Ups and downs - and uppers

[mick_hale]

It's been three and a half weeks since I started the day program at Kfar Shaul's Maon Yerushalayim. (No official website for anything beyond "under construction". But I did find an article saying that on a random unannounced visit, deputy health minister Yaakov Litzman said if he could, he would close Kfar Shaul - and an English equivalent.

Comments

[fetteredwolf]

I think this says it all:"פני 15 שנה הופסקה הקמת מבנה חדש בכפר שאול לאכלוס שלוש מחלקות פעילות, תחילה בעקבות צו מניעה שהגישו תושבי שכונת הר נוף הסמוכה לבית החולים, בה מתגוררים ראשי תנועת ש"ס,"

Initially Harnof, planned as a luxury non-religious neighborhood, became a religious neighborhood because the non-religious crowd preferred their neighborhoods further away from a mental health facility. So the prices crashed and religious people could afford it and you get Harnof as it is today. Kefar Shaul was there before Harnof. Kefar Shaul ALLOWED Harnof to become what it is. So they (Shas) should SHUT UP.

[mick_hale]

Actually, Litzman's UTJ. But I agree, Shas should shut up, anyway.

What I actually get from your implication is that the social stigma against mental health is what made Har Nof such an obnoxiously religious neighborhood. It's practically devoid of any national religious at this point. And to think about the staggering stigma against mental health in Haredi circles... But I'd rather not recall my upbringing in Toronto, or how the Religious Jewish community views mental illness.

[cogitationitis]

The best treatment for ADHD isn't drugs, which are now considered a stop-gap, but training. You can learn to be attentive. This is a good thing, because the drugs stop working after a few years (or less).

Most people with mild ADHD compensate by being hyper-attentive. They focus intently on one thing, shutting everything else out. Multitasking is accomplished by shifting focus rapidly.

[mick_hale]

The thing about the drugs is that it's needed as a temporary focussing device. Sort of like how lap-bands work - you tighten the band to prevent the person from eating so darned much, then loosen it as time goes on, and hope they keep their eating habits from before the loosening. (In my mind, elective bariatric surgery for obesity isn't that far from administering hard drugs to kids that "can't concentrate"; both are equally repugnant but have become today's accepted medical practice.)

On the hyper-attentiveness, I've had no shortage of that when it came to math or science. Which is yet another tick to add to the ADHD diagnosis.