Your opinions on Mental Illness

[ToryCynic]

If we're going to be accurate and/or politically correct Ronnie is diagnosed as suffering from Bipolar.

 

 

Yes, indeed! Manic Depression is now known as Bi-Polar Affective Disorder.

 

I suppose that unless others understand, or have been/throw known others, then they cannot relate to mental illnesses.

 

They are often ridiculed as a nuisance or in the way in society, and as it can't be 'seen' regularly disregarded and dismissed.

 

[Rich]

I meant I didn't know about the Aspergers that he has and so I can't comment. As stated, I will do some research on this. Until this, I will pass no further comment on the subject.

 

I try to be an educated and responsible poster. I only comment on things I understand.

 

I understand mental illness. It runs in my family. Why? Genetics.

 

I remember my mum coming back from the hospital after 'electro shock thearepy' when I was Nine. Not a nice experience for a kid to live with the memory for the rest of their life.

 

I was trying to be empathic.

 

As mentioned, we aspergians tend to lack the ability to be empathic.

 

Off topic I know this, but did you know that apparently Albert Einstein was also an aspergers sufferer? And it was his obsession with mathematics whiich gave him the drive to work out the famous theory of relativity? Not many people know that but someone told me back when I was first diagnosed at 23, also Microsoft gaffer Bill Gates has it apparently, as like me he was obsessed with computers, and this drove him to create Microsoft later in life.

 

And no, that is not why I'm such a big MS "fanboy" before anyone says it, I just really like their products, Xbox range in particular.

[ToryCynic]

Albert Einstein

 

As did Mozart, apparently.

[FairyNormal]

As the parent of a child who has both mental health issues (OCD and acute anxieties) as well as neurological disabilities (Tourette's Aspergers ADHD) I can say hand on heart that most people don't understand either problems. They see some of his behavious as deliberately disruptive or annoying but they aren't. If OCD tells him to check the door continuously or turn the lights on and off a certain amount of times he isn't doing this to annoy people, he does it because he is ill and has no control over it.

 

People in general find mental health issues in adults hard to cope with and understand and have even less understanding of mental health issues in childhood. I feel that so much more needs to be done to educate people about childhood mental health problems. Children with illnesses and disabilities like my son ane generally misunderstood and taken for being naughty or just downright wierd. He hates being the way he is and a more compassionate approach from people would make his life, and mine a lot easier.

[carmencarter]

The first thing that crossed my mind when I started to read your post was " it must be a lot harder for a child" and you confirmed it: I'm not surprised people put it down to naughtiness.

Because I'm an adult people take my OCD more seriously I guess, but with children it's easy to fall into the trap of calling them attention-seekers or saying things such as "it's just a phase".

I thought that a lot about myself when I was younger, it's good that you already have a diagnosis for your child, I know it doesn't solve the problem but finding out as much as we can is a great help.

Have you seen that programme on Channel four "help me help my kid?"

I haven't and I'm usually weary of that channel but apparently it was quite good.

[JoeP]

Just a comment ... Depression is not necessarily due to purely physical/medical causes, and medication is not the only/the best 'cure' for most people. Depression tends to be the result of a whole host of contributing factors, and for most people medication on its own is unlikely to result in significant and sustainable long-term changes.

 

In my case the roblem was triggered by a series of life events following in quick succession, but the medication gave me time to breathe and get a handle on things. Counselling wasn't working - I KNEW what the effing problems were, I didn't need someone guiding me to that realisation - I needed something to allow me to get my head together before I totally lost it.

 

For people with brain biochemistry issues, medication will do a lot to help; but yes, for most people the combination of drugs and counselling is probably the best bet.

 

I've seen a lot of people avoid meds like the plague and carry on with talking therapies that are just not working. There is no heroism in that, no 'goodness', nothing to be gained.

 

Do what you need to do to get yourself or the patient back to a lifestyle that they can handle. Tell the folks who try and convince you NOT to take medication to live for a while with the problem.

 

Even for people who've been pushed over the edge by life events, medication will often help you regain that sense of perspective and help you gain time to develop coping strategies. I see no problems in taking meds for a few months to get over such situations - if you break a leg you have it set and probably take pain killers. It's an analogous situation.

[funkymiss]

The reality is, many people with mental health problems are suffering in silence because there is still this awful stigma attached to it. People are scared to tell people about their problems for fear of being stereotyped. I've worked with people with mental illness and it's awful that they feel they have no-one to turn to, as often not even their familes understand. Someone I know with schizophrenia has been treated terribly by his family. People's distasteful comments come from complete ignorance.

[JoeP]

The reality is, many people with mental health problems are suffering in silence because there is still this awful stigma attached to it. People are scared to tell people about their problems for fear of being stereotyped. I've worked with people with mental illness and it's awful that they feel they have no-one to turn to, as often not even their familes understand. Someone I know with schizophrenia has been treated terribly by his family. People's distasteful comments come from complete ignorance.

 

It's very true - which is why I've always been open about my depression issues. If people can't handle it - and I have had a few friends who fell away during my dark times - then screw you.

 

One of the reasons I put time in to SF is that I've often seen threads like this that must give people hope and at least a suggestion that there are people who do undesrtand and some of them are here to talk to.

 

The people I have least time for on here are those few who take the mickey from people who do open up about issues. A comment I often make on here is 'If you can't say anything useful, say nothing'. It also applies to 'real life' - if you can't say anything pleasant to a friend who's suffering, then just acknowldge to them 'I have problems dealing with your depression / Asperger's / etc. ' They'll probably be pleased by your frankness and may be able to help you.

 

If you don't ask, you won't get told and your ignorance will grow fear.

[funkymiss]

Great advice Joe, very true. The reality of most mental illnesses is actually very far from what a lot of people assume. With medication and support, sufferers can lead very 'normal lives' and just need understanding!

[Darbees]

 

I've seen a lot of people avoid meds like the plague and carry on with talking therapies that are just not working. There is no heroism in that, no 'goodness', nothing to be gained.

 

Do what you need to do to get yourself or the patient back to a lifestyle that they can handle. Tell the folks who try and convince you NOT to take medication to live for a while with the problem.

 

Medication is not always essential for depression and in some cases there are big problems with withdrawal from certain drugs and some people get into a situation having been cured where they pop down a prozac or some other prescribed drug for the slightest thing that upsets them because they think, wrongly, that taking one tablet every now and then cures all lifes woes and so in that instance it has a placebo effect.

 

I wouldn't advocate a specific way of dealing with it as it obviously varies from person to person but I think that depending on the severity in the first place it is better to try not to use medication as that can cause separate problems after the depression has lifted. If that doesn't work then obviously medication needs to be used but treating depression is not an exact science.

 

Of course depression has many forms and it's only one class of mental illness which is a very wide ranging subject which is unfortunatly stigmatised even by medical insurance companies who don't cover it in their policies without extra premiums and usually only up to a fixed, low figure.

 

Asking for opinions on mental illness however is a bit like saying what is your opinion on orthopaedics.