the task ahead

I am almost finished telling everyone who sent a request that I will get to their question some time in the next -- who knows when --- but I will.

In my message to the Listserve I said I would answer questions and of the 260 responses, a bit more than half seem to be legitimate questions.  In the piece I wrote I stated that nothing that people do surprises me anymore. After reading the comments, I find I am not surprised, I am a bit saddened that there are so many people out there who are not only struggling with so much, but are also searching for a way to find help.

As I have said in the past, I am not a fan of psychiatric diagnoses.  I feel that these labels only mark people as "sick" when they are really just dealing with the shit the world has handed them, often from the moment they meet their parents.

The causes of upset and strife are similar all over the world: stress, loss, loneliness, illness, trauma, and inadequate resources.  These are the factors I usually look at when I try to define a problem and then set about looking for a solution; something that is always a joint process with the patient.

The sad part to me is that there are so many terrible situations that people are reporting, and I hope to be answering them really soon.  The other side of the picture is that only one percent of the readers of the List felt the need to respond, so the other 99% either thought what I said was OK or useless, but they are moving on well enough without me.

In some ways that's comforting.