The Cost of Mental Illness

Mental illness is expensive.

I recently had to find myself a new mental healthcare professional, after moving to Louisiana for work. Although she will, of course, remain nameless, I will say that I like her so far.

The problem is, she's so damned expensive.

Because she is a medical psychologist rather than a psychiatrist, and because she works alone rather than in a group office, she does not accept insurance, so all of my visits are paid for out-of-pocket, $125 at a time. For one harrowing stretch--the intake period--I was paying this amount weekly, but now it's monthly. There is my monthly supply of antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications, which are largely covered by BCBS but also require a certain amount of copayment; I'll call it $20 for the sake of argument. 

Then there was the genetic analysis, which led to the revelation that I may be metabolizing my medications too quickly, which makes them less effective, and that I may suffer from a deficiency of a certain B-vitamin. At this point, the doctor recommended something to address this, which costs approximately $63 per month.

So let's review: if I see my doctor every four weeks and take all of my pills according to the label directions, I'm spending around $208 per month--gas to the office and insurance premiums not included--in order to stay relatively functional. That's $2496 per year, or about ten percent of my pre-tax income, simply because my brain is incapable of balancing certain chemicals on its own.

This number hurts.

It doesn't hurt only me. It also impacts millions of people around the world who cannot afford the mental healthcare they need, and it affects loved ones who have to watch their friends and family members suffer. It has an effect on society, both in economic terms--employees may be unable to work due to their mental illness, or people may not be able to get a job at all due to lack of resources and care--and in terms of stigma, which can be pervasive and brutal and lead people to leave their mental illness unacknowledged or unaddressed for the sake of "fitting in."

Because there are still people out there--legislators included--who believe that depression is a matter of being weak-willed. "What do you have to be sad about?" they ask, even though anyone who has ever been there knows that this is not the way it works, not even a little. And there are companies out there making billions of dollars from medication that could prove to be lifesaving but is sometimes difficult to obtain due to a dearth of mental health services in some areas. 

These issues don't affect me nearly as much as they do some people, and it makes me incredibly frustrated knowing that others have to go without this basic care due to financial constraints or societal issues. I suppose my point here is that we should be taking mental healthcare more seriously as a country--or better yet, as humans--and offering the support that others need and deserve. It may not lessen the financial burden, but it can certainly raise a person's spirits to know that they can discuss their very real issues with someone without judgment.

-Cate-

The Randomness

Do you ever feel like there's no way to explain your life, not because it's a mess but because strange things just happen to you on occasion? That was me in February, when OF COURSE TSA checked my bag the day I was traveling with three random books and some canned okra. (Side note: I felt vaguely like a criminal for transporting okra across state lines.) But here's the great thing about the randomness: you can absolutely use it in your writing.

We all know the old adage that "truth is stranger than fiction." This is why I encourage you to tuck these little incidents away for future reference, when you may need a bit of comic relief in your novel or even simply a bit of characterization. Why NOT write about the girl who packs okra in her suitcase? Maybe there's a good, solid reason for it. Or maybe that's a wacky thing this character does because she's afraid of eating anything that hasn't been canned. Either way, there's a story in there somewhere.

So embrace the randomness next time it happens, and see where it leads you. 

-Cate-

The Limits of Nostalgia

In the past year or so, there has been a rash of pop-culture nostalgia infiltrating our screens--both large and small. Four examples that come to mind quickly are Ghostbusters, Girl Meets World, Fuller House, and the Star Wars franchise (which is, admittedly, more of a perpetual thing). Although we have yet to see what Paul Feig will make of his all-female Ghostbusters reboot, there have been mixed responses to the other examples given here.

Anecdata seems to indicate that Girl Meets World is a hit among fans of its (literal) parent show, Boy Meets World, which ran from 1993-2000, and reviews from the series pilot reflect this, even if the viewers ache for the original series. The Force Awakens is widely beloved, with a 93% fresh rating from Rotten Tomatoes, and is approaching the billion-dollar mark in gross profit. Fuller House, meanwhile, is a different story.

Initial reactions have not been positive. CNN refers to it as a show that "recaptures the magic of the original" (Full House, 1987-1995) "if you remember that Voldemort practiced magic, too." Entertainment Weekly, meanwhile, gives it a C-minus, calling it "lazily constructed kitsch." 

What is the difference between these projects? What makes one piece of our pop-culture history ripe for reworking but another fail miserably? Maybe the people involved. Maybe the premise. Maybe the expectations of the fans. Or perhaps it's that we have hit the point where we are saturated with nostalgia. From the odd '90s fangirling on Tumblr to the woman who lives as though she's in the Victorian era, we as consumers find ourselves inundated with images from the past, and it's easy to get fed up with revisiting past events and phenomena. 

So remember this next time you start to consume this particular brand of entertainment. If it doesn't feel right to you, it means the project has hit a nostalgia wall and it's time to move into the present, or perhaps even the future.

-Cate-

Alan Rickman

If I delayed my Scott Weiland post out of laziness and my David Bowie post out of scheduling conflicts, then I delayed my Alan Rickman post out of sheer denial, but here it is.

Not only was he Hans Gruber, Colonel Brandon, and Severus Snape. He was this deeply intense presence, one with a voice made to be heard and a head made to be tilted just so. He was the kind of actor who made you want to view his performances again and again for the sheer pleasure of discovering each nuance you hadn't noticed before, and if his Harry Potter cast mates are to be believed, he was a genuine, caring man off screen and off stage.

The world has lost what we hoped was an inexhaustible source of creative generosity, and not just because we loved Snape (Snape, Severus Snape): because Rickman touched something inside all of us, whether we expected him to or not; he was just that great.

-Cate-

IT'S HERE, 2.0

Gods in the Wilderness is now available for purchase! If you're interested in ordering a copy, please see Amazon or my publisher, Pink. Girl. Ink. Press.

 

Happy reading!

-Cate-

David Bowie

The Thin White Duke. Ziggy Stardust. David Jones. 

He had several names and many more faces throughout his career, but most of us knew him as David Bowie. Whether your first exposure to him was as musician Bowie or actor Bowie depended partly upon your parents' willingness to subject you to Labyrinth as a child and/or your own musical awakening during high school. As for myself, I came to his work through my favorite band, Stone Temple Pilots.

Many years ago, when MTV Unplugged was a (glorious) thing, STP had their own episode, and part of it ended up cut from the broadcast, though it lived on in bootlegs, pre-iTunes but post-Napster. This was a live cover of "Andy Warhol." As soon as I learned that David Bowie was the original artist, I booked it over to the store and snapped up a copy of Hunky Dory. That was the day I fell in love.

Bowie speaks to adolescents in particular because he was weird. This isn't a bad thing, but it's the most accurate word for him. As the saying goes, he let his freak flag fly, and with every iteration of himself that he presented to the world, he touched some misfit somewhere, from the streets of London to suburban Detroit and everywhere else around the world.

I was fortunate enough to see him live in concert in January 2004, during my senior year of high school. He was touring in support of Reality and played at the Palace of Auburn Hills (home of the Detroit Pistons). The seats weren't great, but I was as enthusiastic as I've ever been, and with good reason: that show remains the best performance I've ever seen, even 12 years later. I also feel lucky, because time proved that this run of dates made up his final trip around the world as a touring artist. 

At the concert, I bought a poster that I've had ever since. It's lived with me in Michigan, in North Carolina, and now in Louisiana. Right before I left home to come here, I went on a rampage through the house, desperately trying to locate said poster; I knew I couldn't live without it, because I feel like it's part of what makes my space my own.

He's been watching over me since I was a teenager, and I hope he never stops. 

-Cate-

Half-Baked

You know that Ben & Jerry's flavor, Half Baked? Of course you do, because it's the best possible combination of stuff: delicious ice cream, chewy brownies, and sweet cookie dough. It's everything your grandmother ever told you not to eat (heyyyy, raw batter), but it works. The problem is, not every half-baked idea turns out to be as genius as Half Baked.

But I encourage the examination and occasional pursuit of half-baked ideas in writing. This is why: you never know what idea you may be able to extract from that blog post/poem/short story that will serve as the catalyst for a new piece, or what great turns of speech you can lift and drop into a newer, better project. 

Who knows? Maybe someday your half-baked something will turn into the next Half Baked, and then people all over the world will know your name. The truth is, you never have to tell them that the situation began in a dire way.

-Cate-