Culture and Mental Illness

[prplchknz]

the culture i'm in which is white liberal/progressive culture they try to understand but they don't. and therefore is no longer worth me talking about

 

[ceecee]

I think the stigma has dissipated in some ways and increased in some ways. I've often thought the hyper reaction to, not only mental illness but ANY kind of illness, from certain segments of the population is the reaction to anyone discussing health and the challenges of getting help and treatment. Just look at COVID and people raging against any kind of comprehensive response to it. Ultimately I do think health and care will become less stigmatized overall but not until care is available, even for the ones raging against care - their mental states are really precarious and they desperately need some help.

 

[Red Memories]

I think there's still a good deal of stigma about mental illness in relation to teenagers, which I think prevents help from being received early on.

I suppose I am using my family example, but my mother is mentally ill herself and kind of emotionally unavailable, and my grandfather does not take mental illness seriously at all unless you have a "Reason". His reasoning would be a bad traumatic childhood like my mother had. Otherwise you are making things up for attention. Which is EXACTLY how he perceived my mental health crisis I had at 16. Despite being diagnosed with GAD and Depression in my psyche ward stay and outpatient, he believed I did this to manipulate my mother into pitying me. I still have a lot of internal anger about how he does not at all believe I have an anxiety disorder. Every time I have an anxiety problem he is very rude to me, tells me to get over it, I've had a good life. all that jazz. As if buying me things means I have a good life. -_- When I worked at Wal-Mart I felt like my boss did not take my problem very seriously and was too harsh with me when I'd have panic attacks at work. I realize it reduces my productivity but chiding me absolutely does not help in the moment.

Idaho healthcare is absolutely terrible. They offer little in the form of mental health care. My mother can only go visit small scale therapists who do not help with her extensive trauma at all, and because of our budget, we cannot afford specialists. My therapist was one still in training but it is what we could afford since my welfare expansion for my mental health similar to discussed, was only for some group therapy that was all the way in another town. I didn't respond well to group therapy in the ward so I really did not want that. Idaho also has one of the highest suicide rates and I completely understand why after my experience.

I feel like as an adult my mother has come around to me having GAD. But before she would equate my issues to teenage hormones that I would "grow out of" or she would get angry with me for venting to people online. So it has always kind of been an uphill battle for me.

My boss is just completely different. He completely sees my illnesses as valid and takes me seriously when I tell him little things he can do to help prevent it. The panic attack I had at work that day was set off by having too many people asking me questions all at once and not knowing how to handle them all and fearing the unknown which may come as a reaction so I panicked. So he suggested possibly getting me a little pen pad to carry so if someone asks I can write it down so I remember what they asked and what I am looking for. Which is great. And he reminded me if I feel unsure he is right there and I can always tap him, nothing has more importance than helping me help them. XD But that reassurance is something I am absolutely not used to.

My grandfather attributed my symptoms to being one of the following categories:
My depression was an act of attention, so was my bout of self injury.
My anxiety is my lack of preparation. Not trying hard enough. Not working hard enough. Spending too much time on other shit instead of doing what I'm supposed to. If I prepared I wouldn't feel anxious at all... -_- also suggested I used it for attention too.
I don't DARE even bring up PTSD to him, I haven't had a bad life, I can't have that.

My family is American of course. They grew up in West Virginia. Different place in the south. So just giving a perspective there.

 

[Tilt]

@Coriolis, I don't think the symptoms and problems behind those illnesses are unique to Japan necessarily but the actual illnesses are catered specifically to fit the Japanese cultural context. Japan is known for its extreme collectivism and reaching of certain social milestones or you will bring shame upon your family. It's so engrained into the culture, certain people want to escape the high pressure and will do it to an "unhealthy" level. However, I am sure other highly collectivist achievement-based cultures deal with similar issues.

The thing about C-PTSD is that some people see it as too similar to borderline personality disorder or as an overlap of multiple existing disorders. So it really comes down to what criteria can teams of experts compromise on and agree upon in order to make C-PTSD its own distinct diagnosis. Right now, the symptoms are just lumped into anxiety and trauma-related disorders.

 

[Frosty]

@Coriolis, I don't think the symptoms and problems behind those illnesses are unique to Japan necessarily but the actual illnesses are catered specifically to fit the Japanese cultural context. Japan is known for its extreme collectivism and reaching of certain social milestones or you will bring shame upon your family. It's so engrained into the culture, certain people want to escape the high pressure and will do it to an "unhealthy" level. However, I am sure other highly collectivist achievement-based cultures deal with similar issues.

The thing about C-PTSD is that some people see it as too similar to borderline personality disorder or as an overlap of multiple existing disorders. So it really comes down to what criteria can teams of experts compromise on and agree upon in order to make C-PTSD its own distinct diagnosis. Right now, the symptoms are just lumped into anxiety and trauma-related disorders.

Yeah Ive also seen- and Im not saying this is MY opinion- that theres this idea that labeling someone with C-PTSD is less stigmatizing than BPD- so that that label is used when BPD would work as well.

Not sure if thats right or not, but I think thats where some of the controversy might come in. There are distinctions between the two disorders- but also a lot of blur. But thats similar to a lot of psych disorders. Bipolar 1 vs 2 vs cyclothymia. Schizophrenia vs schizoaffective disorder vs psychotic depression vs bipolar with psychotic features. GAD vs social anxiety disorder. Seasonal affective disorder vs MDD. On and on and on.

But it does bring up an interesting point. Like, some disorders ARE more stigmatized than others. And even if cptsd is (and again not saying it is or isnt) a catch all for BPD- at what point is a diagnosis so stigmatized as to... where a change in label- an adjustment or something- would help. At what point is labeling someone with a black and white disorder better or worse than just- treating them based on symptoms and traits? Disorders are catch all terms for symptoms- but there is good and bad in labeling yourself with a disorder. Good- now you understand “why”, bad... Ive seen a lot of people... Ive seen a lot of people broken or hurt by the idea of being told of the potential limitations of living with a particular diagnosis.

So I guess, my question is... culturally what is the next step? Do we try to normalize diagnoses- or is that bad? Do we need to change diagnostic categories? Create more variations/subtypes- or less? How do we both legitimize the struggles of those with more common and maybe less- “technically” severe mental illnesses while also voicing that some illnesses- particularly those less common- do tend to be more stigmatized/are less accepted?

Culturally... what do we need to do to do better?

 

[Hunters]

I am sure that in this matter a lot depends on a person's upbringing and his attitude to other people. Some refuse to acknowledge the existence of people with serious health problems or disabilities. They believe that these people are still a big problem for the development of society and negatively affect others. However, this is a misconception, and I hope there will be few such people. Now there are many benefits for people with disabilities. WOWcan pay for expensive medical treatment and help them live a normal life. Also, don't forget about the various sponsoring organizations that are fighting to save their lives. I believe that there are many more people who are ready to help in such a situation. And someday a society based on mutual understanding, help and support will be created!Im an ad zombie! RAWR!

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[prplchknz]

I am sure that in this matter a lot depends on a person's upbringing and his attitude to other people. Some refuse to acknowledge the existence of people with serious health problems or disabilities. They believe that these people are still a big problem for the development of society and negatively affect others. However, this is a misconception, and I hope there will be few such people. Now there are many benefits for people with disabilities. WOWcan pay for expensive medical treatment and help them live a normal life. Also, don't forget about the various sponsoring organizations that are fighting to save their lives. I believe that there are many more people who are ready to help in such a situation. And someday a society based on mutual understanding, help and support will be created!Im an ad zombie! RAWR!

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WTF? no people on ssi get at most a little over 700 a month (ssdi, it's a little more), and unless they're lucky to be on disability by age of 26 they only have medicaid and most doctors don't take medicaid. ssi actually sucks to be on, you can't make enough money to actually own anything or pay rent but yeah we're fortunate, eff you! asshole. and there are so many people who are disabled who can't get disability because they're not "disabled" enough wtf does that even mean? but they also can't work or are limited in what they can do. but yeah disabled people are gaming the system . you are ignorant, if you knew how fucking hard it is to actually get disability and how much it actually sucks you wouldn't said this stuff. Yes I know he's banned, but this is for other ignorant fucks on the forum