There is a lot of help available for people with a mental illness. There are hotlines, mental health resource locators, therapists, doctors and many others. And yet, many people with a mental illness continue to live every day with bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses without getting help.
And what’s worse is that we know that by not getting help, or by delaying help, the course of the overall illness and outcome is worse.
So why don’t people get help for mental illness?
People are Scared of Mental Illness
The number one reason people don’t get help for mental illness is because they are scared. People are scared of their illness and they’re certainly scared of help for that mental illness. Honestly, it’s a complicated piece of psychology, but in a nutshell – if you don’t admit to the mental illness, then it isn’t really there. It’s the head in the sand approach. It happens with all illnesses. No one wants to be sick so they deny it and just hope it’ll go away.
Of course, mental illness doesn’t tend to just “go away” on its own.
I understand fear of mental illness. Between the media stereotypes and common misconceptions about mental illness, it’s no wonder that no one wants to admit to it. And the misunderstandings of the general public and the nasty things people say about mental illness don’t help either.
And it’s awfully scary to face the dark side of yourself where the mental illness lives. It is nearly impossible to admit to suicidal or self-harm feelings because you want to judge them and you feel terrible about them and you’re worried about how other people will judge you because of them.
The trouble is – if you don’t admit there is a problem, you will never find a solution.
Anosognosia – A Lack of Insight into Mental Illness
And this presupposes that the person with the mental illness isn’t suffering from anosognosia – which is a clinical lack of insight into their disorder. This mostly occurs in people who are psychotic who are convinced they are “fine” and often that others are “out to get them.”
People are Scared of Mental Illness Help
Similarly, people are terrified of what will happen if they do agree to mental illness help. Visions of over-medicated zombies and electrocutions tend to dance in people’s heads not to mention forced incarcerations in asylums.
But, of course, in reality, none of these things are very realistic. They are common in the movies, not so common in real life. Life is not Girl, Interrupted or One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Unfortunately, people don’t have the experience to know differently.
But the fact is, many people successfully get on helpful psychiatric medication fairly quickly, most don’t need electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and most never experience and involuntary commitment to a hospital.
People are Overwhelmed with Mental Illness
And let’s not forget, the person who need the help, the person with the mental illness themselves, is the person in the worst place mentally. They aren’t making the best decisions. They’re scared; they feel alone, like a “freak.” They’re doing everything they can just to survive another day. The idea of then seeking out help on top of that is terrifying and completely overwhelming.
Helping People with a Mental Illness Get Help
So please understand, a person with a mental illness isn’t necessarily just being obstinate or difficult by refusing help, they are just experiencing what I would consider to be a pretty natural stage in the evolution of acceptance of a serious illness.
There is a lot to know about helping someone with a mental illness but you can start by learning:
- How to tell someone they have a mental illness
- How to convince someone to get help for a mental illness
- The best things to say to a person with a mental illness
And remember, the person with the mental illness might not come around immediately, but your love and your desire to help them will matter in the long run. Being there for someone when they feel scared and alone is very hard, but is a gift like none other.
I refuse to become dependent upon pills mage to be addicting. I know this world… Big pharmaceutical companies don’t care about your well being, and neither do the psychiatrists. There is a lot of money in these fields and they only want the paycheck. You want support? Find free forums and stuff online, family, and friends. I am being ridiculed for refusing meds…help.
People, more often than not, don’t get help because of the legal limitations put upon them once diagnosed with a mental illness (can’t work certain professions, can’t get a gun license, sometimes even legally forced to take pills) and the severe emotional and physical side effects of medication. Until mental health care is like the rest of medicine and does not impose restrictions on people and force them to do things, not too many people are going to willingly accept help in the form of psychiatry.
Here’s what I’ve experienced on Pharmaceuticals:
Physical from 12 years of age to 42 years of age:
Anorgasmia at 17 (that’s the peak of sexual activity for a man)
Erectile Dysfunction
Spasms
Insomnia
Rapid Weight Gain
Metabolism issues.
Water Retention
Vomiting
Fitness resistance
Chronic Pain
Pin pricks in the head
Ticks
Muscle pain
shortness of breath
Lethargy
Over active bladder
Photo sensitivity
Pancreatitis
Skin rash
Drowsy
Dry mouth
Loss of bladder control
Severe withdrawal (just like “hard” drugs!)
Emotional Side Effects:
Depression
Eating Disorders
Anger
PTSD (from and involuntary hospitalization at 17)
Stigma
Failed relationships
Forced medication (under medicaid, you have to be medicated to be treated by a therapist)
Unequal healthcare. Psychiatrists routinely abandon patients because of lack of proper insurance.
Anxiety (I’m afraid to talk to psychiatrists because I’m not interested in medication)
Barriers to employment (mental illness is seen as a threat)
Barriers to government programs: Try telling an OVR person or VESID person that you have a mental illness. Instead of focusing on your global learning disorder, they will instantly ask you to perform a battery of tests, and then ask that you receive medications.
Discrimination
Isolation
Shame
Fear
Family issues (I was my medication and my mental illness not a person (misdiagnosed 15 times))
Indifference
Apathy
Eating Disorders (metabolic syndrome)
Social disconnection
Metabolic Syndrome
Cannabis:
Mental issues: None (except the monthly trip to a slum to get my meds is very traumatic).
Withdrawal Issues: None to light irritability and insomnia. These symptoms are hardly noticeable.
Some shortness of breath (this is alleviated by vaporization)
Long term Physical Issues:
None
This is an illegal drug that’s railed against by the greedy pharmaceuticals industry and the psychiatric community. This is a fact, it’s not me being “crazy”. However, under the table some physicians are totally down with it, officially, they’re on the down low.
I live in a state of stigma and fear caused by mental health system. I don’t think this will change because of articles like the one you see above promoting a sustainable medical choices based on Brave New World – quackery and organized name calling. Be very sure you’re mentally ill or you could end up strung out on Pristiq after your psychiatrist decides to cut you loose. I’m not saying that all pharmaceuticals are evil. I am saying that they’re best used as needed and not as a lifestyle choice.
Friend got mental illness BT don’t no how to get help for him
I have been coping with these crazy things all my life and am at a point now where I know I really need help but I am poor and have little options. For years now some before but mainly after my mom’s death in 2008 I have trouble controlling it. I was on Prozac and lithium for a few.years and then could no longer afford it so I found ways to keep calm but those ways aren’t working anymore and I am having violent outbursts towards my wife for no reason and this shaking has started to periodically occur in only mainly my left hand but sometimes seldom in my right hand then there’s the feeling of emptiness that never goes away please someone talk to me
The reason me and most people I know won’t/can’t get help with mental health issues is that any help costs so damn much. Especially without insurance and even then mandatory obamacare insurance is around 200$ a month on top of meds, picking a doctor who actually wants to help and hoping you can pay their insane fees. It’s easily around 400$ a month extra. That may not seem like much to some but those of us living pay check to pay check have serious issue so when it comes down to housing or feeling better about your shit hand life’s dealt ya.
In all honesty reading this makes it sound like it’s trying to give “healthy” people approval to judge who has a mental illness and decide what they need to do because everyone else who has it is scared to even know it. Most people know and can never fully fix it. That’s the damn shame of it. The last thing people want to hear is that they need help because they can’t control aspects of their own brain. Most are fully aware of the situation and don’t need others pointing fingers. You want to help your “friends” out, pay their medical bills and see how bad it gets. Then you’ll know why people don’t.
My stbx is suffering from depression. His grandfather committed suivide, his father the same, his niece of 26 years old too,. Older sister suffered from severe depression, died in a car accident. Other sister, schizophrenic, other sister bipolar. He doesn’t want to see a doctor. I think he is terrified that he will be carrying pills like his sisters, afraid that he would be like them. He assumed the role of “man” when his father died and he was only 13. He is. Wry stubborn, holds a high position job and he is extremely smart., after his niece killed her self our marriage got worse. Now ne wants to divorce me and we have been separated for a year and a half. He is not alone, he has a g f. I am just afraid that one say he would kill himself. He has no contact with sisters or other family members.
Hi Marilyn,
Your ex husband sounds like he is going through some serious issues but if he left you for someone else shouldn’t you let that other person take care of him?
I have never gotten help because unfortunately I don’t have health insurance, and can’t afford to see a therapist. I’ve just tried to cope on my own the best that I can.
There are so many stories I could tell but, I do want to say that many people in the world not just those with mental health problems feel disposable. Perhaps, because they are treated as such. God, I feel like raising Hell.
I don’t know where you are but here in Canada only the privileged few get help for mental illness. The rest of us, which is me, are not entitled to the same care as everyone else. Only in Canada can you be having a clear psychotic break only to be sent away with no help except maybe a referral to be on a waiting list for six months or more and that is if you can even get a referral. While having a psychotic break that lasted the better part of a year, I tried to have myself committed and was told A. I could not commit myself, B. That I would need to get a referral and C. That in order to actually have someone assess me I would be on a waiting list for at least six months…. Then I got paranoid about all the people walking around, possibly unmedicated, and they scared me because if the hospital would let me walk out the door in my state, I was not safe around the general public. And that caused me a new type of anxiety that we like to call social anxiety and caused me to withdraw further within my self. :(
It is very rare that I comment on articles that I read on the internet but the part about there being lots of help available for people with mental health problems bothers me quite a lot, this article seems to place the blame primarily on the afflicted persons. I have constantly tried to get help for my problems and have not received anything in the way of help, in fact the last time I saw a psychiatrist (on the NHS) they seemed very disinterested and said I had traits of different personality disorders but didn’t quite match the criteria to fit into a single one and then proceeded to say sorry I can’t help you and that was the end of that.
I am now forced to seek a private psychiatrist to help me which financially I can’t really afford but psychologically I need to.
To sum my post up, in certain areas there may be a lot of help for people with mental health problems and in those cases it may be that the afflicted persons may not seek help for the reasons that you have stated about but in other cases there is a lack of help, whether it be that the services required are unavailable or that the persons providing these services are not passionate enough about their work to actually help these people.
So I would lay quite a lot of the blame for people with mental health problems not getting help on a broken system and not just on the people who should push and push for the help that they need but as anybody with mental health problems knows, sometimes this requires strength and energy that they simply no longer have within themselves. Mental health care professionals should understand that they are not dealing with “normal” people and should expect their patients to act with those parameters.
This is why I can’t get help. Here is a letter I received.
I am writing to return you back to your doctor for on going care.
Since we have tried a number of medications now and you have not been able to
tolerate any for any substained period of time. it appears that I am unable to do much
for your condition
The mental Health service at the ******** **** ******* May be able to help, there
triage number is ****
Regards
******
Ok well I don’t need to be returned to my doctor as I see him when ever I want. Number 2. You gave me antidepressants for bipolar, that sent me manic. Excellent what a great psychiatrist. I only tried your medications for years even though I believed it was a mistake. UMMMMM doc, could you refer me else where dont just give me the number of the place you work. Well I tried. And now my poor family and society have to deal with me now.
Uhm… is there something about if one moniker is taken.. no one else can use it, thing?
I am “Tabby”, the one who has posted off and on for quite some years now (even the old blog) and well… I am sitting here looking at this and this isn’t ME!
someone else is using my “moniker” here….
Tabby
I’ve read many of your posts, and I noticed the one below wasn’t typical of your writing style or spacing. The same thing happened to a couple of other posters using the same name recently. Natasha explained that she used WorldPress to set up her blog, and WP has no restriction on moniker duplication – so long as our email address is submitted. I had noticed there was at least one other Patricia + a Pat also, so I went with my first & middle names to differentiate myself.
I enjoy your posts – I find them insightful, well written & provocative. I’ve intended to respond several times, but typically, I don’t accomplish everything I plan to do in any given day. Have a good evening.
I am making it my mission to get, “danger to one’s self or to others,” removed from law as a requirement for treatment. This is outdated law based on the old days when people thought mental illness was “fiction” for attention or excuse/justification for bad behavior. Their idea of an imminent threat, is slit wrist or a loaded gun. What about drunk driving; violence in the home without physical interaction (such as throwing things, destruction, and screaming); not eating; overuse of intoxication substances; not sleeping; walking down the street drunk in the middle of the night; lying about assault to get their way/gain attention/or get a white knight hero to rescue them; promiscuity due to manic addiction to sex/attention;
Thrill seeking behavior; etc.? How are these things not an immediate threat?
We need to get it changed to immediate need for care. If a person can go to an ER for a migraine, why is it so difficult to get treated, even as temporary, until a long term option is found? It needs to change. It has to change. Otherwise we are waiting for our loved ones/mentally ill folks to kill someone or themselves before it is enough to warrant intervention?!
I don’t know if it will be possible, but based on my position as the “anchor” family member in a sea of mental illness, it has become apparent that help is nearly non-existent – at least it is when a person is in their depression and wanting help, the waiting periods are too long, and they are seeking mania (usually drug induced) before the appointment.
I know I’m not alone, as I read comments from people who struggle getting a loved one help, and from people like you all who knew you needed it but couldn’t get it.
I think you may be on to something…I’m in the midst of a struggle to get my sister much needed help after she was recently released from the hospital after a two week stay with psychotic behavior on top of having bi-polar disorder and completely taken herself off medication. They have a new buzz phrase…”baseline without medication”.
It’s a prescription for disaster for people dealing with these circustances.
Let me know if you come up with a way we can help make change happen.
You seem to have similar experiences with Bi-polar disorder…I would be interested in hearing more of helpful info if you have time.
Thanks
There are three criteria to be involuntarily hospitalized: a person must be a danger to themselves, a danger to someone else, or be gravely disabled. It’s fairly clear, except “gravely disabled” is open to some interpretation. Involuntary hospitalization is done to protect the patient or the public, making it a safety issue. Many mental health professionals will err to the side of caution in favor of safety, especially if you walk into the psychiatrist’s office seeking help.
In the hospital, patients are presented with their Patient Bill of Rights among all the admit paperwork. You don’t “lose all your rights”. Patients are not “forced” to take meds unless their behavior is out of control and they pose a danger to themselves or other patients or staff. Hospitals are staffed by people, some of whom maybe shouldn’t be in that profession. If you are mistreated there is usually a hotline phone number to hospital administration for you to report inappropriate behavior by staff. They will investigate and take appropriate action. The company wants to avoid liability for any bad workers they keep on staff.
@Theresa
Your rant full of vitriolic hyperbolic generalizations and multiple exclamation points indicates some mood instability on your part. I wonder if you were better able to control yourself in front of the doctor and the judge, and I wonder whether that had any influence on your daughter’s behavior or the outcome of the proceedings.
@ erock68la
I think it must depend on the country. Here in the UK you can be forced to take meds when held involuntarily in hospital, and you can be held down and injected against your will if you refuse to take them. If you’re held “under section” in hospital, ie. involuntarily, it’s been decided that you lack capacity to make those decisions for yourself. Being considered a danger to yourself or others is a requirement of being “sectioned” so that box is automatically ticked, as it were.
Also, there is little patients can do, they really do lose an awful lot of rights. They have the right to appeal the section (involuntary commitment to hospital) but that’s it. There are no “hotlines” – although there is an organistaion that is supposed to listen to patients’ concerns in mental health patients are often disbelieved. Legal channels could only be pursued after mistreatment if there is a clear breach of the law (say, forcibly injecting a voluntary patient) but most mistreatment is impossible to prove.
I fee I should ad the NHS is wonderful when it comes to physical care, but mental health care is appalling and so badly funded!
And one more thing: to get my daughter involuntarily committed, the psychiatrist actually stood up in that ‘kangaroo court’ and flat-out lied to the judge!!! Idiots like him should be sent back to the third-world country they came from…they absolutely should not be allowed to mess with our minds!!!
Another main reason, and I’ve just recently learned this after my daughter was hospitalized, is that once you seek help, and if you are involuntarily hospitalized, you lose ALL of your rights to decide how you are medically treated. You are forced to take medication, with some very serious side effects, against your will, you are treated poorly by the psychiatrist and the psychiatric employees: they can pretty much do whatever they want with you. I will never trust the people in the psychiatric field ever again!!!
Honestly while all of those things might be true. People also forget another reason why people suffering with a mental illness have not sought help. You won’t be able to get help if you can’t afford it. I’ve been to many sliding scale places that have turned me down and their excuse was it’s not severe enough to help. If that is the case and income doesn’t have anything to do with it then it is a matter of only offering help when it’s far too late for help. Mental illness can also worsen over time and it’s not right to be in denial of someone else’s mental distress to the point that you send them on their merry way until you become a harm to yourself or their general public. I’ve come to understanding as to why people who suffer a mental illness turn to drugs, cutting, or suicide and that is because they are given a false sense of hope. They are led to believe that people want to and are here to help and there are programs to help only to tell them that they don’t qualify or its not a life or death situation yet to step in and help.
Completely agree with you. I have known many people (myself included) who have been denied help or helped for a very limited period of time due to lack of insurance support. I have heard of people who have lied about what there true health problem was in order to get backed up by insurance. They know that they have mental health issues but, feel they need to lie that they have a drug-problem to get help for mental health issues associated with drug dependency. My family definitely makes enough money to help me a good deal but, it has become a nightmarish situation for the insurance to back out of the proper treatment I need a week into it. I am starting TMS which is $8,000. My insurance is not going to cover it. I have often felt that I have been given a false sense of hope which turns to suicidal thoughts at how my poor family has to feel agony over my poor emotional state. It’s like society blames us for our illness but, many people in a much worse state than me cannot receive proper treatment.
@John
First of all, it’s imperative to know whether a patient is using mood altering drugs when the patient comes in for help with a mood disorder. And believe it or not, on rare occasion some drug abusers have been know to…stretch the truth about their use, hence the drug screen.
Second, marijuana is an inconsistent psychotropic and CNS depressant and will likely confound or hinder any doctor’s attempts to regulate your mood.
Third, besides mood stabilizers, what other medical (you went to a psychiatrist, after all) options do you think there are for bipolar disorder?
You said you were going to see a “new psychiatrist”. What happened to your old one(s)? How many have there been that haven’t lived up to your standards?
You went to an expert for professional help, you found fault with everything that was said, and you tried to dictate the whole process. Conclusion: you really don’t want to get better.
Here is a classic example of why people give up on seeking treatment. I just got back from an appointment with a new psychiatrist. First red flag: they gave me an unannounced drug screen. No problem for me, since I’m not on anything, but what it tells me right off the bat is that they don’t trust anyone who comes into their office. I came in for bipolar, not for substance abuse and they could have told me the night or even a week before my appointment they were going to drug test me. You can’t detox for these new expensive tests. Like I said though, not worried, because I wasn’t on anything, but it’s always nice to know right from the get go they suspect you of being a lying dope fiend.
So, this woman who I cannot bring myself to call a doctor doesn’t even ask me about my bipolar history, because as everyone knows, bipolar is exactly the same for everyone. I made the mistake of asking for a week’s worth of sleep medication because non 24 disorder is part of my bipolar. Now she really thinks I’m a drug seeker. Also made the mistake of telling her that I have a medical marijuana card, but that I smoke less than the amount you could fit into a cigarette over a month’s time. She must have seen a lot of degenerate pot heads in her time(nothing personal against pot heads) because her opinion of marijuana could easily be summed up as utter and complete reefer madness.
So, she doesn’t ask me about my bipolar, doesn’t ask me about the bipolar meds I have tried in the past or the adverse effects I have suffered from them. When I said that I wouldn’t take mood stabilizers because of possible permanent, short and long term effects, she tells me that the websites I have gone to are full of shit(her exact words). She didn’t give me the opportunity to explain that my information was directly from the FDA and the Manufacturers of the mood stabilizers and that yes, just about anyone can read a case study and make an informed decision based on the facts.
And then she said what no doctor should ever say to any one with bipolar, especially when they are trying to get help, “So, You don’t want to get better.” Not a question, but an opinion stated as a fact by someone who has spent less than 15 minutes talking to me. I was polite through the entire 15 to 20 minutes we talked. I never told her she was wrong. I did tell her I could see things from her point of view. She cut the appointment short by saying finally, “I’ll walk you out.” I apologized to her for wasting her time. Then she said again, “Come back when you want to get better.” I told her in an even tone, “I don’t want to sound like an asshole, but that is an incredibly rude thing to say to someone.”
I feel suicidal, but I am afraid to tell a psychiatrist because she may call the cops and I will be handcuffed by them and taken to the ER even if I agree to go voluntarily.
Thats because I will be considered a danger to myself even if I cooperate. All transports to mental hospitals are done in restraints
I’m sure that there is something I could help you with in regards to your problem. If you are willing, could you tell me your age? That might be a part of the issue. I have often felt suicidal but, I don’t recall being involuntarily admitted to the hospital by my therapist. Inpatient is a holding tank for those who are suicidal.
In South Korea (I live in the USA) if you have any history of mental health problems (including receiving counseling) they put in on your record that can be reviewed by people who are considering hiring you for a job. This is the country with the current highest suicide rate in the world.
I suffer from mental illnesses and there are several reasons why I won’t seek help.
1. I suffer from extreme social phobia (almost as bad as it gets) and I’m afraid of all social situations and all people, including family members. Seeking help is also a social situation so of course I’m afraid of seeking help. Just the thought of seeking help or getting therapy almost frightens me to death.
2. My mental issues are so deeply rooted that I’m convinced nothing and no one can help me. I can’t imagine myself not being sick. It’s just who I am. I just know that I can’t get better. I have no hope at all.
3. I’m lazy and lack motivation. I don’t want to do anything out of my comfort zone. And I’m too lazy to do anything about this.
4. I believe that my “real” personality is so bad that the illnesses that keep me isolated are actually doing me and others a favour and keeping me out of constant trouble and embarrassment and prevent others getting hurt.
@Orvar
There are therapists out there who will see you individually and who don’t have busy waiting rooms to deal with. Do yourself a favor. Take that first scary step; it’s the hardest. You will feel some immediate relief just by taking some action. The next steps are easier and you won’t have to take them alone.
That social phobia has to be one of the most debilitating anxiety disorder there is. I feel for you, it is HORRIBLE.
I has that phobia for years, wouldn’t leave the house, did not even want family and friends in my house. Mine phobia all started by a panic attack, which ended up more panic attacks the fear of having one in public, then fear of having one in front of family, then bang I could not leave the house. I would panic, become dizzy, become out of reality, feet felt like they would sin in the ground an I would die. 5 years this went on for and even though I am still very sick it does get better. I can leave my house now but still feel anxious, but hay that’s a big step, also I can have people in my house now and feel comfortable. best advise I can give for this phobia is keep doing things that set it off, leave the house, have people over, just a little at a time. I was at the point were I thought I would be like this forever…. Panic attacks, phobias. But like I said I am still very sick but I am a lot better then I was. Good luck. ps running in the morning helps. I used to run up and down my hallway to get exercise so I didn’t have to leave the house :)
@Orvar – Are you me? I don’t remember posting what you just said.
But seriously though, you more or less describe me to a T. The laziness makes everything worse. It’s a vicious cycle. You know you’re depressed, but too lazy/scared to get help; which makes everything seem helpless; which makes you more depressed. Rinse and repeat.
I believe I’m aware I have mental health issues. Depression, social anxiety. I’ve seen a psychologist once, although I came out the other end a slightly better person, I’ve more or less stumbled back into this dark room; convinced I can find the door in a maze of black.
I want to get help, but am afraid of going to a GP for fear they won’t understand how I feel. My brother had similar issues as well. His GP said that Maybe it’s his dads way of protecting him. What kind of stupid advice is that.
This news certainly made it harder for me, that’s for sure. I’d prefer to go straight to a psych, and talk it through with the help of meds, than have to go through a GP.
I understand what you mean about doctors not understanding…. Me and my partner went to see a doctor a year or 2 back and he laughed at us….. As in we are full of shit or he thinks it can’t exist. If you mentall illness is holding you back =, in no way is this lazy. To me lazy is being healthy of mind and body and just deciding not to get up and go to work, maybe the simpsons are on and you just can not be bothered. Lazy people need a foot in the ass were as mentally ill people need HELP. No one on hear is lazy, don’t listen to them negative thoughts your mind tries to trick you with. DEPRESSION.
Honestly the thing with getting help is it just seems so pointless when it doesn’t feel like much is wrong with you. I don’t tell my family (I’m underage by the way) because they would think I am just trying to get attention and not know just what I go through each day. Therapists and psychiatrists are people who are paid to listen to you speak, and most of them won’t want to hear it. There ARE, I’m sure, a select few who actually care, but have fun finding one. And besides, depending on what kind of illness you have (pretty sure I have dissociative identity disorder), they will put you on meds and they DO alter you to a point. Quite honestly I don’t want to be put on antipsychotics and walk around feeling slightly numb in the head half of the time.
The way I see it, some people just have different minds and perhaps may not even need the help. I don’t know. I’m sure many people can benefit from it. But something about it seems so wrong.
I agree it seems most psychiatrist aren’t there because they care. They seem to want to rush through and write a prescription. Many of them are stubborn and hardheaded, so they know what they know and the patients feelings are unimportant. However, therapist go in to it not for the money, but for the helping. A lot of them work for less than or the equivalent to a massage therapist. Sometimes they see so much of a certain type of patient, they project that on to others. This is when therapy becomes not only ineffective but also countereffective. This happened with my sister… Her therapist told her all her diagnosis was wrong. She had her believe she’s not bipolar and doesn’t need meds. This is not true. She is bipolar across the board (every single bipolar sign/behavior) but she told my sister she had ptsd. More like everyone around her has it, because of what she has done to us. She’s vindictive and manipulative – and she is good at it. That is not ptsd. I blame this therapist for the back tracking year we have had. People like her are in love with the idea of being an expert, not on actually helping. She needs a new line of work.
I know there are many great ones out there so don’t give up after a few bad ones.
i have mental health and when i fanlly told people about it, everyone ran off, docters and mental health are useless, becuase they dont lison, and put the wrong labal on me, and now no one take sme serucers, the mental health team ut me on drugs for phisyo, yet i have biopolor, when i was in the mental unit, the nurses dianoesd me with broderline, and the constant went on there word and never even talked to me or did tests, one day i tryed to get over a bad thign by drinking enery drinks to stay happy, they put it down to drugs and kicked me out, 2 years past and im out of contorl, yet no one is trying to help, and just trying to thorw broderline at me, borderline is basicly there aswner to i dont know whats wrong i cant be asked trying to help, im sick and there is no help, my last chance to be a normal prson lies with mind, if they cant help me i will blow myself up in a mental uint.
Ben Warwick, it pains me to hear this. Sometimes I don’t know if what someone says is true or possibly skewed with their own lens but, if it is true, I want to help you. If it’s completely accurate (kill me in your mind for saying that, I understand) I still feel that it is based on pain. I have known many misdiagnosed people operating on a misdiagnosis for long periods of time. That’s like a doctor treating someone for one type of cancer but, not treating the true cancer. That example probably doesn’t exist but, perhaps you will get me. I myself keep getting new diagnoses and/or new symptoms of my mental health problems.
Hm… This just cancelled my phobia of going to the asylum…
But, The thing is that I feel like I will be losing a part of me if I heal my mental illness
like for example, I’ll miss my imaginary friend that’s telling me to live on & do my best because he/she loves me
(yes i think it’s called conscious or something but i can “see” or “feel” it)
or like my overwelming attitude to over-apology.
I’d rather die with that rather to go and become neutral or something
It’s just that I would really feel awful if I returned to my old normal self
(which was kinda a more mean person)
Totally get it. Yes, my debilitating symptoms will go away. I will survive but, what will I survive as.
The cold hard facts are that most people with mental illness are highly intelligent and want to be actively involved in their care and advocates. That is labeled “aggression” by not only mental health professionals but also general practitioners. We don’t seek help or reveal our diagnosis because we are stigmatized, discounted and this loss of dignity is heart wrenching.
I have Bipolar 1. Ever since that showed up in my medical history, I have been treated differently. It does not matter that I have an MBA. It does not matter that I am calm when disagreeing with a doctor or advocating for myself. It is immediately charted as paranoid or aggressive or a “personality disorder.”
Having mental illness is very isolating and just about devastates your self-worth and esteem. The way you are treated by the medical community is worse than the illness itself.
i would add that it seems the more IQ intelligence they have, the less emotional intelligence they get,
a matter of balance could help, especially because people with mental disorder think their feelings instead of feeling them, and I understand the drawbacks when a professional would not involve the intelligent subject, keep in mind they are humans too, they can imagine the states and symptoms, they have studied patterns, feelings, body language …which are by definition very distorted among different subjects, they have their flaws too, they make mistakes, they misdiagnose ( they don’t see behind closed doors), they have their stories too, in fact some could even show mental disorders too, and not being aware of it
keep it up, you seem very aware of your condition and your intelligence state, keep it positive, personally I have taken the holistic approach of healing my inner child ( he’s doing much better after some visits), meditate, become a bit more selfish ( i was codependent), balance my schedule, and mostly work on my emotional intelligence improvements., take care all,
“i would add that it seems the more IQ intelligence they have, the less emotional intelligence they get,”
I passionately disagree, thinking back to the years I was locked up for being comparable to feral. An IQ test, years later scored me at low genius. Freud and Jung were both very sick people, but brilliant. The reason counselors and docs, today, don’t understand the illness is because they’ve never been on the other side of it. In this case, “it takes one to know one” would be an appropriate statement. The best counselor I had was diagnosed with bipolar I, raised 4 children on her own, was abused by drunk parents and beat up by 4 husbands. The only thing that can induce the progression of emotional intelligence is going through some shit, in life. Even then, people of less intelligence still rarely learn anything from it. The more intelligent you are, the more that can go wrong.
Does a doctor need to have had a broken arm to know how to set yours? YOUR bias dictates that a counselor needs to have “gone through some shit” to know what they’re talking about. #1 Everybody goes through shit. #2 Most likely you only listen to a counselor who has gone through the kind of shit YOU deem worthy, and the others you ignore without really knowing if what they say has merit.
Truth is truth no matter where it comes from. Helpful is helpful no matter the source.
Yes, that seems to be my reality. The loss of dignity and the way you are treated does seem to be worse that the illness itself. I have plenty of horror stories. If somehow the whole system is ‘fixed’ practically overnight, I won’t believe it.
I realize this post is is over a year old, while looking for help for my adult daughter ,who suffers from sort of depression, I ran across this article. I can tell you one of the reasons ‘ Why People Do Not Get Help for Mental Illness? Its because they have no insurance or money to pay the high cost, to see a doctor or visit a clinic/hospital. My daughter lost her job due to her depression . so she lost her insurance also, and after her unemployment ran out, I am left to support her & my grandchild. I have made so many calls and visited so many facilities, to explain her condition to them, and try and get her the proper help. after finally getting my daughter to at least visit a doctor with me, I borrowed money to pay for a couple visits to a psychiatrist, hoping to get her help. and was told that my daughter would need many more sessions, before she could be diagnosed correctly. I understand that she does, but I do not have that kind of moneyl. I can not get my daughter on state insurance , because she is not properly diagnosed. so the only option I am left with is a state hospital. which I would not want my daughter to have to be put in. If there were more resources ans affordable care for people with mental illness, I think more people would get the help they need.
What you write is definitely true, but there is another important factor to why people CAN’T get help.
I have spent years trying to get help, and struggled. It’s difficult to bring yourself to get help, not because you are scared, but because you don’t have the capacity to pick up the phone or drive a car to get help. It’s A LOT to ask someone who is suffering from mental illness. It feels impossible
Which is the whole point why you need help.
So how does the cycle deteriorate? Well, first you try calling places. When you have good days. You quickly get discouraged because nobody knows anything. Nobody knows where you should go, who you should call. Finally, if you get far enough, someone will know the right place where you can only leave a message. Then you will wait weeks for help to call back… Then finally when (if) they do call you back you might A) find out that you waited for this person to call you back who really can’t help you, ie. they are the wrong person, and they will (might) refer you to another person to whom, if you have any sense of mental power at this point, you will call and pray are the right person, to then have to wait weeks or months for a call back either way… or B) is the right person who will actually make you feel like there is nothing you can do but continue waiting. That there are really no avenues for your recovery, and that everything you read about mental illness being something that anybody can get help with just by asking, is all lies.
I think it’s fantastic that everyone encourages people to get help with their mental illness. I don’t think it’s fair to make us believe that help is “out there” and is “easy to get just by asking”… Because it’s not. And being in a mentally fragile state is bad enough without having to be disappointed… It only takes one disappointment for things to turn ugly.
I’m late to the discussion. Eh. Sorry. So much yes, though. Schizophrenia, depression, and neurological disease ran straight down both genetic lines in my biological family. Well, my sister and I were born inheriting these life sentences to a mother who killed herself when we were babies and a father who left us to die in the closet. Not dead. Not sure that was good news. After being tossed around among relatives being abused, denied medical treatment for kid-injuries, being made to sleep on harsh conditions, eat scraps and then reunited with our dad and his new demented religious radical who beat me senseless because I was “the daughter of satan’s disciple”, I was put into state custody because they couldn’t afford the cost of medical treatment for both my mental and immunity disorders. So, beaten, then thrown away before I was 9, only to be institutionalized for 7 goddamn years, staying a year to two years each in long-term maximum security hospitals getting the crap beat out of me, locked in concrete rooms for sometimes days at a time, being subjected to (now outdated) restraining practices which were executed by poorly trained staff resulting in various broken bones, asphyxiation and overdose (sedatives)… well. All of this happened from the beginning to age 16 so it’s a miracle that, when I did finally find a family who wanted something like me, I was an honor student, drug-free (aside from properly-taken and monitored prescriptions), alcohol-free, winning trophies for musical achievements and then going off to college full-time still a virgin while working full-time as well to earn my keep and launch the bright and hopeful days of my new career. I worked for a decade straight (started since I was legal age to work) and sustained a physical injury that messed me up so badly, it not only took my ability to work away from me, along with my career advancements, but my hobbies, as well. I had to go on disability and sank into a nasty depression (wouldn’t have been the first time). I eventually went bat shit insane. I was lucky enough to have medicaid/medicare from a lifetime of treatment but too afraid of seeking it because hospitals are evil and the orderlies, nurses and doctors will treat you like something less than an animal (at least that’s what seven years experience has taught me. Plus, hospitals give me flashbacks of being in hospitals) I have tried over 40 medications, many of which I found out the hard way that I’m very allergic to (immune problems). I’m 34. I don’t know how I’m still alive. Along with being a patient, I’ve been studying this shit for as long as I’ve been in treatment. If my doctors are stumped, I make it easy for them. I use the gauge analogy to note and express observations in my moods, behavioral patterns and confusions. I can tell them and the doctors are easier to communicate with but the fucking receptionists and nurses are morons.
More to elaborate on your point: I lost my medicaid because I couldn’t provide them with a bank statement (strange, because this is the first time in six years they’ve needed it). Well, I don’t have a bank account. I use cash and I get my SSD on a pay card. I said, “okay” and tried to find some sort of paper to fax DFCS with my account information (Kinda regretting I went paperless). YOU TRY CALLING DCFS in 2015! Be prepared to be on hold for 6 hours, then if you’re lucky, get hung-up on or redirected to an answering machine to the wrong department. So, I’m doing my part. I’ve been continuing my mental AND physical health treatment (despite the fact that I have panic attacks EVERY SINGLE TIME I leave the house), doing my part. I’m on meds. Finally found some that work and don’t make me poop blood, gain weight or take the joy out of life (what little there is left). Unfortunately, the meds that do work do not prevent me from waking up every morning crying, having more flashbacks, feeling like humankind is inevitably doomed because, well, look around, fighting off invisible enemies and keeping a security camera on my car because I’m pretty sure that if I complain about the noisy neighbors they will slit my car tires and I can’t afford that repair. I’ve got like 20 tabs open in my head all day, every day and having a triple digit IQ just makes me realize all the more nuanced shit that makes a bad situation bad. Still, I’m alive. I’ve got shit to do and a cat and some friends to not let down. I’m running around like a headless chicken left and right and I get: “Ask for help. It’s out there.” Ummmm…. “FUCK! WHAT DO YOU THINK I’VE BEEN DOING?” Everyone at every desk passes the buck. They pass it. They say their hands are tied, they say it’s someone else’s responsibility and I get so shaky and cry-y that I have to call the crisis line and some young, stupid lady always answers and talks AT me, not TO me. Everything these people say is straight out of a fucking manual (as if they’re actually READING their lines as they speak to me). The least they can do is execute some half-believable acting skills and make it SOUND like they care or have some kind of personal experience. Otherwise, they’re just patronizing me and, well, why the hell should I listen to them?
“We would love to help you but our asses are in a legal vice”. That’s what it is, in 2015.
The year before last, one of my best friends was murdered and we were kicked out of our house after 3.5 years of perfect payments because the LL couldn’t afford the property taxes anymore and some backstabbing salesman ripped him and us both off so we had to move to a rough neighborhood (my nerves were better, back in the day). Every day it’s screaming children, booming cars and riots (yes, bloody effin’ riots) feet from my window. Naturally, being unable to filter sensory information as efficiently as most people, I succumbed to the stress of it all while my room mate just checked out, altogether. So, then I had to look after him. I was having panic attacks through medications strong enough to kill a whale so I finally just bit the bullet and committed myself for a nervous breakdown. Since it was the weekend, I had to go to the ER, where they accused me of doping myself after I had just given them a clean urine test, even had a witness sitting next to me who confirmed that licking a kleenex to wipe off sobbing snot was not the same as licking a nicotine patch, which they accused me of doing. I had provided that same hospital with a pamphlet, sarcastically but elegantly executed using my skills from college in layout and interface design of the entire list of my allergies, treatments, facilities and treatments/surgeries (I made it awhile back) every single time I had gone there. Each time I went, they denied having the form. They tried threatening me with a medicine I was HIGHLY allergic to for treatment of my panic attack (flashbacks… um). I reminded them I was allergic. They denied ever receiving the pamphlet. They refused treatment altogether. I was in agony, both physical and emotional for 10 goddamn hours while they dicked around at the desk, laughing at me and telling my room mate each hour, on the hour, that transport will arrive in an hour and referred to him as “someone who gives a damn”, when asked to identify who he was in relation to me. It’s like it was in the 90’s. When the transport people finally came, I was so weak but still kept getting involuntarily thrust into panic attacks. By this time, it was so painful I thought for sure, my system would have mercy on me and let me pass out from the pain. While in the panic attack, I profusely apologized for wasting their time: “I’m so sorry. *gasp gasp* I’m trying to make it stop. It will be just a sec.” to which the lady responded: “We don’t have time for this shit, I’ve got like 5 other calls so you need to hurry it up.” (I guess they give jobs to just anyone, now.) The dude with her (big dude) actually apologized to ME for her insensitive remark. In the discharge papers from the ER, there was a copy of the pamphlet. They had it the whole time. When I got to the main facility, immediate blood work was done and showed my potassium levels had dipped so low that, in the nurses own words, “it was a miracle I was still able to stay conscious at all”. I couldn’t walk, though. Those people (private facility/thanks medicaid) were WONDERFUL!
If you can afford private treatment, you get the best! I got lucky, every once in awhile.
Back to the present, though….. Still working to get my medicaid back. Still calling virtually everyone I know to see if they know someone who knows someone who… you get it. I’m getting dismissed, hands tied, don’t know, answering machines and even my current mental healthcare people are pissing on me and giving me the runaround. Let me clear something up: My temporary stay at the private facility was 3 days only, because the doctor there saw me decline once I was thrust back into the hospital environment and ultimately decided that being with my kitten, comfort pillow, hobbies and friends was a healthier environment that gave me incentive to stay alive and fight with this disease…. ya think?
For someone who suffers from severe bipolar disorder, paranoid delusions, obsessive compulsive disorder, twitches, clinical depression, can’t be around people without being overwhelmed, can’t filter out the noise and chaos that normal, calloused people seem to thrive in and has difficulty verbalizing (talking, not writing) properly, I feel like I’m one of the few people in this damn world who gives a shit about the little guy. Back in the days, when I could work (though barely), I also let homeless people stay with me until they got back on their feet, got people off drugs and hooked up with jobs and literally gave this dude the shirt off my back (I had another one on, underneath). Most of my friends are still living with their fucking parents. They spent most of their lives behind a computer desk. Meanwhile, I’ve lived. I’ve been to 15 schools, moved 37 times in my life, total and was the first of us to go to college and the youngest of us all to own a place (again, until I got injured and my mental illness decided to have a growth spurt).
I look around me and I have young people, barely out of high school, talking down to me like I’m fucking retarded. I’ve been trying to work on some scores that may give me a chance to get back into the working man’s world (What, you don’t think I don’t miss making an assload of money?). Unfortunately, due to the injury and the seizures and the daily struggle with … everything… I’ve gotten little done. I have no formal training, so I’m not really great but I figured that I could make something because, clearly, society doesn’t want anyone defective being allowed to live, they’re just going about it the passive-aggressive way instead of having mercy and putting us down like the diseased dogs they treat us all like. No. I’m not going down that easy. I may be struggling but, if I can make this shit work, I’ll be able to look back and say I showed them all up (revenge) by doing it with my hands tied behind my back AND had some extra to donate to help others like me. Sure, it ain’t a good idea to accomplish your dreams (at least the ones that can be accomplished in this reality) fueled by spite rather than ambition, but since I run on hatred, I utilize the format I know best to do my best. Long as it ain’t illegal, I don’t see the problem. I swear to whatever powers be/if they, indeed be, that I will do everything I can to help with what i have. Will it dispel any stereotypes or teach any lessons? Hell no. People don’t learn shit. So why do I do it? No idea. I’ll make something up but, in the meantime, I need to not be fussing with this bullshit red tape.
So many people out there need help and WANT help. Most of my friends are intelligent but kind of screwed-up, like me. They all WISH they could get help and actively seek it but, since they’re not rich, they get refused treatment. I’m not burying another friend. I’m too young to be dealing with that. BTW, that guy who was murdered suffered from severe mental illness but he was like rain man. This world lost a sweet, giving person who understood math in ways I thought to only exist in movies. He was hard-working, clean and gentle. He couldn’t leave his house much, either because he got overwhelmed and was receiving treatment for his struggle with paranoia and depression but I swear, this world lost one of the ones it reallllly needed when he was killed. Shit needs to change and it starts with people being bred to have this thing called a heart.
Ask yourself this: Do you do what you do because you’re legally bound by it or because it’s the right thing to do? Which one you choose will determine whether your priorities entail being a part of a solution or watching your own ass. You wanna be an old person, about to die, knowing you were fine with your decisions or trying to rationalize regret? This goes for all these ‘caretakers’. We all know there are those caretakers in the profession who try a LITTLE bit harder than most. They make that one extra phone call. They actually sit down with you and brainstorm for one extra minute. You can see their care in their eyes and know they are in the field not because they just wanted the check but because they want the job.
mental health nz, useless as tits on a bull.you see a doctor “your better now” because youve draged your depressed ass into the doctors room,”thats a sign your well now” heres a pill go home now your better,wtf,where did these doctors from the mental health get their licences from
Because it’s expensive. What a tediously privileged question to ask.
Hello Nat, please tell me if I have a mental illness as my good friend states. I don’t think (I’m not ignoring) that I’m sick or whatever you call it.
My problem is I’m sometimes scared of something may happen to me (as I got more than once at about several years in my past, more than 10 years ago). When the fear comes as I’m home alone, I won’t let myself to sleep, but I will be on my desk with a laptop playing music, I will go for bed after dawn comes and people start their day. Negative effects of this scary are I can’t sleep alone in a new bed room even though it’s at a 5-star hotel. I will shower or do anything in an opened door- bathroom even though in my own home. I will be able to sleep only in a dark room so nobody can see me at my -cannot do something-sleeping time. I can’t write here some other ‘silly’ parts (my friend’s word).
I’m honestly fine with this fear but my friend says different. (I’ve never told this to somebody but him)
Hi Wyd,
What you’re describing might be an anxiety disorder – or it might not be – I certainly can’t diagnose you with the given information over the internet.
What you should do is get assessed by a professional. If you don’t feel comfortable with a doctor, try a therapist. Whether you have an official diagnosis or not, a therapist would likely be able to help you with your fear so you don’t have to feel that way.
What I can tell you for sure, is that kind of fear is very unusual and you don’t have to live with such a severe fear with such severe effects.
– Natasha Tracy
Thanks for suggestion. Before I go to a therapist or a doctor, could you tell me what kind of questions they would usually address to their ‘patients’? My friend thinks the fear is related to something that u may call a sexual harassment. I honestly cant tell a stranger in detail about it. It’s my past and over 10 years ago, I have never told someone, even my mom, in detail about it. I just wanna remove it from my head. I may be able to say that yes it happened to me several times. No more explanation. Do you think they can help me by this way?
Thanks, Nat
There is a lot of help available for people with a mental illness. There are hotlines, mental health resource locators, therapists, doctors and many others. And yet, many people with a mental illness continue to live every day with bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental illnesses without getting help.
I’m Sorry but that is a load of crap, if you are a guy in your late 20’s early 30’s you aint getting help and that’s fact!
In order to see a psychiatrist or other specialist you need a referral from a gp (as a gp can’t, and should not be near a person with mental illness) and a doctor will only give you a referral if he believes you, if he can understand it and if he thinks you are not one of them scammers (scammers are really messing it up for people whom need help) if referral is given, you then need to pray that the specialist can accept you as a patient because 1. they are very bizzy and most are booked out 2. MONEY (government will only pay for a few sessions – if you are lucky – and if you earn to much then its up to you to pay witch in my experience was $300 a session) After all this you re back to trying to get this new guy to believe you. sometimes trying to explain how you re mental illness affects you is very hard. In my experience the medical profession is very judge mental, and they cringe at the subject of mental problems. funny still will give 50 Xanax with a x 3 repeat, but laugh when you say you have bipolar, mania or panic attack. No medical certificate, no referral, no real help. Then ya have places or more correctly, sites like beyond blue whom don’t even read you cries for help in the emails you send them. Which is apparent by there really lame reply, But really what can they do but give you information on what numbers to call, so on, so son. The threads of other people going through problems like yours may help or you may read a comment about someone whom has been living in hell for years, and I guess that is a downer because you think the same may be yo re doom. It really annoys me when I see attention seekers pretending that they will kill there self and need help (round about the time the are to appear in a magistrates court for drink driving or something) and I’m sitting there not getting help because I am not making threats of harming my self (i fear death, cant stop thinking about it) doesn’t mean I don’t want it all over.
Pat, you seem a little manic to me. Have you been taking your meds correctly?
I am doing a reasearch topic on why people don’t get help for mental illness and why it is a good idea to get help. I just wanted to let you know that I am using your article. Don’t worry, I will give you credit. :)
Another thing is that sometimes I don’t want to get help for the mental issue I have. I am scared of myself most of the time and sometimes I feel worthless and I think I am just a stupid psycho that everyone should fear. Just letting everyone know that it is normal to feel scared sometimes and that getting help is a good thing to do. Don’t feel scared to get help. ❤️
Brandi,
Do you think it’s possible that PTSD is not recognized by Social Security & Disability as an illness because they do not want to pay for people to get treatment? The DSM follows the science; government follows the money.
Please tell me what you call normal these days?I am sorry but atheist need to leave the country because they are messing everything up with their science projects and forcing their controlling ways on our land and doing as thou wilt like they are God but you can not have a say in anything if you believe in the Creator or even having rights to your body and mind on what you believe,The people back then were strong will with walking and following the laws of nature not destroying it which we are pretty much destroying everything today,The cities look horrible with no beauty to it,no where for the kids to run but I guess that was a bright idea too?Along with no God is better?and many think it is not effecting everyone’s health and mind?But turning many into pill poppers,sex addicts and machine fanatic’s not caring who they hurt in the end is better?,Being like the scarecrow with no brain to know right from wrong,the Tin-man’s with no heart to stand and speak up for the innocence and the lion with no courage to stand up to the people in power only stalk and speak against the weak and do you know most of the machines they use on you feeds you radiation which causes cancer along with them mixing every seed to slowly poison us and poor toxic waste into our drinking water along with messing with our weather because they believe their is no after life or even believe in reincarnation so maybe it would be a good thing if they left because They want you to stop believing in The Creator And look it is working – many are turning away from the Creator and becoming Atheist/Pagans to turn their kids into acting like lady gaga at a early age and a gangster where they have no respect for others …They want the girls to turn full blown sluts that talk like perverts along with the men which to them that is ok to show porn or to talk and dance perverted and get their kids to do it too,Some generation to raise children.I am not into following a certain religion but I do not want my child growing up around Atheist who act like they have a right to judge and tell you how to live your life…Let’s what else do you laborers do ?They call CPS on parents for the most stupidest crap like they are perfect parents or you have ones that never raised a child handing out advise to other parents or they complain to CPS of how they are taking care of the children and if Cps does not call it child abuse they make up lies to get them taking away But when it comes to really harming a child or selling children out, America ignores it,But when they here the child lived a horrible life,All they do is put a act on and say awwww my heart goes out to you or Did you here what happened?But when a child survives it and tells their story so it doesn’t happen to other children,They say just move on with your life and stop living in the past..Maybe they are living in the past because people who say this need to be wiped out for not caring that a child’s life was violated and it still goes on to this very day.Then many wonder why so many are off their rockers and want to go on a killing spree,Many ask and say why?Why you say? because they were not good enough for you sheeple to care but you want to hate them if they go after their enemy? Or say two wrongs don’t make a right?..Well have you seen how many live by that rule are being destroyed because you forgive the ones that will not stop doing harm?..I believe you are to forgive ones who learned from their mistake not keep repeating their evil ways.And what about this? They are making laws to keep you from thinking for yourself on what is right and what is wrong and to just make you follow a wicked ways of life..Back then you did not need to read in a book to take care of the land and did not build over top of beauty which today we are and we are destroying everything with all the jobs many have today and if you really do think outside of your bubble/box you would notice how your minds can turn one direction to another on what we read ..If what we are doing today is right -Please tell me why only the selfish one’s have authority over the laws but they their self don’t follow it and are being rewarded with way to much Like they get to live with the beauty of nature and have slaves for their cities so they can shop?Please tell me how it is making a difference by forcing children to learn things that does not benefit all of them?Which the poor is forced to send their children to school to learn bs that only benefit wealthy people and to only turn the poor people into slaves for when they are older doing a job a they hate?They have had that law where they force children to go to school way before I was even born -so please tell what has that been doing for many when everything is about to crash?Oh I forgot so teachers can have a job they love doing that only benefit them and everyone who loves power to control someone else’s life,So they can get paid good but in societies eyes they don’t get paid enough? Which I believe Ones that went off to college to be career person wouldn’t even know how to take care of their self if the did not have a car,phone or computer if the whole system was shut down and all gas station were locked down so how is that education? Does this make any sense of what I am getting at ?Is this life all about just control and that you really only care for machines?Which I really can not stand those type of people who claim they are suffering when I see what many buy and what they do with their money,In my opinion if you have a car and a house that is in good condition you are not suffering and One’s who have family that help you and you live off of what the government is giving you I don’t even consider that struggling either unless you are living in a shelter,no car and no family or sugar daddy…..In my opinion many need to grow a heart and whatever they taught you in school I think you should use it against them and give them a taste of their own medicine not give in and idolize them..,Many say well if it weren’t for them you would not be writing,If it were not for them you would not have access to the machine’s,well do I have a choice? if it were not for them you would not be-able to eat?Really tell that to the people who were doing fine before they step foot on the land with their laws,made us follow monopoly,built over the garden of Eden and gave us many diseases.. Did you ever think to use their laws against them to make them leave and use their machines just to rebuild the land and just to use writing to communicate on how to get them out and once we accomplished all of this and than Be done with it? Did you ever think of what is best for others and not is what is best for what you only?Many say yes well I think no- I think it is ok to have what you want but if it effects others it should not be- like look at the streets today and tell me how that is called caring with warning signs everywhere?It seems you care more for how fast you go, follow time and the dollar then you do for people/children… You can not give a starving weak man out in dessert a piece a paper and say you helped if their in no food or water around so what good would that do?You can not give only some food to a church and only hand it out once a month and expect them not to starve later on during week with that little bit of food especially if they can not find a way to bring the food back to where they are going ,Many tell them well just work anywhere just so you can eat,Well what is the purpose of life if your slaving yourself to a job that makes you miserable and no longer you want to live?…Many say they care but never once look at the cities that so many are force to live in and can only wish they lived like the wealthy that live close to the beauty of nature but the wealthy says you must pay to live with the what the creator gave you for free?.. The rich did not build nature so they are the ones that should be forced to live in their own polluted cities that force others to build,Why should the rich have the right to live in the country?Or close to any beauty if they want to destroy what the Creator gave us for free?And how about 9/11?but to tell you the truth are high buildings really necessary?Isn’t that building Babylon?And don’t you think the people who force others to build it should be the ones living in the populated cities?Doesn’t anyone ever take notice how they get to have their cake and eat it too?Like they force you to build their companies so they can have slaves take care of their business,shop for them,wash their feet, clean their house and they get to come to the cities to collect all the goodies,see all the entertainment and then live with the beauty of nature while the poor has to pay allot to live close to God’s creation that man did not build.People really need to question what the hell you are building.Than you wonder why so many you label and crazy are not the real crazy ones people like you who love to label and not see what you do are the real crazy ones and nothing more then sociopaths that needs a taste of their own medicine.
Now Now settle down, lets just agree to disagree :) Man we all definitely have bipolar here. In saying that I am going to add my 2 cents. I have bipolar and also suffer from horrendous panic attacks, which believe me panic attacks are so much more disabling then bipolar (for me anywho) I say this because I believe Panic disorder and PTSD are very much the same in ways and all together work the same. A person can have a panic attack so bad and believe there dying for no reason that in the future they have ptsd symptoms, that’s how it was for me. If you go through a terrible trauma, the physical and mental changes are the same as a panic attack, aren’t they? I say this because I know 100% sure that panic disorder is helped by our governments, you can even get the disability pension for this disorder, and I’m sure you can for PTSD as well. To be able to do this it would have to be recognised as a mental illness ???
I wont get into an argument with others on here but I do want to clarify one thing.
PTSD is NOT a mental illness!!
PTSD is NOT about what is wrong with someone
its about what happened to someone
PTSD is the resistance to the evil in the world
PTSD is a painful reaction & protective measure of mind, body & soul
The “D” in PTSD is certainly symbolic of the state of the world we live in & the reaction good people have to it.
PTSD is an injury that can HEAL
The PTSD reaction is most always the result of a Human Rights violation
Find Human Rights Education at: ptsd-home.ca
Hi Brandi,
You say whatever you like but PTSD is, by definition, a mental illness. It is defined the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual as such and that is what science goes by. No one is saying you can’t recover from it. In fact, I would say just the opposite. But there are many mental illnesses that you can quite successfully overcome – that’ doesn’t mean they’re not mental illnesses.
So until science and medicine decide otherwise, yes, PTSD is a mental illness. That’s just the way it is.
– Natasha Tracy
Regardless of you are sticking to as being “science” you are wrong. You should stick to Bipolar issues that you have experience with & leave other medical subjects out of your cluster of “information” PTSD is NOT a mental illness & that is fact from the Social Security & Disability department. They do not recognize PTSD as a “mental illness” Mental illness has genetics that create them, like bipolar, schizophrenia.
PTSD is NOT in any way connected to genetics. It is the result of trauma.
Ignorance is not bliss, its sad that there are people who read your blog & believe everything they read. You are incorrect & not matter how many ways to try to twist it to fit your being “right” its not gonna happen :)
PTSD includes both an event that threatens injury to self or others and a response to those events that involves persistent fear, helplessness or horror.
The American Psychiatric Association classifies PTSD as an anxiety disorder
https://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=posttraumatic_stress_disorder
(NAMI) National Alliance on Mental Illness is where you should be getting your information & NO WHERE on their site do they say that PTSD is a mental illness. End of story & your still WRONG :) Have a GREAT day!
Hi Brandi,
Clearly you don’t know what I’m an expert in. I’ve written many articles on PTSD for HealthyPlace, edited a book on PTSD and, oh, yes, I’ve been diagnosed with it.
And, for your information, PTSD was considered an anxiety disorder and is now considered a trauma disorder as of the DSM-V. Both of which are types of mental illnesses.
– Natasha Tracy
This article was clearly written by someone who has no experience with mental illness whatsoever. I have been trying to find help for depression and anxiety for months and no agency, hospital, or doctor will help me. It’s all a big game. I am 19 years old. My mother, my sister, and my pediatrician have all been fighting the battle for me because I am useless since I am not medicated or properly diagnosed. What do you have to do to get help? Isn’t asking and telling a stranger your most inner, darkest thoughts hard enough? Something isn’t right here.
Hayley
Yes, Hayley Doctors feed on you pain and you are at their fcken mercy which they use against you.
These are the Drug Doctors that kill with their Toxic Drugs and leave you at their mercy. Yes I went through it and found truth what was killing me but it is little to late the damage is done.
Wheat is poison get off all grains all processed foods seek a good holistic doctor. Disregard any book that refers to Doctors and drugs you are reading what they want you to think you have and what drug you should take. There are good health books out there and great natural things to help.
All drugs cheat your mind and do greater damage down the road! Once on these deadly drugs they take you down a dark path in hell and it takes years to turn your life around if you figure it out. These Doctors aren’t around to fix the damage they have caused! Just destroy families and lives, more or less Murder! They are Cold Blooded Pricks who get to go home to their lovely families while they destroy others. God rest their souls in hell.
We have been being poisoned all along and told to eat these Deadly foods. Why do you think they put so many toxic poisons in are food and water? It is definitely not for flavor. We get sickened then go seek a Doctor. Did you really think you’re going to get better taking a toxic Drug while eating the foods that are killing you! Doctors won’t tell you they are cold blooded pricks. They are there to ease your pain while you kill yourself. As long as they can push more drugs down your throat till death do part. I wish you lived in MN I would help you out but this site does not share E-mails. How nice when persons are in need there is no way to give an E-mail or Phone Number to help. Start reading educating yourself. There is truth I am still learning after 5 years but I will never be perfect as I was also deceived but at least I am mentally here, alive! Not out of my mind on Drugs.
I’m a failure.
I would love to be a person who could say I’m proud and happy with the way I am.
I’m not attractive both in look and body shape.
I don’t have a good personality.
I’m not smart and have a very short memory.
Since I’m still in college, the only thing I could do is work very very hard to get a good grade.
I would like to pretend it does not hurt when I fail an expectation I subconsciously made for myself.
I would like to pretend it does not hurt when someone manage to solve a problem just by thinking for a few minutes, while I took days and still fail.
I would like to pretend it does not hurt when my mother found out I’m self harming and she say it is fine for me to die because she have my sister, and if I were to try and commit suicide, make sure I really die instead of landing on the hospital and burdening her.
I did not, should not, and could not tell anyone about my depression and suicide tendency.
Because as it is, my ‘value’ as a human is low to none, and if people were to know about it, what good am I living in this world?
‘help’ ? what ‘help’?
A therapist is frigging expensive and they leave record.
I can’t let my future employers know that I’m broken on the inside. ‘It is hard enough for ‘normal’ people to get a job, what chance does a worthless emotional wreckage person have?!
In the end, I’m just one pathetic pathetic person that could only used fake name and moans about my pathetic problem to someone on the net.
Ana. If I may say so with the most kindest intention…I think you are very depressed.
I don’t know how long you’ve been feeling like this, but I do know that if it has been going on for a long time, depression will distort your view of yourself and life. It is one of the most subtle and insidious part of the illness and can destroy so much of YOU way before you will even consider ending your life.
I never realized it when I was profoundly depressed, so this quote may mean nothing to you – and there were many times when it meant nothing to me – but I kept it, and when the depression lifts, I take in as much of its meaning as I possibly can before the next wave hits:
Death is not the greatest loss in life.The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live. – Norman Cousins
What dies in you when depressed? First, it saps all of your energy. When your energy goes, your motivation follows. Then the desire to engage with life – your family, your friends, the great outdoors, your hobbies, the books that you love, music, art, sex, eating good food and all its wonderful flavors…everything…gone. When those things have been gone for months, you fail to remember that you loved these things (and still do but it is now dormant and deeply buried in the darkness). Then you stop caring about the way you look – stop putting effort in what you are putting on your body, because the only thing that matters is that your comfortable and warm. Make-up? Forget it! Food? Nothing taste right, so you either don’t eat, or eat whatever is easy and convenient…which for the most part is comforting junk food.
Yes, all of these things die in you, and it is so slow, torturous, and indescribably painful – but the biggest loss of all is that losing all of the above has such an erosive effect on yourself – your confidence, your value of yourself as a person – in short, everything. And no amount of reason, religion, philosophy can help you see it when it possesses you.
But unlike physical death, you will rise again. Either the depression lifts on its own and offers you some respite from it and you can once again see these things – or you can take something that will help you out of the darkness. Entirely up to you.
Read a lot about the illness. It will help you understand what it can do to you and what you can do to alleviate it. I say this because when you are depressed, solutions are not so obvious.
People, like your mother, hate this because we are taught as a society that depression is wrong, bad – a sin.
I don’t know you – what you look like, what your IQ is, what your past is like, what is important to you.
But I do know how painful and difficult depression can be. I know what it feels like to lose to it again and again. And I have a sneaking suspicion that the way you are describing yourself is probably not true, but you can’t see it.
I just wanted you to know that I hear you, and you deserve to be heard. That you have something to say about this. I just wish I had the magic answer that can help you, me, and everyone else whom it affects.
Why don”t people get help for a mental illness……
In my experience I couldn’t and still can’t get help because doctors and other organizations like access and other government places either 1 don’t understand (so it cant be true) or 2 Don’t believe you (so you must be scamming.)
I have horrible panic attacks were I know I’m dying, its very disabling and I cant get any help, and sorry hotlines and talking about it do not work for me. I also have bipolar, which I was diagnosed years ago. I’m in hell I fear death but wish to die, I am screaming at the world for help but know one cares, every one walks on by
It’s sad, but much of what you say is true about people [not seeming to] care. People have their own problems, and much of the time are just apathetic. Doctors are, so many of them, afraid of litigation and are overly cautious. The only thing I would say to you is [try to] find another psychiatrist. Ask around or research reviews in your area for doctors that are open-minded and compassionate or free-thinking. Write down your thoughts and feelings in a quick, stream-of-consciousness way to show to/share with your new psychiatrist. If talking and therapy don’t seek to work for you, then tell this to your psych and ask what kinds of drugs might work for you. This might sound cheesy to you, but try to find ways to serve others; perhaps doing so will either preoccupy you to stave off those hours of torture or maybe have a calming effect.
The thing that sucks, most of all, in my opinion, about BPD is that there is so much MINIMAL awareness–and talk–about ADHD and BPD that many people think they’ve heard enough to, perhaps subconsciously, justify their apathy; thinking: “Ahh…everyone has ADHD or is bipolar! It’s mostly mind over matter or a matter of choice…besides…we’ve all got our problems to deal with.”
People simply don’t realize how much they don’t know. Apathy and ignorance create a vicious circle [cycle] that keeps them from self-education. If each of us could educate just ONE person; that is what it will take to begin to educate the majority…if only we could eliminate the damned STIGMA!
I think the best any one of us can do is [try to] find a decent doc, and at least one “buddy” that can empathize…even if just to say, “I know! I feel the same thing! God, I know how you feel.”
“There is so much MINIMAL awareness–and talk”
Absolutely. And the minimal awareness is what forms the foundation for people to attach all the negative stigma and plain incorrect attitudes. I prefer people who have no idea what bipolar is, as opposed to people who know that it’s a mood disorder, but hear bits and pieces on the TV and attribute things like mass murdering as a result.
Well, I have a difficult mother in her fifties.
I would say it’s a catch 22. The problem is, she wouldn’t admit that she’s socially awkward/inadequate/disruptive. If she could realize that, she wouldn’t be deemed mentally ill. If she doesn’t realize her wrong-doings, why would she even admit that she have mental issues by visiting a psychiatrist?
If people with certain Mental Illnesses can not seek help because of the illness or addiction why does the law make it nearly impossible for the family to commit said person. My son began is road to a early death at the age of 14, with underage drinking parties and taking illegal drugs. I tried to get him help when the problem became known to us when he was almost 17. I took him to the mental heath clinic at our HMO, my son lied his way out of there. We started giving him drug tests which he passed sometimes. After he turned 18 the law said he was an adult who could not legally drink alcohol. He left home since we wanted him to take drug tests. The law stopped us from getting the help to him he needed and he ODed on the 23 of September 2010 at the age of 19.
I wanted to let you know that sometimes there is No help for people with mental illnesses not matter what they do.My daughter has had depression for years and she has tried to get help to no avail.I wrote to Many people over the years to try and get her some help and noone listens.She has gone to more people in human services etc and no help.She was even in a hospital for depression and left with No meds No help at all.She lives in Florida and she recently gave up on her life,and tried to kill herself.Yesterday-She is now in a facility that she was in before.they let her leave worse than she was.I live in another state and wrote to so many people asking for help and she did as well and even Begged on Facebook for it.This is a copy of the letter I wrote to many in congress about her and Never got one answer.
Hello Congressman.
I am writing to you from Wisconsin since that is where I live,however I am not writing about me.I need someone to help my daughter who lives in Cape Coral,Fl (Lee County). My daughter has turned to everyone in Human services etc to get help for herself and No one cares.She is sick all the time with so many health problems and No insurance.She had to leave her job because of it and cannot find another that she could do.She has gone to school to be a surgical tech and graduated but cannot even do that job because she has feet problems as well.She has gone to Drs that Human services recommended but none have helped her.She gets a little money in food stamps and unemployment which runs out in another month or 2 and is late in her rent every month.She has been told she will be evicted soon.She is so depressed and my heart breaks for her.I try to help her as much as I can with money but cannot do any more and we don’t know where to turn.Human services does Not
help no matter what they tell others.They cannot find her a cheaper apt because their is a waiting list for over a year and she has No one who she can turn to there.She tried to get on disability but was denied and has to wait for an appeal as well.In the meantime she will be homeless soon and I fear she will not want to live any more.She is in constant pain and the hospital she went to treated her like she was a drug addict (which she is not) and so she suffers because she does not want to get humiliated again. I wonder how this could be when so many on welfare get everything they need and more.I wonder too if it is because she is not a inority that she cannot get what others get.Is there any way to get help for my daughter.Please don’t say lee county human services as they do Not care one bit.She tried there.
Can you tell me who Does care??? What do people in her situation do when they have no pull with anyone?She cries all the time and even went to a few churches for help to no avail.I wrote to the Lions Club and even the Moose to see if they could send her a food basket for Christmas but never heard from them either. I know there are hundreds of people who need help but there are many that have nice apartments with section 8 and they don’t even need it.They get reduced electric and food stamps too.I went on discussion forums and talked to some.How do they do it.Do you have to lie and scheme to try to get someone to actually help? I would appreciate it if you do not know what to do to at least forward this to someone who does.I just don’t know what to do for her and she is ready to give up on her life now.Thank you for any help for my daughter..He name is —- and she lives in Cape Coral, fl.Her phone is-
my phone is- Please send this to as many people as you know who may help!!!
Hello, Allary I wish I could get your E-mail or Phone number as I may be able to help but not sure if this site will allow E-mails or Phone Numbers? There is Hope Just wish I knew more and had a way to contact you. Have a E-mail please send me one.
Steve Nicoski
Hi,
I feel in a black hole, I have bipolor, I was forced to give up my baby up for adoption
it,s really affecting me & my parents took my son. I can,t live with myself that I wasn,t
good enough to be a mum. Then I,m now living beside people that hate me.
I hate every minute of my life cause i,m totaly miserable & feel need to get out of
this life dr won,t help. I live in galway area. lived up the rd from where my daughter
was adopted then my mental health went down from there,
Louise
Hi Louise,
I’m so sorry for your loss, I just can’t imagine it. I’ve suffered many losses from my bipolar but none so bad as that, and my bipolar got worse every time there was a loss.
It’s not your fault you have bipolar, and you’re not a bad mother – you obviously love your baby.
I hope you realise that the best thing you can do now for your child is to fight this bipolar as best you can – when your son grows up he will know then that his biological mother is a hero.
I posted earlier Dec 31st why we don’t seek mental health and yes you can live a depression free drug free life! Yes, its possible and am willing to help if you live in the Lakeville .MN area. we could meet.
God bless you.
There is Hope!!
Steve
I cannot speak for others experience, but I can speak for my own. My experiences with mental health ‘professionals’ and their ilk have not been positive, and that is putting it mildly. The first time I decided to do something about the constant failures, the constant crying, the constant anxiety about life and society, I was homeless and at my wits end. I decided to go to the county mental health facility. I was, per law, held there for three days because I admitted I was a danger to myself. (I have never been nor could I conceivably be capable of hurting someone else). They had no problem doing this, as the county gets money for each person they are taking care of. They had no problem pumping drugs into me. They just did not see any reason to actually treat anything. I tried again about 6 months later, after I had moved to another county in the state. WAY WORSE. They also had no problem pumping me full of drugs they know too little about. They actually had someone I was supposed to see. I went to these appointments for three months. I stopped because all this ‘doctor’ did was to try and get me to go to his private practice and pay him for the service he was supposed to be providing me at that moment. Needless to say, I did not try to address my problems for several years after this indignation.
The last time was about 8 years ago. I still got plenty of drugs, still got plenty of pamphlets, but still, no treatment. I am self-medicating now. Yes, my medication of choice is illegal, and yes, there are arguments that it doesn’t actually help. All I can say is, it did help for a long time, but now its effectiveness is diminishing. And, I do not know what to do. But, I do know that I am not going to waste my time trying to seek help from the places a person would normally go to while seeking help.
The problem is simple, and so far only two of the replies have even addressed it. It is way too expensive to try and address a mental condition in our current societal model. Since we are a ‘capitalistic’ society, our healthcare is ‘for profit’. I feel this is both a curse and an insult to a society that seems to want to crow about how developed it is and how advanced it is, when we allow this to happen. Now, if I were one of the elite, I could actually try to get some help, but as a peon, I can assure you I will not be getting any help. Also, one must wonder why should you try to even get help as our medical industry now stands. If they succeed in helping you find the ways and means to mentally cope with life, your life will be one of slavery as you spend the rest of it trying to pay for that little bit of help you sought. Is it worth spending the rest of your life working in crappy jobs and slaving for minimum wage trying to pay back the ridiculous amounts of money these ‘doctors’ are charging? I am betting I do not need to offer my opinion on this.
You state that, “You could be worried that they will cut off the wrong leg is surgery too, but this wouldn’t stop me from getting a surgery I actually needed.”. I must ask, would you consider the worry valid if you heard 10 stories like mine and the others on here? 20? 50?
To paraphrase your own quote, “I am glad you had a positive experience, and I am glad for anyone’s positive experience, but they are just as exceptional as the negative stories. The rule is you might feel helped, and you might be able to get a handle on whatever it is that is bothering you, but to say with certainty that the vast majority of seekers get the help they need is misleading. They usually only get their minds into a place where they can function in our screwy society, but I doubt they are ‘improved’. Just because someone is acting more like sheeple does not mean they are ‘better’.
William Winston
William,
I know you are correct and that your experiences are real. It’s experiences like yours and of course the stigma attached to ANY sort of mental malady that keep most of us away from [so-called] professional help. What we really need is compassion and something to ease the pain and anxiety–at least in my case, being bipolar. Unfortunately, our society is mostly too afraid/uncomfortable to try to understand, empathize and take responsibility for the mentally ill within it. For now…we’re largely on our own, my friend.
Charles
Why go seek help as I did for mental heath? Because Doctors Don’t Help & Drugs Don’t work!! Di eases don’t destroy lives Drugs and Doctors do!! I lost my wife kids everything because I went to are Doctors for help and Later to find the truth what was killing me!!
Doctors and Medicine is a Fraud I know I went years of this so called treatment unnecessary treatments, drugs as well as irreversible surgeries. Now drug free, depression free and 4 plus years.of Hell. I was so close to taking my life as family members in my family have who had the same mental problems which could have been solved very easily! . I call this Murder!! But it seems to be okay with the FDA, Drug Companies,Government and Doctors! All about Money!!
[moderated]
I cant sue you because this is how we treat people in the USA Kinda Like a Hitler concentration camp and you wonder why people don’t seek Help.
That was the worst thing I ever did, Seek help from Doctors!!
Now I just want revenge for what they have done and all the pain I suffered which was all a bunch of Lies. Makes me sad when someone shoots 5 year old kids with an assault riffle?
Maybe you should Look at the Hospitals that Kill people and treat them like animals and go pay them a visit I might applaud you Hell E-mail me I might Join you.
Trust me if you could read my file is was all a Joke and I solved all my problems Doctors were not helping me!! .
Sorry Have to go Work!
.
.
I cant point to any one specific reason the mentally ill dont get help. The following horrible example I just went through says how broken our system is. My 30 yr old daughter is mentally ill and on drugs. Which came first I cant honestly say. After a horrible day in an ER…talking with law enforcement, rude nurses and an even ruder psychiatrist who griped at me because I had not told him about her problems and had not taken her medicine away from her (she is thirty and does not live with me), “DONT YOU REALIZE YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE A DEAD DAUGHTER. What did he think I was calling him for? I begged for help from everyone in that hospital and law enforcement. Despite the rude psychiatrist finally faxing over a 6 page report that she was a danger to herself, she was released. In just a few hours, she was arrested for hitting her dad (we are divorced). Not an overdose, not a shrink saying you are a danger will get you in the hospital…what will? She isnt cooperative, she is too sick at this point to be so. Not sure what else I can do.
I have been depressed for what seems like my entire life. I’m 24, I’ve been to counciling once at 11, because it was required of my parents through the school due to their New found knowledge of my suicidal tendencies. I was Glad to get the help, however my mother yelled at me the whole hour there and the whole hour back because they’d blame her for everything according to her own mental thoughts.
I OD and did a countless number of other things before the age of 16, and I’ve delt with this depression, since well always, I remember being sad for no reason at 5 and 6 years of age. Kids don’t remember much from those times, but what little things I do remember were sadness and sexual desire at a very young age.
I experimented with sex, drugs, alcohol and ran away a couple of times, all while living under a strickt baptist roof.
Going into adulthood I’ve made quick rash decisions, I’m in debt, and have developed a lot of anxiety. So much so that I can’t bring myself to work for fear of people, and leaving my comfort zone.
I need help, badly, I want help, its all I’ve ever wanted. But do i have money? No. And with the hourly costs of shrinks, getting help is a big joke. I hardly eat I’m so broke.
Thus i think that should be added to the list of reasons why people don’t seek help. I haven’t been to the doctors in 7 years, and never to a lady doctor, and I have so many problems its a wonder I’m not dead. But no money, no go.
Do you know of a magical faerie doctor that likes to work just as a hobby? If so, let me know.
iv never written etc on the web but your letter touched my heart and hit a nerve.all I wanted to say was I feel and understand.not much help eh but true.somehow by reading what you have said and relating to it,that that’s what I feel helps somehow! think the awnser is within but so far have failed to find it,yet! good luck your not on your own
Again Wish I could Help you Adderley . Wish I could help you all.
Western Medicine Makes no sence.
When I needed Medical Help Little Did I know I was singing a Death warrant.
Doctors just treated me with their drugs for my symptoms. I just kept eating the food that was Killing Me!! I only got worse how Doctors destroyed my life. I lost my family due to divorce, I lost everything!
I fought so hard to keep it together for the future of my kids but depression suicide almost did me in.
A couple of years back I called Mom and said I was going to kill myself as I had a loaded gun to my head and I was not Joking. I was ready to pull the trigger the pain was so bad. I actually made a run to the mall to try some natural things I read in a book and downed it with some of my toxic psychotic Meds and the next morning I realized there was hope.
To you Fcken Doctors If I ever run into you. I will be the last face you ever see on earth.
How you totally Fcked my life up while you got paid to do it. Maybe I should rephrase that. I basically paid you to kill me! Why should you get paid to destroy people’s lives and go home to your Loving family’s. I call it Murder but our Government allows this? (WTF) Not to forget the Fcken FDA who approves it. Well Fck you all and prey I never run into you or the persons who treated me! Now if I took your Deadly Drugs and took my life you would say well he had mental problems when really it was Murder. (Not telling the truth.) Think you are going to get help from them you will be waiting for eternity you will just get sicker and watch your health deteriorate.
I now can see why so many of my family members took their life! Doctors were not going to help them.
They just added gas to the fire.
I have had irreversible surgeries do to doctors and if there is a lawyer who will represent me I would love to sue these Doctors who I call Doctor Death! I also have a nice file which was all a joke and merely just a run around from one Doctor to another. My problems all solved and the ones I can’t hopefully my body can heel in time? After all it took years of poison to get me here.
Okay now you’re probably thinking I am crazy well from what I wrote above I would too. It is hard to believe for many years everyday 24 -7 all I could think is how I am going to kill myself. Trust me I had drugs in the glove compartment rope in the trunk a gun so yes I was very sick after I lost my family due to Divorce which all could have been prevented if I knew the truth. If I would have known how Doctors were going to treat me I should have just jumped off the bridge.
I am now drug free and depression free and it still seem hard to fathom that I was in such a bad state of mind a couple of years ago.
To everybody on this website what brought you here? What made you sick?
Well many years of eating Wheat. Wheat has gluten which damaged your villa in your intestines.
Now you say well I was tested for celiac and the test came back negative. One percent of the people have celiac disease.
Chances are you are gluten intolerant and you must know the symptoms. Diagnosed with Bipolar
Well you can easily say wheat is the culprit. How many Doctors told you to quit eating Wheat? They gave you drugs to trick your mind and you just kept eating the wheat that was killing you! Of course you are going to become suicidal because your brain is not getting the nutrients and amino acids are body’s needs.
Trust me I had plenty of years on my back on pain killers because my back was out also due to drugs and eating the wheat that was killing me. Now I know why my Dads brother killed himself but I call it Murder. Doctors were not doing him any favors and I was basically in the same boat. For gluten intolerant persons this can be very deadly. I never thought Wheat could kill us. Regardless wheat is poison. Now did your Doctor ever tell you this? I don’t think so! Well I suppose you will go tell your shrink this story and he will say I am a nut case. Well Doctors will always lie. Well I am not here posting I am suicidal because I am not. I am here hoping I could find a way really HELP people in desperate need.
I am not looking for Money I just want to Help because that is Me. You could not pay me all the Money in the World to kill people. Even God approve. Trust me I have been there. The longer you are on these Drugs the more Damage you are doing. I can look at my Dad and see the long term of what drugs and wheat have caused.
I am no longer at their mercy of my shrinks but I would like to pay them all back on how they Fcked my life up!! Trust me I kept all my Doctors files which I just call lies.
It has taken me years to get back to normal and actually feel alive not drugged sick sitting in a dark corner crying.
Wish I could put an E-mail out but It will get blocked and if this site is run by Doctors it may not get posted.
Steve Edwardson
Sadly, the location I am in, there is no alternative for me to get help without insurance. The county I live in is where I have to get government funded treatment. The only treatment offered is a place that they cannot prescribe controlled substances. One of my main medications. And the ones who originally prescribed me, were in a different county. I went for an emergency five day stay. Beyond that, they cannot do anything for me. Not to mention I still get stuck with their hospitals that are supposed to be covered by government funding.
I call everyone. Nothing helps. So unfortunately, I’m fucked. It’s too bad.
Your information is appreciated, so much of what those of us who experience this type of illness is not well redpresented in articles like this one. Not a critique just another perspective. Many fighting the disease have been on a long involved decline some, like me having had therapy support through much of the onset of symptoms. Drugs don’t work for many, therapists become a respite but, this is a friend and confidant one pays for and when the money runs out or the therapeutic relationship isn’t producing results we, with resources, jump to another therapist or those without, discontinue therapy. On again off again we think: I will be ok on my own; medication hasn’t worked should I try another drug, call another therapist, try to get some help somehow? Maybe I am just one of the less treatable minorities with this horrible disease and most people respond to the model described herein… my depression seems to result from lifelong Learning and memory problems, I recognize I present a difficult case. One that most all therapy modalities have treated similarly, by telling me to change and I’ll be healthier. There is truth and good practice in that therapeutic approach but it doesn’t treat the whole person, or illness.
Being married and fixing up houses (nesting) grounded me if only a little. The anxiety and stress were bad before she left and they are off the charts now. I would love to learn what went wrong in my brain. With a more clear diagnosis maybe some of the guilt depression and anxiety cause us could be reduced. Seems like more answers would be at hand by now with our advanced technical world.
Nothing against the standard path of support; family, friends, therapy and medicine, it is just not a path that leads to remission for many of us.
I don’t have the great alternative to offer either, I only keep hoping for a breakthrough for the difficult to treat patients out there. Those who know they are sick (anyone who is suffering) want to heal but after years of effort see little progress or worsening symptoms.
Thank you for keeping the this dialogue going, I wish all of us out there fighting brain dis-ease recovery and peace.
Jw
jw
Interesting blog but I think there is one point that was not mentioned. Some areas do NOT have mental health services or are severely limited in what they can provide. In our community it is very difficult to find help – even when one is eagerly searching.
I think our societies will be judged, in part, by how we’ve treated our homeless–the mentally ill and downtrodden–that we’ve discarded because we were/are too self-absorbed, embarrassed, or hard-hearted to take care of their needs, while they slip(ped) into the torrents of insanity…all the while, most of them, knowing what’s happening to them, yet helpless to cease the inevitable, impending stigma and rejection of “civilized” society.
I would say at LEAST 80% of the homeless suffer from some form of mental illness or psychological disorder and have, subsequently, ended up homeless because loved ones were either unable or unwilling to deal with the challenges, inquiries, and the fear (or ignorance) based judgments that typically come about resultant of generations of speculative medicine and theory
I was researching an article on mental illness and ran across your article. Really great article on some important issues. It is so true that if we could raise awareness of mental illness the many problems associated with mental illness could be alleviated. I remember when i was going through my problems with bi-polar, it took me a couple of relapses before i stayed on my meds. Anyway, I can’t tell you how people reacted to me when I told them I was bi-polar. Many were…great about it but many treated me…well different. They either ignored me, or treated me…how would you say it, more sympathetically? Like a child?
Others were fine with it. If more people were aware of, including insurance companies what mental illness is really about maybe they would cover it better.
Well anyway great article!
I am looking for some topics on denial. When the mentally ill believe everyone else has the problem, diagnoses everyone, labels everyone, but they themselves are the victim….or they are “normal” when clearly what they are doing shouts mentally ill.
Hi Maria,
The symptom you’re talking about is called anosognosia. I don’t have an article on it, but essentially it is “denial of illness.” It’s common in people who experience psychosis, but it happens to others too.
You might want to read this: http://www.mentalmeds.org/articles/anosognosia.html
I’ve written this from a different perspective: http://www.healthyplace.com/blogs/breakingbipolar/2010/07/bipolar-and-denial/
Hopefully that helps.
– Natasha Tracy
“is nearly impossible to admit to suicidal or self-harm feelings because… ”
The door is then locked behind you followed by a strip search , an unknown period of incarceration and possibly forced drugging . I didn’t make this up, thats how it is.
Hi Akathisia,
With all due respect, that may have been your experience, but it certainly isn’t everyone’s. In fact, just because you admit to suicidal thoughts, doesn’t mean that you’ll be put on a locked ward at all.
I appreciate you may have had a negative experience, but that is not universal.
– Natasha Tracy
I read an article in which the writer spoke of your writings on Bipolar. I wanted to see what the hub bub was about having Bipolar myself. This article struck me as something that has given me much to think about. I use to think I understood why I do or don’t the things I do concerning my dx. Maybe we lie to ourselves so often it in a way it becomes true. The fear of the unknown or what if’s is more dangerous then the truth often is.
Hi Debra,
Well, I hope I didn’t disappoint :)
I’m always pleased when I give people something to think about. I’m always thinking about these things and I find them worthy of thought.
I agree about the fear of the unknown – it can be more dangerous and cause us to act much worse than reality, which is why I’m a big proponent of living in the now. I do believe that sometimes we lie to ourselves and sometimes we allow fear to be our motivation.
Thanks for stopping by and for your comment.
– Natasha Tracy
4 months ago I was put into a psych ward against my will after an ER nurse saw my self harm marks. I was forced to stay there for 5 days even tho I repeated told nurses and anyone else that cutting was a coping mechanism for me and not about suicide. But after talking with me they decided that I should be locked up. I was at the ER for asthma issues + panic attack and so getting sent away for mental health issues was frightening and unexpected. Being locked up and being allowing limited contact with family and limit access to any of my former coping mechanisms was terrible. I had at least 2 panic attacks while there and multiple times where I cried for over an hour simply because I was so scared and didn’t know what was going on. I was one of those people who was scared of getting mental illness help. I had only admitted to myself that something was wrong a couple of months before! So someone suddenly telling me that I was so bad I needed to be locked up was a punch in the gut.
As for those movie sterotypes, my roommate definitely made a couple Cuckoo’s Nest jokes during our stay! Like many others I too had those types of movies flash through my mind when I first was admitted, and I can’t explain how relieved I was when I found out that I couldn’t be forced to take any kind of medicine.
& I know these places really do help some people but it was such a scary experience for 22 year old me. Esp being the youngest person there. This experience has definitely influenced how I feel about seeking professional help! It’s a struggle because being there did force me to admit I need some kind of medical help, & I’m trying to be more open about my struggles…but at the back of my mind is this fear that with one wrong word my therapist or doctor will decide that I need to be locked up again. Which I think if they told me, talked things out with me…I would be willing to check myself in. But being forced last minute? Not being told all the information or options or being kept in the loop? That is a terrible way for doctors to go about “helping” someone with a mental illness.
Now I will say that tho my overall experience there was terrible, the nurses I interacted with were very good. The doctors talked with you one a day for 20 minutes and gave prescriptions…not much other than that. The nurses on the other hand were the people who held my hand and talked to me during my panic attack and who were willing to lend an ear when I wanted to talk at 2 in the morning. They were the ones who did the most help to me.
And the hospital introduced me to my current therapist who I’m enjoying so far. Seeking help is a two-sided coin I guess. Sometimes seeking help from the right person can be a life changing event that can start you off on the journey to recovery…but sometimes you get that asshole who negatively influences your interactions with medical professions for the rest of your life.
Wow, I had more feelings on this than I thought.
Hi Mandy,
Well, having a few feelings around that sounds pretty reasonable to me.
I’m the first person to say that the hospital isn’t fun and being detained there against your will, most especially isn’t fun. I’m sorry for what you went through, it must have been very difficult.
But I do have to put a word in for the doctors here. They saw that you weren’t getting help, they were concerned for your safety and they tried to protect you. I understand that you didn’t like the way they went about doing it, but in all honesty, there are limited options available to them and I would much rather they protect you and get you help then you remain untreated. And, as you said, the end result has been good even if getting there was decidedly not. And 5 days is not really a long time (although I know it can certainly seem that way).
I can understand your fear of being locked up again. I’ve never been forcibly detained and yet it has always been a fear of mine (although not so much any more) and I think it’s a reasonable fear. All I can say to you is that fear goes away with time as you begin to trust your healthcare team. It’s not the kind of thing that happens overnight, but it does happen. Maybe your therapist can help you work through your feelings around the hospital commitment.
Again, I’m sorry you went through that but I’m glad you’re getting help.
– Natasha Tracy
Along time ago I was mis diagnosed. A doctor looked at some sheet of paper with information about me on it, talked to me (without looking at me) for 10 minutes and said I was bipolar B. He prescribed me Zyprexa. I slept 16 hours a day, retained alot of water, had massive delusions and became VERY depressed. I grew to hate the man, because he just couldn’t seem to bring himself to look at me, I told him of my problems with the meds and it was ignored. I stopped going to him and he cut off my med supply. Within the first week of being unmedicated I tried to kill myself. I’ve never been back to a shrink, and I’ve been unmedicated for 7 years now. I do not have bi-polar disorder. Honestly the whole issue when I was a teenager was that I really wanted a girlfriend, that never happened and I felt that I wasn’t good enough. Meds don’t fix that.
My horror story aside, I wouldn’t mind seeing just a plain old therapist. One inconsiderate jerk did not put a bad taste in my mouth for psychiatry. I do have issues (Really bad anger issues and I’m very much drawn to solitude. All in all, the reason I do not seek help is because I’m financially crippled and the cheapest therapist “deal” I’ve found is something like $50 an hour. I honestly can not afford to gamble to risk, because I live on my own, no one takes care of me and I never have an “extra” $50 a paycheck. Money I believe is a very overlooked as a treatment deterrent, because debt will cause more stress than just about anything. Which is sad, because if I were to ever enact one of my rage fantasies, I’d probably get my 15 minutes of fame. I also know this is probably the worst thing I could have done, but my drive to live, my happiness, my pride and care to just plain be a good person all comes from the occasional “misuse” of psychedelics. Seems to be when I notice I’m getting the feeling of boiling over, I take a trip and I’m let’s say grounded for about 3-4 months. Now in my opinion if that works so well for me uncontrolled and in the hands of “criminals”, then the fact that unconventional means like that are prohibited in the U.S. makes it extremely improbable for me to trust any doctor/physician/psychiatrist knowing that treatments opportunities are restrained. I would not receive the BEST of care, if my own notations cannot be acknowledged. I feel (and my feelings after all are most important) that entheogens coupled with the quest of ancient shamanic healing are the help that I need, and is not only offered but is prohibited. I personally feel very stable, but at the same time I understand that I could be considered a ticking time bomb and a danger on society because there are so many uncontrolled variables. I’m always alone and I feel I should overcome on my own. If that happens I will write a book about it all, for the same reason that I typed all this on you article. To make people think. Conventional therapy is not for everyone, because not everyone has the time, money, or faith in other humans. In my case I yearn for a different kind and find myself restricted leaving me to piece together what I can on my own without any guidance which is VERY dangerous. There is not one thing on this planet that works for everyone. As they say we’re all in this together, well that includes an outside of the box person like myself.
stigma, medication costs, medication side effects, ever changing diagnoses depending on which diagnostician you see, the “have to take a pill or pills for life cause it will never be cured”, constantly med changes, constantly med tweaks, unable to function without meds, unable to function WITH meds, work issues relating to inability to function, needing therapy, occasion hospitalizations, assorted doctors who do not listen – offer 15 minutes every 3 months – and are expensive unless you have insurance and/or money….
there are so many reasons why folks do not seek “help” and there are reasons why many ARE NOT able to obtain “help” even when they seriously want it… not everyone is in the majority of being able to receive help and “feel” that they’ve been helped, even minimally
I’ve been struggling with mental illness for over 30 years. My diagnosis changes depending on when I go to a psychiatrist, which psychiatrist I see, and which medication they insist that I take to “make me feel better” only to find adverse reactions, disabling dysfunction, or no improvement just treading water. Therapy takes a long while, you eventually feel you are paying someone to just sit and listen to you whine for an hour, and is horribly expensive when you have little to no money and even worse – no insurance.
If Mental Health care was treated with the same importance, respect, and dignity as the Medical Health care (which is only slightly better)… we’d all have a better chance of not only obtaining help but the help be – actually helpful. I’ve been treated better for medical issues and during medical hospitalizations than I’ve ever been treated for mental or during mental hospitalizations… course I’m one of the indigent population with little money and no insurance for much of the time… might explain the state of care I’ve received for my mental
all in my honest opinion, of course
” It is nearly impossible to admit to suicidal or self-harm feelings because you want to judge them and you feel terrible about them and you’re worried about how other people will judge you because of them.” That says it all :(
Could it be the fear of medication and so many side effects which the doctors and pharaceuticals minimize and/ or will not acknowledge. They like to say somatic complaints as if it is all in the patients imagination. Diagnosis is a process based on subjective observation.
Hi William,
Yes, fear of medication falls under fear of treatment. No doubt, that is a concern many have. Somatic complaints are not considered to be made up – “somatic” simply means physical. Note that all side effects are listed on the full prescription information for any medication and that is done specifically _because_ no one thinks people made them up.
– Natasha Tracy
It’s a very scary thing to trust your life in someone elses hands which you are often doing when you seek treatment. Unfortunately, there are a lot of suppossed profesionals in the mental health treatment field lacking basic competency or with screwball ideas. I, personally, have been helped a great deal by some fine and dedicated professionals. Is there, Natasha, a site you would recommend for people to find good help?
Hi Joseph,
I have written about this before, but my advise is to check out your potential doctor through sites like http://www.healthgrades.com/ . They rate doctors and you can see background on your doctor as well as read feedback from other patients. There are several sites out there that do this.
Of course, you have to take reviews with the proper perspective as even the most brilliant doctor in the world will be disliked by some, but still, checking people out ahead of time can often narrow down who you think might be a fit for you.
And it never hurts just to Google your doctor. You can find all sorts of things on doctors (like court records, for example) with just a Google search.
– Natasha Tracy
I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder almost ten years ago and it took a while for it to be correctly diagnosed it seems because I was initially told I had clincal depression or ADD. I also had psychiatrists that I felt weren’t listening to me and what was going on in my life. The psychiatrist kept changing my medications because of the severe reactions I’d get from them as, for some reason or another, medications and my body do not seem to agree with one another. It took well over 3 months before I was put on medications that seemed to be working. took those for another 6 months before I came down with a nasty bout of poisoing and quit taking medications and seeing the psychiatrist because I had initially thought it was because my dose was raised and the brand of medications was changed that I had gotten severely ill. I now realize that’s not the case.
It’s not only the fact that I’m scared that I’ll have to deal with another round of medications that can have quite adverse side effects to my body (and mind), and the fact that it may take some time before getting the right diagnosis, but the fact that I don’t know where to turn to get help for low to no cost help with my mental illness. The economic downturn has left me with no job and I’m afraid that any help I do seek may end up charging the person I live with who is technically not responsible for me. That’s the only thing (outside of the fact that I have no transportation either) that’s keeping me from the help I need. I’m coping but sometimes I get really scared that I might do something to harm myself and it’s been one heck of a battle just to go from one extreme to another.
Hi Alicia,
I feel for you. Misdiagnosis is something many people have to deal with and medication trials are something virtually everyone does and neither are much fun at all. And I do understand how money makes getting care extremely difficult (just to clarify, in the article I was referring to people who refused treatment not people who couldn’t get treatment, for one reason or another (such as money)).
I might make two recommendations. First, I have a mental health services locator linked here that might prove useful: https://natashatracy.com/get-mental-illness-help/ Many of these services are provided on a sliding scale to people with low income. Secondly, if I were you I would contact a local consumer group like NAMI to see if they are more familiar with the programs in your area. People like that typically know how to advise people in your situation as they’ve seen it all before. Any people like that also run support groups and educational programs, generally free, and you might find them useful as well.
I can understand the battle you must be dealing with. Remember, there is still help out there though. You don’t have to go through this alone.
– Natasha Tracy
“…a clinical lack of insight into their disorder”
Being undiagnosed (or misdiagnosed) may also keep some people from getting the proper treatment, especially when hypomania hits. When depression lifts, of course we say (to ourselves) “Wheeee! I feel great!” and who thinks they need to see a doctor when it feels like all’s well? The longer it goes on, the more dangerous it gets; and even more so when no one around you has any idea of what to look for beyond the symptoms of depression that are cause for concern.
Getting that information is why what you do is so awesome! :)
Hi Roxanne,
No doubt, people often don’t want help with hypomania as many people do find it enjoyable. Until they get the Visa bills anyway. ;)
I’m glad you’re finding the information useful :)
– Natasha Tracy
This reads like a checklist of everything I did to avoid dealing with my mental health issues for most of my adult life.
Hi David,
Thanks for chiming in. I know you’re not alone in that, that’s why I wrote the article.
– Natasha Tracy
I agree with Tara. I think that a huge part of the problem is a fear of diagnosticians with too much power. For example, my daughter has been diagnosed with bi-polar, I resisted the diagnosis at first because my father was bi-polar and she seemed nothing like him, but after doing some reading and spending some time thinking about it, I understood that thta’s exactly what she’s dealing with. She was medicated for her crippling depression and has been doing much much better but it’s been increasingly clear that she now needs a stabiliser and to do that she needs to get involved with mental health services. I tried to be positive about that for her, even though it was hard because my experience of them wasn;t so good with my dad, anyway she’s gone to see the psychiatrist to be asked questions like ‘do you think other people know what you;re thinking’ and ‘do you dye your hair pink for a reason’. The doctor now wants to refer her to someone who knows more about early stage psychosis and I’m terrified. She is in no way psychotic, what she is is edgy because the venlafexine that she;s on is pushing her up. She said that the doctor pretty much ignored what she had to say, was impatient and disinterested. Up until now her experiences have been positive, she;s felt empowered by her diagnosis and gained a new knowledge of herself, now she;s just plain terrified and I can’t say that I blame her. A psychiatrist who is unwilling to listen, who seems to come prepared with a set of boxes that they want you to fill is a poor psychiatrist. I wish we’d left her under the care of her GP now.
Hi Lorraine,
I understand you want to be protective of you daughter – who wouldn’t? I would want to protect people from the system too – from _any_ system, but one opinion of one appointment of one psychiatrist isn’t indicative of treatment in general.
Yes, perhaps it is the medication that is altering her mood. I would question why anyone would medicate a bipolar with an antidepressant only as that is inappropriate and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if a GP did it because they tend to be rather uneducated in this area. A psychiatrist can deal with that much more effectively.
As for being psychotic, it’s entirely possible to be bipolar and psychotic and it’s not such a bad idea to have a specialist rule this in or out – that’s why a specialist is there. And maybe in this case it’s a good opportunity to work with someone new who might gel better with your daughter.
It’s normal to be scared of a diagnosis and even of diagnosticians, but you still need the information they provide to make decisions.
– Natasha Tracy
Well said!
I’m not sure the ‘problem’ of not seeking help belongs to the service user. I get that there are misconceptions & fears about what treatment might look like but given the state of mental health care I actually think people should be cautious about ‘getting help’. In my experience I have met some incredible people that helped me immensely + I’m still alive because of them BUT I’ve also had some terribly traumatizing experiences that have left me in a way deeper + darker hole than the one I was trying to climb out of originally! Even though only 5% of psych patients are involuntary committed there is always that chance a police officer could apprehend you + a Doctor could section you for further assessment. Even though treatment today doesn’t involve the many inhumane things that were done to psych patients in the past there is still the chance you could be physically restrained (+ humiliated).
Even though we are moving towards a better understanding of mental illnesses & hoping people reach out for support + treatment I think sometimes the risks of doing so simply out weigh the benefits!
Maybe this is just more evidence of my own cognitive distortions at work but I just felt it needed to be said. As much as we want mental illness services to be as ‘legit’, accepted, + supported in our society as services are for other diseases like cancer or diabetes this just isn’t reality yet.
I hope things continue to change but we’re not there yet.
Hello Tara,
I’m the first one to say that treatment is a personal decision and treatment specifics are personal but I feel that if you haven’t actually sought treatment you don’t have the information with which to make a good decision about treatment. Do bad things happen? Yes, bad things happens to everyone, sometimes. Yes, you have to accept that about treatment. But this is true of any treatment. How humiliating is chemotherapy? My guess is some people would feel, very.
And 5% of psych patients involuntarily committed? I think you’re grossly overstating it. I would be shocked if it were 1%. It’s likely more like one out of 1000.
And to be clear, people only seek help when their lives have become completely unmangable on their own. It’s that pain that makes people actually see a psychiatrist in the first place. And yes, having a chance of fixing that pain is worth the risk. It’s a matter of the degree of pain.
I’m sorry if you’ve had negative experiences and I’m sorry for anyone’s negative experiences but they are absolutely the exception and not the rule.
You could be worried that they will cut off the wrong leg is surgery too, but this wouldn’t stop me from getting a surgery I actually needed.
– Natasha Tracy