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.

[ummmm]

Doctors will dish out meds...they won't diagnose serious mental illness though.

You'd have to be slashing your arms for them to pay heed.

[jackthehat]

Most GPs do not have the requisite training to be able to diagnose most Mental Health issues.
They may well dish out anti-depressants in the first instance in order to try to help the patient whilst referrals to trained mental health specialists are sought and gained.
Historically, the Mental Health system in this country has been chronically underfunded and as a consequence there are many, many people who have received no diagnosis of their mental troubles.
Statistically, they are more of a danger to themselves than others but it is a sorry state of affairs for a wealthy first-world country to find itself in in the 21st Century.

Ummmm - Mrs JtH's jumper was in the car......:o(

[Garaman]

Do people seriously think that the NHS should be able to get to cause, and cure, the anxiety in every person who suffers any kind of anxiety?

[Islay]

//Do people seriously think that the NHS should be able to get to cause, and cure, the anxiety in every person who suffers any kind of anxiety? //

Garaman mental health is different from anxiety

[douglas9401]

The posh corporate headquarters of RBS at Gogarburn near Edinburgh and the various sites of former institutions for the care of the bewildered and worse around central Scotland which are now housing estates are testament to the regard in which our leaders hold mental healthcare provision.

Care in the community anyone?

[Garaman]

//Garaman mental health is different from anxiety//

Anxiety is perhaps the most common mental disorder!

[andy-hughes]

Garaman - I don't wish to come across as a pedant, but a mental condition and a mental illness are not the same thing.

A parallel is a cold and pneumonia - one is common and easily dealt with, the other is potentially fatal, and needs treatment, and maybe hospital.

[Sqad]

A-H
"A parallel is a cold and pneumonia - one is common and easily dealt with, the other is potentially fatal, and needs treatment, and maybe hospital."
I agree......but a cold and pneumonia are both medical conditions, as is Anxiety a medical condition.

[Sqad]

Generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) can affect you both physically and mentally. How severe the symptoms are varies from person to person. Some people have only one or two symptoms, while others have many more. You should see your GP if anxiety is affecting your daily life or is causing you distress.

[andy-hughes]

Thank you Sqad.

I think the point to get across is the breadth of mental conditions, and their relative seriousness.

I have banged on for years about the uselessness of the term 'Depression' to describe the mental illness from which I suffer.

My issue is that people think suffering from Depression is the same as being 'depressed' which leads to the 'pull yourself together' response which is so singularly unhelpful to sufferers.

Being depressed is a normal part of the human condition, and I deal with that like everyone else.

Having Depression is something else entirely, and is not something I can deal with without treatment and medication.

The comparison I have always used is this - if feeling depressed is a sprained ankle, then Depression is having your leg cut off with a rusty saw by a sadist with time on his hands - that is the gulf between them.

Prince Harry has highlighted the blight of mental illness, but making people aware does not put money in the budgets, and when the 'novelty' dies down, the lack of funding will still be losing lives on a daily basis.

[Garaman]

I don't mind you being a pedant, Andy.

I was referring to mental health, as in the OP, not specifically to a condition or illness - I doubt that I could have explained the difference. I am just under the impression that some form of anxiety is probably the most common mental issue, and questioning whether people think that the NHS should be able to do much about the cause given how many of us suffer.

[anthro-nerd]

People talk about cancer, that doesn't mean people go out and get cancer. It's a medical illness the same as any other. I suffer with depression, I work full time, I'm not on any benefits. I'm on medication that my employers know about, the same for if I was diabetic and needed to take insulin. It's people not understanding mental health, and making comments like this, which is why it needs to be spoken about.

[andy-hughes]

anthro-nerd - Snap!

I have always regarded my medication as 'mental insulin' - and refer to it as such.

My only issue, as I have said, is the tendency for people who don't understand to think Depression is being depressed, and I think we should re-label the condition so that it has a good serious solid ring to it that puts people in the right mind set to think and talk about it.

Like the word 'cancer' does - because it's every bit as serious.

[mikey4444]

No, I don't think so. Mental health used to be completely taboo, but thankfully it isn't now, especially amongst men.

We should be talking more about this.

[emmie]

miey i believe we should as well, its hard to describe a breakdown to those who have no knowledge of mental health issues.