#Canadian Association of Mental Health

[bonniezink]

Navigating the Chaos: Insights from Rough Magic on Living with Borderline Personality Disorder -- Review by Bonnie Zink

Rough Magic by Miranda Newman is a candid memoir about living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Newman’s personal account reveals the challenges and stigma of BPD, offering crucial insights for patients and caregivers.

Rough Magic: Living with Borderline Personality Disorder by Miranda Newman  307 Pages  McClelland and Stuart, Canada ISBN: 978-0-7710-0676-0 Rough Magic: Living with Borderline Personality Disorder by Miranda Newman is a powerful and deeply personal memoir that offers a glimpse into living with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Written from the perspective of someone directly…

[drasadonbrown]

“Do not forget that children are like rainbows; they come in an array of personalities, levels of resiliency, and a variety of temperaments.” ~ Asa Don Brown

#children #books #rainbows #resiliency #personalities #temperaments #insulatin #ISeeMe #asadonbrown

[in-sightpublishing]

Dr. Christopher DiCarlo on Critical Thinking & an AGI Future

Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/08/12 Dr. Christopher DiCarlo is a philosopher, educator, and author. He is the Principal and Founder of Critical Thinking Solutions, a consulting business for individuals, corporations, and not-for-profits in both the private and public sectors. He currently holds the…

[dibator]

Lynda Monahan’s new poetry collection, The Door at the End of Everything

gives voice to and honour those living with mental illness In her new poetry collection The Door at the End of Everything, releasing August 13, Prince Albert writer Lynda Monahan draws on her own experience to give voice to and honour those living with mental illness. ”The Door at the end of Everything was written during the recent years I was hospital writer-in-residence at the Victoria…

[allthecanadianpolitics]

Veterinarians in Canada say they are experiencing extreme burnout and plummeting mental health due to staff shortages, a booming number of animal patients and the round-the-clock stress of the job. Neil Pothier, a veterinarian since 1985 who runs an animal hospital in Digby, N.S., said caring for animals has never been easy, but it's a job he's always loved. "But now, all day long, people are talking about burnout and thinking of quitting," Pothier said following a meeting with veterinarians from across Nova Scotia. "We are struggling to try and make it." Pothier said the increased workload, which in many rural areas comes with on-call emergency care 24 hours a day, is resulting in severe stress and exhaustion that has worsened over time. "People are just at the point where they don't know what to do. And there is already a high suicide rate in the country in our profession, which is terrifying." Survey data compiled in 2020 suggests that veterinarians in Canada were far more likely to think about killing themselves when compared with the average person. The study, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, found 26.2 per cent of 1,403 veterinarians surveyed had suicidal thoughts within the previous 12 months. Statistics Canada data from 2022 found that 2.5 per cent of Canadians surveyed had thoughts about killing themselves within the last year.

Continue Reading.

Tagging: @politicsofcanada

[thepro-lifemovement]

Link.

As the euthanasia program in Canada comes under increasing international scrutiny, Canadians living with disabilities are speaking out to show how they have been pressured into assisted suicide or euthanasia. And the hashtag they’re using is starting to go viral.

A woman identifying herself as Dr. T kicked off the “I Am The Face Of MAID” campaign with a tweet arguing that the government would rather kill her than treat her illness. “I am the face of #MAID (assisted-death) in Canada. As a single, 50 yr old female with a genetic condition and a disability pension I will only cost the ‘system,'” she wrote. “I would be approved for untreatable pain if I applied – except my pain IS treatable – the gov just wont cover it.”

She then encouraged others to follow her lead, and the hashtag quickly took off.

“I am the face of #MAID (assisted-death) in Canada,” a woman named Ariane wrote. “As a 42 year old woman with a rare complication of lupus + iatrogenic injuries I will only cost the ‘system.’ I want to live but can’t get the care I need + have been approved for MAID.”

“I am the face of #MAID (assisted-death) in Canada,” another woman named Natalie wrote. “As a 41 yr old woman with fibromyalgia & chronic widespread pain, I will only cost the ‘system.’ I receive nerve block to keep me moving. I would be approved for death if I applied.”

“I am the face of #MAID (assisted-death) in Canada,” still another woman said. “As a 30 y.o. with physical disabilities and ADHD, I will only cost the ‘system.’ I would be approved for MAiD if I applied – doctors are ignoring me to death. Fleeing to live.”

“I’m a 23 year old with ADHD, BPD, CPTSD, POTS, very intense IBS, widespread chronic pain, asthma, and more. Come March if I applied I would be approved due to their expansion with mental health,” another woman tweeted. “I am the face of MAID, but I don’t want to be.”

The campaign worked. Dr. T later followed up that not only did #MAID become a trending topic on Twitter, but her picture was the #1 photo associated with the term.

Many people with disabilities have come forward to speak out about their treatment, which has included being referred for MAID even though they are seeking medical care. Still others have been approved for MAID simply because they are living in poverty, or have disabilities. Disturbingly, the Canadian government is still planning on expanding the MAID program to include those whose only diagnosis is mental illness.

[intervex]

What Pride Flags Mean Pt 2: Disability

What do colours on pride flags mean when it comes to disability? Here's what I found!

I assembled a data set of 624 queer & disabled pride flags, containing a total of 2060 colour choices. I tagged each colour choice based on its known meaning(s). There are 41 disability-related tags, with 403 colour choices from 134 different pride flags.

On the left are the names of the tags. To the right of each tag is a series of squares, representing all the pride flag colour choices that were given that tag. The more squares there are, the more pride flags I found which had that meaning.

I then calculated a median colour for each tag. Every colour was converted into okLCH colourspace, where colours are represented with three values: lightness, chroma, and hue. I took the median lightness, median chroma, and median hue, and used those to create the colours on the left (the backgrounds of the tag names).

Detailed results are under the cut, and at the very bottom is a simplified & condensed colour-meaning association list that should be easier to remember & keep track of.

RESULTS

Disability in general came out as purplish blue. I kinda expected it to be blue, but guess more people think of it as purple!

Medicine & madness

Only a single flag - the Crohn's disease flag - had anything positive to say about the medical establishment. The Crohn's flag uses white to represent the doctors/nurses/researchers/etc who help Crohn's patients.

Most often if disability pride flags had something to say about the medical establishment, it was negative. There are five entries under underdiagnosis/misdiagnosis (mostly black/grey), and six for undiagnosed (mostly white).

And nine entries that I tagged with "iatrogenesis" which is the term for when medical intervention causes disease/disability.

The most common form of iatrogenesis was psychological trauma caused by the medical establishment. In particular, psychiatry was most often implicated for this, as seen in the psychpunk, systempunk, and traumatic psych experience flags. These were mostly purple, probably because mad pride is pink/purple.

Also related to mad pride was the psychosis+schizo spectrum, also using purple. (See: psychosis+schizospec flag, schizoaffective flag). Plurality also tended towards magenta but had a large range.

On the flip side of mad pride were flags that talked about mental health/illness as a negative thing. These tended to use blue or green. For example, the HS flag uses blue for "the toll that HS takes on mental health". This chronic pain flag uses a bluish green for how chronic pain messes you up emotionally.

Psychological trauma and dissociation was usually dark - often a dark grey. Red, purple, and teal were all used. The median winds up being a dark purple.

Mood disorders wound up with a median being blue but it had a bunch of subthemes. Red was used for anger & manic episodes. Yellow was also used for manic. Green and teal for panic/anxiety. Blue for depressive. Purple and black used for general negativity.

Neurodivergence

Autism was almost equally split between red (#RedInstead started in 2015 by a Canadian ASAN activist) and yellow (#GoingGold started in 2018 by AutisticUK). These are two prominent colours used as alternatives to the blue of Autism Speaks. I went into this personally inclined to the gold because of the Au=Autism pun, but splitting the difference and being orange actually is kinda nice. Feels inclusive.

Being non-verbal was reddish brown. It overlapped a lot with non-verbal autism but wasn't 100% autistic so I kept it a distinct tag.

ADHD had a bunch of variety. Orange was the most popular colour (7 out of 22) but purple (6) also got used a bunch. Some flags made a distinction between inattentive ADHD & hyperactive, usually with violet for inattentive and orange for hyperactive. But both orange and purple were used for all ADHD types.

Dyslexia was navy blue. Dyscalculia was dark green. Less common learning disabilities/differences which only had one pride flag representing them (e.g. dysorthographia) I lumped into "other learning-disabilities". It also came out orange.

Borderline PD had equal amounts of yellow and blue, yielding a median green because green is in between yellow and blue.

General neurodiversity was green. Yellow and blue also got used. I don't think the blues (like in this dyspraxia flag) in my data set are references to Autism Speaks but I personally would avoid using blue for neurodivergence regardless.

Cognitive difficulties was where I lumped together brain fog and memory problems. These were generally coming from chronic illness flags, like the chronic migraines flag. These were generally grey or greyish and a bit purple.

Sensory & communication disabilities

In @capricorn-0mnikorn's original meanings for the disability pride flag, green is used to represent sensory disabilities. I recently proposed some new meanings for the stripes, but I've felt least sure of my suggestion for the green stripe, so I wanted to find out if existing sensory flags really use green.

Blind & low-viz tended to be black/grey, like this one.

Deaf/deaf/HOH was blue, which is popularly used in Deaf culture (including the deaf flag). Stuttering, which isn't a sensory disability but is a communication disability like deafness, was also blue.

Sensory processing issues, such as auditory processing disorder (flag1, flag2), tended towards the cool greens & teals. This is probably in line with how neurodiversity in general was green.

So it's kind of a mixed result. As I already kinda suspected, it doesn't seem like Deaf/blind folks were really using green. But sensory processing like auditory processing disorder does use it. 🤔

Chronic illnesses

The tag for chronic illness in general was a mix of blue, purple, and red. The median winds up being a pinkish purple.

Chronic pain and chronic fatigue both wound up as bluish purple, but with some notable reds. Autoimmune conditions like lupus were also purple, but a pinkish purple. Epilepsy was purple.

Sleep disorders were also bluish purple, like in this narcolepsy flag. This makes sense to me: there's a connecting theme here of sleep and rest, and bluish purple being considered a colour of the night.

Respiratory conditions were sky blue - probably a reference to air and breathing (e.g. the blue in this long covid flag).

Gastrointestinal conditions such as gastroparesis were generally lime green or chartreuse (the colour between yellow and green). This is probably a reference to bile & gastric juices having these colours.

Reproductive disorders were about half yellow (e.g. this endometriosis flag), about one quarter purple, and one quarter red (e.g. this endometriosis flag). The median wound up being yellow.

Invisible disabilities were usually white, but a bit of teal.

Mobility & physical differences

Low mobility wound up as brown. Red was a common choice, but yellow/brown was more common, such as in this disability flag.

Within the mobility tag, motor coordination/coordination tended to be yellow (e.g. this autism flag), body weakness tended to be green (e.g. this ME/CFS flag).

Physical differences such as deformities also wound up as a warm yellow. There's the red from this congenital amputee flag, and the greenish yellow from this radial dysplasia flag.

Models of disability

I did not include the new proposed meanings for the disability pride flag in this data set. I wanted to see if the proposed meanings are in line with pre-existing flags.

Social model wound up as blue, in line with my proposal. 🩵

Ableism came out as dark grey, with a bit of teal. This includes both fighting ableism and being victims of ableism. If I were to match it to a model of disability, the radical or social models seem most relevant.

Disability visibility & pride came out as yellow. This is in line with yellow being culturally associated with happiness and joy. I consider this to be in line with the affirmation model and my proposal. 💛

Disability caused or amplified by racism/classism came out as dark brown/red, but there also were only four entries (purple/red/brown/black). The black and brown I assume are in reference to the brown skin of POC (e.g. this fibromyalgia flag).

My proposal has red as debility (disability caused by violence). This arguably lines up to the racism/classism, but I think it's kind of weak because of how few disability+racism/etc flags I found. I'm considering this inconclusive.

The economic model showed up as olive (between yellow and green). The economic model was presented as ableist. For example, the bad disabled flag has a green stripe for "being useless/uneconomic" in a context that makes clear that this is a way of "sham[ing], discredit[ing], denigrat[ing] disabled people".

As mentioned at the top, the only pro-medical entry was a single white stripe from the Crohn's flag.

This has me now second guessing the white & green in my original proposal - maybe the medical model should be under the "other models" of the white stripe? 🤔 And change green to something that would more easily include sensory processing disabilities? Like maybe the human rights model? 🤔 IDK, would like feedback! 💚 ***

SIMPLIFIED RESULTS

The feedback I got from @queercripintersex on my analysis of gender/attraction colours is it'd be easier to have results that are clustered around a small set of colours with memorable colour-meaning associations.

So I did another round of clustering to simplify things down. I brought the 41 tags down to a more manageable 18. And I've added how I personally would remember each colour.

White: medical model. White like the lab coats doctors wear.

Off-white: invisible disabilities. Off-white like you're barely visible against a white background.

Grey: confusion (brain fog + un/misdiagnosis). Grey like fog.

Black: blind/low-viz. Black like absence of light.

Dark red: trauma. By this I mean both physical trauma (injury) and psychological trauma. Red like blood.

Dark brown: oppression (ableism/racism/etc). Red like blood plus brown like black/brown skin.

Reddish orange: autism/ADHD spectrum. Orange is opposite of blue on many colour wheels, so is a good option for being the opposite of Autism Speaks. Orange is also used in a lot of safety equipment and the like because of how it catches the eye's attention, and the association with attention -> ADHD.

Orange-ish yellow: reproductive disorders. Gold like the intersex flag.

Yellow-brown: physical disabilities. I don't have a good memory aid here, best I'm coming up is it's like the colour of wood, which is used for making mobility aids like canes but also "wooden" is used to describe some motor coordination impairments. If you have a better way to remember it let me know!

Yellow: positivity (disability pride + mania). Yellow is often associated with happiness.

Yellow-green: gastrointestinal. Like bile and vomit.

Green: neurodiversity. Because these are natural differences and green is associated with nature.

Teal/cyan: negativity (depression/etc, negative aspects of disability). Teal is has the same first three letters as tears, and we say people have the blues.

Blue: communication (Deaf/stuttering/etc). Blue also gets associated with openness and clarity.

Purplish blue: social model. Honestly the way I'll remember this one is that social attraction was a similar colour. Blue is often associated with society, conformity, and tradition.

Bluish purple: disability in general. Indigo is a good colour for not fitting in: we're neither blue nor purple.

Purple: chronic illness (pain/fatigue/etc). Purple is associated with the night and sleep, and chronically ill people need rest.

Pink-purple/magenta: madness. Pink and magenta aren't "real" colours in the sense that there do not exist wavelengths of light that make pink and magenta specifically. Those colours are made by our brains, which seems apt!

(Everything here is Creative Commons Sharealike 4.0, so you're free to reuse and build on my visualizations, tables, etc. Enjoy!)

EDIT (2024-07-24): earlier version of this post incorrectly wrote that the median hue for reproductive disorders was red. It was yellow.

[cheeeeseburger]

Sweet like tiramisu, bitter like coffee Part 2

Part 1 Part 3

Lance Stroll x Reader

Masterlist

A/N: Hi! This is part two of the story, and I am pleased to announce that there will be a part three coming shortly. Thank you for the support, and once again, English is not my first language, apologies for the mistakes!

Your bedroom looked like the back store of a Victoria’s Secret. There were lacy lingerie sets all over your bed, stockings on the floor and your dresser was about to burst with silky nightgowns.  

All these clothes were single use only in your mind. Each piece was associated with a specific moment, a night, a visit from your cruel lover, who would never want to be called your lover. To him, you were nothing.

Every time Lance Stroll texted you to say he was on his way, you played dress-up with yourself. You carefully picked the designated nightgown for the night, choosing from the pile of clothes that he had not yet seen. Thrift stores all over Montreal knew you were about to buy their entire rack of night clothes whenever you entered, and the salespersons at high ends lingerie stores knew your size by heart. You were a doll, and the goal was to be pretty enough so he’d want to play with you again.

He never complimented you on your look, your hair that you had curled and pinned, the perfume you had carefully chosen for him. He did say one thing about the perfume though: “Don’t wear perfume anymore. I don’t want the smell to linger on me.” That was that.

It was a very exhausting game to play. You were doing your master in mechanical engineering and a minor in pleasing him. You were self-destructive. Whenever he hadn’t texted you in a while, you went into a frenzy, booking hair appointments, working out like crazy and maxing out your credit card on lingerie sets. When he did come back though, it was not better for your mental health. He always left you crying, and you always opened the door for him the next night, hoping that this would be the night where he complimented you and stayed the night. It never happened.

Kid. He always called you by that stupid word. “You know nothing is happening between us, right kid?” “You can’t tell anyone, kid.” “I’ll see you around, kid.”

Lance truly did not see you as anything but a girl he knew since forever that was desperate for him. You did not know if he enjoyed using you like this, but he sure as hell did not feel guilty about it.

Your life was spiralling out of control. Your mood depended on the frequency of his texts. School was nothing but a distraction to dreaming of him, but you held on to it like a lifeline. You stopped going out, afraid of missing his texts. You were always on edge, not knowing if he would stop by or not. Both options made you cry.

Every time he would visit friends or family in Montreal, a notification from him popped up on your phone. And when you went on vacation in Europe and he happened to be in the same country as you, he knocked on your hotel room. He had to ruin this for you too.

As you stared at the mess that was your bedroom, with mascara tears running down your cheeks and a few glasses of wine in, you felt hopeless. Sitting in a nest of nightgowns, you knew this had to stop.

All this misery started nearly two years ago at the Canadian GP. You had fallen for his charms and surprisingly, so did he. But Lance and you did not share the same expectations of what was to come after. Just when you were about to ask him to stay for the night, he left. Instead of taking you on a date, he made you lovesick and left you with a heartache. Still, when he came back the next night, you let him in. Same thing that other time. And the next time, too. Being used by him was better than not having him at all.

Now that you were about to graduate, you had to gain back some control of your life. And although it hurt like a bitch to admit, you had to stop seeing him. You still had enough self-awarness to recognize that he was the reason behind your downfall.

So when he texted you a few nights ago, you let him in. Almost out of nostalgia, you did the same routine as usual before he got here. You showered, shaved, scrubbed and washed your hair. You curled your hair, then put on an adorable but risqué nightdress as well as some stockings held by a garter belt. You put on some makeup, and you felt pretty. For once, you were not about to have a full breakdown. You were still nervous though, and you jumped when you heard him knock.

“Hey, kid,” Lance greeted as usual. He always had the same pattern. First, he greeted you. After that, he always pushed you against the wall. Next, he would leave you weak with kisses. After that, he would take you to your bedroom. And for the final act, he left you crying in your bed. You didn’t let him get to the wall part this time though.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked, confused when you stopped him. Your heart was beating fast in your chest.

“Lance, this has to stop. I can’t do it anymore.” Internally, a voice was screaming at you to stop talking, that you were going to ruin everything. But deep down, you knew you were doing the right thing.

He started to get mad: “The hell are you talking about? We’re not even doing anything!” You had rarely seen him mad, and right now, he looked furious. But he would never do anything to hurt you, right? Even if that's what he has been busy doing for the past two years. Oh well. What's one more hit to your poor, poor heart?

You tried to keep your calm, but you were shaking. “Lance, tu sais que c’est pas correct ce que tu me fais. (you know what you’re doing to me isn’t right) I can’t let you use me like that anymore. Please Lance.” At this point, you were begging. Your plea sounded weak.

“But you like this! You always let me in, dressed up just for me. I know for a fact that you're not sleeping with anyone else. Aren't you happy with our arrangement?” He genuinely looked perplexed. He was still really mad though, and you could see it on his face.

“Lance, stop. You can’t be for real. If I was strong enough, I would've put a stop to this fucked up mess the first time you left me alone, crying in my bed. Then, I would've have moved on, and I would have started dating a nice guy who would love me and treat me right. Because that's what I want: a nice, stable relationship. I don't want to be a broken doll for you to use when you please!" He was dumbfounded at your words, but you were not done. "Surely, you must know that you’re not doing me a favour every time you visit me. Surely, you must know that you’re toying with my sanity. Don’t you care enough about me to acknowledge that you’re killing me slowly? Don't you remember that before you started to use me, we were friends, almost family?” Tears started to pool in your eyes. He made a move to wipe them, but you backed up. He stopped, shocked. You were shocked too; you were braver than you thought. Whenever you got the courage to think about maybe ending things, you always chickened out, afraid of what it would be like to not have him in your life. This time though, you were determined. You had to rip the Band-Aid.

He put his hands on his head. His eyes were full of regrets and sadness, like he had just understood the misery he put you through. “Please tell me you don’t mean that. Have I really been this cruel? You wanted to spare him the details of how bad he had hurt you, but he had to know.

“You have. More than you can imagine. But I should have stopped you earlier.” Lance looked devastated. Your confidence was faltering. He seemed so regretful. You just wanted to comfort him, to lead him in your bedroom once again. It would be so easy. Perhaps this time he would stay the night?

“Tell me, is there any thing I can do to apologize, except saying I’m sorry a million times? Because I already plan on doing that. I can do it on my knees, I’ll beg if you want me to. Please, baby, let me do something, anything!” You softened a little. He had never called you baby before. The timing was pretty ironic.

“Lance, this entire mess started because you got on your knees for me.” You managed to laugh a little through the pain. You got on your tiptoes to caress his cheek. For once, the roles were reversed: you were the one wiping his tears. “Just say sorry once, and it’ll be fine. After that, you’ll need to let me go. And when we do see each other again, at Christmas parties and dinners between our families, we’ll have to play pretend. We’ll pretend that none of this happened. I’m still going to congratulate you after a race, you’ll still text me happy birthday. Ça va être correct. (it’s going to be fine)“

You wished you could commission a painting of this exact moment. It would surely be called something tragic and art historians would analyse for years to come the despair in his eyes and the look of yearning you wore. This was a renaissance scene. You looked like Joan of Arc in that one painting. You were your own muse. War was finally over.

Lance truly looked like the worst version of himself. Anger had been replaced by anguish. “I don’t think it’s nearly enough, but I truly am sorry. If I could turn back time, I’d do everything differently. Since I can’t, will you please let me try again? Do things the right way this time?” He put your hands in his.

Two years ago, you would have been ecstatic. This was everything you wanted. Now, after everything that had happened, you just wanted to protect your peace, and trying again with Lance Stroll would be counterintuitive. “Lance, mon chou. I don’t think this would be good for any of us.” You let go of his hands, but he grabbed them back instantly. Oh, he was good.

“Please, give me a chance. I’ll treat you right this time. I’ll have a dress delivered at your place, and I’ll come pick you up. We’ll go dine at the Ritz, and after that, I’ll give you my first date kiss. I’ll text you the next morning, and we’ll go to brunch. I'll stay every night. I swear, baby, everything will be for real. Just give me a chance. I can’t not have you, I need you!” Internally, you were screaming. His puppy eyes were that good. You almost wanted to say yes to the fantasy he had just put in your mind. He really was cruel.

“Lance, mon chou” you said softly. You let go of his hands for good. “Don’t do this. We both know what we shared for the last two years is way too fucked up for us to start again. I could never be clean of what you did to me before. If we dated, I would always expect you to leave me for a month without a single text, and it would truly be the end of me this time. You need to let me go.”

He was defeated, but he knew that your decision was taken. “Do you think you’ll ever be able to forgive me?”

“I think I’ve already forgiven you because I’ve forgiven myself for how badly I’ve treated me. To forget what you have done to me will take a while, though. That’s why you should leave, Lance.” You opened the door. You were kicking him out, instead of welcoming him in. Was this real life?

He got the message. “Okay, I will leave. I don't know how I'll manage though, because not seeing you seems surreal." He blinked to chase his tears away. "I’m really sorry for what I did to you, kid. I hope things between us will be fine one day. Give me a call sometime, okay? I want to check up on you.”

You nodded, even though you both knew he wasn’t getting more than a congratulation text after a good race from you. “Okay. I’ll see you around.”

Hearing the words he always used to say to you before leaving was like getting shot in the heart, but he knew he deserved it. The two of you shared one last look, and it was full of regrets, anger, pain, but also love, and hope. Lance finally left, and you locked the door behind him.

You had the huge task of working on yourself ahead, but you were glad to have a goal. Donating all the lingerie sets, the nightgowns and the stockings tainted by him helped a lot. You finished your master, and you did not think twice about the congralution text Lance send you, and neither did you for his other 20 texts begging to see you. You were protecting your peace.

In another lifetime, things would have been different. But in this one, you had just given yourself the opportunity to start again, and you were not about to pass on it. Your new life was starting now.

Perhaps a new bra and undewear set could help with that?

[coochiequeens]

When I say "Stop transing minors" I don't just mean medically transitioning, I also mean stop exposing kids to overly sexualized situations.

By Shay Woulahan April 24, 2024

A 14-year-old girl who identifies as a “drag king” and is being transitioned to a “boy” has reportedly been performing sexually suggestive shows at LGBT clubs and bars across Vancouver, Canada. The minor, who is disabled and autistic, goes by “he/him/they/it” pronouns and is taking testosterone under the permission of her mother.

The child, who was born female but identifies as a “boy,” uses the stage name “Nova Tropica” and has performed in at least three LGBT bars in Vancouver, all of which are adult venues that serve alcohol. Among the clubs Nova has danced at are The Fountainhead Pub, Steamworks brewpub, and The Junction.

According to Gays Against Groomers, during her performance at The Foundationhead Pub, a gay bar located on Davie Street, the child danced with only tape covering the front of her breasts.

The child as seen in an uncensored video posted to Instagram.

Nova maintains a YouTube channel where she often uploads footage of her performances.

In August of 2023, she shared a video of her dancing on stage in a bar to the song “Bubblegum B*tch” and is seen collecting dollar bills from audience members. In another video, Nova is seen dancing alone to the Britney Spears’ controversial song “If U Seek Amy,” which is intended to sound out the letters “F-U-C-K me.”

In some of the videos posted to her YouTube account, she is seen dancing to an adult crowd wearing only a cut-out bathing suit, an outfit she has also posed in for photos shared to her social media while wearing clear, stiletto “pleasers,” a form of platform high-heel most frequently associated with stripping, pole dancing, and the sex trade.

As well as posting footage of her performances to YouTube, Nova also maintains an Instagram page where she posts clips of herself dancing on stage while exclusively adult crowds cheer her on. In many of the videos, Nova is wearing revealing clothing and, during one performance, she even spreads her legs for the audience.

On her Instagram, which was made private shortly after her activities were first exposed by Gays Against Groomers, Nova also frequently posted about her mental health struggles, though continuously insisted her “neurodivergence” was unrelated to her desire to transition.

“The only way they could even correlate is through the way I view my gender,” Nova said in the caption of one post where she described herself as a “demon boy” and said she’s “everything Lucifer wants her to be.”

In another post, in which she wears a cut-out swimsuit she has performed in, Nova said she “loves” how testosterone is starting to affect her muscle definition.

Nova’s transition has been supported by her mother Chrysta. On her own Instagram page, Chrysta posted about how she had been struggling to access hormones for her daughter since she was just 11 years old.

In the post, Chrysta acknowledges that Nova is experiencing poor mental health, but attributes her condition to “being born in the wrong body.” She also condemns the Canadian political parties attempting to pass legislation which would protect children from medical transitioning.

“I will not allow any government to MURDER my child,” Chrysta said in one post. “Forcing a child to live in a body that is not authentic to their person is MURDER.”

The post was made in reference to the People’s Party of Canada, which developed a 7-point plan to protect women and children from the harmful effects of gender ideology, such as banning men from women’s spaces and sports and banning genital mutilation surgeries and cross-sex hormones for minors.

Not only has Chrysta facilitated Nova’s transition, but she also confesses to monitoring her social media, meaning she is aware of the inappropriate videos and photos being posted online of her minor daughter.

In one post, she addressed rumors that an adult Drag King had behaved inappropriately in messages with her young daughter, claiming the concerns were “false accusations.”

But her notice was not the only suggestion that Nova has been in contact with adult drag performers.

On Instagram, Nova spoke about attending a youth summer “drag camp” hosted by “Rose Butch” and “DeeDee LaCraze.”

DeeDee LaCraze also operates a YouTube channel called “Drag4Kids” where he has made multiple videos in full drag singing nursery rhymes. LaCraze hosts his youth drag camp along side Rose Butch, a trans identified female who calls herself a “non-binary drag thing.”

The summer camp, held in July 2023, was made available for children as young as 7.

There has been an uptick in the number of children performing drag, often in bars and clubs, in recent years. Last April, a video went viral showing a young “drag queen” dancing at a party sponsored by a gay hookup app.

Arguably one of the most well-known “drag kids” is Desmond Napoles, who goes by the name “Desmond is Amazing.” Desmond rose to fame at only 11 years old in 2017 after being featured on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Soon after, the child appeared in YouTube and Facebook streams alongside adult men, and was even filmed joking about snorting ketamine.

With the increase in “drag kids” has come further scrutiny of the sexual predators involved in the drag scene. In 2022, a “drag kid” mentor and a former elementary school teaching assistant faced child pornography charges following an investigation into exploitative material shared on the internet.

[wyrmguardsecrets]

Hi! Someone who works in the non-profit/charity sector!

At least in Canada, a lot of our non-profits have been suffering from inflation. For example, food bank operating costs have gone up by 25% while we’re seeing less food being put out due to shrink-flation.

I do strongly suggest reaching out to charities and non-profits because we need them more now than ever! My local food bank has almost doubled in attendees in less than a year (400 originally, now 1000).

Ontarian Non-Profits 2 Checkout:

• Hamilton Regional Indian Centre

An indigenous outreach I strongly support. They focus on our cultural healing, prenatal care, supporting Canadian Indigenous families and so so so so much more!

A lot of events are run through them as well if you’ve ever wanted to partake in pieces of Indigenous culture.

• Alzheimer’s Society of Ontario

Our country’s leading charity in Alzheimer’s education and the leads for trying to find a cure. Old people get neglected a lot and especially old people with this illness.

They support and fund activities for them as well, which is important for stimulating the mind!

• Knight’s Table

Traditional food bank, focuses in mostly on non-perishables. I’ve used this organization in the past and they made sure me and my family were looked after.

1/3 Kids are food bank users.

• Regeneration

Traditional food bank that also serves hot and fresh foods. Provides a clothing closet for homeless and underprivileged as well, paired with a station to gussy up for job interviews. Think of it as a food bank with DLC.

• Rainbow Railroad

LGBTQ+ foundation that focuses on bringing queer folk who’ve been victimized in their home countries here to Canada for asylum. There’s too many countries that fund and support violence against LGBTQ+ people. Rainbow Railroad aids in the immigration process and helps people of our community from around the world.

Conversion therapy and similar methods are still widely accepted and encouraged in certain parts of the world.

• CAMH (Canadian Association of Mental Health)

Mental health non-profit focused on providing humane and healing treatment to Canadians FREE of cost. They run psychiatric facilities both stay overnight and drop in. They also host a 24/7 Crisis Hotline for those in dire states. Furthermore, they run free mental health programs such as DBT, CBT, Talk-Therapy, Group Therapy, Addictions counseling and so much more.

CAMH received a lot of funding cuts back when COVID hit, paired with a huge influx of people needing to use their services. Still they continue to provide these services, though now with wait times due to funding.

I encourage you to research charities within your area and donate either money, supplies or funds to them! There’s a huge need for it. Thank you to everyone who has supported non-profits so far. I can promise you they use every cent.

.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Ian Kingsbury

Published: Jan 9, 2024

New studies raise more red flags on pediatric gender medicine.

American medical associations are doubling down on their support of so-called gender-affirming care for children even as lawsuits mount and European countries reverse course. America’s public reckoning with the harms inflicted on kids by pediatric gender medicine ticks closer by the day, and indeed several studies published in recent weeks bring the tragic and profound risks into sharper focus.

A study headed by Finnish researcher Riittakerttu Kaltiala examines the psychiatric needs of gender-dysphoric individuals in Finland. The researchers observe that the dysphoric population was substantially more likely than age-matched peers to have received specialist-level psychiatric contact before their first visit to a gender clinic. Worryingly, mental-health needs intensify after they begin the process of medical transition. Whereas 15 percent of patients who underwent gender-reassignment interventions had received psychiatric treatment before visiting a gender clinic, 53 percent had psychiatric contact after their first visit.

“Experts” profess certainty that “gender-affirming care” alleviates mental-health distress. They arrive at this conclusion through deeply flawed studies that rely on patient self-reports of mental health. But other clinical indicators suggest that medical transition in fact exacerbates mental-health distress. A 2021 study found that prescriptions for psychotropic medications increased after kids initiated medical transition. A 2011 study from Sweden meanwhile found that those who underwent sex-reassignment surgery had an appreciably lower life expectancy than the general population, in part due to an increased incidence of suicide.

Lower life expectancy among those who medically transition is also likely attributable to the regimen of cross-sex hormones that transitioners take. Previous research has documented that cross-sex hormone therapy is associated with increased risk of heart disease and obesity. A new study published by University of California, Davis, researchers also hints at greater cancer risk. Specifically, the researchers observe that natal male veterans who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria and/or prescribed estrogen or estradiol have almost double the incidence of thyroid cancer compared with other male veterans. The researchers note that “estrogen probably has a role in the pathogenesis of thyroid cancer,” a good indication that the higher incidence is not simply correlational or coincidental but a direct result of hormone therapy.

It is unclear whether doctors are advising teenage boys that cross-sex hormones potentially increase their risk of thyroid cancer, and another matter altogether whether teenagers possess the mental maturity to provide informed consent to such weighty medical decisions.

Two other studies drive home the enormous risks of making “gender-affirming” medical interventions available to children. A study in PLOS One features interviews with Canadian detransitioners. Canada, like the United States, has remarkably low guardrails around “gender-affirming care.” Interviews with 28 detransitioners reveal a consistent theme that they were not properly informed of the risks, complications, and limitations of the treatments. “Reflecting back, they felt they lacked insights such as the extent to which their sexual orientation, mental illness, or neurodivergence may have intersected with dysphoria or desire to transition and many said they would have benefitted from ‘neutral’ therapy.”

Disturbingly, the American Academy of Pediatrics advises that watchful waiting is “outdated” and that expressions of gender diversity in children should be immediately affirmed by parents and clinicians. The experiences of these detransitioners prove why watchful waiting and differential diagnosis is in fact pivotal for child safeguarding.

In another study, Lisa Littman and co-authors revisit the topic of “rapid onset gender dysphoria.” Littman coined the term in a previous study to describe the phenomenon whereby kids suddenly arrive at a trans identity because of trauma, mental-health challenges, or social contagion rather than persistent feelings of gender dysphoria. Trans activists deny the rapid-onset phenomenon, but the new study provides good evidence of its existence. In the study, Littman and colleagues interviewed 78 Americans who previously identified as transgender but desisted in that identity. The researchers find that by retrospective reporting, fewer than 17 percent of participants met clinical diagnostic criteria for gender dysphoria in childhood. Moreover, 53 percent of participants responded affirmatively when asked if their dysphoria appeared “suddenly” during or after puberty.

Activists insist that trans-identifying kids simply “know who they are” and that medicalization of their expressions of dysphoria is a sensible and compassionate intervention. Littman’s new study indicates the opposite: Many trans-identified children are vulnerable and confused. Pushing them into receiving irreversible medical interventions is irrational and cruel.

[ Via: https://archive.md/yXOwJ ]

[offsidenewsco]

"The casually invasive – and dehumanizing – question of 'when will recovery be over' isn’t just a well-meaning question."

Read our op-ed surrounding Patrik Laine, the Columbus Blue Jackets, and what it really means to be fighting a mental health battle.

Content warning: This story discusses topics of suicide and hospitalization. If you are a loved one are in need of help, please do not hesitate to use the resources under the cut.

International Suicide Hotlines 

Find a Helpline (International) 

USA: 988 Lifeline, Mental Health America, National Alliance on Mental Illness, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Helpline 

Canada: 988 Canada, Mental Health Commission,  Centre for Suicide Prevention Canada,  Hope for Wellness Hotline, Kids Help Phone, Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention 

[drasadonbrown]

“Self-talk reflects your innermost feelings.” ~ Dr. Asa Don Brown

#selfesteem #selfworth #selftalk #inspired #inspiration #motivation #motivated #feelings #feel #inner #innermost #reflect #unconditional #love #forgiveness #forgive #trust #accept #acceptance #aspire #appreciate #inspire #inspiration #LoveExpands #asadonbrown

[novankenn]

Update ... My Life & My Projects

So as some have noticed I started yet another "side blog" this one just for a Visual Novel Project I am diving headfirst into. Not much on it right now, but hopeful soon it will be more active.

"Streets of Vale" - I spaced out and dropped the ball on this blog. Now I'm not deleting it, but I'm going to try and revamp/reset the story it is supposed to focus on.

In RL - I'm just recovering from a three months stint doing Income Taxes Professionally (Canadian). So now I've decided since I'm getting on in years... it's time I did something for myself. So I'm in the process of setting up my own Bookkeeping Firm/Business. - Wish me Luck.

Main Blog - I know I have a ton of unfinished content, and TBH I have no idea when I'll be getting back to continuing or re-writing some of it. I know as I am working on my VN project I have also felt the urge to work on "Unnatural V3".

FF.Net / AO3 - After a MUCH TOO LONG hiatus I've started digging back into "Secrets Vol 2" after that is complete I'm going to revisit my story "Monster". If any of you follow those accounts... stay tuned updates are on the way.

Patreon - I am toying with publishing one to help assist with a ny cost associated with doing VNs. Plus any other original projects I dream up.

So I think that is it that is going on in my head and in my life.

Acknowledgements & Thanks : Thank you to everyone who is reading - liking - reblogging my content/posts. I'm glad you are enjoying what I create and I hope I can continue to give you similar if not better content in the near future.

TBH - It does wonders for my Mental Health to see people reacting to what I post. This is not a guilt trip, just me being honest. Because when I am feeling overwhelmed or really low seeing likes-comments-reblogs makes me feel good. That I am succeeding.

So Thank you again.

[and-then-there-were-n0ne]

The medical transitioning of children has become one of the most controversial and polarising issues of our time. For some, it is a medical scandal. For others, life-saving treatment.

So, when hundreds of messages were leaked from an internal forum of doctors and mental health workers from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, it was bound to spark interest. WPATH describes itself as an “interdisciplinary professional and educational organisation devoted to transgender health”. Most significantly, it produces standards of care (SOC) which, it claims, articulate “professional consensus” about how best to help people with gender dysphoria.

Despite its grand title, WPATH is neither solely a professional body – a significant proportion of its membership are activists – nor does it represent the “world” view on how to care for this group of people. There is no global agreement on best practice. The leaked messages (and the odd recording) – dubbed the WPATH files – are disturbing. In one video, doctors acknowledge that patients are sometimes too young to fully understand the consequences of puberty blockers and hormones for their fertility. “It’s always a good theory that you talk about fertility preservation with a 14-year-old, but I know I’m talking to a blank wall,” one Canadian endocrinologist says.

WPATH’s president, Dr Marci Bowers, comments on the impact of early blocking of puberty on sexual function in adulthood. “To date,” she writes, “I’m unaware of an individual claiming ability to orgasm when they were blocked at Tanner 2.” Tanner stage 2 is the beginning of puberty. It can be as young as nine in girls.

Elsewhere, there are extraordinary discussions on how to manage “trans clients” with dissociative identity disorder (what used to be called multiple personality disorder) when “not all the alters have the same gender identity”. Surgeons talk about procedures that result in bodies that don’t exist in nature: those with both sets of genitals – the “phallus-preserving vaginoplasty”; double mastectomies that don’t have nipples; “nullification” surgery, where there are no genitals at all, just smooth skin. And doctors discuss the possibility that 16-year-old patients have liver cancer as the result of taking hormones. The problem is not necessarily the discussions themselves, but that the organisation is not so open when speaking publicly.

The views of WPATH matter to the UK. For years, the organisation and its SOC have been cited as a source of “best practice” for trans healthcare by numerous medical bodies, including the British Medical Association and the General Medical Council – and still is. The Royal College of Psychiatrists refers to WPATH in its own recommendations for care.

Most relevant is that WPATH is cited as “good practice” in the current service specifications underpinning youth and adult gender clinics in England and Scotland, albeit in both cases it is WPATH’s previous SOC that is mentioned. The most recent version does away with all age limits from the beginning of puberty for hormones and surgical interventions, other than female to male genital surgery, and contains a chapter on eunuchs.

Several staff at England’s NHS adult gender clinics are not just members of WPATH (one is the former president), but authors of that current SOC. So too was Susie Green, the former boss of the young people’s charity Mermaids; a lack of medical expertise does not exclude either membership of WPATH or the power to influence policy.

England’s only NHS children’s gender clinic – the Gender Identity Development Service (Gids) at London’s Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust – will close its doors at the end of March, having been earmarked for closure since July 2022. But the 2016 service specification still underpinning Gids states that “the service will be delivered in line with” WPATH 7. While Gids was generally more cautious than other WPATH practitioners, clinicians I spoke to for my book, Time to Think, also relayed how young people claiming to have multiple personalities, or who identified with another race, could be referred for puberty blockers.

Gids staff have also presented at WPATH conferences for the past decade, including the most recent, held in 2022. This doesn’t imply agreement with WPATH’s principles, but association with the group becomes harder to justify as its views become more extreme.

It is difficult to see how the Department of Health’s assertion that NHS England “moved away from WPATH guidelines more than five years ago” holds.

What is true is that there is no mention of WPATH in updated guidance that will underpin the new youth gender services opening on 1 April. What’s more, NHS England has made it clear that WPATH’s views are irrelevant to its core recommendation that puberty blockers will no longer be available as part of routine clinical practice.

There is a battle raging over how best to care for children and young people struggling with their gender identity, with ever increasing numbers of European countries choosing to take a more cautious, less medical, approach after finding the evidence base underpinning those treatments to be wanting. NHS England insists that new services will operate in accordance with recommendations of the independent Cass review, and that it is well placed to develop policies “in line with clinical evidence and expertise”. But it won’t be easy. There is already discussion among professionals working in gender services planning a pushback against Cass’s as yet unpublished final recommendations.

It was difficult for Gids to stand up to external pressures, allowing the care it offered to suffer. At the same time, NHS England failed in its duty to provide proper oversight. Both they and those in charge of the new services must do better if they are to avoid the mistakes of the past. Without proper, evidence-based guidance on what good practice looks like, organisations like WPATH will continue to have influence.

[sataniccapitalist]

#thewaronyou

Another winter of death is now unfolding in the United States and across the Northern Hemisphere as the JN.1 variant of the coronavirus continues to surge globally. Wastewater data from the United States released Tuesday indicate that upwards of 2 million people are now being infected with COVID-19 each day, amid the second-biggest wave of mass infection since the pandemic began, eclipsed only by the initial wave of the Omicron variant during the winter of 2021-22.

There are now reports on social media of hospitals being slammed with COVID patients across the US, Canada and Europe. At a growing number of hospitals, waiting rooms are overflowing, emergency rooms and ICUs are at or near capacity, and ambulances are being turned away or forced to wait for hours to drop off their patients.

According to official figures, COVID-19 hospitalizations in Charlotte, North Carolina are now at their highest levels of the entire pandemic. In Toronto, Dr. Michael Howlett, president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, told City News, “I’ve worked in emergency departments since 1987, and it’s by far the worst it’s ever been. It’s not even close.” He added, “We’ve got people dying in waiting rooms because we don’t have a place to put them. People being resuscitated on an ambulance stretcher or a floor.”

Dr. Joseph Khabbaza, a pulmonary and critical care specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, told the Today Show website: “The current strain right now seems to be packing a meaner punch than the prior strains. Some features of the current circulating strain probably (make it) a little bit more virulent and pathogenic, making people sicker than prior (variants).”

Indeed, two recent studies indicate that JN.1 more efficiently infects cells in the lower lung, a trait that existed in pre-Omicron strains which were considered more deadly. One study from researchers in Germany and France noted that BA.2.86, the variant nicknamed “Pirola” from which JN.1 evolved, “has regained a trait characteristic of early SARS-CoV-2 lineages: robust lung cell entry. The variant might constitute an elevated health threat as compared to previous Omicron sublineages.”https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/1MGIQxPf0Ig?rel=0An appeal from David North: Donate to the WSWS todayWatch the video message from WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North.DONATE TODAY

The toll on human life from the ongoing wave of mass infection is enormous. It is estimated that one-third of the American population, or over 100 million human beings, will contract COVID-19 during just the current wave. This will likely result in tens of thousands of deaths, many of which will not be properly logged due to the dismantling of COVID-19 testing and data reporting systems in the US. When The Economist last updated its tracker of excess deaths on November 18—before the JN.1 wave began—the cumulative death toll stood at 27.4 million, and nearly 5,000 people were continuing to die each day worldwide.

The current wave will also induce further mass suffering from Long COVID, which has been well known since 2020 to cause a multitude of lingering and often debilitating effects. Just last week, a pre-print study was published in Nature Portfolio showing that COVID-19 infection can cause brain damage akin to aging 20 years. The consequences are mental deficits that induce depression, reduced ability to handle intense emotions, lowered attention span, and impaired ability to retain information.

Other research indicates that the virus can attack the heart, the immune system, digestion and essentially every other critical bodily function. The initial symptoms of COVID-19 might resemble those of the flu, but the reality is that the virus can affect nearly every organ in the body and can do so for years after the initial infection. While vaccination slightly reduces the risks of Long COVID, the full impact of the virus will be felt for generations.

The latest winter wave of infections and hospitalizations takes place just eight months after the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Biden administration ended their COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) declarations without any scientific justification. This initiated the wholesale scrapping of all official response to the pandemic, giving the virus free rein to infect the entire global population ad infinitum.

A virtual blackout of any mention of the coronavirus in the corporate media accompanied the swan song of official reporting. From then on, if illnesses at hospitals or among public figures were referenced at all, it was always with the euphemism “respiratory illness.” The words COVID, coronavirus and pandemic have been all but blacklisted, and the facts about the dangers of the disease have been actively suppressed.

Summarizing the cumulative results of this global assault on public health, the WSWS International Editorial Board wrote in its New Year 2024 statement:

All facts and data surrounding the present state of the pandemic are concealed from the global population, which has instead been subjected to unending lies, gaslighting and propaganda, now shrouded in a veil of silence. There is a systematic cover-up of the real gravity of the crisis, enforced by the government, the corporations, the media and the trade union bureaucracies. Official policy has devolved into simply ignoring, denying and falsifying the reality of the pandemic, no matter what the consequences, as millions are sickened and thousands die globally every day.

In response to the latest wastewater data, there have only been a handful of news articles, most of which have sought to downplay the severity of the current wave and largely ignored the deepening crisis in hospitals.

The official blackout has given rise to an extraordinary contradiction in social life. The reality of mass infection means that everyone knows a friend, neighbor, family member or coworker who is currently or was recently sick, or even hospitalized or killed, by COVID-19. Yet the unrelenting pressure to dismiss the danger of the pandemic means that shopping centers, supermarkets, workplaces and even doctor’s offices and hospitals are full of people not taking the basic and simple precaution of masking to protect themselves. Every visit outside one’s home carries the risk of being infected, with unknown long-term consequences.

As the pandemic enters its fifth year, it is critical to draw the lessons of this world historical experience. The past four years have demonstrated unequivocally that capitalist governments are both unwilling and incapable of fighting this disease. Their primary concern has always been to ensure the unabated accumulation of profits by corporations, no matter the cost in human lives and health.

The real solution to the coronavirus is not to ignore it, but to develop a campaign of elimination and eradication of the virus worldwide. To do so requires the implementation of mask mandates, mass testing and contact tracing, as well as the installation of updated ventilation systems and the safe deployment of Far-UVC technology to halt the spread of the virus. The resources for this global public health program must be expropriated from the banks and financial institutions, which are responsible for the mass suffering wrought by the pandemic.

All of these measures cut directly across the profit motive and the real disease of society: capitalism. As such, the struggle against the coronavirus is not primarily medical or scientific, but political and social. The international working class must be educated on the real dangers of the pandemic and mobilized to simultaneously stop the spread of the disease and put an end to the underlying social order that propagates mass death. This must be developed as a revolutionary struggle to establish world socialism.