DID, Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Aspergers, Eating disorder, Tourette’s, Agorophobia, OCD

[Infinity + 1]

Is there any one else here at St. Andrews with some sort of “relatively” serious mental illness?
Do you guys feel like you need to keep it a secret?
For those of you that don’t have one, do you think that you would feel pressured to stay quite about something like that?

[Senethro]

go see your doctor

[Senethro]

I can capitalise my name any way I want?

[KayBee]

Since when was Aspergers a mental illness?

Edit: and Tourettes. I would classify both of them as Developmental Disabilities and IIRC so does ICD-10.

May be totally wrong though.

[ff]

I have never been diagnosed, but definately have some extreme traits of OCD. Thankfully I manage to control my compulsions (espec. counting) as much as possible so they don't affect me day to day. I have found talking about them with a couple of close friends very helpful. Unfortunately though, I feel that some of the obsessional thoughts I have are too upsetting and disturbing to share with anyone, which make me feel 'bad' and guilty. The only person that can really understand is a close family member, who also suffers from OCD as well as Tourette's and ADHD.

As this is the first time I have spoken out about this, I would like to remain anonymous for now. However I have generally found the attitudes of people on St Andrews to be very open-minded and understanding to those with mental health conditions/issues. I have met numerous individuals here with Aspergers, depression and eating disorders - and although sometimes it can be hard to fully grasp what these conditions entail for others, people have tried to offer whatever support they can.

[Frank]

Quoting ff from 09:21, 16th Jan 2008
I have never been diagnosed, but definately have some extreme traits of OCD. Thankfully I manage to control my compulsions (espec. counting) as much as possible so they don't affect me day to day. I have found talking about them with a couple of close friends very helpful. Unfortunately though, I feel that some of the obsessional thoughts I have are too upsetting and disturbing to share with anyone, which make me feel 'bad' and guilty. The only person that can really understand is a close family member, who also suffers from OCD as well as Tourette's and ADHD.

From talking to someone I know who's a 'first-point of contact psychologist' person, I believe it's quite possible to gtet help on this sort of thing. That is getting a little bit of extra support and motivation in overcoming compulsions and things. Of course, that isn't to say that it's an easy thing to even speak to someone about, but there's folks out and about that can help you cope with that sort of thing (as you've described it: compulsions, upsetting obsessive thoughts)!

Quoting ff from 09:21, 16th Jan 2008
As this is the first time I have spoken out about this, I would like to remain anonymous for now. However I have generally found the attitudes of people on St Andrews to be very open-minded and understanding to those with mental health conditions/issues.

I have to loosely support this. That is: People I've met in St Andrews certainly seem very open-minded in this regard. That isn't to say that they'll understand or really know how to react or be anything, if personal experience is anything to go by (which, in my case is extremely limited) then folks seem quite considerate.



[hr]

"There is only ever one truth. Things are always black or white, there's no such thing as a shade of grey. If you think that something is a shade of grey it simply means that you don't fully understand the situation. The truth is narrow and the path of the pursuit of truth is similarly narrow."
Also, some years later:
"here we are arguing about a few uppity troublemakers with a bee in their bonnet and a conspiracy theory."

[Science is Fun]

Are you serious, I guess he/she should have added Retarded to the list.
"is one of several autism spectrum disorders (ASD) characterized by difficulties in social interaction and by restricted, stereotyped interests and activities ... and has impairments that result from maturation-related changes in various systems of the brain."

Dude I know a girl with Aspergers ... that is WAY not cool. It is known as "high functioning autism" and is nothing to be brushed off.

Quoting kaybee from 09:41, 16th Jan 2008
Since when was Aspergers a mental illness?

May be totally wrong though.

[Science is Fun]

Are you serious, I guess he/she should have added Retarded to the list.

Dude I know a girl with Aspergers ... that is WAY not cool. You're splitting hairs over what category things go into demeans the seriously impact something like that can have on some ones life.
Get a DSM!

Quoting kaybee from 09:41, 16th Jan 2008
Since when was Aspergers a mental illness?

May be totally wrong though.

[e]

Hey:D
I can understand why you may feel you'd like to keep it secret. I started having loads of panic attacks just in the middle of a conversation, or out of the blue in a lecture.etc

I understand it may be different for other conditions, but I've felt a lot more comfortable talking to people about it. Generally, so long as you're honest with people they're understanding, and having problems like that just shows that you're human:D

Generally, people are far more perceptive than you'd think... and you could find alot of them already knew... Good luck anyhows

[exnihilo]

Oh, it does not demean anything. Behave.

[Paperweight]

I suffer from depression but have really found that seeing my doctor and talking to student support were the two biggest steps i took to controlling my problem.
Now not only am i able to consider coming off medication that i have been on for years, but i also volunteer with local children with special needs.

[KayBee]

Yeah I'm deadly serious. Though I'm not entirely convinced you are.

[Guest]

Yeah. I've had really bad depression and I've found it difficult to tell people (quite often impossible) and I generally see myself as a person who's quite open about most things. I did have a total breakdown a few years ago as a reaction to quite a lot of stuff, so some people sort of knew, it really wasn't pretty at all, although those who were supportive are really good friends now, and those who weren't aren't worthless - they're just unable to sympathise with something so distant from their own experience (although it's tough to take sometimes)

I guess with close friends I would tell them about the depression thing. It's amazing how many people have had similar experiences or have had a friend/relative with mental illness. My Father's Bipolar, so i guess there could be a genetic link somewhere, it meant that my family already had experience of mental illness when I went crazy.

[Infinity + 1]

Quoting e from 11:04, 16th Jan 2008
Generally, people are far more perceptive than you'd think... and you could find alot of them already knew... Good luck anyhows

Na, no one knows. The “I was drunk” excuse has worked pretty well so far, people just think I'm a total ass.
Out of the three people I told about it, my two better friends didn’t believe me and just sort of brushed it off (the other one stopped talking to me.)

I actually kind of expected to find that things would be pretty accepting here but the one guys reaction really made me question that and the first reply I got on this thread was ...

Quoting senethro from 09:06, 16th Jan 2008
go see your doctor

I am glad I had the foresight to ask something like this to test the waters.

I actually have an acquaintance here who might, not does, but might have paranoid schizophrenia and it basically screwed up her social life when the wrong people found out and made a big rumor of it. She hung out with a pretty posh crowd though so I assumed it was just that group.

[floatingonmycloud]

I wouldn't say I had a serious one, more chronic. To be honest most of the people I have told are "professional" and therefore offer nothing but support. But outside of that the reactions haven't been the best, hence I keep quiet.

It's all very well reading about it in various textbooks, thinking you know you what it is, but until you've experienced it first-hand, whether it be you or a relative, you probably don't have a clue what some people go through.

[fluffy]

a friend of mine from home suffers from schizophrenia and he hasn't told anyone about it apart from his nearest, because he's afraid of their reactions.. actually he spends a lot of time off work because he believes everyone is out to get him, and his teddy bears are the only ones who will look out for him.. it's pretty difficult for him when this happens, and so I can understand why people would want to keep something like that from other people.. it's just so hard to guage reactions..

[hr]

dev ksereis, alla eimai trella erotebmevei mazi sou..

[Mehmsy]

Assburgers.

[hr]

http://standrews.facebook.com/profile.php?id=37106593

[lost]

I am glad I had the foresight to ask something like this to test the waters.

I actually have an acquaintance here who might, not does, but might have paranoid schizophrenia and it basically screwed up her social life when the wrong people found out and made a big rumor of it. She hung out with a pretty posh crowd though so I assumed it was just that group.

This kind of attitude totally appalls me, and I think there is such a misunderstanding generally about mental health problems, we're talking about illnesses that are just as random with regard to who they target as the common cold, and I think it's really sad that people suffering are in a position where they don't feel they can be open about it. Friends could so easily admit that they don't feel able to deal with the situation and withdraw slightly if necessary, though spreading rumours and ignoring people is totally off.

[K]

Quoting Infinity + 1 from 04:11, 16th Jan 2008
Is there any one else here at St. Andrews with some sort of “relatively” serious mental illness?
Do you guys feel like you need to keep it a secret?
For those of you that don’t have one, do you think that you would feel pressured to stay quite about something like that?

hello.

one of my friends has bipolar and is very open about it. I think that if she were to keep it to herself then it'd make her even more insane, as I think that her sounding off and making jokes about it(!) may be of some relief to her.

I think it takes a lot of guts to do that, and if I had a condition like hers, then I would hope I'd have the same attitude - ie an unashamed 'so what?' attitude.

Also I think that bipolar is getting more public attention now than it did before - Steven Fry and Robbie Williams have both admitted to having the disorder, among others. The TV programme that Steven Fry did in Sept 2006 on bipolar was (imho) very important and a significant move away from the usual 'freak show' attitude that is taken toward such mental conditions. Surely this can only help to erode the stigma normally attached with the condition.

[Guest]

Okay, another point (I posted earlier about depression, breakdowns, my Father being Bipolar and stuff) - a lot of people Do Not Understand mental illness. I don't know whehter this is a lack of education or just a choice on their part to avoid something that frightens them (some people may see themselves reflected and magnified in those with mental health problems and this terrifies them as they believe that by having contact with the person they are exposing themselves to something dangerous which will bring out a side ot their personality they have no wish to explore). Still, whatever the reason, the degree of misunderstanding, prejudice and sometimes deliberate provocation and cruelty among other wise educated people is appalling in this town.

I find that it's best to have individual friends rather than being associated with one group, as a group can let you down en masse in a horrible, cruel way due to misunderstandings and misreadings of the situation. Individual friendships however often seem to go deeper and the people will be more sympathetic.

When I told one of my close friends (several years ago before my breakdown) that I had suffered from depressive illness before and felt I was totally spiralling down he just shrugged it off as nothing and said that everyone got low sometimes. When I finally did crash he was among those who stopped speaking to me. No great loss, I guess, it's just that being misunderstood is one of the most painful mental experiences there is.

After my breakdown one 'friend' went round telling everybody that I was 'mental'. Although this is a really immature thing for him to have done it was really difficult to cope with.