The Social Services Issue

Articles

The Social Services Issue

By L.J. Chapman
Apr. 5, 2006

It has been said that I am bipolar... it later came out that I'm not. I was put on 900mg of Lithium daily for nothing. I'm sure my liver will recover. Now it is said that I have depression, a simple disease that I can help with Zoloft or Wellbutrin, neither of which I can take right now. And here's why.

I am a D.S.S. case, this means that the Department of Social Services found it necessary to become involved in my life due to drug use and bipolar disorder. I am no longer a drug user and I am not bipolar. However, it's been 18 months, and D.S.S. is still around, still looking at my medical records.

I can't take medication at this point because I fear that if I do, D.S.S. will see in my medical records that I am being treated for depression, and they will stay around even longer. I'm not being paranoid in this, because it wouldn't be the first time this happened to someone.

Take my best friend Jen for instance. Jen has what I like to call "life" depression, meaning we're still young adults and we're still learning that life is not as cool as we thought it would be. Jen went to her doctor to get something for the depression. It was not her regular doctor. The M.D. gave her Prozac and a referral for what she thought was a counselor. She found out it was a D.S.S. employee. They believed that Jen being depressed meant that she was neglecting her daughter and if she wasn't prescribed and on medication, she would obviously be a danger to her child. Jen has never once hurt or neglected her child, and she hasn't really taken the Prozac either.

It's hard to try to get ahead when an agency like D.S.S. is holding you back. Granted, social services needed to be around when they first took me as a case. I had problems that needed to be dealt with. In fact, I just saw my worker today, a man I happen to like a lot. But I just can't get over the fact that they are around patiently waiting for me to go into some sort of manic (which I won't) or major depression (which I won't).

I won't say that social services is a bad thing. There are people who need their assistance, like I used to. They need to be around to help families, save children from bad situations, and assist people who need it. But the key word is NEED. I do not need it. Jen never needed it. And I just believe something needs to be changed so they concentrate less on who is taking Zoloft and concentrate more on who is hurting their kids.

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Email L.J. Chapman: scarlett_sugar80@yahoo.com

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