Mental Illness vs other illnesss

[nighteyes]

It wasnt SSS that told me to snap out of it. It was a nurse at my gp's and I had to fight to get onto medication. SSS actually helped me. But naturally I didnt get to see SSS till i started uni last year. Its now been 1 year and 2 months since the last time I self harmed.

im sane again. to tell you the truth im now pretty sure i had childhood depression from the age of five which eventually turned into adult depression...so really im sane for the first time.

It was amazing the first time the pills actually worked. The world physically brightened...or so it seemed to me anyways. people dont seem to realise that depression colours EVERYTHING how you see the world, people in it etc.

theres even a theory that depressed people see the world as it really is. hence why they are misrable. Im not sure if I like that theory or not.



[hr]

i didnt say i was consistant, just right!

[OhhMy]

Some suicides are a cry for help. Not everyone who attempts to kill them selves actually wants that attempt to succeed. That is why many sucide attempts are classed as attention seeking because that is exactly what they are. Death is not that priority.

However I would rather have HIV/AIDS, cancer or any other physical illness than Chronic Depresion, Bi-Polar disorder or Schizophrenia. They are horrible debilitaing diseases that litteraly destroy people.

[the reason for the word w]

I think it was Harmless Loony who mentioned panic attacks earlier. Anxiety, together with panic attacks and phobias are another mental illness that most people aren't aware of. When it comes to phobias, many people think of being afraid of spiders or maggots or maybe heights. I have suffered from agoraphobia and social phobia (being scared of open spaces and of social contact) for most of my life and it got so bad when I was about 17 that I missed a whole year of school. Just the thought of having to leave the house or having to sit in a classroom with my classmates gave me panic attacks. This eventually led to complete isolation from my "peers" and severe depression. Most people just could not understand what was wrong with me and I was told numerous times by my parents to just "get over it" or "just do what everybody else does". People in school thought it was just a great tactic to get out of class, my father thought I was just trying to give them grief and that it was a teenage rebellion thing. I am now at a place where I can live a mostly normal life, but I still get panic attacks from time to time and I when I do I am still terrified that people will notice and think I am insane...

[hr]

Are you a terrorist?
- Depends! Are you terrified?

[rob 'f*ck off' wine boy]

re: the being pumped full of pills thing: some psychologists are in fact trying to alter brain waves that are, for whatever reason, not as they are meant to.

Apparantly abuse at a young age can cause people to have more brain activity in a particular region of the brain (can't remember which) which has been linked to depression.

I'm not saying the pills are great, but I do believe that the idea behind it is to chemically cause the brain to revert to brain patterns closer to a happy person's.

Yep.

[Thalia]

Sadly though, whatever the theory may be about pills, they just don't work in a lot of cases of depression. The fact is that we don't understand the brain well enough to say for sure that pills will work, and even if they do, there's no 100% certain answer as to why. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors, for example, have been theorised to work because of an effect on glutamate levels rather than serotonin. And various drugs have influences on different neurotransmitters i.e. norepinephrine, dopamine and the method of working out which one to prescribe is just trial and error. The fact that the drug treatments can vary this way, only goes to show how little we really know about the biological causes of depression. And then of course there's the fact that drugs can actually worsen your mood when you first start taking them, which surely wouldn't be the case if it was a simple case of increasing neurotransmitter levels.

The only real way to combat depression is through dedicated cognitive therapy. All anti-depressants can really do for most people is allow them to reach a state of mind where they're capable of achieving what they need to in therapy (provided the drugs work in the first place).

I find it a shame that people so easily dismiss mental illness - the processes involved in schizophrenia, clinical depression, manic depression, etc. are very complex simply because the brain itself is so complex and it's only through people accepting these things as real, dangerous diseases, that we'll really begin to get somewhere in understanding them.



[hr]

The shadow proves the sunshine...

[ARTooD2]

Depression is shit...I have been in the position of self harming and on the brink of suicide on a few occasions this year but the doctors at the health centre (well the tait practice at any rate) seemed to be uncaring and wanting me to go away which has left me in a shitty position for next year as most of the time I didn't have the motivation to go to lectures and drank for the rest of the time...but there we go...I probably could have sorted myself out but didn't seeing as every time I went to the doctors I felt belittled and looked down upon I just decided to stop going...

[hr]

King Sinner

[nighteyes]

try SSS honest - maggie neilson is a wonderful woman. she gave me the kick up the ass i needed to get myself sorted. She listens, doesnt put you down or patronise you.
If you get someone you dont think is helping - it might jsut be that particular councellors style - try another member of staff..they dont mind if you chop and change - they are there to help. sss can also really help out if its affecting your work.

nightline - in my case i found to be as much use as a chocolate teapot when i called them, but you never know it might help to give it a try if you are feeling that low.

Its not just the tate practice - ive had a few docs put me down, treat me like my problems dont matter and didnt even bring up treatment plans. but keep trying - a female doc is more likly to be sympathetic in my experiance - if you get no luck with your own practice try to get seen by another practice - if you explain that you are not happy with the way your own practice is treating you then they should let you see one of theres.

I was lucky in that i got it sorted out in my first year - despite that i nearly failed because i never went to classes, slept all the time.

I told my advisor what was going on and i prectically was told i should have taken a gap year and that i was never going to make it into hons psych - charming wouldnt you say. she was really nasty about it. (fuck her - i pulled up my grades and got in - she can go fuck herself)

theres always someone to talk to if you need help.

[hr]

i didnt say i was consistant, just right!

[Rufus]

Quoting nighteyes from 11:24, 16th Jun 2006
I told my advisor what was going on and i prectically was told i should have taken a gap year and that i was never going to make it into hons psych - charming wouldnt you say. she was really nasty about it. (fuck her - i pulled up my grades and got in - she can go fuck herself)

[hr]

i didnt say i was consistant, just right!

I assume you both went to the same charm school?

[Pudding Queen]

Can you still be around for them, and try to listen to them, even if you can't actually help them in any practical way, and you start getting depressed yourself listening to them?


Just the fact that you want to help is important. My depression didn't manifest itself into self harm so because there were no obvious physical signs no-one seemed to notice, which made it even worse. Having some-one notice really does help, even if you don't know what to say to make it better.

[Setsuna]

I think some of the staff at the Health Centre should be sent on some kind of course to help them recognise the impact depression can have on students, as they dont seem to be able to deal with it very well.

Although anti-depressants worked for me, they just decided to put me on them there and then... I was told that I was at the stage of depression where 'cognitive therapy would be of no use'.

The brain is indeed an enigma. I want to know why mines has ceased to work now that I have a dissertation to write.

[floatingonmycloud]

I think more should be done to try and reduce the stigma attached to mental illness. I think it puts people off getting help, I know it did for me for years and I only finally got help at the end of last year.

For me, I'd much rather have a broken limb that heals quicker than constant emotional pain. That hurts just as much as any other illness although it is a different kind of pain.

If I'd had got help earlier I'm sure it would have helped me a lot in first year. I did consider going to the doc and SSS but never actually did it until second year.

I hope anyone else that thinks there's something wrong goes and gets help asap. It is hard but once you've done it you will feel better for doing it. If one doctor doesn't listen, find another one. Your mental health is just as important if not more important than physical health.

[Nymphomanic]

Could it be that people are scared of metnal illness affecting them as they don't understand it and therefore don't get close to those suffering from it?

[hr]

I read most of the night and go south in winter - wasteland

[ARTooD2]

To be honest I would rather come home and go to a doctor I like than go up to the health centre ever again...

[hr]

King Sinner

[nighteyes]

it is true that i have always been treated better at home - even by a doctor i have never seen before - the st andrews health center just doesnt treat the student population properly.

[hr]

i didnt say i was consistant, just right!

[KayBee]

Quoting nighteyes from 22:13, 16th Jun 2006
it is true that i have always been treated better at home - even by a doctor i have never seen before - the st andrews health center just doesnt treat the student population properly.

[hr]

i didnt say i was consistant, just right!

In defence of the Health Centre when I was at uni Dr Matthewson was brilliant in treating my depression. He always managed to see me the same day - fitting me in between appointments and at the end of the day. If I was unable to see him personally he would ring me for a chat on the phone. I don't know if he is there now but if he is still at the HC I would recommend him to anyone unhappy with their treatment of depression or other mental health issues. If it wasn't for Dr Matthewson I honestly doubt I would have completed my degree.

Also he's a trained hypnotherapist so is open to alternative therapies for anxiety, depression et al.

[floatingonmycloud]

Dr Scott has been good for me too and has said he's only a phonecall away if I'm struggling over the summer. There will always be doctors who won't listen to you properly, but don't let this put you off them all and remember theycan only help with what you tell them.

[anon]

Quoting harmless loony from 12:42, 15th Jun 2006
I've always believed it takes someone really tough to be able to really care for someone with a mental illness of some sort and I applaud those people and wonder why there is not more support for them.

I agree 100%. I was diagnosed with clinical depression earlier this year after suffering for a number of years in silence and denial. I'm now on medication which slowly but surely is helping me get to the place where therapy can help.

I was astonished at the reaction of those around me when I told them of my condition - I was expecting people to not understand, to think I was an attention seeker, to laugh in my face. Instead, virtually overnight, I became aware for the first time just what a common problem depression and clinical depression is. Turns out it runs in my family - something I am actually grateful for as it meant everyone knew how to react, or perhaps how not to react.

Because I'm not suicidal or self harming there was a danger that my depression wouldn't be taken seriously. Thankfully that hasn't happened.

It puts your entire life on hold. I'm unable to work, unable to cook for myself, unable to go out by myself. Only a few months ago I was unable to get up and dressed by myself.

My boyfriend is a star and I honestly don't know how he does it sometimes.

But the one thing I never do is hide my "condition" from anyone. I'm not ashamed of it, and the depression is not me.

[P.]

Which doctor's in the tait parctice did you see? I personally have had quite good experiences with them.

[AK]

America is a country that uses the term "mental illness" to cover up an overwhelming increase in moral disintegration. The murderers are all suffering from "Temporary Insanity", the brat children are simply suffering from "Attention Deficit Disorder"...people here do not have a bad week, no this would be called "Mild Depression" and if you feel blue for more than a week you have literaly millions of drugs that your money hungry doctor will prescribe to treat your "Manic Depressive Disorder". It is a disease that is slowly consuming the minds of the average American. People take drugs like a sixties rock star for all the billions of disorders that psychologists and doctors seem to create on an hourly basis.
I do not mean to imply that mental illness does not exist, on the contrary it is a field of medicine that we are only now begining to understand.
However,rather than narrowing down an fixing real mental illness, it is becoming a commercial business for pharmaceutical companies that is creating more of a problem than fixing one.

[nighteyes]

i will agree with that last post to an extent - As I said before when they are bringing out anti-depressants for dog...wheres it going to end?
Take the dog to training, stop feeding the kids E numbers and sugar, learn to take some responisibility.
Some people do have problems with mental illness. But how are they going to be taken seriously when it seems like in some regards the treatment and diagnosis of mental illness is turning into a farce/money making endevour.

[hr]

i didnt say i was consistant, just right!