A recent issue of Mishpacha's Family First included the following:
1) a mother writing about her nine year old son who looks normal but behaves atrociously because of PDD (pervasive developmental disorder) which is on the autism spectrum
2) a woman writing about her bipolar condition
3) the ongoing "Family Diary" about a child who behaves terribly at home who, in this chapter, is put on Ritalin
4) a woman writing about her relationship with her ex-sisters-in-law following her divorce from their brother who suffered from paranoid schizophrenia
Is this the frum media's way of attempting to "remove the stigma" from mental illness? I think it's scaring the daylights out of us.
I think that these stories are an attempt to raise awareness of the issues that some in our community are dealing with so that people are more supportive.
ReplyDeleteNewspapers focus on bad news. That is the very nature of the medium. Otherwise, they couldn't be in business.
ReplyDeleteIs this reporting an accurate portrayal of modern life? We cannot truly know, as we have no solid stats on the frum community, AFAIK.