We're all mad on here, aren't we? Well maybe not exactly mad, just part way there. Joking aside, Clinical Depression is extremely common in the whole population, along with its variants Bi-polar Disorder and (one for the ladies) Post-Partum Depression. Ex-soldiers on here may have a touch of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Older members may be getting Memory Loss. There are clear signs of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in some threads, and Dyslexia in others. Addictions, especially to alcohol and nicotine, are as popular as ever. Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) including Asperger's are increasingly widespread. Etc etc. So varied is human mentality that I wonder if there is anyone at all who doesn't have a definable mental condition of some kind. But to me the interesting question is: Are people self-aware about their own conditions, and willing to discuss them? In denial? Or is the whole subject still taboo, even today?
Most of them are lazy and/or ignorant peolpe conveniently looking for a label to justify their behaviour. ADHD anyone?! Oh and 'experts' creating work for themselves
Having suffered a couple of bouts of depression in the past, I found talking to someone really helped, but they must be a good listener, who can appreciate just what you are going through. But mental illness is still a difficult subject for anyone who hasn't suffered, and unless those of us who have are willing to share our experience then the stigma will continue.
I had a severe bit of depression about 10 years ago. Still have periods of feeling overwhelmed with stress and only a few weeks ago felt what I can only imagine would be classed as panic attacks. It only makes me the more determined to not let it wreck my life or it to become an excuse for everything like my mum uses it for. Otherwise I'm fine!
Having watched someone in the forces go from normal happy go lucky to medically discharged under mental health, it definitely is not a case of "man up" (only to be said tongue in cheek) There is so much we do not know about mental health , what triggers depression PTSD etc it how to "cure" it, in my friends case it was something that happened nearly 20 years ago just popped into his head and would not go, nearly destroyed him, cost him a wife and child, but he is getting better. In the military with all the Op tours to sandy and unpleasant places, cumming round faster and faster, i have been out 2 years and there where units on their 3rd tour and they knew when they would be back again! it is more and more likely young people are being affected, and don't know it yet. There was an outstanding program on TV last night about PTSD and the suicide rate in the forces, and a little about EX forces, it was very moving and equally disturbing the amount of EX forces who have taken their own life. Slightly off thread i know, But in answer to Pete's question are we aware of it, probably not as we are used to it, it is the people around you who are more likely to see changes in you, and talking about it does help with others who have been with you. I think i said what i wanted to As an aside ADHD i am sure has something to do with diet, sleep pattern, discipline (lack of) and any number of other things, i have noticed that schools are very quick to label children if they struggle/find thins difficult. i don't remember there being ADHD at any school i went to, when did it start and where???
definitely not for discussion on an open Forum unless you are very brave but happy to discuss over a pint of Bromide at some point Peter.
I thought this was going to be one of Pete1950's intellectual threads with a critique of DSM5 and the way that under it, pretty much everyone could be categorised as having a mental illness in some form or another. (Whether one agrees with those who believe it is all driven by the pharmaceutical industry keen to create new disorders for which they can then sell expensive medications, this shrinking of the bounds of health/normality cannot be for the greater good). Personally I don't hold with the increasing trend to regard pretty much any unwelcome or unpleasant emotion or behaviour as pathological, somehow symptomatic of a mental disorder, rather than in many cases a perfectly natural reaction to one's circumstances, what one of my old law lecturers might have referred to as "the vicissitudes of life". I have been very unhappy and stressed in a previous job a few years ago, going into work with a visceral knot of dread in my stomach some days, overwhelmed by an unmanageable workload, impossible deadlines and difficult colleagues, but I was not depressed, not ill. There would have been no point going to a doctor - my GP couldn't prescribe revised project schedules, replace impossible colleagues etc. Instead I took the obvious logical step and got out - took a career break, went off and found less stressful (and far less lucrative) employment elsewhere. Instant relief! I fear that the pathologisation of simple unhappiness or obnoxiousness, will make it even harder for those who have a genuine serious mental disorder, clinical depression, bipolar disorder, anorexia etc to obtain the help they need, if the surgeries are clogged up with the moderately miserable who perhaps need to re-evaluate their life choices, rather than seeking medication or talking therapies. And as for whether if one does have a mental illness, one knows it, then I think the answer, sadly, is often no. A university friendship, with someone who really was troubled, and who had a history of depression, showed this: I knew that things had got beyond a point where the mere support of friends was the solution, to a stage where professional help was needed, but getting this person to appreciate that was well nigh impossible. I fear that in many cases it is friends and family who can see how bad things have got, while the patient does not appreciate the gravity of the situation.
i definetly have a mental condition i keep buying bikes and pulling them apart ............ on serious side most people with mental conditions are unaware other people observe and notice more
Mrs Arquebus reckons I'm a cyclepath............devoid of emotion..........(that is, apart from suppressed anger)
an interesting thread possibly. Can anyone define what's truly 'normal' with anything near concision?.. it's only based on what went before, and usually recently.
I have taken it for granted that no-one is "normal", so I didn't use the word. What is normal is for people to be very varied in their mentality.
But sometimes yes. Quite a lot of folk know perfectly well that they are addicts, or OCD, or dyslexic, or getting forgetful. Paranoid schizophrenics however do not seem to be self aware. Or so I read.
my post wasn't in connection with anything you posted - 'normal' is a necessary benchmark, a possibly starting point, which is important to establish before anyone can define what isn't (normal)
