Yearning, Diagnosis and Identity

Today JD & Col have been Yearning to record an episode in-person, and they finally did!

After sitting (literally) in the feeling of reconnecting physically they explore how yearning, an intense longing for something, relates to how we approach and experience diagnosis and self-identity as Mad folk.

JD sums it up perfectly when they say “That when it comes to Mad Practice that yearning has been with me so long, the yearning to want to talk about and know mental illness differently.”

They talk through what it feels like to “receive” a diagnosis of some mental illness, both the real validation and access to care it brings and the limitations of being put into the most suitable box.

They talk through common ways into the mental health system, the often traumatic way in when in crisis and the privileged way in via family doctors, and how to empower ourselves and each other to navigate these systems.

A frequent saying that JD and Col both use in their community organizing is to aim for everyone getting what they need and a fair bit of what they want. Dear listener, thank you for listening and we hope that as you feel your own Yearnings you likewise get what you need (and at least some of what you want).

References:

Anatomy of an Epidemic by Robert Whitaker

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