Do you suffer from an affective disorder?

[micromass]

Do you suffer from an affective disorder??

Mental illness is very though to deal with. Most people will just not understand what's going on and think that you're crazy. When you have a broken leg, then people will sympathize with you and help you. But when you have a mental illness, then people avoid you and make fun of you.

I think that this poll might help some people to see that they're not alone. I encourage everybody to post their story. And remember: you are never alone.

As for me: I have OCD, depression and an avoidant personality disorder.

 

[Evo]

I suffer from anxiety and OCD.

 

[lisab]

I've had depression in the past. I didn't realize how debilitating it was until it was gone.

 

[Pengwuino]

Does being a physicist count?

 

[Lacy33]

Do I have to choose only one or can we select as many as apply?

 

[micromass]

Do I have to choose only one or can we select as many as apply?

You can choose as many as you want to.

 

[Evo]

Remember people, aspergers is now listed under autism.

 

[Lacy33]

And with all the Service people, battered children and women do we not have PTSD up there?

 

[Evo]

Ok, who lied and said they had none?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I voted for none. I didn't see it there at first and naturally I assumed that someone was trying to set me up as some kind of nut case. People always are you know. Sometimes when I'm walking, I can feel their eyes on me. When I turn around to see them they hide, but I know they're there waiting for their chance to get me. But then I saw it was the last choice.

 

[Evo]

i voted for none. I didn't see it there at first and naturally i assumed that someone was trying to set me up as some kind of nut case. People always are you know. Sometimes when I'm walking, i can feel their eyes on me. When i turn around to see them they hide, but i know they're there waiting for their chance to get me. But then i saw it was the last choice.

lol.

 

[Dembadon]

I haven't been clinically diagnosed with either, but I put OCD and depression. I can't think of many people I know who haven't been at least mildly depressed at one point in their life. I'm mildly OCD (contrast with Jack Nicholson in As Good as it Gets).

There are varying degrees to the disorders/illnesses in the poll. Some, if not all, can be life-threatening in their extreme cases.

 

[kcajrenreb]

I put none. I don't think being sad/ slightly deppressed at one point in your life counts as a mental illness if everyone has it. Its obviously another story if you actually are deppressed.

 

[Dembadon]

I put none. I don't think being sad/ slightly deppressed at one point in your life counts as a mental illness if everyone has it. Its obviously another story if you actually are deppressed.

I don't understand your reasoning. Would you say, then, that if everyone were to develop some form of psychosis that we should remove it from the list of mental illnesses?

 

[Evo]

Mentally ill sounds too harsh, what would be a better way of saying it?

 

[Dembadon]

Mentally ill sounds too harsh, what would be a better way of saying it?

If you're referring to depression, I feel as if it's more of a mood disorder than a mental disability/illness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_depressive_disorder

The site claims it's a "mental disorder."

 

[SpringCreek]

Depression in my teens and twenties.

Anxiety/panic in my thirties.

Now in my forties it's anger.

There are some overlaps and occasional relapses.

It feels like a progression. Depression was the descent. Panic attacks were rock bottom. Anger is the ascent. Anger is the transition from the bad years (which is what I'm angry about) to the more peaceful years of maturity.

 

[kcajrenreb]

I don't understand your reasoning. Would you say, then, that if everyone were to develop some form of psychosis that we should remove it from the list of mental illnesses?

mental illness

— n
any of various disorders in which a person's thoughts, emotions, or behaviour are so abnormal as to cause suffering to himself, herself, or other people

Yes.

 

[Evo]

This is something to read if you aren't sure.

http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-types-illness

 

[Dembadon]

Yes.

Hmm. We won't get far quoting dictionaries; the English language is circular.

Here's Dictionary.com's definition:

mental illness 
noun
any of the various forms of psychosis or severe neurosis.

Here's Merriam-Webster's:

a mental or bodily condition marked primarily by sufficient disorganization of personality, mind, and emotions to seriously impair the normal psychological functioning of the individual—called also mental illness

Here's a more in-depth explanation of mental illness:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/mental-illness/#WhaMenIll

We'll probably just have to agree-to-disagree since your opinion of what the criteria for mental illness are differ from mine. I don't believe that something has to be uncommon for it to be an illness.

 

[kcajrenreb]

Neither do I, but I don't think an emotion, or a mild depression that everyone has can be considered an ilness.

 

[Lacy33]

Mentally ill sounds too harsh, what would be a better way of saying it?

Damn Crazy, Frigin Nuts, Not In All Day, Elevator Don't go All the Way to The Top, Not quite Right, Special, Has Issues, Rather Treat the Symptoms Than call It a Name, Not Crazy, Just a little more Gentle, Fragile, I don;t think your'e crazy, :tongue2: You will never have to worry about any thing again..., :uhh:
Evo, Do you like any of these?

 

[lisab]

Neither do I, but I don't think an emotion, or a mild depression that everyone has can be considered an ilness.

A cold can be mild, but it's still an illness. In a similar vein, mental illness can be mild.

I can understand not wanting to use the term, though. In a lot of societies, there is a taboo about mental illness.

 

[Evo]

Damn Crazy, Frigin Nuts, Not In All Day, Elevator Don't go All the Way to The Top, Not quite Right, Special, Has Issues, Rather Treat the Symptoms Than call It a Name, Not Crazy, Just a little more Gentle, Fragile, I don;t think your'e crazy, :tongue2: You will never have to worry about any thing again..., :uhh:
Evo, Do you like any of these?

Those are great!

 

[Pythagorean]

I don't think so. I'm pretty detached from society and people, which probably keeps me sane (or is an insanity?)

 

[zoobyshoe]

Neither do I, but I don't think an emotion, or a mild depression that everyone has can be considered an ilness.

Shrinks separate a period of sadness caused by real loss from 'Depression', which is a disorder in that it persists in the absence of a present, real cause.

Any disorder in which emotions are out of whack is called an "Affective Disorder". The main ones are Depression, Bipolar, and Schizoaffective Disorder, but just about all mental illnesses have a strong affective component.

 

[Borek]

This is all a matter of where do you draw the line between illness and a lack of. If I am in a gloomy mood does it mean I have a depression?

Or, to put it differently - a lot depends on what we define as normal. How wide is normal? Is it just a point? What is it relative to? For IQ we assume norm is 100±3σ, so it depends on the population. We don't have a ruler to measure depression, but using the same approach (that is ±3σ) if everyone is mildly depressed, no one is actually depressed, as everyone is in the norm; just our definition of "depressed" doesn't fit the population.

Looking from this side of the world I have a feeling Americans tend to classify a lot of things that I would not care about as diseases or disorders. I guess that's partially effect of marketing - if you can sell a medicine, if you can try to cure it, it is advertised and becomes a known problem with solution present in every drugstore. At this moment people start to classify it as a disease.

No, I am not against using drugs where it makes sense, I am against abusing drugs, which is a clear tendency. It starts here as well, unfortunately.

Besides, poll is incomplete. There is no "none that I know of" choice.

 

[rhody]

Does being a physicist count?

No, being a closet penguin does !

Rhody...

 

[wukunlin]

never had a diagnosis, but I think when I have one there will be a long list...

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

By reading the posts, I get the impression that you don't so much suffer from mental illness as you luxuriate in it. The percentages in the poll are much higher than I expected, except for none which is much lower. So I did a cursory search on the web to find out the percentage of people who have been diagnosed with mental illness. The figures I got were for Americans, not everyone. One site said 25% in a year, and another said more than 50% in a lifetime. This is hardly a scientific approach, none the less, I had no idea it was anywhere near that high, I would have guessed something like 5% at any given time. Even so, the numbers here are much higher than any of the reported numbers, 18/22 as I write this. As the joke goes, you don't have to be crazy to post here, but it helps.

 

[cobalt124]

Nice thread, I've posted a bit about depression on other threads, better to speak out than hide.

To anser the OP, I've only voted for what I've been given a diagnosis for, depression and OCD. But I suspect I have/have had any in the list between eating disorder and other (inclusive ) to varying degrees.

 

[Borek]

By reading the posts, I get the impression that you don't so much suffer from mental illness as you luxuriate in it.

Nice word, luxuriate. I didn't know it up to now. In a way fits my thinking.

 

[zoobyshoe]

This is all a matter of where do you draw the line between illness and a lack of. If I am in a gloomy mood does it mean I have a depression?

The line is drawn at functionality. When the symptoms make you dysfunctional for a significant period you're likely to end up getting routed to a shrink and getting diagnosed.

Famous case is the autobiographical one reported in Zen In The Art of Motorcycle Maintainence. After an incident caused the author to lose faith in Academia he took to his bed and didn't get out of it until he was discovered by a friend two weeks later and taken to the hospital. Suicidal thinking and attempts are another obvious indicator a person is not merely "gloomy".

 

[rhody]

I discovered through a life time of reading, self introspection that certain symptoms of OCD fit me to a T. I think I have a mild form of it and have had it all my life, only recently recognizing it through reading two books that discussed it and what people do to cope with it. I went throught a period or denial at first, then bargaining, and finally, acceptance. Along the way I discovered some things that help to alleviate the worry that do not involve taking drugs, quite by accident to because I was not expecting it. These provide temporary relief from worry, a big plus IMO. Looking back, these same symptoms were present in family members, so there may be a genetic component to this as well, at least in my case.

Rhody...

 

[Borek]

The line is drawn at functionality. When the symptoms make you dysfunctional for a significant period you're likely to end up getting routed to a shrink and getting diagnosed.

Good point.

Do anyone believe only 6 out of 27 voting people so far were never dysfunctional because of mental problems at some point of their lives? I look around - and I find it hard to believe.

Unless PF is not only a magnet for crackpots, but also for psychos.