Mental Health Awareness Week

[ofpheritup]

[quote name='Carrie' date='Oct 3 2005, 09:27 AM']*hugs* to everyone suffering from mental illness.

Its a difficult cross to bear.
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Also very difficult for their family and friends.

WARNING.....WARNING....INCOMING RANT.....HEAD 4 THE HILLS.....

Okay, having said that would someone like to try to explain why Hollywood acknowledges that MPD exists (it was a part of Las Vegas tonight) but I can't get the people at my friend's nursing home to recognize it as a "legitimate" mental illness.

The psychiatrist there feels that she is "severely depressed and faking MPD to get attention." My first question to him was how many years experience dioes he have living with someone with MPD, because I have two. And it pretty much went downhill from there.

Definitely in it for the money. If he had cared he would have gone back thru her medical records. He has never seen them. When I asked him why he said everything he needed to know D told him. She has 30 personalites, must have been a hell of a conversation (sarcasm).

D will soon be going to _________ to live with her father, who molested her as a child.

[Guest T-Bone]

[quote name='Cow of Shame' date='Oct 3 2005, 09:44 PM']"If this inspires you to treat a bipolar friend or relative differently than you would treat anybody else, that would be ill advised."

And yet, you condemn me when I treat you like any other.  *shrug*

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
And another thing; no more sneaking Boo crackers. He is getting rather portly, and the crumbs make for an itchy bedroll
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Cow of Shame...treat those with mental illness with the same [i]respect [/i]due every other person. If you are unable to do that, please shut the up.

[Phazzan]

If I was you TCW, I'd not email that (what you wrote). By doing so, you're only attracting attention to your disorder, not necessarily understanding. Why do you want people to see you as a "label" anyway? Bi-polar is not as serious as other mental illnesses, and with proper treatment bi-polars can live relatively normal, happy lives, and escape the social stigma associated with their disorder. I don't trust psychiatry, it's subjective and based on individual interpretation rather than an objective, methodological diagnostic criteria. Most people go either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

You're too emotional TWC, lighten up.

[theculturewarrior]

[quote name='Phazzan' date='Oct 4 2005, 04:15 AM']If I was you TCW, I'd not email that (what you wrote).  By doing so, you're only attracting attention to your disorder, not necessarily understanding.  Why do you want people to see you as a "label" anyway?  Bi-polar is not as serious as other mental illnesses, and with proper treatment bi-polars can live relatively normal, happy lives, and escape the social stigma associated with their disorder.  I don't trust psychiatry, it's subjective and based on individual interpretation rather than an objective, methodological diagnostic criteria.  Most people go either undiagnosed or misdiagnosed.

You're too emotional TWC, lighten up.
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Everybody already knows! I have a hard time keeping secrets, at least about myself. I didn't write that just for me though. I wrote it for all of the people who have been gawked at in life, whether they were sold tickets to or not.

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='T-Bone' date='Oct 4 2005, 03:02 AM']Cow of Shame...treat those with mental illness with the same respect due every other person.  If you are unable to do that, please shut the up.
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Now, now...no naughty language. As the old saying goes, if you can't keep a civil tongue in your head, giant razor-backed chipmunks will come & rip it from your head & consume it before your eyes.

Apparently, our views of 'respect' differ quite a bit. Personally, I find obscene language to show a lack of respect, but it must be a cultural thing. I do like the 'please' though. Are all christians polite when they tell you to go #^?% yourself?

I thought the whole point was that we aren't to tip-toe around people with mental illnesses as if they'll explode if you look at them sideways. Shall we all talk in whispers & smile giddily at people with such afflictions?

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='ofpheritup' date='Oct 4 2005, 02:34 AM']
D will soon be going to _________ to live with her father, who molested her as a child.

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Is she a minor, that she's being forced to do so?

[Mickey's_Girl]

[quote name='ofpheritup' date='Oct 4 2005, 02:34 AM']Also very difficult for their family and friends.
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Amen to that. Prayers for all who are dealing with family/friends who are mentally ill, particularly those who won't acknowledge that they need help. (Also prayers for all those suffering mental illness! )

MG

[Cow of Shame]

[quote name='Mickey's_Girl' date='Oct 4 2005, 10:49 AM'] particularly those who won't acknowledge that they need help. 
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I had a family member who roomed with an undiagnosed bi-polar individual. Wasn't fun.

[avemaria40]

TCW, beautiful letter! definetely send it out!

[Proud2BCatholic139]

Thanks for that tip!!

I think I have already lost my insanity!!!!!!!!

c c c c c c c

[theculturewarrior]

[quote name='theculturewarrior' date='Oct 3 2005, 06:21 PM']Pray for me. I started getting paranoid today. It had been a long time since I felt that, and for me, the next step is psychosis. I'm feeling better now, but if it happens again, I'm calling my doctor, God help me!

God is teaching me to love. Even in my distress, He reminded me to eat two servings of fruit and to take a walk tonight.
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It's a lack of humility, really. "Do they like me?" "Do they make fun of me when I'm not around?" "Do they secretly despise me?" If I cave into the temptation, it becomes, "Are they plotting against me?" and then it becomes "they ARE plotting against me, RUNNNNN!!!!"

I was slightly tempted today, but I've simply decided not to care. I'm resigned to the fact that I can't read minds or guess intentions. I hope this sticks with me forever. It's joy.

[Guest T-Bone]

[quote name='theculturewarrior' date='Oct 4 2005, 01:00 PM']It's a lack of humility, really. "Do they like me?" "Do they make fun of me when I'm not around?" "Do they secretly despise me?" If I cave into the temptation, it becomes, "Are they plotting against me?" and then it becomes "they ARE plotting against me, RUNNNNN!!!!"

I was slightly tempted today, but I've simply decided not to care. I'm resigned to the fact that I can't read minds or guess intentions. I hope this sticks with me forever. It's joy.
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I get those thoughts too...

The medication I used to take for depression made them worse. A few times it got so bad I had to leave work just to check to make sure people weren't in my room, going through my things.

[photosynthesis]

TCW, I really liked your letter... It's great that you're so open about your issues. I would never tell anyone that I was bipolar.

But, I really don't like it when people refer to people diagnosed with bipolar disorder as "bipolars." Please, don't ever do that. You make it seem like that's all we are and it dehumanizes those that struggle with it. I am not a "bipolar." Please don't call me one.

I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder after being put in a psych ward when I was 12 years old. THey put me in there for wanting to kill myself and I came out of there 10 times more depressed and "disturbed" than I was in the beginning. It was a co-ed children's ward and it was full of abuse and neglect... They didn't feed us regularly. You had to be on Level 2 or above (they had a point system) to get adequete nutrition so it wasn't until I advanced to level 2 that I actually got 3 meals a day!! You didn't get lunch unless you were "good" and they sent kids to bed without supper frequently. I knew kids that were there for 2, 3 months at a time and they were so SKINNY. some of them were as young as six years old. It was horrifying to see...

you had no freedom in the psych hospital, and no rights. when I was 12 I would write in my diary a lot, and my mom was nice enough to bring it to the hospital. But they wouldn't let me write in it unless I showed them everything they wrote. and then they laughed at me.

The kids in this hospital were mostly poor, inner-city kids. 3 of the girls i was in group therapy with had abortions. I was raped there, along with 5 other girls that I know of. I will never, ever go to a single therapist or counselor ever again because of what they did to me. As I always say, you can't spell "therapist" without "rapist."

I don't like taking my medication because it reminds me of why I have to take them. After being raped in the psych ward, I got diagnosed with another disorder - post-traumatic stress disorder. And then they told me I couldn't go to public school anymore, that I had to go to a "special school" for the "disturbed." I was the only person in that school that wasn't using or selling illegal drugs, or alcoholic, or prostituting themselves for crack. I didn't learn much about science or languages or anything like that but I learned a lot about illegal drugs and sexual immorality. The teachers treated us like we were too "disturbed" to learn anything, and so I never got challenged in my classes and I had a hard time getting used to college-preparatory education when I went back to public school.

Now I'm in college and I'm finally in a place where people don't know about my "mental illnesses." I don't ever want them to know because I feel like for the first time in my life people treat me like I'm normal and sane. If you met me, you wouldn't know that I was bipolar/PTSD unless you did something to trigger it. Even though people don't know I struggle with these things I still feel less "human" than everyone else. People that *do* know about my problems just tell me that they can't help me and that I need to go to counseling. I will never ever go to counseling again. I went to counseling for 5 years and it just made things worse.

Some people tell me, "Catholic counseling can help you heal." Whatever. Catholic counseling is probably just as stupid as regular counseling, except they're messing me up and violating me emotionally in the name of MY GOD.

Some people say that being bipolar is just like having diabetes, or another chronic illness... My mom says that a lot. It's NOT. Having diabetes isn't your fault, but throughout my life people have treated me as if being bipolar was my fault and that I deserve to be punished and abused. Most of the time, I believe them. I wish I had diabetes or cancer or some other real illness instead. one that wasn't my fault.

so yeah... it's mental illness awareness week. whoop-dee-freaking-doo. I don't think there's anything to celebrate, and I don't want people to give me a hug if they're only doing it because they feel sorry for me because I'm "ill."

Edited October 4, 2005 by photosynthesis

[theculturewarrior]

St. Dymphna, pray for us!

[theculturewarrior]

St. Thomas More, pray for us!

[Cow of Shame]

photosynthesis, what sort of triggers do you have? Do you believe that to be representative of others with the same disorder, or do you think it's linked more to the negative past that you've had in institutions & with psychologists?

[photosynthesis]

[quote name='Cow of Shame' date='Oct 5 2005, 01:30 AM']photosynthesis, what sort of triggers do you have?  Do you believe that to be representative of others with the same disorder, or do you think it's linked more to the negative past that you've had in institutions & with psychologists?
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I'd say I tend to cry and get depressed more easily than the average person, and I'm sensitive. A lot of times people don't mean to hurt my feelings but they do. At the same time, it's not to say that "normal people" don't get upset and experience times of depression. It just tends to happen on a more exxagerated scale for me.

In terms of post-traumatic stress, there are certain places, sights, smells, feelings, and things people say that can evoke traumatic memories.

In terms of "triggers" being representative of people with these disorders, I'd say everyone is different and while I might have certain tendancies similar to others with bipolar disorder and PTSD, we all have different experiences and that affects me too.

[Snarf]

As far as humor goes...
After my last psychotic episode, I wrote a letter to some friends describing what happened. I tried to oscillate between respect of the situation and humor for my illness. The consequence? When a forensic psychologist read it, he told me that a judge would love to send me to the lethal injection chamber.

So, personally I am glad to be able to laugh at myself. Interjecting laughter upon someone else should be done with extreme caution--some humor is too esoteric, some is too subjective. To poke fun at something, you should have respect for what it's really like. A Polish person telling a Pollack joke is worlds away from a WASP doing so. It's kind of like the double standard that only black people can use a particular slur.

[theculturewarrior]

Abraham Lincoln suffered from severe, occassionally suicidal depression. They say that had Winston Churchill not been bipolar, he couldn't have led the world during WWII. Isaac Newton was schizophrenic. I don't know what the Little Flower had, but she has experienced some of the same things I have!

[philothea]

[quote name='photosynthesis' date='Oct 4 2005, 04:19 PM']I got diagnosed with bipolar disorder after being put in a psych ward when I was 12 years old.  THey put me in there for wanting to kill myself and I came out of there 10 times more depressed and "disturbed" than I was in the beginning.
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I kind of avoided this thread because, well... Er anyway, I should probably have continued to avoid it. That's terrible.

I convinced my mother to put me in a private psyciatric hospital when I was 16. I had assumed that would be a good place to get depression treated. I had not realized that "private psychiatric hospital" meant "place where rich, lazy parents put their out of control teens to whip them into obedience."

I knew, logically, that I was depressed due to some physical imbalance. Yeah, my life kinda sucked, but my bouts of misery didn't correlate with any particular problem. Seemed obvious enough. Silly me, I thought professionals could help.

The helpful psychologist told me that, no really, my mother would never care about me, so I should just deal with it. (Uhhh, thanks. I hadn't really thought of that before. I feel so much better now.) The helpful psychiatrist told me that since I was obviously just there to try to get medicines, they weren't going to give me any. Ha! Lovely.

Everyone else was unrelentingly mean. Apparently this helps other people?! Fortunately, since I had got myself in, so I got myself out two weeks later. Only took about seven years to recover. You can hardly see the scars anymore.



I suppose compared to you I was lucky.