April 2005

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Something outside my normal experience happened last weekend. I wanted to let it rest a while before mentioning it, but I'm sorta out of anything else that needs writing about tonight, so here goes.

You may recall that I updated my "About" page last Saturday. Someone who went to read it wrote to me, using the private message feature of a message board. So far, so normal.

What was written, though, wasn't normal. The writer had some fairly complex questions about a specific aspect of mental health, and was asking me for answers based on my having written of my experiences with depression. I had reason to believe the writer was trying to self-diagnose.

I'll give you the gist of my reply: No.

Actually, I do know a little more about the specific thing the writer wanted to know, but it would have been terribly irresponsible of me to share the information, given the circumstances. But the writer wasn't satisfied with my reply, and wrote back to chastise me.

It didn't work.

For the record, neither in private correspondence nor through the Counsel Giver site will I answer a question that is, in effect, "I think I have (insert mental illness here); how can I get better from it?" except to suggest finding a local source for mental health care.

It isn't that I don't care. It's that I care too much.