Things I’m Reading: Mental Health Edition

Here’s a quick run-down of some of the things I have been reading lately:

• Buzzfeed.com: What is the real toll of war on our veterans? A beautiful photo series highlighting what it’s like to live with PTSD. For another take on living with and living through a traumatic experience, see my recent post about the broken and yet unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

False Rape Accounts are Exceedingly Rare

The recent resurgence of sexual abuse allegations against Bill Cosby led to some interesting family discussions at the Thanksgiving table recently. In case you have not been following the news, Bill Cosby has allegedly throughout the course of his career sexually assaulted female coworkers; many have now come forward to make their stories public, and the resulting commotion has led to cancellation of new projects that Cosby had been about to launch, as well as a general tarnishing of his iconic reputation.

One of my cousins (let’s call her Allison) works in a support shelter for survivors of domestic violence, and she and another relative (let’s call him Roger) were arguing over how the public and the media should respond to the many allegations. The crux of the debate came from the fact that so many women have been coming forward all seemingly at once. They certainly couldn’t all be telling the truth, Roger asserted. Certainly some of them were doing it for the fame and/or potential money, he guessed.