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Medical versus Mental Health

Draka

Draka

Wonder Woman
Why is discussion of mental health issues considered so taboo? "Rude" even?

If someone describes some oddity about a part of their body and one replies with information pertaining to how that certain oddity could be indicative of a particular medical condition as it is often a symptom of such that is usually taken as simply information.

If someone describes an oddity about the way they think or perceive something and one replies with how that certain oddity could be indicative of a particular mental condition as it is often a symptom of such that seems to be taken as "rude" or mean or calling names.

If one has the first scenario they aren't likely to be deemed confrontational or rude, but the second they will be.

Shouldn't mental health be openly discussed more anyway? There is such a stigma attached to it. Like it is an insult or slight to even have it hinted upon that someone could have a mental health issue. People don't respond with such an air of being appalled if you mention that they could have a medical condition that should likely be checked into, but mention just the possibility that someone could have a mental condition and people lose their composure entirely.

Shouldn't mental health be as openly discussed as medical? Wouldn't it increase the chances of treatment and acceptance? The more people are shush shush about it the more it is treated as some dirty little thing to be ashamed of.
 
Lyndon

Lyndon

"Peace is the answer" quote: GOD, 2014
Premium Member
I have manic depression, I also run a semi successful violin repair and sales business, I am not at all ashamed to have a mental illness, in fact I tell almost anyone about it because I want them to be aware that having a mental illness does not stop me from being a successful person, and providing valuable services for my customers.
 
Draka

Draka

Wonder Woman
There is such this hang up about being "crazy" that if one mentions mental health issues suddenly it's an insult. People have mental health conditions just like medical conditions. It's not a matter of shame. One isn't ashamed of being anemic, one shouldn't be ashamed of having a diagnosed mental condition either.
 
The Emperor of Mankind

The Emperor of Mankind

Currently the galaxy's spookiest paraplegic
Draka said:
There is such this hang up about being "crazy" that if one mentions mental health issues suddenly it's an insult. People have mental health conditions just like medical conditions. It's not a matter of shame. One isn't ashamed of being anemic, one shouldn't be ashamed of having a diagnosed mental condition either.
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I suspect because mental illness is viewed as a sign of weakness. A symptom of this social stigma is the use of terms denoting poor mental health to denigrate, mock or insult someone. 'You're mad' or 'that's completely insane' or 'that guy's a bit whacko'. Hell, I know I've said things like this so often. I still do. Flip it round though and imagine someone comes up with a terrible idea and you hit out with 'mate you must have cancer' or 'that's you're idea? You're HIV-positive!'.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
 
U

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
Draka said:
Why is discussion of mental health issues considered so taboo? "Rude" even?

If someone describes some oddity about a part of their body and one replies with information pertaining to how that certain oddity could be indicative of a particular medical condition as it is often a symptom of such that is usually taken as simply information.

If someone describes an oddity about the way they think or perceive something and one replies with how that certain oddity could be indicative of a particular mental condition as it is often a symptom of such that seems to be taken as "rude" or mean or calling names.

If one has the first scenario they aren't likely to be deemed confrontational or rude, but the second they will be.

Shouldn't mental health be openly discussed more anyway? There is such a stigma attached to it. Like it is an insult or slight to even have it hinted upon that someone could have a mental health issue. People don't respond with such an air of being appalled if you mention that they could have a medical condition that should likely be checked into, but mention just the possibility that someone could have a mental condition and people lose their composure entirely.

Shouldn't mental health be as openly discussed as medical? Wouldn't it increase the chances of treatment and acceptance? The more people are shush shush about it the more it is treated as some dirty little thing to be ashamed of.
Click to expand...

It should be. I deal with it daily. If someone has a mental health condition, a lot of things are perceived wrong, sure. That is why a psychologist is trained to talk with people in specific ways so to not disturb them when it comes to their mental state. Mental health is part of medical health. I HATE when people get that mixed up. My insurance company didn't consider mental health as important until sixteen years ago. Now they are starting to pay more for people who are seriously ill. This is beyond my having delusions or someone thinking god is floating up in the sky.

Mental illness is very serious. Anyone's mental health is a serious issue if bothered with. Anything from having extraneous arguments to something simple as doping an ice cream cone and it causes a ecstatic reaction that would think have nothing to do with the "simplicity" of a fallen cone. However, mental health looks at things differently.

That's why you see people on RF get defensive about their faith because their faith is a part of their body, spirit, and mind.

Anyone can discuss mental health. That's not a problem. Of course, not everyone are psychologist. I just find it more healthier ways to discuss issues any with any person suffering from a mental illness. However, we don't know online who has a mental illness and who does not. All we know is what we see on our screens. So, it should be talked about. I am all for health awareness. Unlike medical where my neuro tells me "you're seizures can't be cured" if you tell someone with a mental illness their illness can't be cured, it's wrong, it's bad or whatever, it sends a different signal because mental health is still being studied.

Like anything else, it's how we say our words not always what we say that's the key.

In regards to Health and Healing, I wish there were people here that understood the difference. Medical doctors even need a brush up on their communication skills with their "mentally ill" patients.

:(
 
lovesong

lovesong

:D
Premium Member
I think it has to do with the idea that if you have any mental condition there's "something wrong with you." Society has strung it out so that, like @A Greased Scotsman said, mental illness has come to signify weakness. It's a shame that it comes down to "there must be something wrong with you" thinking, this mental illness shaming really should change.
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
lovesong said:
I think it has to do with the idea that if you have any mental condition there's "something wrong with you." Society has strung it out so that, like @A Greased Scotsman said, mental illness has come to signify weakness. It's a shame that it comes down to "there must be something wrong with you" thinking, this mental illness shaming really should change.
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Or they romanticize it in some perverse way, such as the "mad artist" stereotype. Or they look at it with some other bias-tinted goggles, such as with Asperger's Syndrome how some people see the intelligence and ignore the social difficulties and romanticize it, or they focus on the social awkwardness and struggles while refusing to see the intelligence and mock and ridicule it.
 
Covellite

Covellite

Active Member
Most people suffer (and die) from cardiovascular diseases. The most important behavioral risk factors of heart disease and stroke are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use and harmful use of alcohol or banned substances. But, it's still well accepted, it's not a taboo, nothing to be ashamed of. Even more, some use that condition to manipulate others or to be set free from there's obligations.
Paradoxically, mental illnesses are something people should be ashamed of, but they are mostly far more complex to avoid (if it's a behavioral factor), or not even possible if it's a environmental or a genetic thing.
I guess it has very deep roots: not so long ago, mentally ill people (like epilepsy) considered to be "possessed" by "evil"... It still stays somewhere in our collective subconsciousness.
Quite frankly speaking, I really don't feel good when I have to spend some time with a friend of mine who is in severe depression for ages. No matter how hard do I really want to treat her "normally", I usually find some excuse to avoid her presence. Bad me.

Best wishes :)
 
K

Kapalika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
As much as I can figure it's because people conflate the mind with personality and so they tie a value judgement of your character and value to it.

It also doesn't help that mental illness isn't well understood, even often by medicine and doctors let alone the general public. The mind is insanely complex.

A Greased Scotsman said:
I suspect because mental illness is viewed as a sign of weakness. A symptom of this social stigma is the use of terms denoting poor mental health to denigrate, mock or insult someone. 'You're mad' or 'that's completely insane' or 'that guy's a bit whacko'. Hell, I know I've said things like this so often. I still do. Flip it round though and imagine someone comes up with a terrible idea and you hit out with 'mate you must have cancer' or 'that's you're idea? You're HIV-positive!'.

Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it?
Click to expand...

Oh man the shame is a very real feeling, it actually makes it hard for many to get help. Heck I've even seen in the mental health profession many care takers treat their patients as if they are lesser people. I've also read and heard blind people say similar things with people talking as if they can't hear them upon hearing that they are blind, asking someone else to speak for them. So I think it's also part of a larger sense of attitudes towards disabled people.
 
K

Kapalika

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
Over a year ago I worked at a place that employed disabled people as part of a work program. Some were mentally retarded, some were blind, some just had mental issues. Anyways all the people in this program had a job coach and some had other people helping them with work training ect and something I noticed was that many workers treated it like they were baby sitting, not training this person to adapt and learn so that they could stay employed. They even tended to (but to a bit less of a degree) treat averagely intelligent people in the program like that. Oddly the only people they never seemed to treat like that was this one blind guy I knew but I think he had worked there for a long time and wasn't actually a client of the program.

One day, when I had first started working there I was mistaken as one of the clients in the program because I got my arm stuck in my jacket sleeve when trying to twist around to do something else (I'm a total clutz) and one of those people talked to me as if they were speaking to a child. I was pretty offended mind you, seeing as I was probably more intelligent than anyone else working there including the CEO. Didn't say anything as I didn't want to rock the boat. But I got to see a lot of what I described in my previous first hand there.

I've also had a few family members work in the medical field including mental health so I've seen into that world too, was for a long time before realizing I was transgender treated with little success so first hand experienced a lot of it myself. Mental health professionals... mostly not the actual therapists and psychiatrists usually but everyone else working there... tends to treat you a certain way. Anyways after I sorted out the cause of all my issues (gender dysphoria and some trauma) I realized just how badly equipped the mental health field is to even accurately diagnose often... doing research myself it became apparent compared to my experiences and the experiences as others as well as just reading up on it, that really it's just a guessing game. So really like I said mental health isn't that greatly understood by the professionals let alone common people.

Science has made a lot of strides but in my experience doctors don't tend to keep up on enough literature after they graduate so their information can be 10, 20, 30 years out of date. Last time I went to a psychiatrist years ago he read over my intake, talked to me for 10 minutes and looked something up online and diagnosed me. I'd love to say that this was an exception but this is more of the rule. It's hard to find a mental health professional that is actually really good at their job. It's really hit or miss with more miss. I heard some critique that those in the medical and mental health field are not taught to think like scientists (I've seen articles and papers suggesting those that do are a lot better at treating their patients), so maybe it's part of the culture.
 
Nerthus

Nerthus

Wanderlust
I have a mental health problem and its taken a long time to be open about it - even though i work in mental health services myself.

I have encountered many people, most of two particular churches, who told me that I was suffering from mental health problems because I was allowing myself to and I just needed to pray more and 'be well' and then everything would be ok.

I tried talking to someone about mental illness once. They didn't know about me, but they said that it was caused by simply not being motivated to be "happy." And if I trusted in God - then there should be no reason at all to not be ok.

I know similar is said about physical health problems, but I have met so many people who do not believe that MH problems can be the result of changes in brain chemistry etc. "It's not the illness, it's the person.."

An evangelical friend of mine told me that I am likely to have some kind of demonic influence.

I work hard to promote understanding and awareness of mental health problems... but even I feel like there are certain people and places I cannot be open about my own struggles.
 
Quintessence

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
In my experience, on the whole neither of them are openly discussed and neither gets interpreted as confrontational/rude. And I have to get confrontational about things like this sometimes as part of my job - it's a matter of knowing how to say things the right way. "I notice you put down on your academic assessment that you've had trouble sleeping. Have you discussed that with a medical care professional?" goes over a lot better than saying something like "Have you considered the possibility that you might be an insomniac and need to get on meds?"
 
Father Heathen

Father Heathen

Veteran Member
What annoys me is how autism and Asperger's are now being used as default insults, just as "gay", "faggots", and "queer" were.

For example, when playing multiplayer games online, you used to routinely see/hear immature kids calling each other "faggots". Nowadays they accuse each other of having autism and Asperger's. It's ridiculous.
 
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Draka

Draka

Wonder Woman
Father Heathen said:
What annoys me is how autism and Asperger's are now being used as default insults, just as "gay", "faggots", and "queer" were.

For example, when playing multiplayer games online, you used to routinely see/hear immature kids calling each other "faggots". Nowadays they accuse each other of having autism and Asperger's. It's ridiculous.
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:eek: Seriously? I use to play online games quite a bit but haven't done so for almost a year now. I had no idea they did that now.
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
Draka said:
:eek: Seriously? I use to play online games quite a bit but haven't done so for almost a year now. I had no idea they did that now.
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Or they insist those with Asperger's are self-diagnosed and just looking for an excuse to excuse social awkwardness and inappropriate actions and behaviors.
 
A Vestigial Mote

A Vestigial Mote

Well-Known Member
Isn't it obvious why it is usually taken so personally? From all but a perspective of utility we literally are our minds, our intellect, our ability to perceive the world. In fact, I hold the opinion that most people conflate their mind/consciousness with the idea of a "soul". So, in essence (and though most would not admit this, or even realize it), when you call into question their mental faculty, you are implicating the greater "them"/self in the process. Insulting their "soul", after a fashion.
 
Shadow Wolf

Shadow Wolf

Certified People sTabber
A Vestigial Mote said:
Isn't it obvious why it is usually taken so personally? From all but a perspective of utility we literally are our minds, our intellect, our ability to perceive the world. In fact, I hold the opinion that most people conflate their mind/consciousness with the idea of a "soul". So, in essence (and though most would not admit this, or even realize it), when you call into question their mental faculty, you are implicating the greater "them"/self in the process. Insulting their "soul", after a fashion.
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Because I am not my depression or my anxiety. Many people tend to suspect I have Asperger's, and they would be right, but all that really means is they have a label for the areas I'm not so naturally gifted in. I may have days where I don't want to get up and I just want to sleep, but I choose to not let it overcome me. I have major depression and anxiety, and though they are a part of me like my bad knee, it don't let it become me with acknowledgements towards my limits when needed.
 
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