Recently, I got “beat up” by the language police in a bloody Facebook fight. I was charged with:
1. Using the term “SMI” to refer to the “Seriously Mentally Ill” population.
2. Asserting that conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder were “organic brain disorders,” different than situational issues such as trauma-based depression or stress-related anxiety.
The “language police,” aware of my personal history with traumas from hospitalizations and misdiagnoses, blasted me for my “hypocrisy,” and “holier than thou” attitude. Many people shared stories of having been traumatized by narrow-minded or inaccurate
The eating disorer “bulimia” is binge eating followe by forced purging
It could be my sister, niece, or best friend slowly trying to kill herself with an eating disorder It is a quiet, unintelligent cry for help/suicide attempt. But no treatment works unless the person with the eating disorder wants it to.
Trust me. I’ve had eating disorders..
When I was coming off of my first eating disorder (compulsive eating), and losing weight, everyone on earth said, “Wow! You’re really looking great!” Our society encourages eating disorders in a huge way. Even people who spent 24/7 with me
My Mentor Was A Giant in the Mental Health Empowerment Movement
Note: David Hilton, Part 1 looks at David Hilton’s contributions to the mental health empowerment movement, and being my mentor and partner in New Hampshire.
When facts and experience contradict an ideology, rational people question their ideology. Ideologues deny the facts and cling to their ideology.
My best friend, colleague, and mentor in the mental health recovery and empowerment movement, David Hilton (1953-2003), repeatedly ignored his own experience, and followed his anti-medication ideology to repeated episodes of
David Hilton Changed the World His Anger Killed Him
David Hilton Photo in David Hilton Memorial Conference Room, NH Bureau of Behavioral Health
Anger alone is a self-defeating, unsustainable motive for a lifelong commitment to social change.
This is how David Hilton (1953-2003) inspired me to change the system, and how I learned to combine his inspiration with my own personal qualities to sustain a lifetime of activism.
Plaque in David Hilton Conference Room
When I met my friend David Hilton in 1997, New Hampshire had the best mental health system in the country.
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