Serious topic- Mental problems and mental health care

[Hiatussin]

Other than some histrionic types, most people aren´t too in your face about their experiences with mental problems and help they got for it.

Still, another thread on here got me thinking about the topic. I don´t think I need mental help, but I´m a little interested since it´s such a vague subject and im in the related medical school.

A lot of people are denouncing psychiatrists and psychologists as quacks and mental drugs as copout tools to sweep your problems under the rug.

Are you all this cynical? It´s a complicated thing and answers have to be more nuanced than they are typically expressed.

Has anyone here ever sought help that really paid off and was needed and got them back on the right track?

So what constitutes mental health? Is it desirable? Is it universal, definable?
If mental care works, should "normal" people consult it, to "improve"?

 

[Raina]

I've battled with this stuff for my whole life. I've always hated being on meds. I've always felt uncomfy with it. I'm on them again now and have been since March. This is the first time I've made that choice and known it was my only choice.

For anyone who's ever been completely crippled with depression/anxiety/eating disorders I think sometimes you have to hit rock bottom to know that it's okay to get help. I've been 90 pounds, forcefed in a hospital, locked into the hospital for trying to kill myself. I'm never playing that game again.

Now when I feel like things are going bad I get help. I've made so much progress with it and I'm so proud of myself for being able to know my own limits. I've been able to make it for chunks of time without meds or dr's or anything. But I know how much I can and can't do on my own now.

Yes I've sought help before. On lots of different levels. I can honestly say that I'm not sure I'd be alive at this point had I not gotten help.

 

[Raina]

I'ts been my finding that psychiatrists just push pills at you. Not that meds are bad but there's more to it than that. I've found that both one on one therapy and group therapy (for the eating disorder stuff) have been really critical with or without meds.

 

[Hiatussin]

Theres a controversial psychiatrist in Holland who is relatively anti-meds, thinks they are prescribed too often and believes in a radical change in dialog therapy too, I read his book. His colleagues hate him. I don´t know which side I am on.

I´m glad to hear you have improved Raina.

What do you mean with help "on different levels"? do you mean to include alternative medicine or religion?

I dated an anorexic for a while. It hurt me. Shes this amazing academic genius and truely unique (not unique like everyone is unique- I never met anyone as unique as her to my perception) but she got down to like 5"7, 84 lbs, going into syncoppe a few times for no other reason and falling asleep at weird times, still tragically pretending nothing was wrong.

I pretended such too, since I knew it was no use to be yet another alienated nagger in her life- this caused me to be her only friend in that time. It really gave me some insight in the complexity of these things.

The frustration is enormous. Sometimes you just want to shake some sense into such a person, but you know it´s no use.

How would you describe the added worth of therapy in your case Raina... what did they do that you didn´t or couldn´t do on your own?

 

[Raina]

I've been anti-meds too. But when you're emaciated and curled up in the corner of a room for hours on end in a panic with blood running down your arms, it's hard to argue that said person should just figure it out on their own. Or talk through it.

I don't think that meds only is helpful. I think that ultimately the deeper issues have to be faced and new coping stragegies figured out. If there is indeed a chemical issue, having that mellowed out can make therapy easier but it doesn't change the fact that someone has no idea how to deal with life.

I'm really open about all of it too because I don't think enough people are. There's no way one would meet me and assume I've been dealing with a lot of what I've been dealing with. It's a part of me though. A part of my past and my present. I'm fine with that. Comfy with it. I like who I am right now and that's part of the story.

What did therapy do for me? Hmmm. Well, for as long as I can remember I coped with things by acting like everything was peachy to not upset anyone, tried to be so perfect that I made myself nuts, and dealt with issues by either not eating or hurting myself. Those weren't working out well for me. It's not a rational way to deal with things.

Therapy helped me sort out what triggered me in the first place. I figured out more of what set me off, what kinds of situations and relationships to avoid for my own sanity. That helped me A LOT. I also had to learn new ways of dealing with trauma/stress/etc in healthy ways.

Group therapy with eating disorders is kind of a catch 22. On one hand it's incredibly comforting to talk to people who GET what you're going through. If one hasn't been in that life they can't relate. They just can't. On the other hand, you get competitive with each other. It sounds so nuts, but it's a "she's better at this than I am...she's so tiny....I need to do better". But by "better" I mean "more sick".

 

[slat1]

I have found the medications do not "cure" the problem they "cover" it.
Its like if you burn your arm. You can paint it skin toned and it will look fine. All the while your skin is rotting away on the inside.
What you really need to do is take a long look at the situation and address the problem. Slowly work to heal it.
When you take pills the problem still persists inside. It never actually goes away.
If you can work with someone to find the problem and fix it everything else starts to fall into place.

 

[Raina]

But if there's something chemically wrong Slat and you've been working your ass off on your own and with a therapist and you're still finding yourself having constant panic attacks and you're unable to control your irrational behavior, sometimes meds are the right choice.

 

[Hiatussin]

During these times of problems, were you surrounded with people who appreciated you? Or was everyone just focussing on how troubled you were and how worried they were?

Sometimes it seems like what these people need most of all is just people who are primarily happy they´re there without constantly thinking of them as a freak or obsessively trying to help.

 

[*MissFit*]

I am not depressed but i do require daily medication in order to live my life as i have ADD.

Can i live without it YES. can others handle me when i don't take it.. Not really. Ridalin has changed my life in a way that most people could not underatand and unless you really have ADD or ADHD you can't really comprehend what it is like to live with it.

I'm an adult, yet unfortunately i have issues with patiences, sitting still and paying attention and unless i take ridalin, the things that many people take for granted.. like sitting still.. i can't do.. i wish things were different.. but they're not..

I was 100% anti medication before the beginning of this year and i wish i wasn't because it would of made a world of difference in my life so long ago..

Behavioural therapy can only go so far... some times medication is necessary..

 

[Raina]

At my lowest points I've lived a total lie. I've done everything I possibly could to protect those around me as much as I could. They knew things were really wrong but I lied and lied because I didn't want them to worry. That just triggered me more and I'd get worse.

If you're in a really bad state of mind, you take everything supportive or loving the wrong way. It was all very personal. Ultimately, the first time, I got help against my will.