World Mental Health Day

Just_Mel_
Just_Mel_ Posts: 3,992 Member
edited December 23 in Chit-Chat
Does anyone want to discuss mental health awareness?
I mean, we talk about all the physical health issues on here. Why can't we chat about depression and crippling anxiety?
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Replies

  • pizzamyheart
    pizzamyheart Posts: 1,836 Member
    Im Standing in the Depression and anxiety line. Then I will go over to the emotional eater line.
  • Just_Mel_
    Just_Mel_ Posts: 3,992 Member
    Oh emotional eating is a thing for sure.
  • LiftingSpirits
    LiftingSpirits Posts: 2,207 Member
    I have noticed that the worse that I eat and less I get in the gym the more my mind does awful things. Those Oreos may look and taste delicious, but then they tell me that I am a failure and then I feel bad and then I eat more *kitten* Oreos.
    Mental health is a big factor in physical health and too many people ignore it. It seems more socially acceptable to say "I am morbidly obese" than to say "I have depression", What is up with that?
  • LiftingSpirits
    LiftingSpirits Posts: 2,207 Member
    Reckoner68 wrote: »
    I have noticed that the worse that I eat and less I get in the gym the more my mind does awful things. Those Oreos may look and taste delicious, but then they tell me that I am a failure and then I feel bad and then I eat more *kitten* Oreos.
    Mental health is a big factor in physical health and too many people ignore it. It seems more socially acceptable to say "I am morbidly obese" than to say "I have depression", What is up with that?

    Maybe not as much now as in prior years, but I think it's difficult to say something like that due to fear of social stigma and also making a claim to something that can't be seen.

    I dunno, I could talk at length about my experiences with depression and (for me) its sidecar of anxiety, but I feel like I'm still struggling to figure out precisely how it's affecting me and what I can do to combat it already. I certainly don't feel like an expert on it.

    That, and the fact that when it gets bad for me, I think there's pretty much nothing anybody could ever say to "snap" me out of it. Or maybe even "help" in the definition of make-me-feel-better. But at the same time, silence is deafening when you already feel very alone. When I see someone acting in ways that I recognize, I'll usually try to reach out just to make them feel seen...but I still never know what to say. I wouldn't know what to say to ME, let alone someone else? So that's one of the reasons I don't often speak about it.

    That makes sense. I bottle things up a lot and figure they will just pass. I try to do things that take my mind off of it, but it doesn't always work. I don't want to reach out and beg for attention, but I also don't want to be left alone because I already feel vulnerable. Sometimes when I feel my worst is when I decide to reach out to other people to check on them because I know that a smile does NOT mean that everything is okay and sometimes the "strong" ones aren't at all and are also the people who are less likely to admit when things are bad.
  • LiftingSpirits
    LiftingSpirits Posts: 2,207 Member
    I am glad to see that famous people are starting to share their stories. The people who don't suffer from mental health issues (and even some that do) think that your life has to be an absolute *kitten* show in order to be depressed. That just isn't true. People who are rich and famous and APPEAR to have it all can be suffering too. I think it empowers people when they realize that it isn't just them, they aren't alone in their struggles.
  • nooshi713
    nooshi713 Posts: 4,877 Member
    edited October 2019
    Almost all of my immediate family members save 2 suffer from depression. I grew up in a very depressive environment. Everyone was always crying. It was very toxic.

    As a teen and adult, I suffered from Seasonal affective disorder at times and went through a couple spells of major depression, but they were due to situations I was in. My last relationship with a narcissist, for example, had me at my lowest point ever. I do feel there is still a lot of hesitance for people to talk about it although probably not as much as before.

    I know in my family, the men especially never will seek help, EVER. A lot of people are in denial. But, when you do want help, it is not easy to get. When my sister needed therapy, it was very difficult to find a therapist even with good insurance. There is a shortage and many were not accepting new patients. I had this same problem in the past. My old therapist was so hard to get in with and it was an hour’s drive away. This was in a major city too, where you would think resources would be more abundant.

    I actually don’t think medication is the answer for most people. Healing is about mindset a lot of the times. I actually had to stop talking to some family members because they are so negative and detrimental to my growth and healing. I am extremely happy with life now.

    As someone who has survived through that, I really feel for people struggling with these things. In the ER, I see many suicide attempts, some successful, even in kids.....which is the worst part.

    I do feel that since more people are talking about suicide, that is it becoming more common. I have noticed when there is a celebrity who commits suicide, that we get a flurry of attempts to the ER the next few days.

    It also seems that many people aren’t taught coping mechanisms as children. Our society is all about never criticizing anyone, everyone being a winner, etc. I feel this is unhealthy. People are too thin skinned and PC. That is part of the problem. Someone calls you fat and you’re ready to jump off a bridge and end your life. Not ok. I know it is not this simple, but just something I have noticed.

    Sorry so long. I wanted to say a lot more but that’s it for now.
  • cee134
    cee134 Posts: 33,711 Member
    One year I was depressed and someone told me not to be sad anymore.
  • MelodiousMermaid
    MelodiousMermaid Posts: 380 Member
    While I've found that I can talk about it without quite as much stigma, it's still something I don't talk about with many others, especially IRL, because the few times I've tried, things become awkward. Following up with me asking if things are getting better is sort of nice I guess in the way that it's nice they care, but when you're in the black hole that's inside the neverending chasm of emptiness and stuck there, it's really hard to relate, and feeling like I'm being an Eeyore and bringing my black raincloud over everyone doesn't help me or them feel better. And shoot, even with the people I talk to about having mental illness, I don't go into much detail -- my mind tends to be a creatively terrifying place when I'm any more than knee-deep in the struggle. The few times I've talked about my anxiety has only seemed to make people worried about talking about stuff with me (primarily food/social anxiety for me), so I don't really talk much about that anymore.

    A few of the people in my life are more understanding and insightful and can tell if I'm going down the worst roads in my mind, and they check in and ask me what I need at the moment (not how I am, unless it's to check on my "IDGAF index", which is the indicator of what level of care/intervention I need at the moment). The caveat of this is I'm not sure what to tell them, and sometimes truly don't know what I need. For instance, isolation helps me in some ways, yet it's supposed to be avoided/minimalized when going through the worst times. Or I'll be in an especially apathetic mood and brush them off or minimalize it, and they'll often be none the wiser for it. I don't really have anyone in my regular life who is willing to be a true cheerleader/coach, so yeah... sticking to the professional treatment methods for the most part, and attempting to float along for the rest of it.

    Not sure if this was coherently written or not, but I guess it's what I've come up with for the topic.
  • Reckoner68
    Reckoner68 Posts: 2,139 Member
    I am glad to see that famous people are starting to share their stories. The people who don't suffer from mental health issues (and even some that do) think that your life has to be an absolute *kitten* show in order to be depressed. That just isn't true. People who are rich and famous and APPEAR to have it all can be suffering too. I think it empowers people when they realize that it isn't just them, they aren't alone in their struggles.

    well there’s situational depression and then there’s chemically depressed, like when life’s a *kitten* show and u sad about it or the sun is shining and youre with people u love and u still sad about it

    for whatever reason, i am a sad person. idk if it’s some of the things that happened to me or some way i *kitten* up my brain with drugs, but if it weren’t for my kids i would’ve killed myself by now, no doubt.

    ^^ and if i say things like that irl people will tell me “yOu ShOulD tAlK tO sOmEbOdy”, as if i haven’t gone to therapy, learned coping mechanisms, tried pills, everything. like i realize dark thoughts are not good

    i have friends who struggle too and their empathy and shoulder to lean on helps more than therapy ever did, but like @Cowsfan1 said, i dont want to wear people out. so sometimes i just act like i all better and give everyone a break

    Yeah, it's difficult to find the line between "looking out for others" and "self care". It's easy to talk about it but after you've let some people in and seen how letting them in eventually tears them up, there's a part of you that just starts saying "Hey--trust me, you don't want a part of this. I like you, and you don't deserve this" so you end up bottling everything, knowing full well it's "not healthy" either but what can you do?

    The whole thing is poop. Depression, anxiety, it's just no good (and you can quote me on that)
  • Cowsfan1
    Cowsfan1 Posts: 7,937 Member
    Reckoner68 wrote: »
    I am glad to see that famous people are starting to share their stories. The people who don't suffer from mental health issues (and even some that do) think that your life has to be an absolute *kitten* show in order to be depressed. That just isn't true. People who are rich and famous and APPEAR to have it all can be suffering too. I think it empowers people when they realize that it isn't just them, they aren't alone in their struggles.

    well there’s situational depression and then there’s chemically depressed, like when life’s a *kitten* show and u sad about it or the sun is shining and youre with people u love and u still sad about it

    for whatever reason, i am a sad person. idk if it’s some of the things that happened to me or some way i *kitten* up my brain with drugs, but if it weren’t for my kids i would’ve killed myself by now, no doubt.

    ^^ and if i say things like that irl people will tell me “yOu ShOulD tAlK tO sOmEbOdy”, as if i haven’t gone to therapy, learned coping mechanisms, tried pills, everything. like i realize dark thoughts are not good

    i have friends who struggle too and their empathy and shoulder to lean on helps more than therapy ever did, but like @Cowsfan1 said, i dont want to wear people out. so sometimes i just act like i all better and give everyone a break

    Yeah, it's difficult to find the line between "looking out for others" and "self care". It's easy to talk about it but after you've let some people in and seen how letting them in eventually tears them up, there's a part of you that just starts saying "Hey--trust me, you don't want a part of this. I like you, and you don't deserve this" so you end up bottling everything, knowing full well it's "not healthy" either but what can you do?

    The whole thing is poop. Depression, anxiety, it's just no good (and you can quote me on that)

    You said I could. So I did
  • Reckoner68
    Reckoner68 Posts: 2,139 Member
    Cowsfan1 wrote: »
    Reckoner68 wrote: »
    I am glad to see that famous people are starting to share their stories. The people who don't suffer from mental health issues (and even some that do) think that your life has to be an absolute *kitten* show in order to be depressed. That just isn't true. People who are rich and famous and APPEAR to have it all can be suffering too. I think it empowers people when they realize that it isn't just them, they aren't alone in their struggles.

    well there’s situational depression and then there’s chemically depressed, like when life’s a *kitten* show and u sad about it or the sun is shining and youre with people u love and u still sad about it

    for whatever reason, i am a sad person. idk if it’s some of the things that happened to me or some way i *kitten* up my brain with drugs, but if it weren’t for my kids i would’ve killed myself by now, no doubt.

    ^^ and if i say things like that irl people will tell me “yOu ShOulD tAlK tO sOmEbOdy”, as if i haven’t gone to therapy, learned coping mechanisms, tried pills, everything. like i realize dark thoughts are not good

    i have friends who struggle too and their empathy and shoulder to lean on helps more than therapy ever did, but like @Cowsfan1 said, i dont want to wear people out. so sometimes i just act like i all better and give everyone a break

    Yeah, it's difficult to find the line between "looking out for others" and "self care". It's easy to talk about it but after you've let some people in and seen how letting them in eventually tears them up, there's a part of you that just starts saying "Hey--trust me, you don't want a part of this. I like you, and you don't deserve this" so you end up bottling everything, knowing full well it's "not healthy" either but what can you do?

    The whole thing is poop. Depression, anxiety, it's just no good (and you can quote me on that)

    You said I could. So I did

    You....seem to have won, heh.
  • Cowsfan1
    Cowsfan1 Posts: 7,937 Member
    caco_ethes wrote: »
    A wise philosopher once said the whole depression/anxiety thing is poop or something to that effect and i think that sums it up quite accurately. I struggled for years. YEARS. Before i let go of the stigma surrounding meds. Now i will preach it to anyone who will listen that those drugs are life changing. I’m not ignorant of their shortcomings, but when you can’t summon the energy to do all the life changes required to battle depression without meds (much less stick with those changes for months before seeing any relief) then the drugs are a literal lifesaver.

    People are entitled to their own opinions as to the safety or efficacy of those drugs, of course, but i do wish those opinions weren’t advertised so freely. It cements the ‘drugs are for the weak’ stigma that i, for one, was in bondage to unnecessarily and for way too long.

    Eh a take a crazy pill too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
  • caco_ethes
    caco_ethes Posts: 11,962 Member
    Reckoner68 wrote: »
    caco_ethes wrote: »
    A wise philosopher once said the whole depression/anxiety thing is poop or something to that effect and i think that sums it up quite accurately. I struggled for years. YEARS. Before i let go of the stigma surrounding meds. Now i will preach it to anyone who will listen that those drugs are life changing. I’m not ignorant of their shortcomings, but when you can’t summon the energy to do all the life changes required to battle depression without meds (much less stick with those changes for months before seeing any relief) then the drugs are a literal lifesaver.

    People are entitled to their own opinions as to the safety or efficacy of those drugs, of course, but i do wish those opinions weren’t advertised so freely. It cements the ‘drugs are for the weak’ stigma that i, for one, was in bondage to unnecessarily and for way too long.

    Personal experience factors into it, too. I'd seen good friends of mine change a lot when they started taking meds, but I also did therapy for a year or two before finally realizing that I just couldn't quite get over the hump on my own. The first time I started my meds, I sat with the pill in front of me for THREE HOURS, scared of who it was gonna turn me into. But it was good. It was like...relief, for the time in my life (or at least as long as I could remember).

    Now I'm potentially getting ready to make a change, and those old fears are coming back. A guy who looks like me really needs all the brains/personality he can get, so there's panic that sets in for sure, buuuuuuuut I think it'll be OK.

    I actually got swabbed yesterday so they can run some sorta gene test on me to see which meds *should* work best for me, how crazy is that? The things they can do with science now.

    ...or actually it was an elaborate ploy to get my DNA to see if I committed a murder 30 years ago, but maybe I've just been watching too much Forensic Files.

    No, that can't be it. There's no such thing as too much Forensic Files.

    I swear we share a brain.

    I also find the dna thing interesting but REALLLLY convenient for the government 🤓

    But i have been considering doing the dna test thing so let me know if it helps at all
  • Cowsfan1
    Cowsfan1 Posts: 7,937 Member
    I think we’re all our own kind of crazy for lack of a better word and that’s ok - we all deal with chit different again ok.. I think knowing I’m not the only one with my crazy thoughts is some what comforting in some way - even if you guys are all just fake and likely laughing at me
  • Reckoner68
    Reckoner68 Posts: 2,139 Member
    Cowsfan1 wrote: »
    I think we’re all our own kind of crazy for lack of a better word and that’s ok - we all deal with chit different again ok.. I think knowing I’m not the only one with my crazy thoughts is some what comforting in some way - even if you guys are all just fake and likely laughing at me

    Man, if you're crazy and I'm laughing, I'm just laughing WITH you all the way to the nuthouse. I'm like two steps away from wearing a tinfoil hat with my theories about modern society and *why* so many people are 'crazy' anyway. And it allllllllllllll starts with an article I read years ago from the reputable scientific journal known as cracked.com so...yeah.

    Sure ain't laughin at ya, and as much credibility as I can get by validating my own posts, nothin fake here. Just the struggle with the good days 'n the bad days
  • Cowsfan1
    Cowsfan1 Posts: 7,937 Member
    Reckoner68 wrote: »
    Cowsfan1 wrote: »
    I think we’re all our own kind of crazy for lack of a better word and that’s ok - we all deal with chit different again ok.. I think knowing I’m not the only one with my crazy thoughts is some what comforting in some way - even if you guys are all just fake and likely laughing at me

    Man, if you're crazy and I'm laughing, I'm just laughing WITH you all the way to the nuthouse. I'm like two steps away from wearing a tinfoil hat with my theories about modern society and *why* so many people are 'crazy' anyway. And it allllllllllllll starts with an article I read years ago from the reputable scientific journal known as cracked.com so...yeah.

    Sure ain't laughin at ya, and as much credibility as I can get by validating my own posts, nothin fake here. Just the struggle with the good days 'n the bad days

    lol Hugged the hell outta this bro
  • MelodiousMermaid
    MelodiousMermaid Posts: 380 Member
    @caco_ethes I've tried the genetic test, because I was having too many side effect issues/crisis complications. It was very helpful. I ended up starting something on my "yellow" list right before the test and ironically it was a pretty good fit overall, but the feedback allowed my dosage to be estimated better, as its major issue listed was that I might need more of it to reach an effective dose. My best feedback is to keep in mind that green, yellow, and red do not correspond to the like colors of the stoplight.
  • mtndewme
    mtndewme Posts: 724 Member

    Love this ❤ so well said.

    I am off work due to stress right now (work in mental health). And I haven't been feeling too great. I read your post, then seen the cute little pink furry animal you have as PP. I zoomed in and then noticed its brandishing a knife hahaha. I have got to say, that was unexpected and definetly made me chuckle 🤣🤣

    Glad I made you laugh! There's nothing I like more than and angry looking cute thing. My PP is a video game character called Kirby.
  • Motorsheen
    Motorsheen Posts: 20,508 Member
    cee134 wrote: »
    One year I was depressed and someone told me not to be sad anymore.

    That’s one reason to study history.

    Compare your life to
    Nanking China 1939.
    Andersonville in 1863.
    Germany 1944.


    To name a few....
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