PSA - Mental Health

[Quintessence]

Some things I've been seeing on and off over the past week have inspired me to do something of a public service announcement regarding mental health. For better or worse, the dialogues surrounding mental health in many places are fraught with counterproductive stigmas and misconceptions. Here's a few thoughts to get us to reconsider our approach to mental health (adapted from The 5 Most Common Misconceptions About Mental Illness and https://lifehacker.com/the-misconceptions-about-mental-illness-we-need-to-unle-1711647132):

1. Mental health is a continuum. Mental health is little different from physical health in this regard. We consider it normal to come down with a cold roughly once a year or so, and we need to consider it normal to have an emotional problem once a year or so too. It happens to all of us, and roughly 1 in 5 people are estimated to experience some sort of diagnosable mental health problem annually.
2. Mental health problems do not mean someone is weak. Too often we perceive someone with clinical depression or anxiety as "weak" because of their condition. Again, we can draw parallels to physical health - we wouldn't say someone who is lactose intolerant is weak, would we? We shouldn't do this for mental health problems either.
3. People with mental health problems are more frequently victims of violence than perpetrators. When violent crimes are reported by the media, it's almost inevitable to see someone claiming the perpetrator must have been mentally ill and that this is what caused their behavior. This perpetuates the unwarranted stigma that mental health problems make people violent.
4. People can't just "snap out" of mental health problems. Mental health problems are debilitating precisely because a person can't just "snap out of it," yet that's often what people suffering from these problems are told. Telling people with mental health problems to just "get over it" is not only unhelpful, but can be damaging and discourage them from getting the help they need.
5. Mental health problems are treatable. While not all mental health problems are curable, most of them are treatable. Complete recovery is often a possibility, though it takes time and is not a linear path. There will be steps forwards, backwards, and sideways. But it is definitely not a waste of time, and can give a person good self-care tools to cultivate resilience to future stresses.

Are there other ideas about mental health that you've found important to combat sigmas and misconceptions? Feel free to share them here (ideally with a reference or two)!

 

[ADigitalArtist]

Related to not being a thing people can snap out of, don't shame people who are taking drugs to treat mental illness. While a holistic mind and body approach towards healing and maintenance is very much a good thing, some people need medication just to be able to get out of bed and start, or maintain, healthy habits. Sometimes drugs are necessary, sometimes they're not. But that's between them and their doctor.

Related to not being weak, mental illness is an invisible illness. People often make judgement about people who cannot work, or have limited ability to work, due to mental illness. In no way does berating people for having understandable limitations help them!

That's all I got on my work break. But this is definitely worth coming back to.

 

[Sunstone]

As someone who suffered from chronic depression for about 40 years, but who is now enjoying himself to the point -- and even beyond the point -- his happiness becomes perfectly insufferable for those around him, I think two of the most powerful things you can do for someone with a mental illness are

(1) to encourage them to get professional help (Hone remedies tend to be deceptive -- they usually don't work, but they give people the impression they are doing something productive to cure themselves),

and (2) remind them their disease is either curable or at least manageable.
​

Simple as those two things are, a lot of people don't know about them.

 

[idea]

People with mental health issues are more frequently victims.... sadly, this is one of the reasons victims are often not believed or helped - people think they are just exaggerating or imagining something....

I will add the plea to believe victims. Don't tell anyone they are insane, believe them, and ask how to best help.

 

[Bob the Unbeliever]

Good thread.

I'd like to add to the OP: It is past time in the US to try to get rid of the stigma that Mental Health is somehow a failure on the part of the sufferer.

The Stigma against people with problems is chronic in the US culture--to the point that people have lost their income because of it.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Some things I've been seeing on and off over the past week have inspired me to do something of a public service announcement regarding mental health. For better or worse, the dialogues surrounding mental health in many places are fraught with counterproductive stigmas and misconceptions. Here's a few thoughts to get us to reconsider our approach to mental health (adapted from The 5 Most Common Misconceptions About Mental Illness and https://lifehacker.com/the-misconceptions-about-mental-illness-we-need-to-unle-1711647132):

1. Mental health is a continuum. Mental health is little different from physical health in this regard. We consider it normal to come down with a cold roughly once a year or so, and we need to consider it normal to have an emotional problem once a year or so too. It happens to all of us, and roughly 1 in 5 people are estimated to experience some sort of diagnosable mental health problem annually.
2. Mental health problems do not mean someone is weak. Too often we perceive someone with clinical depression or anxiety as "weak" because of their condition. Again, we can draw parallels to physical health - we wouldn't say someone who is lactose intolerant is weak, would we? We shouldn't do this for mental health problems either.
3. People with mental health problems are more frequently victims of violence than perpetrators. When violent crimes are reported by the media, it's almost inevitable to see someone claiming the perpetrator must have been mentally ill and that this is what caused their behavior. This perpetuates the unwarranted stigma that mental health problems make people violent.
4. People can't just "snap out" of mental health problems. Mental health problems are debilitating precisely because a person can't just "snap out of it," yet that's often what people suffering from these problems are told. Telling people with mental health problems to just "get over it" is not only unhelpful, but can be damaging and discourage them from getting the help they need.
5. Mental health problems are treatable. While not all mental health problems are curable, most of them are treatable. Complete recovery is often a possibility, though it takes time and is not a linear path. There will be steps forwards, backwards, and sideways. But it is definitely not a waste of time, and can give a person good self-care tools to cultivate resilience to future stresses.

Are there other ideas about mental health that you've found important to combat sigmas and misconceptions? Feel free to share them here (ideally with a reference or two)!

Epilepsy and depression (etc) go hand in hand many a times but I notice people wait hand and foot on me when I have a seizure but when eyes go because of, how they call pseudo symptoms, withdrawal, and highly emotional they just say you dont have enough courage. Others tell me I dont need to go to therepy when after finally a great therapist, I founs out the first out many Ive gone to, I REALLY really do need one.

Friends and family are well meaning. While Im still grieving there is a lot similarities between greivng and depression which controls a lot of physical issues.

Anyway, just because we have a condition doesnt mean we will fall apart over it. Not everyone is in the same boat regardless the same label; so, stereotypes are issues too.

I have a book of issues about mental health experiences. I hate seizures but seizures is nothing compared to depression. Im finally "waking up" after thirteen years.

But, well, I wish mental health is seen like physical in that they both are serious and both nees the same (for point) concern. A balance. And also, understand mental and physical illnesses many times go hand in hand. I mean seizures are in the brain, why would we not assume it can influence mental health too!

As for links and documents, there are many. Id have to think of specifics but the topic is sensitive. Those my two cents.

 

[Debater Slayer]

I'm making this thread a sticky.

 

[Prestor John]

Some things I've been seeing on and off over the past week have inspired me to do something of a public service announcement regarding mental health. For better or worse, the dialogues surrounding mental health in many places are fraught with counterproductive stigmas and misconceptions. Here's a few thoughts to get us to reconsider our approach to mental health (adapted from The 5 Most Common Misconceptions About Mental Illness and https://lifehacker.com/the-misconceptions-about-mental-illness-we-need-to-unle-1711647132):

1. Mental health is a continuum. Mental health is little different from physical health in this regard. We consider it normal to come down with a cold roughly once a year or so, and we need to consider it normal to have an emotional problem once a year or so too. It happens to all of us, and roughly 1 in 5 people are estimated to experience some sort of diagnosable mental health problem annually.
2. Mental health problems do not mean someone is weak. Too often we perceive someone with clinical depression or anxiety as "weak" because of their condition. Again, we can draw parallels to physical health - we wouldn't say someone who is lactose intolerant is weak, would we? We shouldn't do this for mental health problems either.
3. People with mental health problems are more frequently victims of violence than perpetrators. When violent crimes are reported by the media, it's almost inevitable to see someone claiming the perpetrator must have been mentally ill and that this is what caused their behavior. This perpetuates the unwarranted stigma that mental health problems make people violent.
4. People can't just "snap out" of mental health problems. Mental health problems are debilitating precisely because a person can't just "snap out of it," yet that's often what people suffering from these problems are told. Telling people with mental health problems to just "get over it" is not only unhelpful, but can be damaging and discourage them from getting the help they need.
5. Mental health problems are treatable. While not all mental health problems are curable, most of them are treatable. Complete recovery is often a possibility, though it takes time and is not a linear path. There will be steps forwards, backwards, and sideways. But it is definitely not a waste of time, and can give a person good self-care tools to cultivate resilience to future stresses.

Are there other ideas about mental health that you've found important to combat sigmas and misconceptions? Feel free to share them here (ideally with a reference or two)!

In light of what you just shared, how is transgnderism not a mental illness and why do you consider it a "snarl" to claim it as such?

 

[Revoltingest]

Some things I've been seeing on and off over the past week have inspired me to do something of a public service announcement regarding mental health. For better or worse, the dialogues surrounding mental health in many places are fraught with counterproductive stigmas and misconceptions. Here's a few thoughts to get us to reconsider our approach to mental health (adapted from The 5 Most Common Misconceptions About Mental Illness and https://lifehacker.com/the-misconceptions-about-mental-illness-we-need-to-unle-1711647132):

1. Mental health is a continuum. Mental health is little different from physical health in this regard. We consider it normal to come down with a cold roughly once a year or so, and we need to consider it normal to have an emotional problem once a year or so too. It happens to all of us, and roughly 1 in 5 people are estimated to experience some sort of diagnosable mental health problem annually.
2. Mental health problems do not mean someone is weak. Too often we perceive someone with clinical depression or anxiety as "weak" because of their condition. Again, we can draw parallels to physical health - we wouldn't say someone who is lactose intolerant is weak, would we? We shouldn't do this for mental health problems either.
3. People with mental health problems are more frequently victims of violence than perpetrators. When violent crimes are reported by the media, it's almost inevitable to see someone claiming the perpetrator must have been mentally ill and that this is what caused their behavior. This perpetuates the unwarranted stigma that mental health problems make people violent.
4. People can't just "snap out" of mental health problems. Mental health problems are debilitating precisely because a person can't just "snap out of it," yet that's often what people suffering from these problems are told. Telling people with mental health problems to just "get over it" is not only unhelpful, but can be damaging and discourage them from getting the help they need.
5. Mental health problems are treatable. While not all mental health problems are curable, most of them are treatable. Complete recovery is often a possibility, though it takes time and is not a linear path. There will be steps forwards, backwards, and sideways. But it is definitely not a waste of time, and can give a person good self-care tools to cultivate resilience to future stresses.

Are there other ideas about mental health that you've found important to combat sigmas and misconceptions? Feel free to share them here (ideally with a reference or two)!

6) Mental problems do not deserve the stigma felt by those either with or without the problem.

Much of my having been a landlord with buildings chock full of psychotherapists
was about the many facets of having clients feel unjudged & safe. My tenants
were a great help, advising me in so many areas, eg, building design, acoustics,
staff interaction, appropriate tenant mix, maintenance. It was as complex or more
so than any engineering project I ever ran.
It shouldn't have to be so. It should be no more uncomfortable than buying lumber
at Menards. Nobody judges one for buying a 2x4.

 

[columbus]

In light of what you just shared, how is transgnderism not a mental illness and why do you consider it a "snarl" to claim it as such?

I would go straight for this part:

Mental health is a continuum. Mental health is little different from physical health in this regard.

Some people think Mormonism is a mental health problem.

But the bottom line is this. Everybody has their problems. Everybody is kinda stupid, self centered, instinct driven, and wearing blinders. It's how God made us, if He made us.

You have to use your intellect to consider abstract concepts like, "Does this impact me, even in the indirect way of changing the overall human situation?".
The fact is that transfolks don't impact you negatively in any way comparable to the way bigots impact transfolks. You are being immoral in this regard.

I personally find trans unfathomable and a little squicky. Especially MtF, I am queer as a three dollar bill but I am male and I like it that way. I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't.

But I don't care about what other people do. People do things all the time I don't understand, like believing that Joseph Smith got a message from God. But it's none of my dang business, so I shut up. And use basic civility, like using the pronoun a human being prefers.

What is hard about minding your own business and being polite?
Tom

 

[Sunstone]

In light of what you just shared, how is transgnderism not a mental illness and why do you consider it a "snarl" to claim it as such?

Is there any scientific evidence you know of that transgenderism in and of itself causes a person to behave dysfunctionally?

 

[Revoltingest]

In light of what you just shared, how is transgnderism not a mental illness and why do you consider it a "snarl" to claim it as such?

If I may jump in uninvited with my view....
Trans'ism stems from physical causes, eg, brain structure, physical development
process shortly after conception. Treatment, though it involves counseling, is often
physical, eg, hormones, surgery. Traditional mental illness is sometimes present,
often induced by an environment unfriendly to trans folk. But the primary problem
is that one's brain has a body of the wrong gender. It cannot be psychotherapied
away, nor can drugs switch mental gender.

It could be viewed as a mental illness, given that the brain is central to it, but from a
practical viewpoint, it "acts" more like a physical issue which causes mental difficulties..

For those expert & up on the jargon, please excuse & correct any errors.

 

[Revoltingest]

What is hard about minding your own business and being polite?

We all mind each other's business on RF.
And I say they've been polite...unless having
the wrong belief is impolite.

 

[Quintessence]

In light of what you just shared, how is transgnderism not a mental illness and why do you consider it a "snarl" to claim it as such?

Ah, pardon... there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding here because in my view this isn't about transgenders at all but overall cultural conceptions regarding mental health and mental illnesses. To put it simply, the dialogues we often have about these things are problematic in no small part because mental health issues have historically had stigmas associated with them that are absent for other health problems. There are a couple of things I notice pretty regularly that are outcomes of that.

First, I notice many people using diagnostic or mental health language inappropriately or inaccurately. There's something to be said for poetic license, but when I see kids these days casually tossing around phrases it bugs the crap out of me. Claiming something is "mentally ill" when there is no clinical basis for that statement is one of many examples of that. Especially because people often do it because of the second thing I notice.

That second thing is we all too often invoke mental illness in a derogatory and hurtful way. We belittle people about mental health challenges in ways that we don't for other health conditions. As in the OP, we tell people to just "get over it" as if that's something that actually works. My country is bad about taking these things seriously. Someone I know recently expressed the notion that the real national emergency in this country is the mental health crisis. They're probably right.

Basically, I'm all for tearing down misconceptions and obstacles standing in the way of my people having a better understanding of mental health. This stuff is too important to our wellbeing to be screwing up like this.

 

[Katzpur]

I personally find trans unfathomable and a little squicky. Especially MtF, I am queer as a three dollar bill but I am male and I like it that way. I can't imagine why anybody wouldn't.

I had a dream a few years back which resulted in kind of an epiphany for me. I can hardly remember anything about the dream, and I couldn't remember any more about it when I first woke up than I do right now. But I was the central character in this dream, as I suppose in the case with most people and their dreams. I know it was me; I was not on the outside looking in at the action. I was entirely self-aware and completely comfortable in my role in this dream. The crazy thing was that "I" was a little Middle-Eastern, Muslim boy about 6 or 7 years old. I was playing with a stick in the dusty street outside my family's home. That's it. I don't remember anything else. But the instant I woke up I was blown away by the realization that I had been in a body that was not the one I recognize as mine. It made me realize that this might be sort of what it might be like for a transgender person -- looking one way but sensing that you don't look like the person you are inside.

But I don't care about what other people do. People do things all the time I don't understand, like believing that Joseph Smith got a message from God. But it's none of my dang business, so I shut up. And use basic civility, like using the pronoun a human being prefers.

I couldn't agree more.