Mental Health, Has Enough Been Said On The Subject?

[dave50]

Now that everyone is talking about mental health issues, isn't there a danger that more and more people will be claiming to have mental health problems when in actual fact all they are is feeling fed up with work or going through some bereavement? Can it be proved if you claim you have an actual medical problem with your mental health? I can also see it as an easy route to a lifetime on benefits by the unscrupulous.

[jim360]

Thanks for the clarification, although I'm not sure that makes it better really.

Some thoughts are best kept to oneself, surely? I'm not going to pretend I've never thought about trotting out the "unlike some others" line. But it's a superiority complex we could all do with losing, I think. Whether it's directed at me, or a-h, or just anyone you disagree with in general, is beside the point.

As for the topic: better coverage of mental health is hugely important, as it removes the stigma that surrounds it. That doesn't change just because there are some people determined to exploit the system. Nor does it change because some people might exaggerate the scale of their problems, inadvertently or otherwise. Indeed, if someone who is "only" feeling sad is still encouraged to talk about it, they might still end up dealing with the problem better.

[jim360]

I'll knock up a comprehensive list for you by the end of the week.

Alternatively, you could take my opinion for what it is -- an opinion -- and continue as you did before, bearing it in mind as much or as little as you like, without resenting my having expressed it.

[naomi24]

Jim, I can't see anything wrong in saying 'unlike some others' - it simply gets the message across that not everyone thinks the same - and I'm at a loss to understand where the perceived 'superiority complex' comes into it too. Curious.

[ummmm]

I used to work in a psychiatric hospital...it's not easy to get diagnosed.

[jim360]

I've always tended to read it as being meant with added emphasis, and perhaps a pointed stare in the direction of whoever you are talking about. Whether or not it's meant that way all the time I don't know, but that's still how I read it. I don't think it adds anything, anyway.

But the perception of superiority complex is surely not too unreasonable? If you say that you would never do such-and-such an obviously bad thing, but that some others would, you are making yourself sound better than the other person/people you mean, no?

[Sqad]

".it's not easy to get diagnosed."
I disagree...it is easy to get diagnosed......too easy....who is going to argue with your diagnosis?
The big question is, easy or not easy, is the diagnosis correct?

[naomi24]

Jim, perhaps the perception that the speaker has a superiority complex indicates that the listener has an inferiority complex.

[ummmm]

My dad had a breakdown in 1979....I was 5 and remember it. He was actually voluntary sectioned.

It might run in the family as I remember going to visit my uncle in a psych unit.

My dad and uncle had parallel life's...both had the same issues. Don't know why. Both gambling addicts, both seriously sensitive souls. Mental health is real.

[ummmm]

It's not easy, Sqad. The GP will give you antiD's....to get to a qualified mental health worker will take time.

[jim360]

Or, perhaps, the perception is accurate?

Either way, it's not a phrase I like hearing, I wish people would stop using it in a debate, and of course such people as do use it are utterly free to ignore my opinion on this matter.

[237SJ]

It's dead easy to get diagnosed. I went to the doc because I had reactive depression due to bereavement and was given Citalopram in a minute. The doctor said that it is one of their most widely prescribed drugs and when I was on it and told people, it seems half the world is on it. I am not on it anymore because my situation was temporary but it seems there is a world of depressives out there and it`s easy to dish out the drugs rather than find out the underlying causes and treat them.

[Smowball]

My brother in law is schizophrenic and it took ages and ages to diagnose him.

[andy-hughes]

237sj - //it seems there is a world of depressives out there and it`s easy to dish out the drugs rather than find out the underlying causes and treat them. //

There is - and prescription drugs are the plaster on the wound because mental health is too under-resourced for anything else.

You can't have a decent mental health care system and nuclear weapons, the country needs to make up its mind.

[Mamyalynne]

When we use the umbrella term we can easily forget how wide a topic it is - yes, the stresses of the modern world and the ability to recognise causal/situational depression following bereavements etc has no doubt led to more prescribing.

Equally people have died ( or committed crimes )whilst begging to get help , be sectioned etc because of the huge burden on limited services.

[Mamyalynne]

^ The umbrella term 'Mental Health Issues'

[ummmm]

237 - that's reactive depression...that's not mental illness.

[ummmm]

Mamy - Jackthehat can confirm what I say...a bloke I knew went to the doctors saying he had murderous thoughts. He was dismissed. He murdered someone...he cut their willy off and drove the car into a lake and let him drown.

That's mental illness. He begged for help, he got none.

[Mamyalynne]

Yes, it happens tragically.