Anxiety Society

Good morning fellow readers/listeners. Doctor Lizard and Deer Abby here to bring you a special piece by none-other than the cute, and adorably shy Neill Jameson aka writer for killer mags like Decibel, clrvynt and noisey.

We are honoured to have him share his story with us, and his views on where we are with mental illness today.

Keep your eyes and ears locked for this coming Wednesday, July 12th from 3-5PM EST time, because our next episode will be all about this; an Anxiety Society? Why is everyone anxious? What is going on?

We will have Dr. Howard Schwartz on the air with us for the second half of our show for questionning, so take advantage of this opportunity! Call us live or email us your questions at deerlizard@gmail.com.

"One of the biggest irritations when it comes to any kind of mental illness is the fragile

line between a “cried wolf” situation and those whom legitimately require help. An unfortunate development in the western world has been this glorification of mental illness as an attention seeking mechanism which jams up the system and makes it difficult to get treatment because the system has been so greatly abused through the action of fun seekers who’re both too selfish and too stupid to realize how they’ve put a strain on those of us with actual medical needs. As an American even when I did have health insurance, which I do not currently, I had to go to multiple doctors and specialists in order to have access to drugs which may or may not help my anxiety and depression. This gets to be overwhelmingly expensive and beyond the concept that the medical industry, pharma especially, is a corrupt institution, you also realize you have to jump through all these hoops because people before you have faked their way into a prescription like they’re faking an orgasm. Which they’d probably have to if they were on these drugs because they make that complicated but that’s really more of an aside than anything on topic. 

What I’m complaining about seems  to be, like most ills of the west, a uniquely American experience, so let me try to envision Canada since I still haven’t been and get my head into the game.  

People who use any kind of mental illness as a way to get attention, to get sympathy or just to manipulate others are shit human beings. And because there have been so many great manipulators it somehow tricks the slower members of society into wondering if they too have some kind of issue when really they just need to masturbate and get a better night’s sleep. Or even just pet a cat for Christ’s sake. 

I don’t want to sound like a hipster but back when I first was diagnosed with depression and anxiety I was a goddamned unicorn. It wasn’t something that was on TV every ten seconds. I didn’t feel like a pariah for it but I certainly wouldn’t have printed flyers saying I was fucked up (I don’t know your broadcast laws, messed up works) the way it seems people do now. 

I understand since I’ve written about it extensively that I might seem hypocritical by saying that and I suppose to an extent I am. 

Mental illness of any kind isn’t something to wear proudly. You didn’t just earn your badge for “being too scared to be around people” from the fucking Boy/Girl Scouts. Anyone who uses it like they should get a gold star for frowning most likely is crying wolf, or just a terrible person nobody will miss when they die. On the flip side, mental illness shouldn’t be viewed as making a person defective or less than someone who’s “normal” but rather it’s a piece of the puzzle that makes each one of us our own unique self, experiencing our own unique journeys." - Neill Jameson