Hows your mental health?
 

One thing that ive become really conscious of over the last few years is the huge amount of people with mental problems. My best friend in high school, has spent a fair bit of time in a mental hospital, as have many of my old school friends. Another of my friends parents are both pretty crazy, with one recently jumping of a cliff. We dont deal well with mental illness cause its not something that we can physically treat at times, though i think its something we should have alot more tolerance for. Im sick to death of that cynical kind of viewpoint (which i have also encounted on the TFP) whereby conditions like annorexia or depression or chronic fatigue are just not taken seriously. These are actual diseases. Some might seem stupid to you, but we must take notice of them.
I remember when my friend from high school turned up at my house one night a few years back. He was crying, no sobbing uncontrollably, and one of my flatmates was just being completely insensitive about it. Sometimes i cant fathom mans inhumanity to his fellow man.
Anyway, just thought id share these thoughts. Hope your mind is treating you well.

I believe that I am fairly stable mentally. We all have our ghosts I'm sure. I think we all should strive to improve themselves emotionally or mentally. Personally my most obvious problem is a PTSD reaction to ambulances. Just hearing them causes my blood pressure to peak quickly. Passing an ambulance throws me into a shaking terrified whimp. I have to pull my car over and talk myself through it till I can breath once again and my hands don't have a death grip on the stearing wheel. My reaction has improved by trying to concentrate on the part of the situation which I do have control over - myself.

My family that I grew up in all seem to have their problems and all have seen counseling. My brother has uncontrollable temper that has put him in jail, my dad is suicidal, my mom is co-dependent and controlling... I personally see mental "flaws" as areas for improvement instead of something to discount as not real.

Yeah, its crazy how so many of us have our personal psychosis. It makes you wonder what certain conditions it would take to push you over the edge, and let them really take control.

I have pretty stable mental health. I've always been Miss Optomisitc and laid-back. No problem really weighs me down, it all has to do with my mindset. It comes natural to me that nothing *is* wrong or broken, and that all things are temporary.
Sometimes I do feel weighed down, but I naturally tend to kick back into a positive mindset. I just think why waste my time being mad or worried or depressed? I'm happy with what I have right now.

My mum has several mental illnesses and she has experience this prejudice from those closest to her. It is because mental illness cant be seen and thus is easily ignored. If someone is in a wheelchair we can say they cant walk and there is nothing they can do about that. If someone has acute depression the usuall response is "Snap out of it". It is ignorance on the part of mainstream society. Mental illness is a greater disability than physical disability as there is very little societal support for it. People will always help someone in a wheelchair. People who are too depressed to get out of bed are forgotten about.

I try to be there for my friends when ever they're having problems of some sort. I don't think it's good for a person to keep it all inside so I always encourage them to vent when ever I speak with them. If just 5 minutes of venting can prevent a future emtional stress then it's definitely worth it


as for myself I luckily have a strong mental health

All of the people in my head screamed in unison for me to not reply to this honestly.



: /

Sometimes youve gotta listen to what those guys have to say. Seriously though, ive been learning to actually sit myself down on the couch and listen to my whingy problems, and try to get some progress. And, sometimes i feel really well balanced afterward.

This is exactly how I deal with my problems. I've created a sort of alternate personality who is basically omnipotent in regards to everything about me. What Jon (my other personality) enables me to do, is to take a step back, essentially out of my own head, and look at the problem objectively from a perspective different than my own.

You'd be amazed at the things you can learn about yourself when you look at your own mind through someone else's eyes.

Wow. I respect your self-help attitude.