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stigma of mental illness, discuss

lowtech redneck

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A major problem with general societal ignorance concerning mental illness is that even well-intentioned people often confuse completely different mental illnesses; I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder are entirely separate mental ilnesses. The former is an incurable anxiety disorder, the latter is a personality disorder that can (with difficulty) be overcome and is not a direct cause for anxiety (incapacitating or otherwise) for those inflicted.
 

prplchknz

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most people have never heard of schizoaffective or if they have it's the bipolar subtype and not the depressive subtype. So I have to be like it's sort of like mild schizophrenia and depression in one (and in a lot ways it is, but most schizophrenics function at a lot lower level than most schizoaffectives) on the scale of most debilating to least it goes bipolar, schizoaffective, schizophrenia. Not saying bipolar isn't debilatating because it is maybe debilatating isn't the right word, maybe it's who has the greater chance of getting back to a normal life which would be bipolar the greatest, schizoaffective still pretty good chance, schizophrenia still a chance but not as great as bipolar or schizoaffective and the depressive subtype has less of a chance than the bipolar subtype. I'm confusing myself so I'm stopping now.
 

Usehername

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[MENTION=360]prplchknz[/MENTION] Most to least would be backward from how you listed it, no?
 

prplchknz

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yes, that's what I meant i think. I'm getting myself confused again
 

Nijntje

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yeah- I'm aware of the public image attached to bipolar disorder- especially by ignorant people, so I just don't tell anyone about it! :holy:

I have enough trouble without getting slapped with a "crazy" label as well :dry:

I find it really hard to tell work places that im bipolar, and in terms of prpl's 'stereotyping' because im type 1 and not type 2 im not as prone to the obvious depressive shifts. Also, i guess because im medicated and have been for the last 4 years, it's not as obvious as it's currently 'managed'.

I lose a lot of friends when things turn bad though, even though i am incredibly upfront with them about being bipolar, some people just can't accept that the person who can't get out of bed for depression is me, or the person who is over energetic and irritable and acting with utter mind blowing irresponsibility through manic episodes is me. They also don't understand that sometimes it almost physically HURTS to talk to people and sometimes i just can't answer the phone. They take it personally. No matter how many times i've told them it's not the case.
 

Undeclared

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I'm crazy.
I don't seek help for it.
Crazy doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing.
You're extraordinarily advantageous to a certain degree.
which is also extraordinarily disadvantageous to a slight degree...but it works out for the better.
xP
 

ICUP

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A major problem with general societal ignorance concerning mental illness is that even well-intentioned people often confuse completely different mental illnesses; I would like to take this opportunity to point out that Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder are entirely separate mental ilnesses. The former is an incurable anxiety disorder, the latter is a personality disorder that can (with difficulty) be overcome and is not a direct cause for anxiety (incapacitating or otherwise) for those inflicted.

This is true. I see people do it all the time. People fail to see mental illness as well.
I am sure I do too...... to some extent.
I don't know much about some of the mental illnesses, others I know a good amount of.
 

Mole

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Mar 20, 2008
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Norma and Norman Normal

Possibly the greatest suffering of those with a mental illness is social exclusion and loneliness.

In a world where almost everyone is normal, there is no place for the mentally ill.

I remember in our idealism, we tried to make our Students' Association safe for those with schizophrenia. But we failed, and Norma and Norman Normal won.

But nothing daunted we tried to set up a bed for the dying in our Students' Association to be attended by our members. But Norma and Norman Normal were outraged.

We had limned the edges of normality, and met the enemy - Norma and Norman Normal.
 

Usehername

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Possibly the greatest suffering of those with a mental illness is social exclusion and loneliness.

:yes: :(

Good for you for trying to bring light in regardless. I think it will take a few decades, but we'll make dramatic changes to people's interpretations much like sexism/racism have made dramatic changes in the past few decades. We can never get rid of it because humans all have their dark sides, but we've seen more light brought to the surface and a reduction in fear. The time for the stigma of mental health to dramatically shift is coming and it's coming nearer because of people like you. :)
 

VagrantFarce

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While I agree that the stigma of mental illness is a concern, there's another great ignorance about psychology that I feel is worth mentioning.

I think sometimes people are far too eager to label each other (and themselves) with mental disorders, because it's an easy way of explaining away problems without dealing with the underlying causes. They become excuses for not dealing with your kids, or to not take responsibility for your own life, or whatever. People treat mental disorders like viruses, as if some quantifiable entity has invaded their system and made them dysfunctional.

While genuine psychological research is important, some people can treat it as a convenient web of excuses. I feel that a lot of people on this site do that everyday.
 

Mole

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I think sometimes people are far too eager to label each other (and themselves)

But we come to this site specifically to label ourselves with four magic letters from MBTI.

Here we revel in labelling ourselves. We argue about which label is appropriate. And we worry we may be mislabelled.

And we label ourselves to turn us into things so that we will not have to feel our own feelings. Labelling is a form of armour against our own feelings.

Our own feelings are such a threat, we cower together here to protect ourselves from what are simply our ongoing feelings.
 

VagrantFarce

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But we come to this site specifically to label ourselves with four magic letters from MBTI.

Here we revel in labelling ourselves. We argue about which label is appropriate. And we worry we may be mislabelled.

And we label ourselves to turn us into things so that we will not have to feel our own feelings. Labelling is a form of armour against our own feelings.

Our own feelings are such a threat, we cower together here to protect ourselves from what are simply our ongoing feelings.

:yes:
 
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