Well, I guess all the people are not going to tell if they have because it's private, but I'd like to talk about it and about our experiences with mental illness. What do you think about them? Do you have anyone?
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Mental illness
- Thread starter Google Knight
- Start date
I am pretty dead set on meeting a non violent psychopath in my life. I think I could learn a tremendous amount about human interaction from them in just 30 minutes.
I personally get hallucinations/memory glitches every now and then which cause some serious anxiety and emotion fuckups (I'm sure some of you are aware of the fallout that can occur). Clean EEG and MRI mean that I get people saying it's ghosts from time to time. I hate those people. Just because the answer can't be found by looking at A or B doesn't mean we need to turn to the slavic alphabet for an answer. I also experience emotion differently than I should, so I'm on Gabapentin- ruins the shit of seizurey things (hallucinations) and levels out emotions.
Good thread potential here, there is so much shame involved with any mental condition and that's just horrible.
I personally get hallucinations/memory glitches every now and then which cause some serious anxiety and emotion fuckups (I'm sure some of you are aware of the fallout that can occur). Clean EEG and MRI mean that I get people saying it's ghosts from time to time. I hate those people. Just because the answer can't be found by looking at A or B doesn't mean we need to turn to the slavic alphabet for an answer. I also experience emotion differently than I should, so I'm on Gabapentin- ruins the shit of seizurey things (hallucinations) and levels out emotions.
Good thread potential here, there is so much shame involved with any mental condition and that's just horrible.
At least half of my family has some sort of mental illness.
My mom is bi-polar, and she was diagnosed when she was sixteen. She has to take a ton of pills every day to even be somewhat stable...When I was five she had her first manic episode. I don't remember it, because I was young and while it was happening my aunt picked me and my siblings up to stay at her house for a few days. This happened a few days before Thanksgiving, and she was gone when we went to my grandparents' for dinner. After about a month she came back home, she was really tired for a few days. Apparently while she was there she had a counselor, and they made drawings to help ease her mind.
Five years later, when I was ten, it had happened again. Mom had been feeling sick for a day or so, and she said she didn't want to eat. I stopped eating too. I gave her a hug and told her, "I hope you feel better soon." She said she would and went to her room. I let someone else eat the rest of my dinner, I forget who, and headed upstairs.
After about ten minutes I was talking with my brother about something, don't remember what, when I heard a shatter, followed by screaming. My brother and I were pretty freaked out, so I looked downstairs. I heard someone, either my brother or my dad, screaming "call 9-1-1!" over and over. I started crying, and so did my brother. I don't remember what order it was in but I know that while my oldest brother was on the phone with the hospital, my mom came upstairs...I hid under a blanket with my brother. We were both crying so much. I remember my oldest brother setting the phone down and quietly coaxing my mom to calm down...I sneaked a peek at what was happening.
My mom was in a fighting stance, about to punch my brother in the face. I cried even more. I thought she was going to kill me and my siblings. She never fired the punch though, and eventually my brother got her to go downstairs. He came into our room and told us not to worry, then went downstairs to help out my dad and sister. I stayed upstairs obviously, worrying even more. I was talking to my brother who was still upstairs, and we kept asking each other if our mom was going to die, if our dad was going to die.
Eventually I saw my mom outside...she was naked, running around the street, with a lead pipe. Apparently she struck my dad with it. After what was probably ten minutes (but it seemed like forever), we heard an ambulance. It was nearly impossible for them to get her into the ambulance without hurting her or having her hurt them, so they got the police involved. After who knows how long my brother came back upstairs and said something like this...
"Mom's okay now. They're going to help her. You'll be okay."
That was the first time I ever saw him cry.
My grandma came over maybe 30 minutes later because my dad had gone with them to the hospital. They needed to see if he was hurt from the lead pipe. I'm not sure why, but we ended up playing Parcheesi at the dinner table. An hour later or so we all prayed for my mom and dad, being thankful that no one was hurt badly, that she would get better quickly, things like that. She had to go after that so we just went to bed. I don't think any of us slept well that night.
I guess our prayers were answered. Dad just had a bruise and mom was able to get out of the hospital within three days. The first episode she was in the hospital for almost a month. She was in the hospital for her birthday so we celebrated when she got back, a "welcome home" party tied in with her birthday. Her birthday is in 28 days.
Both my brothers are on the Autism spectrum--oldest one has Asperger's, the other one has hyperlexic Autism. I haven't been diagnosed with anything.
My mom is bi-polar, and she was diagnosed when she was sixteen. She has to take a ton of pills every day to even be somewhat stable...When I was five she had her first manic episode. I don't remember it, because I was young and while it was happening my aunt picked me and my siblings up to stay at her house for a few days. This happened a few days before Thanksgiving, and she was gone when we went to my grandparents' for dinner. After about a month she came back home, she was really tired for a few days. Apparently while she was there she had a counselor, and they made drawings to help ease her mind.
Five years later, when I was ten, it had happened again. Mom had been feeling sick for a day or so, and she said she didn't want to eat. I stopped eating too. I gave her a hug and told her, "I hope you feel better soon." She said she would and went to her room. I let someone else eat the rest of my dinner, I forget who, and headed upstairs.
After about ten minutes I was talking with my brother about something, don't remember what, when I heard a shatter, followed by screaming. My brother and I were pretty freaked out, so I looked downstairs. I heard someone, either my brother or my dad, screaming "call 9-1-1!" over and over. I started crying, and so did my brother. I don't remember what order it was in but I know that while my oldest brother was on the phone with the hospital, my mom came upstairs...I hid under a blanket with my brother. We were both crying so much. I remember my oldest brother setting the phone down and quietly coaxing my mom to calm down...I sneaked a peek at what was happening.
My mom was in a fighting stance, about to punch my brother in the face. I cried even more. I thought she was going to kill me and my siblings. She never fired the punch though, and eventually my brother got her to go downstairs. He came into our room and told us not to worry, then went downstairs to help out my dad and sister. I stayed upstairs obviously, worrying even more. I was talking to my brother who was still upstairs, and we kept asking each other if our mom was going to die, if our dad was going to die.
Eventually I saw my mom outside...she was naked, running around the street, with a lead pipe. Apparently she struck my dad with it. After what was probably ten minutes (but it seemed like forever), we heard an ambulance. It was nearly impossible for them to get her into the ambulance without hurting her or having her hurt them, so they got the police involved. After who knows how long my brother came back upstairs and said something like this...
"Mom's okay now. They're going to help her. You'll be okay."
That was the first time I ever saw him cry.
My grandma came over maybe 30 minutes later because my dad had gone with them to the hospital. They needed to see if he was hurt from the lead pipe. I'm not sure why, but we ended up playing Parcheesi at the dinner table. An hour later or so we all prayed for my mom and dad, being thankful that no one was hurt badly, that she would get better quickly, things like that. She had to go after that so we just went to bed. I don't think any of us slept well that night.
I guess our prayers were answered. Dad just had a bruise and mom was able to get out of the hospital within three days. The first episode she was in the hospital for almost a month. She was in the hospital for her birthday so we celebrated when she got back, a "welcome home" party tied in with her birthday. Her birthday is in 28 days.
Both my brothers are on the Autism spectrum--oldest one has Asperger's, the other one has hyperlexic Autism. I haven't been diagnosed with anything.
I was diagnosed with depression when I was 13 or so, I think it was more an anxiety disorder, because I had moved away from my friends and I didn't even get to say goodbye to any of them, which caused me to turtle up. After two years of that, I leveled out and I'm no longer on meds and I'm ok. Not really a mental illness, but a mental...hiccup?
I have a friend whose brother is autistic, and despite being my age he acts 6, she is a really cool person and has grown a lot from her experiences with him. It's also has made her kind of fragile though, because when she was younger she would get made fun of for having an autistic brother.
I have a friend whose brother is autistic, and despite being my age he acts 6, she is a really cool person and has grown a lot from her experiences with him. It's also has made her kind of fragile though, because when she was younger she would get made fun of for having an autistic brother.
I had severe anxiety from 2007-late 2008 because I had been accelerated through school, starting Australian Yr 7 when I wasn't quite 10. I got really overemotional and ended up getting stress-related illness, and mild stress-related depression for a small time. I overreacted to everything, cried all the time and had fights with my mum, also pulling out my hair. I'm fine now, thank goodness, if still a bit of a weirdo. My mum's best friend also has bipolar, but she's been coming off her meds for a few years and she must be the most awesome person I know who is more than 10 years older than me.
I have. My ex is a diagnosed psychopath. I learned more from my ensuing year or so of depression about human interaction than I did from her.
I had insomnia for a large part of that, and so now I get sleepy whenever I'm in stressful situations.
I've always had weird deja vu feedback loops and few-second premonitions occasionally, but I think everyone gets those.
I've been middle-diagnosed with obsessive compulsive disorder - but recently a psychologist told me I just was obsesive and I hadn't any trastorn, despite my anxiety.
I've suffered insomnia.
I've suffered insomnia.
Permonitions? Explain it.
Like, hearing or seeing things a split-second before they happen. It's a similar feeling to deja vu, so I attribute it to the same cause; the short-term memory glitches and stores things in the wrong place so when the conscious processing takes place, it thinks something has happened in the wrong order.
e.g. Event A is followed by Event B. You experience both events, but the short-term memory misses the writing of A, so you see B, then you see event A that should have preceded it. The brain then corrects the order so it feels like you experienced something before it happens.
Similarly, I get deja vu in a layered effect. When I have a deja vu event, immediately afterwards I have deja vu about having deja vu of that exact moment. What I think is happening here is a crosswiring of long and short term memory. When you experience something, the STM normally writes it, then the brain crosschecks the LTM for similar experiences before writing from the STM into the LTM. Deja vu occurs when they do this in the wrong order; it writes to LTM directly before/simultaneously with STM. The brain crosschecks from STM to LTM, and recognises the event. Because the crosswiring lasts a second or so, the moment you experience the deja vu, the same thing happens and so the memory of having deja vu gets written to LTM and then STM crosschecks it and sees the deja-vu in LTM and repeats, until the brain can reorder the memory writing.
Kind of. She changed guys a lot, and flirted heavily outside her relationships, but I don't think she ever actually cheated on any of them, to my knowledge.
I was pretty depressed for a while, but I still think of that as more of an emotional problem than an illness. I mean, maybe my brain is more prone to anxiety than it ought to be, but I would prefer to describe that as my personality..
Also psychopathy and aspergers I would hesitate to call mental illnesses.
Perhaps we should have a thread dedicated to psychopathy, it is a fascinating topic. I have met a few people I have amateurishly diagnosed as psychopaths, one online, one from school, a few others I am less confident about. I dont think I could really start it though, cause all I have is suppositions.
Have a nice day.
Also psychopathy and aspergers I would hesitate to call mental illnesses.
Perhaps we should have a thread dedicated to psychopathy, it is a fascinating topic. I have met a few people I have amateurishly diagnosed as psychopaths, one online, one from school, a few others I am less confident about. I dont think I could really start it though, cause all I have is suppositions.
Have a nice day.
True psychopathy is actually really rare, Hip. Apparently you'll probably only meet 1 in an entire career as a psychiatrist, unless you specialize. That's what I'm told by my sister who is in her final semester of schooling for that (psych).
That said, like any mental condition, it's a sliding scale. I know at times I literally turn off emotion and have some behaviors of a psychopath...I certainly have some traits, but I wouldn't call myself a psycho. Most of those diagnostic criteria are really fluid, like "must posses 7 out of 9 of the traits listed to be diagnostically confirmed with X" yet very very very few cases of any disorder/illness apparently meet every criteria. You're right, perhaps we need another thread. I'd really like that actually, Hip, any way you can split off some of this discussion that is relevant into a new thread?
That said, like any mental condition, it's a sliding scale. I know at times I literally turn off emotion and have some behaviors of a psychopath...I certainly have some traits, but I wouldn't call myself a psycho. Most of those diagnostic criteria are really fluid, like "must posses 7 out of 9 of the traits listed to be diagnostically confirmed with X" yet very very very few cases of any disorder/illness apparently meet every criteria. You're right, perhaps we need another thread. I'd really like that actually, Hip, any way you can split off some of this discussion that is relevant into a new thread?
I haven't had much experience with people with mental illnesses, but like Kitten mentioned, there is a heavy social stigma associated with mental disorders that people desperately try to hide it and I could have had more contact than I realize.
My first one-on-one encounter was when I was in Grade 5. My class was partnered with the Kindergarten class for reading buddies and I got paired up with a kid with Down's Syndrome. I had a blast every time I our classes met, and he was just so fun to be around. Unfortunately, some of my friends seemed to feel uncomfortable around him, which made me feel bad.
Also, a very close friend of mine had recently revealed that she has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). We are still really close friends, though I am still trying to determine which characteristics belong to which personality. I also suspect that this friend is bi-polar, but haven't confronted her about it because I don't want to force her into an uncomfortable position.
My first one-on-one encounter was when I was in Grade 5. My class was partnered with the Kindergarten class for reading buddies and I got paired up with a kid with Down's Syndrome. I had a blast every time I our classes met, and he was just so fun to be around. Unfortunately, some of my friends seemed to feel uncomfortable around him, which made me feel bad.
Also, a very close friend of mine had recently revealed that she has DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder). We are still really close friends, though I am still trying to determine which characteristics belong to which personality. I also suspect that this friend is bi-polar, but haven't confronted her about it because I don't want to force her into an uncomfortable position.
Oh awesome, I return to smogon for an afternoon and this is the first topic that comes up. Mint.
As you all know I'm fairly fucking batshit, 200942 suicide attempts so far (a few serious, the most recent being an attempted hanging in the psychiatric ward.. more on that later - some not so much, more just 'I'll take xyz amounts of booze and heroin/etc and see if I wake up in the morning for shits and giggles). Several high-profile breakdowns, about a thousand small ones, the most recent of which was about three weeks ago - I've just started my meds again, so that little hiccup is being dealt with.
I've been sectioned a few times, most notably twice this year, resulting in a grand total of about a month of this year being spent in a psychiatric facility. You think your roommates are a pain in the arse? You've never had to share with schizophrenics - they are fucking tedious.
I've been on several meds - couple of SSRIs, couple of TCAs, one MAOI and a tetracyclic (mirtazapine, which I'm currently on) - mirtazapine is the only one that really works for me. My problems with the mental health service are well documented; I fucking hate pretty much all psychiatrists/CPNs/etc; if I listed the amount of doctors I have who have been incompetent/rude/unpleasant I'd be here for the duration of 2011. The biggest problem I find with the service is that it's understaffed and the administration is extremely poor.
As to what's actually wrong with me, who knows? Psychiatrists certainly don't seem to agree - so far I've been diagnosed bipolar, aspergers, borderline, PTSD, general anxiety, someone mentioned schizoid tendencies a few times, ADHD, disassociative, anxiety, paranoia, fuck knows. Everyone I see says something different. As to what I think is wrong with me, I don't really know either, I used to think it was bipolar but as time wears on I grow unsure. I certainly struggle with severe depression due mostly to past trauma (though it's not full-blown PTSD anymore). What makes my mood swings and behaviour alter like it does, I don't know, and I perhaps never will.
Of course, the spectacular amount of drugs I've insufflated in the last year won't have helped anything.
As you all know I'm fairly fucking batshit, 200942 suicide attempts so far (a few serious, the most recent being an attempted hanging in the psychiatric ward.. more on that later - some not so much, more just 'I'll take xyz amounts of booze and heroin/etc and see if I wake up in the morning for shits and giggles). Several high-profile breakdowns, about a thousand small ones, the most recent of which was about three weeks ago - I've just started my meds again, so that little hiccup is being dealt with.
I've been sectioned a few times, most notably twice this year, resulting in a grand total of about a month of this year being spent in a psychiatric facility. You think your roommates are a pain in the arse? You've never had to share with schizophrenics - they are fucking tedious.
I've been on several meds - couple of SSRIs, couple of TCAs, one MAOI and a tetracyclic (mirtazapine, which I'm currently on) - mirtazapine is the only one that really works for me. My problems with the mental health service are well documented; I fucking hate pretty much all psychiatrists/CPNs/etc; if I listed the amount of doctors I have who have been incompetent/rude/unpleasant I'd be here for the duration of 2011. The biggest problem I find with the service is that it's understaffed and the administration is extremely poor.
As to what's actually wrong with me, who knows? Psychiatrists certainly don't seem to agree - so far I've been diagnosed bipolar, aspergers, borderline, PTSD, general anxiety, someone mentioned schizoid tendencies a few times, ADHD, disassociative, anxiety, paranoia, fuck knows. Everyone I see says something different. As to what I think is wrong with me, I don't really know either, I used to think it was bipolar but as time wears on I grow unsure. I certainly struggle with severe depression due mostly to past trauma (though it's not full-blown PTSD anymore). What makes my mood swings and behaviour alter like it does, I don't know, and I perhaps never will.
Of course, the spectacular amount of drugs I've insufflated in the last year won't have helped anything.
I know it's heavily over-diagnosed these days, but I have ADD and I'm pretty sure it actually is legit in my case. Since I was diagnosed in 4th grade I was put on daily doses of Ritalin. Despite being intelligent, I still struggled in school due to my lack of focus. I never failed any classes in grade school but I came close a couple of times, almost failing 5th grade entirely. I took ritalin until 12th grade, when I made the choice to stop because I didn't want to rely on it or use it as a crutch for the rest of my life. I took 6 years to complete a 4 year degree, due to a massive inability to apply myself or study for more than 5-10 minutes at a time without losing focus. I don't blame this on the ADD, but I do believe it might have contributed. I don't know enough about it to be sure, but I do sometimes wonder if I had continued taking ritalin through college or taken a heavier dose throughout school that I might have been a more successful student. Does anyone here know a lot about it? I'd like to discuss.
I'm your guy...
I "have" ADHD, but I think that it's a rather poor term for describing a wide variety of different "problems" or difficulties or whatever and I generally abhor the term. I think what's more accurate is describing difficulty in processing both thoughts and external inputs as well as concentration and execution.
I take 36mg Concerta which might be a touch too low but it's tremendously helpful in nearly all aspects of my day to day life. I can pay attention (sometimes) to what people are saying in conversations and quickly come up with a non-stammering intelligent response; it seems to just make social interaction a no-brainer. Doing tasks is straightforward and doesn't require an active effort just to "do" it. Paying attention is possible.
Still I don't like the term ADHD because it implies that this is some kind of medical condition rather than aspect of my cognitive function and personality that happens to be augmented perfectly with medication.
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I have general academic-related anxiety for what it's worth. It can be really crippling but because I have a multitude of different problems that affect me academically between ADHD, anxiety, overconfidence, self-loathing, etc. it's hard to narrow down which one is fucking me up right at each time.
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For a time I had what I guess is called a "major depressive episode" which I think is a lot better of a term than "having depression" for me. I definitely experienced a largely miserable 1-2 years of time that depression treatment helped me with (therapy and SSRIs (sertraline)). It definitely helped and it had a time when it was particularly helpful, but it's a crutch. It's a stabilizer and a dampener, giving you consistency and prevents you from going as far "down" as you would but it's not something I'd want to take every day for the rest of my life.
So, would you say that this type of treatment would have an impact on my working life as an adult? Would a treatment like this also have had a major impact on my studies in school and college? Is it specifically for ADHD or does it cover plain ADD as well? I'd be very interested to learn more about what I could have done differently, and more importantly what I can STILL DO to improve my function in my career.
That's pretty much the point of treatment, yeah.
Very much so. Prescription stimulants have a pretty big black market at universities for this very reason.
The terms are synonymous - hyperactivity is just an "optional" additive.
These are the kind of questions you should ask a good psychiatrist. (Good luck finding a "good" one)
Do you feel your career function is impaired? If so you could probably benefit. Trying stimulants is pretty low risk health wise and since the effects are immediate (same day) you can pretty easily qualitatively measure their effects on you.
Sorry if this is stupid but is ADHD life threatening?
Something to bear in mind is that if you've had problems with an addictive personality, stims really aren't something you should be trying unless you consider it extremely, clinically necessary. Whilst, granted, you're not exactly snorting coke, Adderall etc do have abuse potential so just be careful round them if you've played with drugs in the past.
Apparently, DID has come under recent scrutiny in the psychological academia, and many are suggesting it's not actually a true condition, but instead just a result of suggestibility of patients. I can't remember what my psych-studying friends were saying in detail, but I think the cases are all isolated to the United States where DID became very popular a few decades ago.
Because identity isn't a well understood concept to start with,and the descriptions given by the patients often resemble anxiety disorders (i.e. the relate to uncertainty and feeling ambiguous emotionally on various issues), it's been suggested that it was something that was suggested to the patients and altered the patients perception of their symptoms into describing them as separate personalities.
How do you get hospitalized for ADHD? o_0
And for myself, I don't have any mental illnesses that I'm aware of other than anxiety and depression which I take meds for. ;0
