disconnection
It's the blue hour again
- Apr 24, 2020
- 312
This has no doubt been raised before but I'm new, humour me. Just felt like bringing this up after reading in the suicidal/bipolar thread.
What are everyone's views about mental health/illness if they've been diagnosed? Do you feel it's something that's out of your control (like 'any other' illness), something that you can choose to work at / 'recover' from, or maybe you disagree with the idea of mental illness entirely? What's your take on psych drugs - helpful / unhelpful?
The majority of comments I've seen on the forum so far seem to suggest that people have accepted that they have a mental illness and and need to take drugs for it. Personally, I know my brain can do weird stuff to protect itself (psychosis, dissociation) but I still find diagnoses and the use of meds pretty unscientific - psych meds are riddled with controversy in the literature and the DSM categorisation system isn't based on anything concrete. (I am taking drugs at the moment mind you, mostly because my family want me to! ) Clearly we exist within some - pretty twisted - wider social and economic systems which aren't in our favour for a lot of us. I'd say these issues are more a source of depression and anxiety than any abnormal biochemistry. In some ways people who are depressed are more realistic than those who aren't - does away with that optimistic bias!
For me, I can sum up my own issues much better than my labels can - failed to connect with others and the world. Doesn't want anything. And all the other issues really rest on that.
What are everyone's views about mental health/illness if they've been diagnosed? Do you feel it's something that's out of your control (like 'any other' illness), something that you can choose to work at / 'recover' from, or maybe you disagree with the idea of mental illness entirely? What's your take on psych drugs - helpful / unhelpful?
The majority of comments I've seen on the forum so far seem to suggest that people have accepted that they have a mental illness and and need to take drugs for it. Personally, I know my brain can do weird stuff to protect itself (psychosis, dissociation) but I still find diagnoses and the use of meds pretty unscientific - psych meds are riddled with controversy in the literature and the DSM categorisation system isn't based on anything concrete. (I am taking drugs at the moment mind you, mostly because my family want me to! ) Clearly we exist within some - pretty twisted - wider social and economic systems which aren't in our favour for a lot of us. I'd say these issues are more a source of depression and anxiety than any abnormal biochemistry. In some ways people who are depressed are more realistic than those who aren't - does away with that optimistic bias!
For me, I can sum up my own issues much better than my labels can - failed to connect with others and the world. Doesn't want anything. And all the other issues really rest on that.