[possenti]

I once heard a comedian on a morning radio show talking about mental illness, and he said something that sounded kind of funny, but it also seemed like a good observation...

He said that most people who go to psychiatrists don't really have serious mental or emotional issues. A lot of them just want someone to vent to about their current relationship problems, or recount how terrible their childhoods were because their parents didn't buy them that cute puppy at the pet store.

He then said that the people who are truly insane don't seek treatment because they're the ones who think they're perfectly "normal" - or had the worst childhoods where they endured unspeakable acts against them and now have no desire to talk about their experiences with anyone.

I think my 14 y.o. niece is a good example of this. Her parents are going through a divorce, and she's doing all sorts of stupid things to get attention. Her parents had no clue what was wrong with her and were so worried they put her in counseling. The "shrink" told them the same thing I did about the divorce causing her to act out in bizzare ways. To me, she's a normal teenager with normal teenage problems.

I'm 36, and I've known lots of looney basket-case types who thought THEY were perfectly sane, and the rest of the world was crazy. One guy I knew was discharged from the Army because of his mental instability (section 8?). He was hearing "voices" at night - among other things - so he went and talked to the Chaplin. He refered him to the military doctors, and after a series of tests, told him that he was being discharged immediately. They gave him some kind of severence pay to leave. He told me the whole story, and then said, "All of those test results they got on me had to be wrong" - and he left just to get the money. This was during Desert Storm in the late 90's. Last I heard, the guy's been institutionalized.

So, lie down on my couch and tell me - is there any credibility to this theory, or am I just crazy ?

[GoatRider]

well, the clinical definition of insanity is doing the same multiple times and expecting a different result. by that measure, insane people do not know they are insane.

there is some credibility to it, but "insane" doesn't encompass all mental illnesses. for instance, i have panic disorder. i know i'm not crazy, i just know my brain doesn't work correctly in the physiological sense. once my adrenaline gets moving, i have a hard time stopping it. i recognize it, so it's not considered a psychosis.

there are some people wandering around mental institutions that are completely oblivious, and there are people wandering around that have absolute knowledge of how truly fucked up they are. depends on the specific disease. the comedian generalized a bit in that sense.

[ThaLocster]

I think humor can be good, for alleviation, to an extent.
However, mental illness is no joking matter when genuine. I've suffered Manic Depression for my entire life (at least as far as my memory recollects), and can attest to it's debilitating effects. But, this is something I had to accept and move forward with. Everyone has "something" that poses a hinderance in thier lives; Some mental, others physical, addictions, relationships...and the list rambles into infinity!
What make the comics skit funny IMO, is that many people do attempt to use cyco-therepy to vent and excuse thier own issues and short commings! Problem is, many doctors, family, and general public don't take mental illness seriously. It wasn't until I was cyco-analysed by the Department of Corrections due to "violent aggressive behaviour" that anyone took mine seriously.
It's a very touchy/complex issue to deal with in depth.

[WUchi]

[quote=GoatRider]there is some credibility to it, but "insane" doesn't encompass all mental illnesses. for instance, i have panic disorder. .[/QUOTE


i think i have this aswell... how do you control it, just tough it out , or do you use medication? or what.

[yendor28]

This is a really serious issue especially where I live. I feel it is because this place is really a small country town lifestyle where people get bored.

Some people say that mental illness stems from thinking too much.

What do you think abou that?

[yendor28]

oh, I feel that I coulod be viewed as insane by others for living differently unless I am deemed successful by society in which case I shall be merely 'eccentric'

[muerteverde]

I just read a good book about the history of society's perception of insanity (madness, folly, etc.). It is Madness and Civilization by Michel Foucault. You should check it out, it is a good read. It used to be that the insane were considered closer to God. It is only in the modern age that we see them as "unreasonable" and "aberate" and in need of a cure.

I think you make a good point about people that got o see therapists, but then again, they don't normally believe themselves insane, either, just that they need help dealing with their problems. If they have the money to do that, and they believe it helps them, then I say go right ahead and do it. And yes, the truly disturbed often don't want to seek help and lead very difficult lives.

I have never been treated for mental illness and I don't think that people see me as crazy, but I can feel that some things are not "normal" sometimes. Maybe the fact that I recognize that the voices are not real, or the things I see are not real, or my irrational fears are just that, irrational, means that I am not so crazy afterall.

Most of us probably have afew things wrong with them, but we wouldn't consider ourselves insane. And the really dilusional among us necesarily beliee themselves sane as part of their dilusion, because if not, they would be sane afterall. Kind of funny when you think about it like that.

Pascal said that “Men are so necessarily mad that not to be mad would amount to another form of madness.”

[El Tiburon]

What an interesting topic. It is a pitty that your neice has to do foolish things for attention. However, I have known many girls from perfectly good loving, nurturing healthy families that do the same thing. The things that young women do nowadays is alarming. So don't be too surprised with what you hear.

The problem with mental health in the US is a back-burner issue no one on Capitol Hill wants to bring it up. I don't know now but when I worked in the corporate world. Psychiatrist and Psychologist visits were not covered bu health insurance. Nor were the eyes or the teeth. For eyes and teeth you had to pay extra though. But a malfunctioning mind was not a considered a health realted issue. Go figure

I hope things have changed since 1999 when I last had health insurance.

[creoltein]

a lot of this seems to be depression problems...basically people who are having some problem with stress or self esteem...and yeah definetly not some sort of psychosis.

people who seek help are still mentally unstable...as they are not healthy when they need to actually go and seek help

[bhopkins]

I honestly think that alot of depression/panic problems can just be cured by hard work. Im not talking about conditions such as manic depression or post traumatic stress disorder because those are a different matter.

But for normal depression or panic disorders (i have suffered from both at one time or another) i think that there is a hell of alot you can do to take care of those issues yourself. It will take courage, and hard work, but when it comes down to it there's so many ways to improve yourself, its just a question of buckling down and getting to it.

Somebody asked about how to treat panic disorders. Well, i would obviously say first try to get to the root of the anxiety/panic if you can. Was it your uprbinging? What situations do you feel most anxious in? After that its all just about facing your fears, over and over and over. At first you will feel like you're mind is crumbling, but after a while you'll feel so normal in those situations the panic will be gone.