EPISODE 50
Last week I had an instagram post that immediately lost me followers, while also being my most liked and shared post in over a year. Let's talk about it.
Let's talk about how this same post could feel so validating and empowering for some people, while angering others.
In this conversation I share various individuals perspectives and experiences around being prescribed psych meds and the ways I think the mainstream medical model often falls short in providing personalized mental health support.
I also offer a thanks to the mental health providers who offered me a gut check for the way my intention behind the post didn't entirely match the impact, and I take absolute responsibility for that.
Trigger warning, this conversation includes mention of the terms: drug dealer, suicide, and anorexia
Looking for more personalized support?
3 take aways:
Have questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast? SUBMIT HERE
Website: https://www.riseaswe.com/podcast
Email: amanda@riseaswe.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaontherise/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amandaontherise
EPISODE 50
Last week I had an instagram post that immediately lost me followers, while also being my most liked and shared post in over a year. Let's talk about it.
Let's talk about how this same post could feel so validating and empowering for some people, while angering others.
In this conversation I share various individuals perspectives and experiences around being prescribed psych meds and the ways I think the mainstream medical model often falls short in providing personalized mental health support.
I also offer a thanks to the mental health providers who offered me a gut check for the way my intention behind the post didn't entirely match the impact, and I take absolute responsibility for that.
Trigger warning, this conversation includes mention of the terms: drug dealer, suicide, and anorexia
Looking for more personalized support?
3 take aways:
Have questions you'd like me to answer on the podcast? SUBMIT HERE
Website: https://www.riseaswe.com/podcast
Email: amanda@riseaswe.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amandaontherise/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amandaontherise
0:00
Welcome to regulate, and rewire and anxiety and depression podcast where we discuss the things I wish someone would have taught me earlier in my healing journey. I'm your host, Amanda Armstrong. And I'll be sharing my steps, my missteps, client experiences and tangible research based tools to help you regulate your nervous system, rewire your mind and reclaim your life. Thanks for being here.
0:25
Today's conversation is going to be a little bit different than usual, because I want to provide commentary on an Instagram post that I posted last week that instantly lost me 30 Something followers, but then also grew my account by 100 new followers because of how fast it was being reshared. And I promise this conversation is not about follower count, but instead about why this post was so quickly. So encouraging for some while so angering for others, and why such a large group of people felt validated and seen and heard in their experience, like this post was a war cry for change. And there were others who criticized me for further perpetuating stigma and mistrust and a medical system that might be some individuals only option for support. Now, my intention with this post was pure. But after listening and learning, especially from other mental health providers, I can see that my impact, while positive for some could be damaging for others. And as a voice in the mental health space, I have to take responsibility for impact, even if that wasn't in line with my intention.
1:46
So you're going to hear some of that in this conversation about how I can stand behind the intention. And the point I was trying to make in this post and take responsibility for the negative impact in how I presented that point. And how making that point in such a polarizing way can be problematic. And the ways that that statement are over generalized. Now I'll give a little bit of a backstory. And then I'm going to read the post for all of you.
2:23
So for context, this post was originally written after particularly frustrating back to back conversations with two of our clients. Now, what I'm about to share is Shared with permission, and it's being shared anonymously. But client number one, this first person was is somebody who has been on antidepressants and as needed anti anxiety medication for years. And they were currently on a low dose and feeling pretty ready to come off. So they went to the doctor, they approached their doctor about this desire to taper and come off medication. And they immediately received pushback. Their doctor cited the chemical imbalance theory as the reasoning for why they needed to stay on medication. Which by the way, if you're new here, we've had a lot of conversations around how the chemical imbalance theory was debunked over a decade ago. And I just cannot fathom I cannot fathom being a doctor with a patient in front of me telling me, Hey, Doc, I'm doing much better. I'm in a place where the side effects of this medication feels more harmful than helpful. And I would love your support in coming off the psych meds. And then being a doctor that tries to convince that person out of that decision. What a disempowering interaction to have.
3:46
Now client number two, this other client shared a story about how they noticed this what seemed to be kind of a random uptick in their anxiety symptoms. And she had this hunch that it might be because of low progesterone. Now, hormones were particularly on her mind her and her husband were trying to conceive. And she still was like, You know what, I just I don't know why I know. But I just know that that's playing, playing a role in why I have increased anxiety symptoms. So she went to the doctor and she said, Hey, again, Hey, Doc, I am having increased anxiety symptoms. I think it's because of low progesterone. There's a lot of research around low progesterone causing anxiety symptoms, can we run a hormone panel? And the doctors response was No, I don't think we need to do that. If you're having higher anxiety symptoms, you should just go back on your anti anxiety meds. Well, fast forward six months, her and her husband are now considered to be having trouble conceiving that warrants a hormone panel and what did they find low progesterone.
4:52
And so this client was just expressing so much frustration around how when there is research shows that shows that low progesterone can cause anxiety symptoms that can also cause trouble in conceiving. Why is why wasn't it a valid request to get a hormone panel run for anxiety, but it was for struggling to conceive. And although she decided not to get back on her anti anxiety meds when the doctor made that suggestion, she's like, I spent six more months really struggling that I didn't have to if I would have been able to get that information sooner.
5:28
And these two stories just represent so many stories, so many stories, I've lost count of individuals seeking out and asking for more comprehensive, a more personalized approach, and being denied that. And I also want to be really clear before we continue this conversation, that this is not an anti medication conversation. I think by now you know that if you've been here long enough, you know that the rhetoric is never anti medication.
6:10
So what was this post? This was a carousel post. So it went slide by slide by slide and it was in writing with some illustrations and the cover slide read. If your doctor prescribed you antidepressants before a blood test, they're more of a drug dealer than a doctor and it continued on. If your doctor prescribes you medication without first asking about your stress levels, friendships, diet, hormones, exercise routine or sleep and they're more of a drug dealer than a healer. Symptom Management is only part of the solution. But when it is presented as the solution everyone suffers poor diet, sleep deprivation, sedentariness, loneliness, chronic stress, hormone imbalances, concussion history, gut health issues all contribute to nervous system dysregulation, and symptoms that get labeled as anxiety or depression.
7:03
There is no amount of talk therapy that will read anxiety symptoms caused by a nutrient deficiency or lack of sleep. And there's no antidepressant that'll heal depression caused by isolation, trauma or hormone imbalance. The same symptoms often have very different root causes, which is why we should be assessing physiology. First. We've had over 15 clients in the past two years request bloodwork, just to have their doctor deny that request, that's preposterous Rise As We is at the forefront of mental wellness, because we're committed to dismantling outdated models or enough checked boxes label you with a generic diagnosis. And this year, we'll be bringing on a practitioner to help our clients order and analyze blood tests and do a full lifestyle assessment to support our whole human whole life approach to healing. Mental Health looks different for everyone, and so should the solution.
7:57
Now, I can imagine that those of you listening to that, right now with me, also are having a variety of responses. Some of you heard that and were like, yes, yes, yes. Others of you might have noticed that your system got really tense or defensive. And some of you are just downright pissed off that I'd ever post something like that at all. And my hope is that all of us feel a little bit more settled and have a little bit more perspective by the end of this conversation. So like I said, the post went live pretty quickly. I lost some folks, I gained some folks comments came in shares happened DMs poured in of all varieties, everything from in all capital letters. I want to repost every single slide individually like yes, yes, yes to you should be ashamed of yourself as a mental health advocate. One of the things that surprised me most was just how many people took that and and read it as being anti medication, despite in the caption, me specifically and explicitly saying this is not an anti medication post.
9:07
And one comment, or message that I got that I want to give a little bit more space to here was this like, yes. And this like, Yes, I see the point you're trying to make, and sometimes people need medication to take the edge off their symptoms so that they then can take a more proactive approach. And to this, my response was always, absolutely, absolutely, yes, that can be a helpful and even life saving way to engage in psych meds.
9:36
Coming back to the intention a little bit. Here's a frustration that I have that's been echoed by hundreds of people that I've talked to over the last couple years is that far too often, medication is presented as the solution versus an option or even a part of the solution. It is offered without any context or education. Now Imagine a person or maybe you've been that person who is struggling, you are seeking help you check enough of the symptom boxes to get labeled with anxiety or depression and a prescription is written, full stop. That's it. That's the whole story. That's the end of the journey. Hey, I'm struggling, I need help check, check, check, here's your meds. Again, no other context. No other options, no education provided. And oftentimes, this prescription is even written after explicitly telling a doctor that they didn't want to go on meds. And I know because this is part of my story. It was, hey, I'm really struggling. Here are some of my symptoms. And I'm really hesitant to go on medication, I'd like to better understand what's going on, I'd like to hear about my options. To which a response was something like, Well, you have anxiety, this is the support I have to offer you. Here's your here's your prescription.
10:58
And to counter this, because I think the theme of today's conversation is uh, yes, and intention and impact and owning all all sides of this. Because one of the ways that I realized my post over generalized in a problematic way, is that there are certain cases in which prescribing psych meds before ordering lab work is the right call. I don't know that I would have said that a week ago. But if an individual's symptoms are intense enough that they need an immediate intervention, they need something now, a lot of the conversation that came up was also points around accessibility accessibility of basic lab work, let alone extensive lab work that sometimes need sometimes is needed to pinpoint underlying physiological causes.
11:53
And to illustrate this, I want to share part of the conversation or part of my DMs with a provider who was particularly angry with me, at least at first, she wrote in: "When you call healthcare providers, quote drug dealers, for not ordering labs before prescribing medication, you are creating a sense of distrust in some people's only option for healing. There's also so much trauma around drug abuse and addiction and insinuating that a medical provider is a drug dealer can be such a harmful connotation. But sometimes we need to start with medication as a vessel to get someone to a place where they can feel safe enough to do other therapies. And sometimes that involves labs. And sometimes it doesn't, I work really hard to establish trust and saying that if I don't order labs first, and I'm a drug dealer, is a harmful blanket statement. And like I said before, many people do not have the financial means to pay for specialized lab testing."
12:50
They're not wrong. I, I was wrong. I was wrong for making such a blanket statement without at the very least, providing contextual language around situations like this. I also didn't consider the how triggering the use of the term drug dealers could be and I should have, I absolutely should have.
13:17
What is at the heart of this post and the share. And the frustration that that drove this was what I wished happened differently when psych meds are offered. And what that looks like is that they, the when they're offered, there's more education, there's a greater sense of choice, what I would love to see is even a two minute conversation that went something like I can see that you're struggling. This is real, and I'm here to support you and you have options. We know that anxiety and depression can have a variety of root causes. Trauma, environment, relationships, physiology, lifestyle, the symptoms that you're experiencing, as debilitating as they might be, they are here for a reason. And if they're keeping you from functioning in your daily life, psych meds might be a supportive next step. What they can hopefully do is dampen the intensity of those symptoms, so that you can then take a more proactive approach, but what I want you to know too, is that meds aren't effective for everybody. And they don't get to the underlying cause.
14:59
I can't even begin to tell you I'm emotional even sharing that hypothetical conversation because that would have been so beneficial to have heard to have heard at that stage and my healing was this kind of Yes. And because when we oversimplify the solution of anxiety and depression, to simply taking a pill, it hurts people.
15:26
Anxiety and depression are nuanced. And what I believe true and informed consent consists of is context and choice. And far too often, I hear stories where individuals are denied context and choice and simply handed a prescription. The problem here is not segments. The problem is an outdated medical model that shortcuts personalization of care. And what I now understand, because of the conversations I've had, since this post with other mental health practitioners, what I, what I now understand is that sometimes part of that personalized care also means considering the means and the accessibility of the person in front of you. And sometimes meds without or before bloodwork might be the right option for that particular person, especially for those in desperate situations or with limited resources.
16:31
And, and the harsh reality remains, that medication only helps 50% of people who are prescribed it. This means that for half of the other humans offered meds, it might make your symptoms worse, or simply be unhelpful. And if they have a physician that doesn't offer this context, or any alternatives, then this narrative gets written that, well, if these meds aren't working for me, I must be too broken to heal. And that can lead to a lot of hopelessness. And I shared something similar to this on my stories as a follow up to this post. And I had one woman write in. And she wrote me and said, thanks for talking about this, I lost my son to suicide pills didn't help him and no one offered any alternative. Even therapy was never mentioned. They presented medication like it was going to be the cure. And when it wasn't, he lost all hope.
17:40
And to contrast this, another woman shared that meds were the only reason that her son was still here. And I don't know if you can hear my voice. But I'm getting emotional as I share this because again, when we oversimplify a solution to a wildly nuanced problem, it hurts people. And as part of this conversation, I do also want to give voice to the number of people who found this post to be validating and empowering to the 100. I think hundreds at this point of people who shared it or saved it.
18:16
The system has fallen short and failed you in many, many ways that are real to you deserved better care. One person wrote in my first prescription of antidepressants came during my first real struggle with anorexia. People saw me sleep a lot and lose weight. So I was put on happy pills that further suppress my appetite. More questions should have been asked, that was crappy care.
18:45
Another person wrote in saying antidepressants helped make my depression less intense. But it was years of therapy that ultimately healed me and helped me find the root of what was causing me those years of suffering. A doctor never recommended I go to therapy. Not even a psychiatrist did. That's crappy care, to put somebody on pills for years without ever mentioning that therapy might also support their healing.
19:16
And a third person wrote in and said, I've been on and off meds for most of my teen and adult life. Eventually, the meds stopped working. The answer cannot be to double the dose every time. I am proud to say that I'm six months off meds. Did they help me? Sure. But eventually they didn't. And I was so tired of hearing. Let's just double your dose. The last straw for me was when a doctor said, Well, you can't have postpartum depression. You don't want to hurt your baby. She continued. I'm grateful for modern medicine, and there's a time in place. But the more I dig and learn about pharmaceuticals and the whole industry, the more IQ I have, and the more I lean into exactly what you share in the world. So thank you for what you do for talking about hard things that aren't always easy to hear.
19:16
Can you imagine? Can you even imagine being in a doctor's office and having that doctor look at you and say something like, Well, you don't want to get postpartum depression, you don't want to hurt your baby, you probably should up your dose, using fear and guilt, to keep you on meds. Postpartum depression is real. And we'll have a conversation another time about that. I also happen to know the person who wrote that into me personally. And I know that the context in which the doctor said that was out of line, it was crappy care.
20:57
This conversation today, I know is it can feel sticky for a lot of us. But I wanted to give voice to different sides of this conversation, because I don't think that we have enough unfiltered and open conversations around people's experiences and journey to an off psych meds. And what it boils down to, at least for me, and what I want to see more of is more true and informed consent. And this comes when individuals are given context for what causes anxiety and depression symptoms and choice an option around treatment and care. Education leads to empowerment, and we can do so much better.
21:53
I also want to include in this conversation, a thank you, a thank you to the other mental health practitioners who got checked to me when I needed it. And for so many of you who shared vulnerable pieces of your own experience to jumpstart and support this conversation, I had a couple of practitioners who originally dropped into my DMs, real angry. And after some authentic back and forth, I'm hopping on, I'm hopping on a call with a few of them in the next couple of weeks to talk about ways that we can collaborate and increase accessibility, the way that I presented this information, in their opinion was really callous and even harmful. And yet, we share a lot of the frustrations in the way that mental health support is so fragmented and depersonalized. And so again, I want to thank you for not only the gut check, but for willingness to hear my intention, and the ways that it matched yours, and to have gotten to a place of commonality so that we can bring more good into this mental health healing space.
23:02
I want to assure all of you, I am almost always well meaning I am not always the most delicate at presenting things. I am a redhead, and I fit just about every hot headed, quick Tang hoo rah stereotype that often comes with that I will get into the trenches, and go to battle for those that I feel deserve better than they've gotten. It's why I do the work that I do. Entrepreneurship friends, founding a mental health coaching practice has come with some really long, dark, hard days. But it has never not felt worth it. Because the care that I got when I was trying to heal, sucked.
23:58
I deserved better and so do many of you. And it's these sticky, hard, sometimes polarizing conversations that I think need to be had. And I do want to leave you with a note of hope that there are incredibly well meaning doctors, therapists, practitioners, coaches, all of the above out there, who can be trusted, and who also want to sit next to in a personalized way in your healing. Medication can be supportive. And it's not a comprehensive approach to healing.
24:34
I want to encourage you to grab education where you can this podcast others out there. And at the end of the day, it is your job to advocate for you. And that can feel like a really tall order sometimes and I believe that education leads to more empowerment. So I want to offer a thank you to those of you who are here who've decided to let this be a place to inform, and I hope Empower parts of your healing tool. Now, I won't always get it just right. But I am open to learning, I am willing to listen. And I will admit and correct when I fallen short.
26:05
Now for today's three, three takeaways.
26:09
Number one, this post was not anti medication. It was anti physician that puts people and symptoms in a box and presents medication as the only solution. Meds can be needed even life saving. And as a community, we are over medicated and under educated around personalized healing. Medication is presented as the solution to versus an option for anxiety and depression far too often, and it's hurting people.
26:48
Number two, there is no shame in medication being part of your healing. I cannot emphasize this enough. And I need you to know that your symptoms are there for a reason. true and lasting healing doesn't come from just taking the edge off your symptoms, but in seeking out a more comprehensive approach to getting at the root of what is causing those symptoms in the first place.
27:17
And number three, you have options if you weren't provided context or choice when seeking support for healing.
27:28
I hope that this conversation and the others that we have here on this podcast, begin to provide some of that for you. Thank you for being here. I am sending you so much hope and healing, and I'll see you next week.
27:47
Thanks for listening to another episode of The regulate and rewire podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard today, please subscribe and leave a five star review to help us get these powerful tools out to even more people who need them. And if you yourself are looking for more personalized support and applying what you've learned today, consider joining me inside Rhys, my monthly mental health membership and nervous system healing space or apply for our one on one anxiety depression coaching program restore. I've shared a link for more information to both in the show notes. Again, thanks so much for being here. And I'll see you next time.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai