Walk With Me by Michael Skinner

This week’s song of the week was recommended by MIA Reader Michael Skinner: “I had a life as a husband, father, professional musician and owner of a successful music company. The childhood trauma I experienced came back to knock me down with complex PTSD and depression. The mistreatment and over-medication was the catalyst for me to write this song.

‘I TOO HAVE HOPES, HOPES AND DREAMS
TO BE MORE THAN WHAT YOU’VE LABELED ME

YOUR PREJUDICE AND FEARS ARE QUITE CLEAR TO ME
AND NO DOUBLE TALK HIDES THAT FROM ME
INTELLIGENCE AND INSIGHT STILL RESIDE IN ME
SO COME DOWN FROM YOUR THRONE, THROW OFF THE ROBE
THAT GIVES YOU SUCH ABUSIVE POWER AND CONTROL
CAN YOU SIT WITH ME, CAN WE TALK A WHILE
DO YOU THINK YOU COULD WALK IN MY SHOES A MILE

SO OPEN UP YOUR EYES, CLEAN OUT YOUR EARS
LEARN TO LISTEN, LISTEN TO LEARN, AND THEN YOU’LL HEAR
AND THEN YOU CAN GET PAST YOUR STIGMA AND FEARS
OF WHAT HAS CAUSED YOU TO TREAT ME SO CALLOUSLY

I’M NOT IMPRESSED WITH YOUR TITLE AND DEGREES
COMPASSION AND UNDERSTANDING DO MORE FOR ME
CAN YOU SHOW ME, SHOW ME YOUR HUMANITY
INSTEAD OF TALKING, TALKING DOWN TO ME.'”

-Michael Skinner

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Mad in America hosts blogs by a diverse group of writers. These posts are designed to serve as a public forum for a discussion—broadly speaking—of psychiatry and its treatments. The opinions expressed are the writers’ own.

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