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Mental illness in your family

S

Society

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my aunt (mother's sister) had schizophrenia.

my sister (actually adopted so she's not a blood relative of my aunt) has something, its illegal here for psychiatrist to diagnose someone before they are 18, and my sister wasn't at the time, but she was institutionalized for awhile while i was out of the country. i am not entirely clear on the story, but my understanding was that she just did a lot of "extreme dangerous behaviors" while not willing to cooperate to function properly (not going to school for a year or so, etc). now she takes her meds and she gets very extreme when she doesn't, so there is some affect there.

my entire family (INTJ ENFP & ISFP) suffers from Fi. there is no current treatment.
 
G

garbage

Guest
I have "bipolar lite." Some uncle of mine has it much worse than I do, but that's the only other familial case that I know of.

What I worry about, sometimes, is that (a) it's going to get worse or (b) some of my thoughts/actions are brought about by the disorder more so than by external factors. Despite it all, I'm a calm guy and don't worry about it too much.

I'll say what I always say in these threads: if someone has a problem--mental illness or otherwise--and is owning up to it and actively trying to work with it, then I'll work with them. Getting the same in return is a "nice-to-have" but is understandably difficult and thus not expected.
 

Stanton Moore

morose bourgeoisie
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yes, really. i've seen people i care about turned into walking lab experiments by meds and am far too sensitive to not get pulled onto the roller coaster. in their particular cases, they self-destructed and that was that; a healthy friendship with them was impossible at that point.

so no new attachments to people with such backgrounds. an unpopular opinion, particularly in a place like this, but i'd rather view some things from afar.


*there are occasional, extremely rare exceptions. so rare that it's not worth going into but they are exceptions to an otherwise firm policy.

Do you look through their medicine cabinet before you become friends with them?
"I noticed some Lexapro in your bathroom. It goes against my personal policy. Sorry."
What if they have, say, depression in their family, but don't have it themself? Does the possibility of future trouble put them off your list?
 

AgentF

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Do you look through their medicine cabinet before you become friends with them?
"I noticed some Lexapro in your bathroom. It goes against my personal policy. Sorry."
What if they have, say, depression in their family, but don't have it themself? Does the possibility of future trouble put them off your list?

funny.

in my experience, people tend to share this kind of information over the course of getting to know them. perhaps they share more than they should with me. :wink:

and if you listen carefully to someone, they often tell you what their capacities are, including their capacity for healthy relationships. and if you listen a bit more, you will learn what they are looking for in those relationships.

i am discerning about those details and ensure they intersect, overlap. sometimes that determination comes quickly as i am fairly intuitive about those things. in some cases it takes more work, and if i believe there is a great deal of compatibility in those areas i will explore more.

what does mental illness have to do with any of this? it is simply one data or starting point from which to understand the kind of relationship i might have with someone. that i have a fairly large data set on which i rely is an extension of how open i am to letting someone in.

that i have noticed a discrepancy between the type of relationship i am capable of, and that of those with certain backgrounds (certainly not limited to mental illness), has proven to be an extremely valuable observation. if there is an exception, i have noticed they tend to be people passionately committed to self-examination and overcoming any externally- or internally-imposed limitations.
 

cascadeco

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My brother was in a facility for a few months around age 18-19 due to suicide risk. At the time was diagnosed with chronic depression, anxiety, and maybe something else. He wasn't very communicative at that time. [understandably] He was on meds for several years after that but weaned himself off them and seems to be doing fine now. I think he has his own 'parameters'/checks in places, though, to make things ok for him without having the meds, and suspect he may have done some self-cog-therapy or other such things to be able to be without the meds.
 

Tyrinth

...
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Mental illness seems to run in my family, but due to a combination of denial, ambiguous information, people making stuff up, and changing diagnosises, I'm really not sure which ones. Bipolar seems likely, though.

It doesn't really worry me though. I might have one, but my psychiatrist won't tell me if he thinks so until he knows me better...
 

AOA

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One of my paternal uncle suffers from a dire case of schizophrenia in which he wouldn't ever let go of his internal strife against loved ones. He is looked upon an oddity in society and he won't change, which is very unusual.
 

EJCC

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My grandmother's a little crazy. Whatever it is, it hasn't been diagnosed, and my dad and my aunt have been really thorough in shielding my cousins and me from it. So all I know, through the grapevine (and not from actually talking to her), is that she was convinced at one point in her life that all Chinese people were plotting to kill her.
 

SD45T-2

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My grandmother's a little crazy. Whatever it is, it hasn't been diagnosed, and my dad and my aunt have been really thorough in shielding my cousins and me from it. So all I know, through the grapevine (and not from actually talking to her), is that she was convinced at one point in her life that all Chinese people were plotting to kill her.
I know what that's like. My grandma had Alzheimers. She died in 1998 at age 74. My grandpa had dementia with Pakinsons and died last year at age 91.
 

Red Herring

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My father. It's a bit hard to pin down.

I know for a fact that he has been hospitalized in a psychiatric unit twice when I was a teenager (my parents divorced years before that), not sure what for. I know that when he went into early retirement the official reason was a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. He said not to worry, a colleagues wrote that diagnosis as a favor (my dad is/was both a medical doctor and a psychotherapist at different stages of his life) and that he wasn't really bipolar. Not sure what to think of it.
I also know for a fact that he has had a problem with alcohol, probably for a looooong time. But that was never explicitely discussed, only alluded to.

My impression is that he has suffered from serious depression more than once. He is a highly sensitive INFJ and has always had problems coping with the world.
 

Orangey

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My grandfather has schizophrenia, my great-grandmother had dementia, and I'm pretty sure my father has some sort of mental disorder.
 

Redbone

Orisha
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Both of my parents suffered from chronic, unrelenting depression. My mother was an alcoholic. She died of alcohol induced cardiac arrhythmia from binge drinking. My dad botched his suicide attempt and suffered as a paraplegic and dialysis patient for almost 3 years before he died.

My mother's mother was crazy as hell. I don't know if she was mentally ill or just an extremely mean, vicious woman. Chasing people with a hatchet because they disrespected her? :shrug:

I have a metabolic disorder and Grave's that mis-dx'd as BPD for a decade.
 

ms.behaving

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My dad's side of the family has a mental disorder called champagne taste and they throw money around like it grows on trees. Not only did I inherit that disorder, I thoroughly enjoy it!
 

Cimarron

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One relative has a form of dementia that makes them prone to violence...but I'm not really allowed to say more.
 
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