Mental Wellness: Treatments and Resources
Mental health expert, artist, and writer Dr. Pata Suyemoto joins us for a deep dive into mental illness, treatment and resources. Mental illness affects people differently, and we shouldn’t be shy to talk about it.
Mental Health ResourcesMassachusetts Coalition for Suicide PreventionNational Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-TALK (8255)American Foundation for Suicide PreventionAmerican Association of SuicidologyFamilies for Depression Awareness “My Story is Full of Lies” by Dr. Pata Suyemoto.When I was twelve, my diagnosis was major depression. At sixteen, I attempted suicide. At thirty-five my diagnosis included dissociative disorder,not otherwise specified. At forty, I took nineteen pills to combat chronic and severe major depression, and complex PTSD. Perhaps, this is not surprising since my aunt died by suicide, my uncle faced serious depression, and my mother had bipolar disorder. One could say that genetics is the cause of my mental illness.This is a lie. In 1942, my dad and his family were imprisoned in a camp in Topaz Utah. There is nothing there now, but tumble weeds, hard dry ground, dust storms,and a plaque with an American flag on it. After camp, when my dad was in high school, a math teacher said he wouldn’t amount to anything; My dad earned a Ph.D., in mathematics. But trauma and racism silenced him. He became reclusive. I can only wonder, what impact this has on me. And although I grew up solidly middle class, I also grew up in a white community where I was taunted and called chink and soy sauce. I was bullied in junior high.My mom was the crazy divorced lady. My sister’s friend was forbidden from coming to our house. My mother also told me not to stand with my legs apart. “It’s not lady-like,” she said. But closing my legs didn’t stop my cousin from molesting me at six. Or at sixteen, a supervisor from groping me. Not to mention the onslaught of catcalls and innuendos. A “normal” womanhood, one might say.This too is a lie. I grew to hate myself. What was there to love? After all, I was ridiculed for my race and attacked for my gender. When I came out as bisexual, that too was cause for pain. In high school, I hid this from my friends and my family. I hid this from the therapists in the hospital they put me in. In my twenties, friends died of AIDS. They said it was our own fault. God’s wrath.This is too is a lie. No one ever said,perhaps your depression and PTSD are normal reactions to racism, sexism, homophobia, and hatred. Perhaps, you are not sick.Perhaps, your despair is not an illness.Perhaps,This is my truth.