Mental illness in New Zealand

[enigma51]

My wife comes from a family of crazy people...

So says every married man

I know i know bad joke!

[SARGE]

Can someone tell me the definition of “ Mental Illness”?.. I think all of us on here would be classed as having one or more Mental Illness

After my accident ( those who have seen me without my shades know what I am talking about ..)I dealt with a bout of depression.. pretty severe one too.. couple that with my experiences in Lebanon and the unexpected loss of my mother .. I was a time bomb..

I got over it and now many people who know me have no idea that I am any different than anyone else..


I have anger management issues.. not many have experienced me like that ..hope you never do..

Do those make me “mentally Ill”? No... They make me HUMAN..

ED’s Addictions, anger management, problem gambling.. buying Hondas.. .. they are all issues .. not illnesses.. there don’t need to be support groups wasting your tax money… just need a big scary motherfucker to scream “ PULL YOUR HEAD IN!!!”

If the human mind can let itself be tricked .. it can be un-tricked..discipline, hard work and sacrifice as well as some guts and you’ll get through..


Suck it up for crissakes..

[Mrs Busa Pete]

Sarge i am no expert but i would of thought that ED is a symptom of depression rather than an addiction.

[SARGE]

Sarge i am no expert but i would of thought that ED is a symptom of depression rather than an addiction.

could be both Pete .. depends on what area of the mind short circuits i guess.. Michael Jackson for instance .. he knows that all the plastic surgery are going pear shaped and he knows why ..


yet he keeps going back.. depression or Ego Misfire or addiction?


you eat and purge.. you know what it does .. you are aware of the damage being done ..

you fire up a ciggy.. you know for a fact that every one is killing you..

yet you still keep going back..


if that isn't a conscious decision i don't know what is


im going to make a decision to go smoke a ciggy before i ride home ..maybe Aunty Helen will loan me $15 for a pack... oh yea ... im addicted to cofffee too..

[Cookie]

Respect to those who are open about their problems.

I agree with the "suck it up" approach with most things. I also agree that the notion of "mental illness" has become way too broad - fostered largely by "mental health professionals" who benefit greatly from an increasing number of "walking wounded" clientele.

At the same time I think there are some problems that sometimes can't be solved with a "suck it up" approach alone.

Some problems are an expression of a physiological difference - sometimes caused by (or exacerbated by) the person themselves. Sometimes there is genetic basis.

Sometimes people take medication and successfully suck up the rest. Some people will find every day an agony no matter what they take, or what you tell them.

Some people do benefit from contact with certain professionals – especially if they have no family or friends around to back them through a tough spot.

What I am saying is that there are a lot of different types of problems with different causes and a lot of unique people to go with them.

[madboy]

I've read a lot of people's medical records. That includes a lot of psych reports from various providers. I think it was Ixion who commented that he fit many of the criteria for a mental illness. So do I. You read people's psych reports where they can be basing their entire "mental illness" on feelings of low motivation, decreased libido, impaired concentration and short term memory loss. OMG - really? I put that down to having a bad job, or a bad marriage, or the next few days after just getting busted big time by the cops. But no, some people prefer to call it an illness, and start exhibiting all the illness behaviour that goes with it.

The people with real mental illness are the one's who are struggling with genuine physical conditions - bi-polar, schizophrenia(?), suicidal ideations (and not just the "feel sorry for me, I'm a teenage girl" attempts). It's these people who need our help and support. Many of the rest just need to take some responsibility and work through whatever the problem is.

As a point of note, people tend to gravitate in their jobs toward areas that have a special interest for them. At the risk of offending someone here, have you ever spoken to any of the women at rape crisis? I bet ya most have been abused (or been very close to someone who was) at some point in their life. Same goes for psychologists et al. Many have or have had their own issues to deal with, and have chosen that area specifically to help others in the same position. The other side of it is, if you spent all day dealing with sad depressive or anxious type personalities you'd end up with your own issues sooner or later anyway!

[Mrs Busa Pete]

you fire up a ciggy.. you know for a fact that every one is killing you..

yet you still keep going back..


if that isn't a conscious decision i don't know what is


im going to make a decision to go smoke a ciggy before i ride home ..maybe Aunty Helen will loan me $15 for a pack... oh yea ... im addicted to cofffee too..

I agree with that but ask yourself why they smoke? could this help with stress levels an interesting question would be how many people that suffer with depression smoke.And if that is why you are going to have a smoke i will give you the $15 for the packet and i will sit in a room with you and not talk untill you are ready to talk back and if that takes 1,2 weeks i will do that as well.Also if someone you know is in a depressed state don't offer coffee as this is a natural depressent and can make them feel worse.Oh sorry this is Wendy.

[Cookie]

[...]you eat and purge.. you know what it does .. you are aware of the damage being done .. [...]

With eating disorders, a complication can occur due to brains requiring food to function properly. Once starved to a certain level, a person may not actually be able to make that assessment any more. The curse of it is the original "distorted thinking" can be worsened by the starvation.

In the case of smoking, a relatively minor physical addiction is made worse through the repeated behaviour. Every cigarette confirms the belief that the smoker cannot give up, but a lucid assessment of the situation remains possible for most people at any stage of the game.

[...] im going to make a decision to go smoke a ciggy before i ride home ..maybe Aunty Helen will loan me $15 for a pack[...]

Doubt it! You are worth way too much in tax revenue for Aunty to help you with that particular problem!

[metric]

great thread...

did not know this:

Also if someone you know is in a depressed state don't offer coffee as this is a natural depressent and can make them feel worse.Oh sorry this is Wendy.

[Winston001]

The people with real mental illness are the one's who are struggling with genuine physical conditions - bi-polar, schizophrenia(?), suicidal ideations (and not just the "feel sorry for me, I'm a teenage girl" attempts). It's these people who need our help and support. Many of the rest just need to take some responsibility and work through whatever the problem is.

Agreed. The term mental illness probably has an accepted medical definition but for the rest of us it's a bit fuzzy. When a person is down cos the dog died/bike wrecked/wife gone - that's just normal, not a depressive illness. But I don't think we are talking about that.

Drawing the line between completely understandable sadness, and inexplicable sadness is the problem. As for people with Aspergers, schizophrenia, bi-polar etc - they might at best have only flashes of what "normal" thinking is - or never get it at all. They have it bloody tough and mild depressives are lucky by comparison.

[riffer]

This is a good thread, and good to see it hasn't led to people abusing others.

Like Paul in NZ, I am a type-I diabetic, which means that, like he does, I have to inject myself regularly with insulin. For me, it's six times a day.

I work in a very stressful industry - I'm the studio manager for an advertising agency, working with NZ's big clients. In fact, I'm still at work now. I've been five years away from this industry trying other things after getting burned out after seventeen years in it, one marriage breakdown, alcohol and drug addiction, and eventually psychological breakdown (all of which I've overcome, through time and the love of a good woman). And now I'm back in it again.

Maintaining my blood sugars in this industry is hard. Maintaining mental stability is hard too. A lot of people in this industry cope with the pressure by taking drugs, be they caffeine, alcohol, or pharmaceutical. It used to be a lot worse. But alcohol is still widely abused. And encouraged. Our workplace has an open bar policy. You can drink as much as you like, any time of the day. But if you can't do your job because you are too drunk, stoned, or high in any other way - you're a goneburger. So it's a fine line.

Likewise with mental stability. A certain amount of instability is accepted, and in the case of creatives - even encouraged.

You just don't talk about it seriously. People take the piss and make sly references to it, but everyone knows about it - we label it burnout. But it goes much deeper.

we have a long way to go with even addressing work/life balance in our industry before we even start to look at mental instability/addiction problems, let alone depression.

I'm looking forward to reading more of this thread.

[SixPackBack]

One thing that became apparent to me after I had straightened up was the Medical Industries approach to various addiction problems.
Hushed tones, touching your arm whilst talking, lots of 'I know you must be really hurting' and a myriad of drugs to help you straighten up....all of these things made me worse! feeding the self pity, patronising me back to child hood.
Then one day.
The family Doctor lost his temper and gave it to me straight..what a fool..the wife will leave you..the money ETC..actually he didn't hold back.
Only wish he'd done it sooner frankly.

[Krusti]

OK...From my observations and experiance one of the greatest problems is the willy nilly use of drugs to treat a problem that in many cases could be resolved by a caring, listening ear or supportive family or friend.

I believe many cases of depression are people who lack someone to confide in or to be there for them. In the old days we all cared more for our neighbours, friends than we do now. I am guilty of this myself.

On Campbell tonight...drug companies targeting healthy people....prosac for grieving, getting a little silly are we not?

In some ways we may be making it tougher for genuine sick people.

Will we as society become more caring to each other? I think not. It is a sad fact but one of the lessons I have learnt in the last few years is that no one really gives a shit when it comes down to it. We can only count on ourselves and if really lucky our family.

Or am I just being overly negative?

Finally... one of the most scary things you can encounter is genuine full on depression and the reactions of people who realise you are going through it. Now this is when you find who your real friends are.

If you haven't been there it is very hard to comprehend.

[Scorpygirl]

I have read this thread with interest. Thanks for everyone insights and honesty. How come everybody bagged and in the main gave the to someone that was just being honest and wanting help in another thread on a very similar theme. This thread is totally different. No wonder those with mental illness (and I am sorry it is an illness, just like diabetes, that you have to deal with) shun society if that is the way they are treated!!! There but for the Grace of God go I ,and believe you me I know!!!


I have a small plaque on the wall in my kitchen that says "Do not adjust your mind.... there is a fault in reality."

[Krusti]

I'm the only sane one here...you are all nuts!