ACS Mental Health Resources

07/30/2023

For BIPOC individuals finding safe spaces to process and heal can be so important. Creating accessible spaces is a key step forward

07/29/2023

This is so important! We are dealing with a whole person.

The current state of the mental health care system is set up in a way that the brain is a separate organ from the body.

When people have symptoms like anxiety, depression, mood swings, high reactivity, etc we label these as mental health disorders.

This can hurt therapists who are limited in their way to help. As well as consumers who seek treatment and are told they have a disorder that must be managed. In this system nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances, thyroid dysfunction etc. are not addressed. Each of these can present the same symptoms as mental health disorders. Doctors are not trained on complex post traumatic stress, which is a major issue.

This leads to massive levels of misdiagnosis. It can also lead to what I believe is unintentional medical gaslighting “oh, that’s in your head” or “oh that’s just anxiety.” These symptoms are *very* real and we need to address them, not deny their existence.

In the psychiatry, 20-60% of consumers are affected by treatment resistance.

If a person is being treated for depression when they’re actually experiencing hypothyroidism and stuck in a functional freeze state, the root issues aren’t being addressed. The symptoms will continue. I don’t see this as a failure on the part of a psychiatrist, this is an overall missing piece in the way our system is designed.

The body is wise and symptoms are clues. They’re not something to manage or to suppress— they are signs the body is out of a balance. They’re signs the body is needing to return to homeostasis.

If you’ve had deeper issues going on/were misdiagnosed please feel free to share your story in the comments

12/30/2022

Conflict is a natural part of relationship: let’s normalize the process of repairing

12/14/2022

How to apologize