My dear friend Gayathri Ramprasad came to America from India in an arranged marriage. Her family wanted the best for her and she was fulfilling many dreams to finally come to this country. What no one knew was that Gayathri lived with crippling depression and axiety. After years of illness and treatement including ECT and unsuccessful medication treatment, Gayathri found herself in the psychiatric isolation room of a large hospital here in Portland, Oregon. As Gayathri tells in all of her amazing presentations, it was in that room where she decided she could die or be a beacon of light to everyone with a mental illness.
She came out stronger and has fulfilled her promise to herself to be a light in the world. She is my good friend and I know that she still suffers from her depression and anxiety- it hasn’t gone away- but she is better. Gayathri and I, along with another friend Lilly recently gave a presenation called Culture Counts: Variations in Cultural Value Systems and Their Impact on Mental Health. We all spoke on how our culture impacts our mental illness management and then gave our strategies on how health care professionals can bring more cultural awareness to their practices. Guess what, caucasion woman do have a specific culture- obsessive individualism. I learned a lot from my own topic!
Julie
PS: Yes, I cut my long hair!
Julie,
I love the hair. I recently did the same thing with mine, although not as short as yours. Everyone says it makes me look younger (hooray!) and bouncier. I hope you’re enjoying yours.
Happy Christmas,
Susan