A thread about Mental Illness

my mental …… started when i saw my parents fighting…regular…and they blamed ME for that—7 years old…crap.then i “tasted” marihuana and Jin was out of the bottle…never again.
now iam a social worker and mental illness client are my “customers”…poor children…

I’ve seen a hospital from the inside due to depression and panic disorder.
That was the hardest period of my life…but also the most efficient period of learning. Learning about myself. And it made me a much better person.
It is not something I would recommend to anyone but at the same time I don’t view it negatively.

Medication?
I needed it before the hospital. I needed it initially while there but I stopped taking it before I went out. Haven’t needed it since though I needed counselling for another 8 years or so.

Úf. What a Hard story… So you are out of it.?

So I said a little about my dad.

Mental illness hit him harder than anyone else in my family.

He actually attempted suicide, and his death, although probably an accident, was premature.

...

I've been mentally ill since middle school, and I was diagnosed when I was 19 years old.

I've been on meds ever since, and they help me immensely.

I've done a little of therapy, but I'm pretty stable just taking my meds.

For anyone that has been on medication, and maybe it didn't help, I say keep trying other medications until you find something that works for you.

Luckily since most of my family takes meds, there's no stigma in my family.

My girlfriend has mental illness. She takes medication , and mostly is fine . There are times though , when something triggers her emotions. As Zulumoose said , perspective gets warped . She will believe situations schewed from reality .
I can generally perceive changes that she doesn’t realize are happening . Fortunately, having been together 10 years now , she trusts me to let her know this and can adjust her meds accordingly .

Didnt know we háve People with stories like this here… Well, we need more and more light for US…

Pretty much yes though it can never be certain.

I admire you guys for talking about something so personal.This is as personal as it gets for me on these forums!,Probably too personal!

I will say this. I think I have mentioned this once or twice on this forum. I have been sober almost 22 years. Put a drink in my and I can be insane! Went to jail several times and prison once,was misdiagnosed as bi polar.Having an addiction and being misdiagnosed is Not uncommon because of the insane behavior, depression ect. associated with the disease of addiction.

I could tell at least a dozen or so stories of insanity but they do not need to be mentioned………I think I am relatively sane without alcohol.,that is debatable!

My X girlfriend Barbara and I are still friends. She is the youngest of Seven. Two siblings committed suicide, Three siblings[including her] are on depressive medications, leaving Two[Out of Seven] that do not have a mental illness.

The Father died when Barbara was Two. He was a violent manic depressive alcoholic. He not only passed down the genes[of mental illness] to most of his kids, he also affected everyone in a negative and damaging way. The older siblings remember him and were actually relieved when he died[age Fifty-Two].

, :frowning: Very sad.

It is NOT uncommon for people with mental illness to self Medicate. So a lot of addicts can also have other mental illnesses[Dual Diagnosis] while others do not and can be misdiagnosed.

The first diagnosis is to determine what is normal for the person who is determined to be mentally ill.
If it is destructive behavior; the next step is to determine what caused the behavior.
The movie Good Will Hunting is a good example. Another one is The Punisher.
“Normally” It’s not your fault.
We all have crazy thoughts; we don’t all act on them.
Mentally ill people don’t know the difference between the “land of make believe” and reality. :face_with_monocle: although a good writer can portray truth using fantasy.(Walt Disney).
I can be someone I’m not on a forum. :innocent:
Non-conformity is not mental illness.
Perception is reality.

First I will say there are many types of mental illness. Perhaps the ONLY flavor of that “May” apply to your opinion, would be Schizophrenia.

I would disagree with that As a “Totally” inclusive statement, which is the way you wrote it.

I imagine your OPINION would not sit well with someone on here who has admitted to being mentally ill. I can not speak for them.

Although, I find it insulting.

I can speak for my Friend Barbara and Bill,your opinion which is FAR from Diagnosis[Are you a Doctor,I would doubt it because they would never make such a definitive and narrow minded statement] certainly does not apply to them.

I suggest reading the various types of mental illnesses and the symptoms associated with them before you pass judgement. :wink:

Not a doctor; worked as a mental health tec for about 10 years; from severe and profound to high functioning.
Not a judge.

I don’t find it insulting. But I do find it detached from the reality I live in.

In my case it was not about the sense of reality but purely about poor emotions management.

I would think you should know better then.

“Mentally ill people don’t know the difference between the ”land of make believe” and reality.”

That right there is JUDGEMENTAL,that right there is NOT true.

My friends suffer from Depression,that has NOTHING to do with NOT knowing the difference between make believe and reality!! They understand reality and can function in society with the help of medication and supportive friends,NOT people who stigmatize them.

I suffered from depression and anxiety since I was about 8 or 9. I was on medication since then since I also had ADD. I saw therapists but never found real relief, I feel they didn’t treat depression in young people as serious back then which was the mid 90s. My biggest mistake was self medicating with alcohol and drugs. They made the anxiety and depression go away for awhile but created worse problems. About ten years ago I decided I had to make a change so I quit drinking and smoking and all the other stuff and started taking my medication properly. I got heavily into exercise and going to church for support. It still is very difficult at times but I always remember that it doesn’t last forever and does get better.

I think three things are important. Your everyday job, your hobby or free tíme and friends/girlfriend… Som things needs everybody.I remember when i was unemployed for a long tíme… I change… Just example…

Mental illness is a very broad and far reaching subject, the nuances of which cannot be discussed properly on this forum.
My comments were not meant to open a can of worms or a Pandora’s Box; only meant to throw some light on this subject which has been studied for many years by some of the most intelligent people on the planet.
Still mental illness in all its forms exists.

In some instances we found that changing the diet of some clients had very good results.
Also there is a very good book called Switch on Your Brain by Dr Caroline Leaf.

One of the most important things noeadays around the mental healt is to be maximum offline in my opinion. Why not to debate about it…

Changing the diét? How?

This Scientific American article made sense of my life up to that point, for me. Why camping out always cheered me up. Why getting up at 5am to run til the sun came up always helped.

I started building bright light boxes immediately, and eventually discovered dawn simulators
(best affordable ones are from: http://windhovermfg.com/)
and learned about timing bright lights from the site cet.org (which has an excellent self-survey to decide how to time bright lights during the day).

More here: Seasonal Affective Disorder - The Basics | ScienceBlogs
and here: https://psychcentral.com/blog/light-and-dark/

and here: Bipolar Disorder, Light, and Darkness – Psych Education

One observation — SAD treatment is most helpful if started in August (N. Hemisphere fall) (we have the dawn simulator and light boxes set for approximately a late August “day length” period of bright/blue light every day; it’s easy to start to slip into winter depression as the days start to get shorter (the clock change in October tends to hit hard).

It’s a lot more difficult to clamber out of the pit by this time of year, though light treatment does help.

I’m realizing things I and others chalked up to “laziness” or “lack of motivation” along with other traits I just thought were fundamental to me or bad habits are probably indicators of ADHD and am beginning the process for an assessment. I had some inaccurate ideas about the condition and never even considered it as a cause of some of my issues till I stumbled on a podcast where others were discussing their experiences dealing with it which fit me to a “T”.