Agnes Foy

columnist

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@DrJessTaylor Well done. 😀 you give courage to so, so many.

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@archi_tradition @world_walkerz Dublin

[Dr. Jessica Taylor @DrJessTaylor]

We’ve created a ‘pills or therapy’ culture around trauma when for lots of people, both will harm them, both already have harmed them, and they are told that if the pills and the therapy isn’t helping, it’s because they are not ‘putting the work in’. Or they need to have more therapy or more pills.

Fact is, for lots of people, neither of these approaches will work because there is no magic bullet for processing your trauma. Some people will need a hobby, to write, to read, to talk, to sing, to scream, to exercise, to cut certain people out, to leave their family, to make new friends, to connect with nature, to meditate, to make pieces of expressive art, to write music, to run a marathon, to reinvent themselves, to dance, to do a qualification, to climb a mountain, to get a pet dog, get some justice for what happened, volunteer their time to a cause, write a book, move house, to pray, to learn, to cook, to meet others who have been through it too…

People are slowly waking up to these realisations, these options and alternatives. Their trauma is frightening and valid, but the answer doesn’t have to be decades of polypharmacy and therapy with professionals who make you feel worse.

And before anyone starts with the whataboutery (as usual) I know the pills and the therapy helps some people, but this post is about the fact that we’ve created this rigid set of two options and everything else has been relegated to hippy woo woo bullshit when it is life changing for many people.

There is a $435bn industry sitting behind ‘mental health’ therapy, apps and medications - but teaching humans to understand and process their trauma in natural and positive ways that work for them as an individual makes $0 profit.

For me, being anti-pathology includes critical views of therapy, power dynamics, oppressive practice and harmful therapists, psychologists and counsellors - it’s not just about psychiatry doling out pills.

Humankind is being told that the ongoing trauma and distress in our populations is actually a set of mental illnesses instead of validating the mess we all live in. The abuse, the violence, the fear, the death, the loss, the anger, the inequality.

“Go to therapy. Take your pills. It’s you - its not the world. It’s not your abuser. It’s not your government. It’s just you. You need help.”

Think.

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@LDHMarketing @Steven_Swinford I’ve read an abundance of his judgments/logic propositions. In my view, Sumption is not very bright. He is, however, chronically opinionated. He’s never had an original thought. And he’s dazzled by the noise of his own voice.

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@KevPow3 @IrishTimes Your book White City has stunning social impact power too, that will become more and more evident in time.

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@KevPow3 @IrishTimes 👍👍👍 and …. For sure Brendan Kennelly’s epic poems Cromwell and Judas played a very significant role in generating social change in Ireland 😊 As did Father Ted, the bountiful brainchild of Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews. 😊

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@heyitsalexsu It’s easy for Generation Z to spot that 99.999% of the senior lawyers in BigLaw are just Zombies on Kool-Aid who are, in fact, living pointless, abject and empty lives.

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@KevPow3 👍 😊 and …. is it fair to assume that you’re currently reading The Catcher in the Gluten Free Rye?

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@inspiredcat https://t.co/b8Xer7j1dF

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@averdad29206350 @fascinatorfun @GMB @susannareid100 👍😁👍

[Rhys Tranter @RhysTranter]

“Birth was the death of him.”
—
Samuel Beckett
b. 13 April 1906

[Thomas Penny @ThomasWPenny]

I may have missed the news, but aren't the Ukrainians leading the fight against Putin's illegal war in Ukraine?

[Matthew Scott @Barristerblog]

It really is a gripping read. @nickwallis is a superb investigative journalist who kept following every twist of this story, even when others would have thought and did think, it was all a waste of time.

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

Inside Chernobyl, 200 Exhausted Staff Toil Round the Clock at Russian Gunpoint - WSJ https://t.co/iTD3kfo5ZL

[Financial Technology Association @fintechassoc]

#Fintech holds great promise to drive financial inclusion and close the gender gap in access to financial services. This #WomensHistoryMonth, we’re celebrating the dynamic women leaders driving these innovations, starting with the women on both our Board and Advisory Board🧵⬇️:

[Political Cartoon @Cartoon4sale]

Zapiro on #Putin #PutinsWar #UkraineRussiaCrisis #UkraineRussiaWar #RussiaUkraine #RussiaUkraineConflict #Cartoon - political cartoon gallery in London https://t.co/dePcTdnXF6

[Garry Kasparov @Kasparov63]

If someone sends $100 to a terrorist group they can be arrested. If someone works for or manages billions of dollars for a dictator bombing Ukrainian civilians, they and their family can live the good life in the free world. No more. They are war criminals in plain sight.

[sarah murphy @13sarahmurphy]

@mrjamesob Nationality and Borders Bill enters its report stage in the Lords today. Not scrapped. Not yet sufficiently amended. On it ploughs in its dull-headed, small-minded, short-sighted meanness.
(The Times)

[Agnes Foy @AgnesFoy3]

@RuthCan75563366 @klillington The reasons why barristers wear wigs (as opposed to hats) in the Four Courts, can be found here … https://t.co/zNvVnLYgZx