Medical Hypocrisy

If you had asthma you’d use an inhaler

If you were nearsighted you’d wear prescription glasses to see better

If you had high blood pressure

You’d take Lipitor in the morning

Cause if you didn’t, you’d know that your body couldn’t afford it

If you had a headache you’d take aspirin to make the pain go away

If your pancreas doesn’t work you inject insulin every day

What’s funny though if someone had cancer you wouldn’t say

That they can cure themselves with self-help books and meditation

Obviously what they need is chemotherapy and radiation

But what you’re telling me is if I’m struggling with mental health

That it’s different from everything else

That I don’t need professional help

Just learn to be comfortable with myself

Well I call bullshit!

How you gonna tell someone who sincerely wishes they were dead

That they don’t know how they feel

Cause it’s all in their head?

Of course it’s all in their head, just like Alzheimer’s and MS

You gonna tell me you think fresh air

Is gonna cure ALS?

The stigma about discussing mental illness has slowly eroded

But that’s only half the problem cause it’s not just the talking that’s important

The diagnosis is a start but it’s only the first part

Anxiety and depression won’t be cured by yoga in the park

Cause please explain to me why morphine’s ok for a broken back

But when I’m having a panic attack a xanax is too much to ask

But I gotta ask

Have you ever felt like you were crawling out of your skin?

Like the whole world’s about to end and you’ve got tunnel vision

Your lungs are feeling so heavy and you can’t catch your breath

And you’re sure everyone’s staring at your heart banging in your chest

But maybe not

Maybe anxiety’s not your story

Maybe you cried from disappointment that you even woke up this morning

Maybe you get so tired that you can’t even stand

And the only thing keeping you going is a bottle in your hand

Every sharp object you see you imagine slitting your wrists

Cause anything’s gotta be better than this

We can talk about depression but it’s so hard explaining

When you hate yourself and every interaction feels so draining

So why is it socially acceptable to get knee and hip replacements

But not when I’m suicidal and need anti-depressants?

I’ll tell you this

When I was 20 I tried to kill myself by jumping off a roof

Cause I felt worthless and ashamed of who I was and that’s the truth

When I was 21 and 22 I drank myself to sleep at night

Figured if I didn’t wake up the next morning well that’s alright

Been depressed and suicidal since I was a little kid

And for a while I wasn’t sure I was ever gonna want to live

For the past ten months I’ve been taking some medication

And for the first time in my life I feel something other than agitation

For the first time in my life I can see with clear eyes

And it’s all thanks to these pills that everyone wants to demonize

I’m so sick and tired of these people who complain

About anti-depressants as if the pills are to blame

We need more dialogue about mental illness that’s how I see it

Cause when I’m dealing with my sickness you don’t get to tell me how to treat it.

(Excerpt from my new poetry book "Ramblings of an Addled Heart")