speak our minds as well as medicate them.