Read on Twitter
"Break quarantine if your mental health demands you do so" advice has been circulating since March and it's frustrating because what about the mental health of those of us trapped indoors for months because of people who...break quarantine? 
https://twitter.com/katherineefoley/status/1308110366321278977
https://twitter.com/katherineefoley/status/1308110366321278977
There were absolutely people who were like "I've been indoors for DAYS and my mental health REQUIRES that I therapy-shop and endanger minimum wage workers" and this is why I'm really wary of this sort of self-care advice because it inherently privileges wealth.
So here we are in September with people like me who have been quarantined for months and are super depressed but STILL can't leave because some folks had to "live their lives" AND we have sick and dead essential workers who weren't allowed the luxury of choice in the first place.
Mental health is important!
But I'm not going to pretend that there aren't a LOT of privileged people who use "mental health" to mean "I experience distress when I don't get my way."
But I'm not going to pretend that there aren't a LOT of privileged people who use "mental health" to mean "I experience distress when I don't get my way."
As in my father who went out recreationally shopping every day during the short lockdown Texas had ("I'll go crazy if I don't get out of the house!!"), and now complains that the lockdown didn't work even though it was "very strict".
But don't worry: his theory for why the lockdown didn't work is that they just don't work at all.
Not that, you know, people like him made a mockery of the idea by leaving the house every day to go to Home Depot or whatever.
Not that, you know, people like him made a mockery of the idea by leaving the house every day to go to Home Depot or whatever.
No one thinks quarantine is *good* for mental health.
We're asking people to stay home and shoulder that mental health burden so they don't give someone else a deadly disease that kills them.
We're asking people to stay home and shoulder that mental health burden so they don't give someone else a deadly disease that kills them.
This isn't easy for anybody.
We *deserve* real mental healthcare dedicated to this. I know I, personally, feel like I'm falling apart at the edges, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. We need ACTUAL treatment, not permission to break quarantine or pithy self-care tips.
We *deserve* real mental healthcare dedicated to this. I know I, personally, feel like I'm falling apart at the edges, and I'm sure I'm not the only one. We need ACTUAL treatment, not permission to break quarantine or pithy self-care tips.
We need an effective hotline for this sort of crisis. Television shows and channels and internet shows and YouTube channels all dedicated to mental health. Zoom calls with mental health professionals. Meds for people who need them.
We need so much more.
We need so much more.
What we instead have is, like, "10 Ways To Turn Your Bathroom Into a Day Spa!!" and a accounts encouraging people to engage in deadly behavior if they deem they "must".
Sigh.
Sigh.
Sorry.
I'm just really depressed.
I'm just really depressed.
I need to add: If you have to break quarantine or you will literally DIE, then yes, break quarantine!
As I said in the thread: Mental health IS important. But the concept is also being misused by privileged people. We know this!
As I said in the thread: Mental health IS important. But the concept is also being misused by privileged people. We know this!
I'm disabled and mentally ill AND I'm aware that many people who use these words to try to "game" the system.
We saw it with people who thought the ADA and HIPAA gave them a "I won't wear a mask because I don't want to" pass, and we're seeing people use it to break quarantine.
We saw it with people who thought the ADA and HIPAA gave them a "I won't wear a mask because I don't want to" pass, and we're seeing people use it to break quarantine.
I don't have to pretend that those people flashing fake "HIPPA" cards are actually disabled and I don't have to pretend that the people saying they MUST browse at Home Depot every day for their mental health during a pandemic are making responsible social choices.
I add this because a couple people have mentioned that they had to break quarantine because the alternative was death and, like, yes, obviously the appropriate choice there was breaking quarantine and I'm glad you're alive. Good self-caring!
But the vast majority of people breaking quarantine for self-care reasons of legitimately being lonely, sad, depressed, etc. are:
- endangering lives.
- keeping the rest of us, themselves included, quarantined even longer.
...and we need to be able to talk about that, I think?
- endangering lives.
- keeping the rest of us, themselves included, quarantined even longer.
...and we need to be able to talk about that, I think?
