Is there anyway to explain mental health to someone?

[Brad]

your constant use of the word 'disability' is interesting. if somebody 'fakes' a mental illness but they still get caught up in it and it manages to have profound effects on their life, do you not think that then it could in fact morph into a disability in its own right?

I would agree. But I also think we tag the word "disability" on things that are not really disabilities. If that makes sense.

But other than that. I would agree with you

[Kyle]

I would agree. But I also think we tag the word "disability" on things that are not really disabilities. If that makes sense.

But other than that. I would agree with you

what kind of thing are you talking about when you say people faking

and what do you think is unnecessarily labelled 'disability' ?

[Brad]

I think the biggest difficulty is people don't understand HOW it develops in the first place. I think it's hard for someone to understand how a person can be totally fine one day and then go into a spiral path downwards.

I think another thing is that people who have mental illnesses don't always know that they do. So an outsider could say 'if you thought things were getting worse, then why didn't you do something about it early on?' If a person doesn't know it's happening to them until it's taken control then it's not exactly a case of just going to get help, because a lot of people struggle to ask for help.

But going back to HOW it comes about. I think people think that it just happens one day and you've got a mental illness and don't realise that it's a journey and it doesn't just happen overnight. So it can seem like something really pathetic and meaningless to an outsider because they don't understand the path a person has taken to get to the state they're in.

I don't know if this thread stemmed off the 200 selfies one, but I myself only gave the first post in that a quick read, and my first thought was, why does he care so much, and if he hated his appearance why does he post so many selfies? It seemed at first like an attention thing. Then someone posted the full article and I read it all and I felt really guilty, because it wasn't just a guy who only cared about appearance, when you read it there's a load of backstory.

I myself had a few problems in my teens with feeling surrounded by my demons and they were probably petty to anyone else, but to me they were the world and they take control of your life and it's very stressful. But I'll admit, when I first saw the 200 selfies thread I thought 'there I was suffering REAL problems, and all this guy has to worry about is image!' But I regret thinking that now, and I take it all back because it seems like his problems stemmed from something that became an obsession which just grew and grew, which is exactly what I felt- obsession. Now I didn't get diagnosed with have a mental illness, and I don't think I was that bad, but I sort of understand where it's all coming from now.

But no, if you ever try to explain it to someone, they don't understand it to the full extent. The obsession and control thing is hard to explain.

You and I the same. I honestly didn't read the full story until getting hate replies, and negative reputations.

So to those I have offended, I am sorry and I will admit that I should have read the whole thing. Guilty for not doing the right thing and reading the full story, and also guilty that I tried to defend my reasoning with once again not reading.

[Yawn]

lmfao there was a girl i worked with and she faked having mental issues so she could leave the job b4 she was sacked

but thinking about it its the exact thing we are talking about now, like i said str8 away writing this that she faked it *shrugs* maybe she did have problems cos she was about to lose her job who knowsssss

[Brad]

what kind of thing are you talking about when you say people faking

and what do you think is unnecessarily labelled 'disability' ?

I am not out looking for a fight, I am admitting that my ignorance stems from my past experiences with people (family) faking that they have a learning disability (so they can get disability and not have to work and government pays for them to sit on their ass all day) but they clearly do not have a disability.

That's what I mean by that.

[Kyle]

I am not out looking for a fight, I am admitting that my ignorance stems from my past experiences with people (family) faking that they have a learning disability (so they can get disability and not have to work and government pays for them to sit on their ass all day) but they clearly do not have a disability.

That's what I mean by that.

oh I hope you don't think I'm looking for a fight either, I'm just trying to delve deeper into why people are viewing things in certain lights. i.e. different uses and definitions for the word disability, denial of it to those that may otherwise be labelled so, etc. you aren't at all wrong for attributing past experience onto future ones, everybody does it. being a little more sensitive around issues of the mind and accepting that we aren't going to truly understand how others think is a good place to start changing attitudes.

[Brad]

oh I hope you don't think I'm looking for a fight either, I'm just trying to delve deeper into why people are viewing things in certain lights. i.e. different uses and definitions for the word disability, denial of it to those that may otherwise be labelled so, etc. you aren't at all wrong for attributing past experience onto future ones, everybody does it. being a little more sensitive around issues of the mind and accepting that we aren't going to truly understand how others think is a good place to start changing attitudes.

Agreed, and honestly I don't think a lot of people will admit to being insensitive. Because a lot of disabilities are still being defined and a lot are still unknown which makes people iffy and they become focused on the littler things that reflect the whole disability.
I wish everyone could read your comment because honestly, I find it true that the generation coming will become more and more oblivious to the world around them.

Thanks for this reply. +rep

[Inseriousity.]

People are just so different that there'll never come a time when something is universally accepted. Some people are too self-absorbed to look at anything beyond their own understanding and imagine how it feels like to walk in someone else's shoes so in that sense it doesn't really matter how you explain it, they'll never try to understand. Surely a better question is why do you have to explain mental health/illness to someone? Does it have to come up? For instance - and I know this situation isn't mental health so forgive me for that - I'm bi but unless someone asks then I'm not likely to bring it up in conversation, it's a part of me but it's not the whole part of me. It's not something that's on display in the same sense that a mental illness is often invisible (I know you mention nervous tics so if that's noticeable that could explain why it comes up in conversation). This isn't me saying hide who you are and if you're one of those people who'd rather talk about it upfront then that's fine too, what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't have to justify who you are.

[FlyingJesus]

Describing a thought process you have to someone radically different isn't ever easy if at all possible even; you can teach tolerance and understanding but you can't teach experience. In a more mundane form it's like someone trying to tell me how good nuts taste when I would literally rather eat cardboard, I get that other people like them and I can understand some of the reasons but it's not an experience I can have for whatever reason

[buttons]

before my mental health got out of hand, i didn't know how my words or actions could affect other people so i can totally see how people without experience can be like that too.


but what boggles my mind is why do they feel the need to comment on every persons case or mental health as a whole whenever they can? ;s
mental health often causes people to do destructive things to themselves and others, even as far as suicide or at least thinking of it frequently. so why feel the need to degrade a person to 'stupid', 'idiotic' when there's a risk of harm for them? (speaking mostly about depression, image, food, social disorders etc here don't have experience out of this) + one reason it really bothers me that people do this is the fact they don't even realise their best friend, partner, mother, sibling etc might be suffering and the things they're saying can be very damaging to them :/


if i don't know anything about a physical disability or the history of a country or something, i won't go giving comments about it, i will leave it to people who have some sort of knowledge on it. I don't understand why people can't do the same with mental health, often enough it's people who have never experienced it themselves or watched someone close to them go through it.


i feel like it's a losing battle and society won't be accepting of it completely but if u can change at least one persons view on mental health, it's a start. it's rather that than for them to have to experience it before they can understand.