Mental Health

 "Mental Health is not a destination, but a process. It's about how you drive, not where you're going." -Noam Shpancer, PHD

A friend shared an article titled "Traumatic Stress and Moms Of Children With Autism" and it really got me thinking about how important mental health is. I think mental health is more that just a vacation once a year, or having a stress ball on your desk. It is like "the exhaustion is so real, you feel like you are trying to get over a flu that you never had, but never seems to quite go away." (Article 1).  I have been struggling with my mental health for a few years now and wanted to share my journey. 

My abridged mental health story starts with the birth of my son. I had postpartum depression that I hid very well for awhile. I decided I needed help and reached out to my PCP. We decided that taking medication would be a good place to start. I did very well until a year later my father passed away. I reached out to my PCP again and we upped the dosage. I also attended a grief group. I found it to be very beneficial. After that I felt that the mediation was helping but it made my feelings feel flat. I wasn't experiencing low sad times, but I wasn't having high happy times either. I sought the help of a therapist. She helped a lot and we decided to seek the knowledge of a behavioral health professional to help with medications. I tried quite a few combos before I found the current dosage I am on now. 

After reading the article, I thought could being a special needs mom affect my mental health? In the article it stated that "Hyper-vigilence is an element of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Because “a constant scanning of the environment for threats, exhaustion, and abnormally increased awareness” is traumatic."(Article 1) That is such a true statement, always being ready for the next meltdown. I started researching if there were other articles on this and I found a "study, which included hundreds of parents of children who are on the spectrum, found that 18.6 percent met criteria for PTSD."  "PTSD symptoms are generally grouped into four types: intrusive memories, avoidance, negative changes in thinking and mood, and changes in physical and emotional reactions." (Article 3) Just to keep all perspectives in mind,  I found an article that states"If you don’t consider the research carefully, it would be easy to conclude that having an autistic child is such a terrifying and traumatic experience... what a crock" (article 4)

Just as the opening quote states, mental health is a process. One that you have to continually access and address. All these articles were interesting to read and I encourage you to read them. 

Citations 

Article 1 -  https://differentbydesignlearning.com/traumatic-stress-and-autism-mommas/?fbclid=IwAR0WOTojU14tz8Sm56BJLgCMXTG-WRBwKdtWnOglpaKeeHXI8mHuQhb0qu8

Article 2 - https://www.disabilityscoop.com/2020/03/10/autism-parents-may-be-at-risk-for-ptsd/27951/ 


Article 3 - https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20355967

Article 4 - https://themighty.com/2019/11/study-parenting-autistic-child-ptsd/