Mental Illness

[BiBunny]

"I know the cure for everything: Salt water...in one form or another. Sweat, tears, or the sea." ~Isak Dinesen

Kind of hyperbolic, obviously, but I still think it's a lovely (and comforting) sentiment.

Hang in there, DS. I'm rooting for you! (And also hoping that things get better soon.)

 

[desertslave]

"The cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears, or the sea." ~Isak Dinesen

Kind of hyperbolic, but I still think it's a lovely (and comforting) sentiment.

Hang in there, DS. I'm rooting for you! (And also hoping that things get better soon.)

The beach has always been my calm space. When we had to do the "go to your special place" exercises in group therapy, there was no hesitation on my part, I knew exactly where I was. As much as I love Arizona, I really miss being closer to the beach ("down the shore" as they say around Philly). We have plenty of sand, but no water!

Thank you, BiBunny, FurryFury and everyone else who has been so supportive! With all of these good vibes going into the universe, I have to believe in the future I am asking for.

 

[desertslave]

I found these two pages from a website today and thought they might be helpful to share for those with depression and friends/family.

http://familyaware.org/symptoms-of-depression/

http://familyaware.org/help-someone-who-has-depression/

 

[LallyH]

Can I ask for some advice please?

One of my staff has been taking medication for an anxiety disorder for some years now. He told me about it in vague terms when it was first diagnosed (following a house move) and a couple of months ago, he told me he was going back to the doctor for a meds review because he was having issues again. He said he'd gone home and was cooking dinner with his wife, couldn't find something, and 'lost it', ending up going to sleep with a thumping headache.

He's told me this morning that he's now been referred for cognitive behaviour therapy. Can someone who has had this explain to me what is involved, and if there is anything I can do by way of support?

 

[CutieMouse]

Can I ask for some advice please?

One of my staff has been taking medication for an anxiety disorder for some years now. He told me about it in vague terms when it was first diagnosed (following a house move) and a couple of months ago, he told me he was going back to the doctor for a meds review because he was having issues again. He said he'd gone home and was cooking dinner with his wife, couldn't find something, and 'lost it', ending up going to sleep with a thumping headache.

He's told me this morning that he's now been referred for cognitive behaviour therapy. Can someone who has had this explain to me what is involved, and if there is anything I can do by way of support?

It's essentially talk therapy, but with a process of walking through the tools to "remap" thought processes/reactions. My old therapist used to talk about it in terms of taking an old tape and recording new (healthier) patterns in place of the old.

So say he can't find something, it triggers anxiety, he loses it and spirals out of control.

Why is he do freaked out by losing something? Is it really that he misplaced a spoon, or is the spoon just an opportunity for his brain to hit panic mode? Once you figure out why, and what patterns his brain is used to when anxiety/panic sets in, CBT will go back over those situations (role play/etc, if it helps) to reexamine things with better choices/an emotionally (mentally, physically) healthier thought process. It's like practicing good behavior in a safe environment, until the brain has trained itself to follow those new thought patterns.

It's very effective. A pain in the ass, but effective.

 

[PS_Alexandria]

I'm mentally ill. I have OCD and am on the Autism spectrum. I enjoy kink for reasons totally unrelated to my mental illness. It's true that you have to be more careful with people who have mental illnesses, but I don't feel the need to avoid entire areas of kink altogether because I am mentally ill. I've heard blanket statements like "people on the autism spectrum can't consent," or "people on the autism spectrum can't/shouldn't be hypnotized" or "never do mental play with a mentally ill person." I do mental play and erotic hypnosis without negative effects and consent to sex just like any other woman (though due to my Asperger's, I'm a bit more awkward about voicing my desire for sex). I understand that these blanket statements come from a place of concern for the disabled, but disabled people are all individuals. If I were to refrain from exploring areas of kink I enjoyed because I considered myself too disabled to do them, that would make me feel even more ill/disabled. So for me, I think showing that some disabled people can do BDSM, mental play, and sexual play if they want to is better self-care than avoiding these things altogether and sticking myself in a box. Not speaking for everyone here, just myself.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

It's essentially talk therapy, but with a process of walking through the tools to "remap" thought processes/reactions. My old therapist used to talk about it in terms of taking an old tape and recording new (healthier) patterns in place of the old.

So say he can't find something, it triggers anxiety, he loses it and spirals out of control.

Why is he do freaked out by losing something? Is it really that he misplaced a spoon, or is the spoon just an opportunity for his brain to hit panic mode? Once you figure out why, and what patterns his brain is used to when anxiety/panic sets in, CBT will go back over those situations (role play/etc, if it helps) to reexamine things with better choices/an emotionally (mentally, physically) healthier thought process. It's like practicing good behavior in a safe environment, until the brain has trained itself to follow those new thought patterns.

It's very effective. A pain in the ass, but effective.

Probly 95% of psychotherapy is racket reinforcement training so you keep the disability chex coming.

 

[LallyH]

Probly 95% of psychotherapy is racket reinforcement training so you keep the disability chex coming.

My employee must be seen by one of the 5 percent then, as he works for a living - no disability benefit is coming his way.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

My employee must be seen by one of the 5 percent then, as he works for a living - no disability benefit is coming his way.

If you look youll likely find anything you imagine, theres always exception. Don't bet the farm on exceptions.

 

[FurryFury]

It's all the same IMO. We are all differently wired in unique ways.

Autism is on the same spectrum as ADHD and Aspergers is it not?

I hadn't really thought of Many autistic people as ' mental illness' , just, differently wired. Different isn't necessarily 'ill' in my opinion. Of course, having restrictions concurrent like OCD is different. A friend of mine has Aspergers and one of the things that always interests me is how the things she describes as making her feel alone are things that I think other people experience but that she cannot ' process that' rather than the experiences them selves being isolationary. She cannot stand touch, and also has OCD. The hardest thing is not giving her a warm hug when we meet and say good bye and remembering HER terms of relationship. I think I have learned a lot from her, but still drop clangers, because its a different way to experience the world from the way I do. I'm grateful for her patience. With the theory of an autism spectrum, aren't many of us 'on a scale' just how far a long is different?

 

[FurryFury]

I think it's all biological but can be helped with behavior modification, meds and therapy. Anyone disagree?

Therefore it's time to put away the term "mental illness" which serves as a way to discount illness that needs treatment.

 

[tedsbeds]

I think it's all biological but can be helped with behavior modification, meds and therapy. Anyone disagree?

Therefore it's time to put away the term "mental illness" which serves as a way to discount illness that needs treatment.

Maybe we nedd to say these people, and I include myself, have some mental health deficits?

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[desertslave]

In a purely linguistic sense "mental illness" doesn't bother me. It's akin to heart disease or thyroid disease. Honestly, for uniformity, mental disease would be more appropriate. Unfortunately, "mental" carries a lot of baggage. Maybe we need to have "cerebral disease" instead? No, that's not quite right either, since in most cases the cerebral structure isn't the issue. "Neurochemical disorder" really fits best, IMO.

But try to get the population at large to A) understand the need for a change, B) understand the meaning of the new term, and C) embrace the new term.

 

[tedsbeds]

In a purely linguistic sense "mental illness" doesn't bother me. It's akin to heart disease or thyroid disease. Honestly, for uniformity, mental disease would be more appropriate. Unfortunately, "mental" carries a lot of baggage. Maybe we need to have "cerebral disease" instead? No, that's not quite right either, since in most cases the cerebral structure isn't the issue. "Neurochemical disorder" really fits best, IMO.

But try to get the population at large to A) understand the need for a change, B) understand the meaning of the new term, and C) embrace the new term.

Yes most of us have some neurochemical disorder. I try to make mine more "orderly" with a little meditation, a little scotch, occasionaly a little reefer and a lot of "I don't give a fuck". It may be just a rationalization but sometimes it works for me.
I take care of people whom need a lot more chemical re-ordering than I do and sometimes that is just a guessing game by the doctors.

 

[BiBunny]

Ehhh...mental illness is caused by a whole bunch of things--genetics, structural and chemical abnormalities in the brain, traumatic brain injuries, environmental factors--usually in combination. So I don't know if it's useful to call it anything else. And besides, whatever we call it, the general public is going to be judgmental about it because they don't (want to) understand.

I'm bipolar. Bipolar I with the occasional gift of psychotic features because my birth somehow angered the gods or something, if we want to be overly pedantic. (Although I've been psychosis-free for two or three years at this point, thank God.) I am mentally ill. I am sick. And I always will be, even when I'm not actively having symptoms. I accept that it's something I'll always have to manage, and I'm fine with it. Well, maybe not "fine," but I've made my peace with it. So it is what it is, and I don't mind being called bipolar or mentally ill because I'm both.

What I find utterly offensive is the attitude that various illnesses are just "different ways of looking at the world." I haven't seen anybody here say anything like that, luckily, but that kind of thinking is rampant. Like, no. Just no. That is so dismissive of the experiences of mentally ill people that it's disgusting, IMO.

Also, completely off-topic, I wasn't aware that AD(H)D was considered to be on the same spectrum as Asperger's and autism now. Interesting.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[BiBunny]

Actually, I'm not sure about ADHD. Not saying it is or is not. Just I don 't know. Yes, some things are 'not well' some things are different, and its possible to be both concurrent. Somethings are also poor lifestyle or not helping ourselves, and again, its possible that that can be a contribution or concurrent but irrelevant. Another fiend has a quite severely autistic son, just coping with mainstream education with support but lots of behavioural difficulty and stress. His autism is not going to up and disappear if she follows all the nutritional guidelines ( re what to give to drink, omega oils etc) , no way no how ........but I cannot help thinking his behaviour might just be the few percent easier if she did, and if she didn't she wouldn't have lost so much by trying. It might not impact in the least......but worth trying.

I'm not sure about the AD(H)D thing, either. This is the first I'd ever heard about it!

And, yeah, I agree with your post 100%. Going back to a post that I made a while back about my sleep patterns--I can't completely fix my illness by making sure my sleep isn't too screwed up, but I can certainly make managing it a lot easier. If I dropped all my meds, all the correct sleeping in the world wouldn't keep me from going off the wall in very short order, but keeping a decent sleep pattern makes it easier for the meds to do their job.

 

[tedsbeds]

I'm not sure about the AD(H)D thing, either. This is the first I'd ever heard about it!

And, yeah, I agree with your post 100%. Going back to a post that I made a while back about my sleep patterns--I can't completely fix my illness by making sure my sleep isn't too screwed up, but I can certainly make managing it a lot easier. If I dropped all my meds, all the correct sleeping in the world wouldn't keep me from going off the wall in very short order, but keeping a decent sleep pattern makes it easier for the meds to do their job.

I don't believe that ADD and ADHD is on the spectrum. You would have to look at the current DSM manual.

 

[La damnee elle la licorne]

 

[desertslave]

I wasn't aware of AD(H)D being on the autism spectrum, either. It doesn't quite fit the general group of symptoms. Nobody as ever confused me for an Asperger's-type, that's for sure. If anything, I used to be the opposite...a little too outgoing, sensitive and seriously lacking an inner censor. (I used to call it "blurt syndrome.) I had to teach myself (with help from others) how to be thoughtful about what I wanted to say and how to say it. Sometimes it's mentally tiring, so I just hush up and stay on the sidelines. Or bring something along to hold my attention.

 

[FurryFury]

My trans adult child was originally diagnosed ADD, then ADHD, now Aspergers. I am not buying Aspergers though she is sometimes too literal that's the only thing I see that fits. ADHD as it presents in females (her bio sex) is the only thing that fits. She is also Bi Polar and has had some psychosis. As of July it will be one year since she had any episodes. I think that's great but others keep telling me it hasn't been a year yet and it's nothing.

She also has major depression and anxiety as does my son. He actually has two kinds of anxiety. The more I learn the more I think it's genetics though it can be somewhat mitigated by actively working on things and taking good care of yourself.

 

[desertslave]

This article makes me feel slightly less silly about my personal therapy. (I love Zentangle, too.)

http://qz.com/437793/coloring-is-now-a-normal-adult-activity/