Considering a Dual Diagnosis
I was considering researching this topic at length for
a more formal piece, but it’s so controversial and hot button right now…
With my own bad experiences in the music industry behind me, I can say that I have
some?dogs in the fight. There needs to be major legal, Congressional, and societal
intervention for this culture to truly change.
Without naming names of my friends and colleagues, we can all safely say that there have
been many clues to something dark going on behind the scenes in recent years.
They have released many songs and videos alluding to the topic. We all have been trying to
collectively chip at the iceberg, it seems. I have seen so many podcasts, autobiographies, and
movements that have given me hope.
When my friends from the entertainment industry look back at the 90's pop scene in Orlando,
Florida, we have fond memories. I wonder now, though, how much I was spared from.
I wonder what else was going on all around us at Universal backlots while we filmed
our television pilots, commercials, and music videos. I could give one example from the photo
pictured above and let you all imagine what else we have faced as a workforce. I was 12 years
old here and was invited by my agent to be a background dancer at an awards show.
Backstage, I remember feeling uncomfortable when an adult woman who I didn't know
stripped down and changed in front of the whole dressing room.
This is a very small snippet of what we are exposed to. I will leave this for a while since there
are so many who I feel are about to come forward.
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What I do want to share is that Complex PTSD is something I suffer from and have been open
about publicly in recent years, in order to help increase awareness for others who may be
struggling. It turns out that Complex PTSD is not just for veterans returning from being
prisoners of war. It can happen to human trafficking victims. It can happen to child abuse
victims. It happens to people who are exposed to chronic abuse for extended periods of time.
What sets us apart from acute PTSD and chronic PTSD patients is that we had no means of
escape and this adds another layer. In layman's terms because this is a blog and not a
professional piece, I wanted to bring to light that this is a fairly new diagnosis that just
got into the ICD-11 in 2019 (shortly after I was diagnosed and not long before I released a
podcast on the topic *see link below).
I will leave one question as food for thought, though, since many patients are misdiagnosed.
There is a shortage of trauma-informed specialists nationwide. This is why, as an educator, I
have tried to take extra continuing education in this area. I've also learned on my own
personal health journey that you can have a co-occurring disorder or have conditions related
to your main diagnosis. Is it possible that victims of the systemic abuse in the music industry
are suffering from Complex PTSD because of not being able to leave an unhealthy system (as
they are contractually bound)? This is something I may blog about in the future...
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5 个月In the picture of you @12yo, I cannot see what's going on behind you. But I CAN see that your right Angel Wing shines brightly behind your right shoulder??
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5 个月Very interesting. I can really envision the "dressing room" scene, & the "we're all...women, carefree, open" (aren't we?!) kind of vibe going on, one that tells you how HIP you are for just "going with the flow" (that's how your permission was granted/ASSUMED! wasn't it?). We're cool, you're cool...