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Mental Illness, Stigma and Ignorance

Started by xSilverPhinx, January 26, 2018, 12:45:09 PM

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No one

No one:
The average person gets depressed from time to time, they snap out of it. Sadly, they have no idea of the impact and devastation that accompanies chronic, debilitating depression. They think that people who suffer from it play the woe is me card. Not justifying their actions, it's just difficult for people to wear another's shoes unless they have walked that same mile.

Aregentium:
You do have a point, but it seems to me like a failure in empathy for those suffering from chronic depression. I don't know if it's a current trend, but now with all the information available and especially almost high exposure to depression and other mental illness-related topics in the media and such, could it be that people are becoming desensitized to it? Like, it's something so commonplace these days because people are talking about it more that it somehow downsizes the negative experience?

I hope I'm making sense...


Maybe not so much as desensitized as it is misunderstood. This can be said of any illness or injury where those that are unfamiliar with the crisis at hand. Unless you have a direct effect from said injury or illness or you know someone who suffers from, it is hard to quantify or fathom just what they are going through.

Let's face it, if a good portion of people who languish through this exhausting, depleting misery barley understand it themselves. How can anyone on the outside truly grasp the severity of it all? Most people with no experience area can not begin to comprehend the crushing weight, the consuming emptiness that devours one's will.

It is easy to sit on the sidelines and mercilessly judge, those that appear weak. And humans always choose the path of least resistance. The mock with the what do you have to be depressed about, as if life is some sort of comparison as to who has more right to wallow in their despair.   

It's all just a matter of understanding. If humans took more time to understand one another, the whole of their misfortune would melt away, and what a wonderful time it would be.

Magdalena

Quote from: No one on February 01, 2018, 12:59:51 AM
...How can anyone on the outside truly grasp the severity of it all? Most people with no experience area can not begin to comprehend the crushing weight, the consuming emptiness that devours one's will.
...
This is deep.

"I've had several "spiritual" or numinous experiences over the years, but never felt that they were the product of anything but the workings of my own mind in reaction to the universe." ~Recusant

Ecurb Noselrub

Quote from: No one on February 01, 2018, 12:59:51 AM
No one:
The average person gets depressed from time to time, they snap out of it. Sadly, they have no idea of the impact and devastation that accompanies chronic, debilitating depression. They think that people who suffer from it play the woe is me card. Not justifying their actions, it's just difficult for people to wear another's shoes unless they have walked that same mile.

Aregentium:
You do have a point, but it seems to me like a failure in empathy for those suffering from chronic depression. I don't know if it's a current trend, but now with all the information available and especially almost high exposure to depression and other mental illness-related topics in the media and such, could it be that people are becoming desensitized to it? Like, it's something so commonplace these days because people are talking about it more that it somehow downsizes the negative experience?

I hope I'm making sense...


Maybe not so much as desensitized as it is misunderstood. This can be said of any illness or injury where those that are unfamiliar with the crisis at hand. Unless you have a direct effect from said injury or illness or you know someone who suffers from, it is hard to quantify or fathom just what they are going through.

Let's face it, if a good portion of people who languish through this exhausting, depleting misery barley understand it themselves. How can anyone on the outside truly grasp the severity of it all? Most people with no experience area can not begin to comprehend the crushing weight, the consuming emptiness that devours one's will.

It is easy to sit on the sidelines and mercilessly judge, those that appear weak. And humans always choose the path of least resistance. The mock with the what do you have to be depressed about, as if life is some sort of comparison as to who has more right to wallow in their despair.   

It's all just a matter of understanding. If humans took more time to understand one another, the whole of their misfortune would melt away, and what a wonderful time it would be.

Nice post.  Just my relatively brief experience with actual depression helps me empathize with those who suffer from it long-term or more intensely than I did.  I spent one night in jail as an 18 year-old - that was enough to convince me I never want to go back.  I spent a few weeks in depression - that was enough to know how horrible it could be if it didn't go away.

No one

Ecurb Noselrub:
I spent a few weeks in depression - that was enough to know how horrible it could be if it didn't go away.


And that's just it, it does not go away. Once you plummet to its depths, climbing out seems unimaginable. Unless one seeks help. Lamentably, many in this situation either feel they deserve to feel this way, or see asking for help as a sign of weakness. That is the stigma attached to depression.

Icarus

When we get around t it we can discuss how little we know about PTSD.  What we do know is that it is a devastating condition that has its origin in being involved in, or witnessing some human horror.  If you were close to your platoon leader who stepped on an IED or Claymore mine that blew his legs off, saw the result of a bombing or rocket attack that killed innocent women and children.   Even the dismemberment of an enemy will leave an indelible impression that can not be dismissed or forgotten.

PTSD victims have tens of times more suicides than those of us who are merely sad or have simple anxieties. They are many times over more likely to destroy their families, become homeless, get hooked on drugs, or commit a murder.  Sadly we are not paying as much attention to that sad state of affairs as the sickness deserves.  It is much easier for us to pretend that that very real problem does not exist as seriously or as often as it does.  It does not touch us so we can ignore it or insist that the victim just get a grip and pull up his socks.

I have used the masculine case, but it is not exclusively a male problem. Women too have demons.

xSilverPhinx

Thanks for posting your thoughts, guys. It's given me plenty to think about!
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Dave

Quote from: Icarus on February 01, 2018, 10:02:01 PM
When we get around t it we can discuss how little we know about PTSD.  What we do know is that it is a devastating condition that has its origin in being involved in, or witnessing some human horror.  If you were close to your platoon leader who stepped on an IED or Claymore mine that blew his legs off, saw the result of a bombing or rocket attack that killed innocent women and children.   Even the dismemberment of an enemy will leave an indelible impression that can not be dismissed or forgotten.

PTSD victims have tens of times more suicides than those of us who are merely sad or have simple anxieties. They are many times over more likely to destroy their families, become homeless, get hooked on drugs, or commit a murder.  Sadly we are not paying as much attention to that sad state of affairs as the sickness deserves.  It is much easier for us to pretend that that very real problem does not exist as seriously or as often as it does.  It does not touch us so we can ignore it or insist that the victim just get a grip and pull up his socks.

I have used the masculine case, but it is not exclusively a male problem. Women too have demons.

Icarus, please do not forget that PTSD, in its broad interpretation of including flashbacks and seemingly inappropriate responses to misinterpreted stimuli, affects those subjected to prolonged abuse of emotional, sexual, physical, domestic, taunting or bullying at school or on anti-social media and so on. It can also be suffered by members of the law agencies and emergency services. Ir mrmbers of the public who cannot avoid being adversely involved in traumstic incidents.

Yes, chances are PTSD lije symptoms might be found in many of the mass shooting perpetrstors. Whst experiences turned their minds or made them liable to "blow"?

Not entirely relevant to this and I am not sure if he suffered PTSD but they interviewed the "model" for "Rambo",  the "A Team's"
"Hanibal Smith" and others Bo Gritz,  on the radio the other day. Frightening. He still slerps with a pistol under his pillow and a shotgun within reasy each it seems - plus the usual full home armoury.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Icarus

Don't overthink it Silver. 

Reality is a bitch and we need to address it but not let it diminish us. Compassion ? Yes. Personal guilt? No. Not until mankind has achieved some higher state of being.  That is the stuff that Christian religion is pretended to be built on.  It is not working very well in the broad scheme of things. Would that it were so.

Dave

Quote from: Icarus on March 05, 2018, 01:28:54 AM
Don't overthink it Silver. 

Reality is a bitch and we need to address it but not let it diminish us. Compassion ? Yes. Personal guilt? No. Not until mankind has achieved some higher state of being.  That is the stuff that Christian religion is pretended to be built on.  It is not working very well in the broad scheme of things. Would that it were so.

:thumbsup2:
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

jumbojak

So, we're talking about mental illness and stigma. When my grandfather was twelve years old my great grandfather shot himself after Sunday dinner in the backyard. When my father was twenty three, my father found him in an old house on the farm having asphyxiated himself with a hose from his truck's exhaust. When I was fourteen, my father was found after having committed suicide in the same way. I know a thing or two about mental illness.

The stigma for me is other people knowing that I'm going to wind up the same way but sending the cops to haul me to jail when I need someone to talk to. Because I don't have anyone that I can talk to. Not honestly anyway. The same people who won't hire me because theyknow I'm a liability. If they give me any sort of responsibility I'll just off myself or lose it like my dad fid on occasion and hurt people
I'm stuck in shitty work but my responsibilities won't let me leave this place.

It's those responsibilities that caused my relationship with Claire to end. I lost my best friend without a word. She couldn't deal with me anymore and I can't say I blame her. I wouldn't put up with my shit either. Don't really want to stay but can't move on. Stuck. And because of it I wound up hurting someone I cared more deeply for than anyone in my life.

I'm past that now but anytime I think about trying to find someone new I'm frightened by the fact that I'll have to lie to them. Lie so they aren't scared away. Lie to protect them when what I really need is someone that I can confide in. If I'm going to talk, really talk, I have to know it won't go any further than them.

But, when I do talk the cops are called to "keep me safe" and I have to work my way out of that jam without commiting a fucking felony by lying to the goddamn police. I can't see a doctor because the family doctors just throw drugs at the problem, most of which I couldn't take if I though it would help, and the head doctors all seem to want to wait a year or two for an appointment. Unless of course you're rich. I'll never be rich though.

It's damn near impossible to navigate this goddamn minefield. No matter how badly you want something, you can't have it. Even if you get it, somethings there to take it away. So you get up in the morning to take the dog out and go to work because they count on you. They might not all appreciate you but they know damn well when you're not there. On the way home you find something to do, something someone else needs done.

I don't think many normal folks appreciate just how much a depressed person needs to be depended on. They need to know that somewhere someone is counting on them being at some place or doing some thing. It might not seem like much but letting them pick something up from the store, or take out your trash can be a big help.

Because without that, they'd never bother getting up or getting dressed. They might shower but only so they don't feel greasy and uncomfortable on the couch.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

xSilverPhinx

So sorry to hear that you've suffered that much, jumbojak. :(
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


jumbojak

You learn to deal with it. The point I was trying to get across before I got going was to try to let people be useful. Inactivity is the worst. My dad really got really bad after back surgery put him out of work.

"Amazing what chimney sweeping can teach us, no? Keep your fire hot and
your flue clean."  - Ecurb Noselrub

"I'd be incensed by your impudence were I not so impressed by your memory." - Siz

Dave

JJ, I can entirely rekate to your experiences. Suicide anxiety, alcoholism and clinical depression run through my family's history. Thoughts of suicide and all but alcoholism (or sny other drugs use beyond once being a smoker) figure in my personal history.

I also fully understand the sense of being needed, it gives you a value thst, perhaps, you deny yourself. That is part of the reason I undertake voluntary work - I enjoy it because it gives me a few of the things that having a stable family environment give to others. It is an importsnt part of my social life.

Strangely my almost fatal heart attack(s) (the cause of which was probably as much due to my genes and my "emotional climate" as my smoking, weight and lack of exercise*) seemed to "cure" me of some if those problems. A kick in the mental as well as the physical ass. But I recommend finding other solutions if possible.

However, some things still hsunt me and I have to consider that I have the strength of character, and purpose, to live through this. I take a pleasure in helping others, where I can do so safely - occasionaly without them knowing so.

Keep going, JJ, I enjoy your virtual company and admire your skills and abilities (and am envious of your facilities!)

* All those things are said to be part of the complex and tangled web of cause and effect, psychology is the art of understanding which kinds of knots to undue in the right order. Then rebuilding a simpler but more stable one in its place.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Dragonia

Wow JJ, I'm kind of speechless, but I'm glad you shared that part of your life with us. Thank you, because it can't be pleasant talking about these issues.
I like your thoughts on being needed, and that will always be in the back of my mind now.
I'm glad you're here. 
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle. ~ Plato (?)

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: jumbojak on March 06, 2018, 01:59:56 AM
You learn to deal with it. The point I was trying to get across before I got going was to try to let people be useful. Inactivity is the worst. My dad really got really bad after back surgery put him out of work.

Yes, it makes sense. 
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey