Mental health

[Salamurhaaja]

There is no such thing as depression and mental health is only used by weak
fucks to justify not going to work or whatever else they wanna avoid.

I bet the shrinks are having a ball as spitting out some crap about your mom
not loving you which lead to your "depression", of course they spit it at
xxx€/hour and laughing all the way to the bank.

Emo fucks.

 

[Siren]

I didn't have time to read the whole thread, except for a couple of posts (mainly hyena's). I'm not sure what i'm supposed to reply to. It's definitely an interesting topic. For starters i'll say a couple of things, and i'm willing to try to reply to any further questions.

So, what is mental health? What is health?
According to the World Health Organization, "Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease". Which means that mental health could be defined as "a state of emotional well-being, in which the person is able to live and work with ease within the community and to get satisfied by his/her personal characteristics and accomplishments".
On the other hand there's certain criteria that can be used in order to label someone as mentally healthy or not, such as the clinical criterion (according to which mentally healthy is someone who doesn't suffer from a mental disorder), the criterion of the ideal functionality (which is utopical), the statistical criterion (which is more mathematical and could label as abnormal positive qualities as well), the developmental criterion (smooth moving from one stage of psychological development to the next), the social criterion (functionality in relation to the community) and the subjective criterion (how each person feels).
As you can see, defining someone as mentally ill or healthy is not very easy. All of the above criteria should be taken into account when trying to assess someone's mental state. And there will still be grey areas.

As for depression, i'm not too well versed on it yet, but i can say it's an illness. Of course it should be diagnosed and not confused with mere sadness, which is a normal feeling that we all go through.

Regarding help vs. scolding where mental disorders are involved, people should definitely be helped and not scolded.

As for what rahvin said:

I can predict there will form two sides: A, people who say alterations of the functions in the brain are always a medical condition and should be treated with medicine alone; B, people who claim other factors (like force of will or strength of character) play a role and should be called upon to overcome difficulties. Personally, I don't know but I'm convinced everybody ought to make a serious effort to believe in B even if it's actually A.

i have to say that those points of view can be reconciled. Modern psychiatry tends towards the bio-psycho-social model, which means there's a biological, a psychological and a psychosocial component to the genesis of mental illnesses. 'Biological' refers to genetics, neurochemistry, psychopharmacology and neuro-imaging, 'psychological' refers to the psychanalytical, behavioral etc theories, and 'psychosocial' refers to the stressful life events and the role of family and the presence or absence of a net of social support. Treatment should involve all the above factors, ie it should be a combination of medication, psychotherapy and social support.


@hyena: i'm sorry i didn't see this topic earlier, i hope this helps a bit.

 

[hyena]

Thanks for contributing!
I am in a hurry right now and cannot reply properly, but in the meantime here (.ppt, rightclick and save as) is the presentation I'm going to give tomorrow, in an effort to get a coauthor who actually knows what he's talking about, and fMRI facilities since I lack the 3 million dollars needed for a private lab. Comments welcome and wish me well.

 

[Matse]

*Wishes Hyena well*

 

[Siren]

@hyena: the presentation looks nice. how did it go?
the only comment i want to make is that there's a number of people who suffer from mental disorders (eg depression) but are never diagnosed, probably because they never seek medical attention in the first place (or they visit a GP for something else and they fail to recognise the problem). let's not forget that being mentally ill is still stigmatised in many countries.
the other problem i see is that some people could pretend to be mentally ill, in order to gain better treatment in regard to loan repayments. the only thing that can be done about it is to have them assessed by independent and objective professionals.

 

[QRV]

There is no such thing as depression and mental health is only used by weak
fucks to justify not going to work or whatever else they wanna avoid.

I bet the shrinks are having a ball as spitting out some crap about your mom
not loving you which lead to your "depression", of course they spit it at
xxx€/hour and laughing all the way to the bank.

Emo fucks.

Thank you. This post just made my day.

 

[Matse]

Thank you. This post just made my day.

Thanks for quoting him, I didn't see that post. It seems as if he is the greatest genius the world has ever seen. Let's go out and kill all those psychologists and psychiatrists, those everlying greedy people and I will start with ......... my dad. :Smug:
Hooray for intelligence :danceboy:

 

[Salamurhaaja]

I'm so misunderstood, I feel depressed now.
Now where did I put that razor.

 

[anita_job]

There is no such thing as depression and mental health is only used by weak fucks to justify not going to work or whatever else they wanna avoid.

I bet the shrinks are having a ball as spitting out some crap about your mom
not loving you which lead to your "depression", of course they spit it at
xxx€/hour and laughing all the way to the bank.

Emo fucks.

I don't know Tom Cruise posted on this board. Where's my squirt gun?

 

[hyena]

I'm so misunderstood, I feel depressed now.
Now where did I put that razor.

Well, I certainly think that words were misunderstood, which is not only your problem - it's actually something that confuses a whole lot of people, because one thinks that being depressed and being emo are synonims. Even a perfunctory examination of the ICD-10, the DSM or any other diagnostic manual will reveal to you that people who really have a mental health problem look... well.. crazy, not emo.

Say you're bipolar: during a manic episode, you might seriously assert to your friends that you are a TV celebrity (I mean you actually believe it), you might talk nonstop and say meaningless stuff while holding five conversations at the same time, you might feel rested after sleeping less that two or three hours per night for days on end, and you might feel so horny that you might assault people. During a depressive episode, you might not be able to wake up with less than 10-12 hours of sleep, you might actually not be able to walk without feeling fatigued, and you might do a number of completely incomprehensible things, like crying when you see someone reading the newspaper, because in your head there is some weird plot implying that people will pretend to read the newspaper because they really want to avoid talking to you, even if you have never seen them before.

I am sure, as implied by the fact that I opened this very thread, that you actually can DO something about this condition: there's a thing called cognitive behavioral therapy that hinges entirely on this principle. But it's really wrong to assume that emo = mentally ill (well, ok, aside from the fact that if you want to be emo you're actually insane). Emos are perfectly in control of all their drama, do it as a fashion statement or as a way to get attention, and are the first category responsible for all this confusion, because they'll throw around the word "depression" as if it meant the same of "listlessness" or "the blues". But I don't think that many emos need to take lithium daily to stop believing that in a week they can become millionaires, not to mention that emos, contrary to some major depressives, don't actually ever kill themselves.

 

[A8]

Not to insult anyone's intelligence but to associate "Emos" with actual depression is not silly and buying into the label that they are a part of. I agree with hyena, i mean i think they throw the term around carelessly, and its also just part of the label they belong to, the crowd that they identify with.

As for anyone that thinks depression isn't a real disease, I used to think the same as you. I thought it was mainly attention seeking and it was just that these people had weak minds and couldnt deal with the normal pain everyone has to experience in their life. I thought that it was simply a way to be noticed, much like a child doing stupid things to be noticed by their parents. If you were alone and craving a big of recognition then i could see how that would lead to all these stupid physchiatrists making loads of money off people. I was skeptical too.

But then i witnessed what kind of tradegy could take place because of depression. I wont forget how i merely thought it was a phase they were going through, i brushed it aside, as did everyone else they knew. They never sought out a doctor, they werent looking for attention, they never talked to anyone about it in fact. I think with real depression people dont seek help because they dont even see how they could be helped, all they feel is hopelessness.

So just think twice before you automatically judge depression. Sure, a lot of the cases are full of shit, and are people seeking attention and comfort that they arent alone. But it actually a sickness to the people that it is real too.

 

[aflower]

Depression is one of those disorders which most people face in there life as some stage for one reason or the other. If it's children the pressure of studies gets over their head and if it's adults the pressure of work attracts depression.

Xanax is one of those medicines which help in relieving anxiety and depression, but this medicine should only be used for small duration as this is habit forming drug and sometimes the withdrawal symptoms can be more depressing. The withdrawal from this medicine is a slow and gradual process rather than abrupt. Xanax works by slowing down the nervous system and hence relieves anxiety.

 

[Matse]

:danceboy: (he felt the urge to dance here for obvious reasons)

 

[snuffcarl]

Being in my third year of studying psychology i feel obligated to answer your question but i have too much to do in school right now, dammit. now, im ofcourse not that objective on this matter but questioning if its a "real disease" or just weak character seems really odd to me. Ofcourse its an "illness"! "weak character" is something totally different and the symptoms as far as i recall right now (im writing this really quickjy) totally different from depression. Then u might discuss however weak character is something that might partially explain the development of depression but thats a different story.

 

[La Rocque]

A delusional man kills a beautiful woman who he imagines is an extension of himself
It turns out the murder itself was a delusion
The woman is still alive
and the man finds her more alluring than before.
He tries to kill her again, but it is unclear if he succeeds
and if the second act of violence takes place in a dream or reality

closer to home ...
Everything is a dream to me
I believe someone is trying to hypnotize me
I went to consult a psychiatrist but I don't trust her
she might find something wrong with me
If this is real and I'm really here, then things must have happened -

 

[Siren]

I went to consult a psychiatrist but I don't trust her
she might find something wrong with me

This is pretty much like saying:
i went to a microbiologist for exams but i don't trust her
she might find my cholesterol is high

 

[philln]

But but but. What I want to know from you all is what views you hold on mental health. Like - is depression an illness (people should be helped) or a label for weak character (people should be scolded)? Etc etc. You know, the whole debate. And I don't want any scientologists in the room, thank you.

There are various mental disorders like depression, stress, anxiety and many other which affect ones health and I think such disorders can be cured by just supporting the patient and by encouraging then to get over it.
The best way to get over stress, depression and anxiety is to take a break from your regular schedule, go out, and take good sleep. This helps in clearing the mind and try consulting a specialist who can suggest you as how you can get over your problem. Rather than going on drugs, one should look for the reason behind there problem . Keeping yourself busy and changing the schedule also helps sometimes to get over stress and depression.