General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Marijuana Can Be Harmful To Your Health [View all]hunter
(39,043 posts)My mind went a little sideways with adolescence and it took me about a decade to claw most of it back.
Nobody wanted to burden me with a mental health diagnosis because I was a nice young man who didn't drink or do drugs, etc., etc., a regular boy scout, even though the local police regarded me as an amusing diversion from their usually sordid late night to early morning duties. They'd drive me home instead of to jail or the E.R.. (Or wherever I claimed my home was...)
As a consequence I didn't get any treatment for my psych issues either, which actually may have been a good thing at the time, as mental health care was still quite primitive then.
At the time I thought everyone lived with a head full of crazy and that I just wasn't very good at dealing with it.
I'm probably lucky I didn't start "self medicating," I never stumbled upon any drug I found appealing. God knows drugs were everywhere. Possibly I was scared, after an acquaintance of mine who was developing a heroin addiction tried to kill herself in my bathtub, which was one of the worst weekends of my life.
Sadly people get written off as drug abusers and abandoned when there's a lot more going on.