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Politics "Under democracy, one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule -and both commonly succeed, and are right." -H.L. Menken

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Old 06-16-2014, 04:15 PM   #1
Lady Ruthven
 
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Mental health awareness

Sorry if there is a post like this somewhere already, I might have missed it.

Basically, I want to encourage public awareness and treatment of mental illness of all kinds. I think the disparity between the level of understanding and care for physical health and mental health is shocking. There have been huge steps recently in the levels of awareness and support of rare (physical) illnesses, so why can't we make the same kind of progress with mental health?

I'm not belittiling the fact that many rare (and not so rare) physical diseases are still greatly misunderstood, it just seems like the various awareness movements have made so much progress but sort of missed out mental illnesses.

It's tragic that so many people suffer from mental health issues but are afraid to get help or support (or maybe haven't even been diagnosed) because the care is just so frankly crap. There is massive stigma against sufferers because of the lack of awareness. People think that just because you can't see anything wrong with someone, there's nothing to worry about.

As a sufferer of bipolar disorder and survivor of several suicide attempts and various types of care, this issue is very important to me, as I'm sure it is to many people on this forum. So why aren't we being more militant about it?

Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to run any kind of campaign or petition myself, but there are plenty out there. I know that the UK charity Mind has a particularly good awareness program going. All this kind of thing needs is more support, so please do something people!
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Old 06-20-2014, 08:22 PM   #2
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I'm skeptical how much mental health awareness really does anything for those legitimately suffering from mental illness. When I see people promoting suicide awareness it looks like a way to make society feel good about fostering a culture of detachment. The challenge with being too militant with helping people with mental illness, or taking that mindset to treating other people is that the medical community is as much a dogma as it is adept at treating people, the medical community has been wrong in the past, and they will be wrong in the future. There are actually safer supplemental alternatives to the anti-depressants drug companies and doctors have been pushing, like L-Tyrosine in place of Welbutrin, or 5HTP in place of SSRI's, and probably either in place of MAOI's; I use these for their positive benefits even though I'm not depressed.

Virtually the whole mental health field has been set up around women (not suggesting that it necessarily works for women, just that it has a gender bias). Men simply cope more by taking action than talking, or talk more about how they've taken action out of their emotions than airing the emotions themselves; men and women could switch behaviors, this is simply a leniency. Different aspects of the men's movement, PUA/Game, MRM, and MGTOW, are somewhat like forms of therapy for men. And the mental health field is ignorant of other things as well, like kundalini syndrome and the asexual community.

Social detachment and touch deprivation are probably bigger root causes of mental illness in society than the disorders themselves. Militant treatment would ignore these more baseline problems, and could disintegrate personal freedom, because it could create a DSM-IV police state from people who, as mentioned above, clearly aren't the priests of the human condition they subtlety posture themselves to be. I tend to have the radical opinion that for most of these disorder drugs were never the answer to begin with, and that they've taken the place of positive relationships and touch, which affect hormones in the brain more precisely than any drug we can presently create.
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Old 06-21-2014, 01:03 PM   #3
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It really depends in terms of the meds I think. I know of two examples in my personal life, one where the meds worked and the other didn't. Then there's friends and people like myself who refuse to be on meds and would prefer to adjust to life with our new conditions, finding them not to be as bad as others who have been in similar situations.

For instance, one of my friends from the army has severe Shell Shock (now called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but I despise sugar coating accurate terms hence what the condition was originally called), to the point that when driving across country the kids wanted to stay in the car his wife was driving because he frightened them. He's on meds now that the VA has supplied, and his wife's told me she finally has the man she married back.

On the flip side, a lifelong friend who goes to see a psychiatrist occasionally and is on and off her meds. However, her condition I think is just an attempt at getting attention since she'll claim depression for a week but will be fine without her meds for months at a time. She's turning 31 this summer but still acts like a teenager in so many aspects of her life that it's not even funny.
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Old 06-23-2014, 12:26 PM   #4
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Yeah I know people who were helped immensely by meds. My mom has an anxiety disorder and so I grew up thinking that it was normal and the adult thing to worry about the littlest shit. When I moved out I was weirded out that other people did what they want when they want and didn't worry about really trivial things like what if someone calls while they're gone or meticulously planning the exact time they'll leave. Anyway, she went on anxiety meds and she's like a new person. She still gets worried about stupid shit but its no where near the level it used to be.

Myself I benefited more from counselling. But I won't knock what helps for other people.

And awareness is crucial because society still sees the mentally ill as dangerous on one hand or fake on the other.
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Old 10-11-2014, 05:33 PM   #5
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Dangerous or fake. Well said Saya. It's so sad that people can't see past a stereotype.

On the plus side, I spent most of my summer with friends performing a set of 5 short plays written by people who suffer from mental health issues. We raised nearly £1600 for Mind from ticket sales and donations, which was fantastic. I 'd love to see more people doing small-scale things like that.
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Old 10-14-2014, 02:14 AM   #6
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https://www.authonomy.com/book/291671/

I've written a book about my experiences with schizophrenia. A lot of people with and without schizophrenia think it was a good project.

It hurts when people can't respect someone esp if they know about a diagnosis. For instance, I stop talking to someone if they would judge me or tell me I don't make any sense because they know I have schizophrenia or I told them. It's painful because I take medication and I can point out plenty of things they do or say that are illogical but because I have opened up to them about something it's more fuel for them to control me.

One issue is a lot of people with schizophrenia or bipolar are abused and taken advantage of. While many ill and unmedicated can provide a more dark and bleak outlook for those who are getting well or in recovery.
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Old 11-01-2014, 04:09 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Saya View Post
And awareness is crucial because society still sees the mentally ill as dangerous on one hand or fake on the other.
I don't disagree that some people see the mentally ill this way, but I also wouldn't lump all of society into that. I still don't see what awareness campaigns have done for the mentally ill and it mostly appears pointless to me. Promoting general intellectual growth seems more reasonable than saying to the public, "You should care about this, just because."

It just comes out of an acceptance of human nature, people can't be bothered or have the time to care about every social injustice, but the capability for prioritization and solution to widespread problems comes more from evidence-based understanding than loud soundbites, or even insults. Common awareness might create belonging, but common awareness doesn't necessarily solve problems. Because the lack of little to any productive action often becomes just as popular as the awareness itself, and is even part of it.
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Old 11-10-2014, 05:40 PM   #8
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The problem is that people who do not have mental illnesses do not understand it as a disease, they see it as something that person can control.

This is where the power of mental health awareness lies.
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Old 03-25-2022, 09:53 AM   #9
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The problem is that people who do not have mental illnesses do not understand it as a disease, they see it as something that person can control. chicagofoundationrepairpro.com/foundation-repair-chicago-illinois/

This is where the power of mental health awareness lies.
I think you are right. They don't understand until they experience it by themselves.
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Old 04-24-2022, 06:45 PM   #10
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I think you are right. They don't understand until they experience it by themselves. birth coaching services
Men simply cope more by taking action than talking, or talk more about how they've taken action out of their emotions than airing the emotions themselves; men and women could switch behaviors, this is simply a leniency.
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