Quote from otakuness

i want to have schizophrenia!! its like having your own world where everything you think is real is really real!! its better than using just mere imagination!! you have your own reality!! i like that.. 😎

Why would you want that? It's horrible you see and hear horrible shit. It's not like you can control it. That's utter stupidity to want schizophernia...

Quote from KiNKAY TiME!

Quote from otakuness

i want to have schizophrenia!! its like having your own world where everything you think is real is really real!! its better than using just mere imagination!! you have your own reality!! i like that.. 😎

Why would you want that? It's horrible you see and hear horrible shit. It's not like you can control it. That's utter stupidity to want schizophernia...

Yeah man (Otakuness), if you wanna have an experience just eat some magic mushrooms. Careful though, if your heads not right it can cause temporary psychosis (happened once). But I liked them, changed my life for the better, allowed me to see myself for what I really was, almost singlehandedly (along with critical thinking, working out, eating right) brought me out of a 3 year long depression. I still have bouts, but I just try remember how I felt during that time and I can relax.

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Quote from Ghaz

Quote from KiNKAY TiME!

Quote from otakuness

i want to have schizophrenia!! its like having your own world where everything you think is real is really real!! its better than using just mere imagination!! you have your own reality!! i like that.. 😎

Why would you want that? It's horrible you see and hear horrible shit. It's not like you can control it. That's utter stupidity to want schizophernia...

Yeah man (Otakuness), if you wanna have an experience just eat some magic mushrooms. Careful though, if your heads not right it can cause temporary psychosis (happened once). But I liked them, changed my life for the better, allowed me to see myself for what I really was, almost singlehandedly (along with critical thinking, working out, eating right) brought me out of a 3 year long depression. I still have bouts, but I just try remember how I felt during that time and I can relax.

geez if u really have that-.- you'll probabl be locked up in a mental hospital somewhere >.<

D'oh!

Hm... depression. Cuz... I think it's the easiest to treat.... maybe? I dunno. I took regular psychology (which i regret instead of taking AP) and I vaguely remember some the above...

[img]https://i.imgur.com/cWeUK2w.png[/img]

Quote from LawX

You are like the dense main character in a shoujo manga.

Quote from Crenshinibon

And you will murder someone one day, pika. If you're my daughter.

I've been surrounded by people with mental illnesses my whole life: both bipolar and schizophrenia run strong on both sides of my family. I've had to deal with it a lot.

Do you think it's possible to completely recover from a mental illness (e.g. depression or bipolar or schizophrenia or whatever) without ever having another relapse?
No. Not until they can develop a medication or treatment to permanently fix the physical symptoms which cause mental illness.
I think it is possible for people to have a decent quality of life, however, if they are well taken care of by the medical system and the people around them.

If you or someone close to you has suffered from mental illness, have you found certain situations/habits/activities that make things better?
I was really happy when x family member found a hobby: movies. It might not sound like much, but the fact that they were well enough and that it gave them something to look forward to was wonderful.
Also, daily routines. Very important.

Does counseling help more than medication, in the long-run?
No. A true mental illness cannot be cured with therapy.

What do you think the family/friends of someone with mental illness can do to help?
From personal experience as a family member: pushing and shoving the medical system to get the people around me the care they deserve. Keeping track of their medications, doctors, new treatments, and condition. Being there for them. Having a certain amount of strength when things like suicide attempts or harmful behaviour happen. Supporting related causes and charities.

Do you think that society still carries some sort of stigma/prejudice against people with mental illness or towards the issue itself?
Both. Even doctors can be horribly biased and unfair against someone simply because of a mental illness. That really disgusts me.

Was mental illness ever 'life-threatening' for you? Like, planning self-harm or suicide, or maybe just unintentionally causing an accident because of drowsy-making medication you were on, or maybe putting oneself in danger due to manic/psychopathic tendencies?
x.x I don't want to think about the friend who almost died because of a serious mental illness. It was hard on both of us, it was sad, it was awkward. It made me think about what that condition must be like from a whole new perspective.

Which do you think is more influential in terms of mental illness - genetics or the environment?
Both. Certain mental illnesses may be caused more by one or the other (autism is not caused by environment, while some bouts of depression may be).

What area of your life has been most adversely affected by mental illness? Work, finance, family, romance/relationships, children, social life or something else?
From all that I've seen, it affects everything - but in my family it sometimes brings us all really close. Certainly, the mentally ill people in my family are surrounded with love, and they know that.

Quote from otakuness

i want to have schizophrenia!! its like having your own world where everything you think is real is really real!! its better than using just mere imagination!! you have your own reality!! i like that.. 😎

Seriously. That isn't funny. It makes me feel sort of sick.

Quote from Ghaz

I suffer from intense depression, to the point where I don't eat....or even wake up for days at a time. It's kind of fucked up since I've had it since middle school. It's weird though, you would never peg me as someone like that. I never let anyone see what I'm feeling so most people see me as just a strong willed, happy go lucky type of person. In reality I'm probably emotionally weaker then a 9 year old girl, I just hold it in. Really only my immediate family knows about it, but even to them I pass it off as a something to laugh about and not really a problem.

HOLDS YOUR HAND, BABY

YES, yes, this is IT, exactly. I've had inklings of depression since I was a kid, too, AND I've got the outwardly happy-go-lucky thing going, AND I don't let on that I'm, um, as emotionally weak and porous as rice paper that's been boiled for five minutes and then had holes poked in it. And the thing is, even I think I'm a happy-go-lucky person most of the time (when I'm not on the brink of the abyss, anyway), because I don't seem to be hung up on many of the everyday things people complain or feel sad about... Nothing external or specific gets me down, just... the milieu, I guess? Just existing is too much for me, sometimes, and shrouds me in an almost inescapable, often agonizing melancholy - the hereness and nowness of texture and sight and sound and the fact that I'm encased in a body - I don't know, but kind of just being around overwhelms me. But I don't get down because of some specific emotional/social stimulus that I actually experience (like, say, a failed relationship or employment problems or a failing grade - that sort of stuff doesn't faze me at all, I get right back up). I just... get down by default. Or I am down by default. Idk. But I don't get 'vexed' by life circumstances the way many people do, which is why I probably come off as happy-go-lucky and determined and clear-minded to everyone else, and... even to myself, when I fall for it. Lol.

I refuse to take any prescription medication for it, I've tried it once and I couldn't stand being in the emotionless state it left me. Taking drugs on a daily basis isn't the answer (it can however snap you out of it), true happiness requires work and dedication.

YES, again! I used to be on medication, and I'm not saying that I'll never be on it again, just... I don't think it's the best long-term solution for me, personally. It causes just about as many problems as it solves; well, I never found anything that didn't work without doing weird crap to my body or my mind or my sex life (such as it is - or isn't). I still remember, with some horror, that medication I took for my psychosis (or 'pre-morbid schizophrenia' thingamajig), which made my muscles get all twisty and tight and my hands all claw-like and... No, just - no. shudder I'd rather focus on CBT and meditation and mental discipline, and on developing better coping strategies of my own, rather than relying solely on prescribed medication. If things ever got that bad again, I might have to resort to it as a last-ditch, temporary measure (can't deny that this might happen), but unless I absolutely HAVE to, I ain't drugging myself. Been there, done that, and the side effects alone reduced my quality of life to the degree that I might as well be depressed, instead! That said, many of these medications seem to have fewer side effects on many people - just that I often end up with the freaky side effects. Maybe my body's just built that way... it's very sensitive to drugs, in a bad way.

But I'll keep trying! I've found that CBT and regular meditation/discipline/exercise really helps keep my life on track. I can't allow things to become irregular and I can't allow myself to slack off; I have to be vigilant at the door of my mind, as a sentry is at a gate with a great, black-furred beast crouching outside. (Or inside, as the case may be. Eeep?) But anyway, discipline really is the key, for me. I've managed to accomplish many things, thanks to that, that I'd never even imagined myself capable of doing in the past. Medication helped get me out of the rut, last time, but I'd rather stop myself from falling into the next rut, anyway. Heck, if I can prevent that from happening, at least I can avoid medication as long as possible (and hopefully even forever), right? I've been off it for more than 5 years, now, and haven't had to go back on it since - not that it hasn't been bloody difficult, but somehow, I've pulled through.

All of you guys with mental illness, my heart goes out to you. Try to realize it's just in your head and take shit one day at a time.

Amen to that.

Thank you all so, SO much for actually speaking out and providing support to each other by doing so. You're all wonderful, really. It's so heartening to see the courage and the kindness we have within us, even when our problems are trying to drag us down! <3

oh cmon people its like asking me what mental illness that id like to take and i want schizophrenia!! stop bashing me for wanting my own reality and hallucinations!! 😮

oh please do click this!
The sweeter the apple, the higher the branch. The quieter the fart, the nastier the smell.
GUESS WHO??

I suffered from paranoia i thought that cockroaches were out to get me for about 2 weeks

"hello i am Edward Newgate... AND I AM FUCKING WHITEBEARD!!"

Quote from otakuness

oh cmon people its like asking me what mental illness that id like to take and i want schizophrenia!! stop bashing me for wanting my own reality and hallucinations!! 😮

then just take some drugs. if you say, i want to have schizophrenia it´s like you say i want cancer.

This guy had schizophrenia:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Miyazaki[/url]

[img]http://img3.lln.crunchyroll.com/i/spire1/d3534fdb6e3e9a20689515e4361f69ea1312335455_full.jpg[/img]
currently reading: Nyotai-ka
please support me

Depression, ADD (not ADHD), anxiety (very much so), and aspergers (low on the autism spectrum). The anxiety effects me the most. I am anxious about nearly everything I do and think about, although not as extreme as others, and this sometimes causes it to build up and "explode". 😐

I care waaaaay too much... 🙁

[img]http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/6540/picsmaller.png[/img]

Quote from otakuness

oh cmon people its like asking me what mental illness that id like to take and i want schizophrenia!! stop bashing me for wanting my own reality and hallucinations!! 😮

I'm pretty sure you really don't understand schizophrenia very well.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/cWeUK2w.png[/img]

Quote from LawX

You are like the dense main character in a shoujo manga.

Quote from Crenshinibon

And you will murder someone one day, pika. If you're my daughter.

I'm currently trying to control my hypochondria (Anxiety concerning my health), and I also have anxiety attacks from stress as well as depression. I'm not on any type of treatment though..

The hypochondria is the worst when I have bouts of anxiety. I won't be able to concentrate on anything else in my daily life except having the mindset that I'm suffering from some fatal disease. It keeps me up at night and manifests my life until that self-diagnosis is proven wrong.

Going on to your questions, well, some of them, I really don't think it would be possible to be fully relieve yourself of a mental condition. Mental heath is so complex that you're unfortunately stuck with your condition for a very long time. You can learn to control erratic behaviors, but then again, even the littlest thing can set you off again.
With counseling, as just mentioned, it only provides one with the skills to control and reduce the thoughts originating from your mental problem.

I totally believe family should be more involved with helping you with a mental trouble. My family, instead of giving me a sense of support and remedy to my problems, makes it a joke that I am suffering from a real disease. It makes me feel like a total outcast in my family when I even try to get reconciliation from them. 🤢
Shouldn't family be one of the number one form of support? Get ignorance and humor from them about your troubles and it makes you feel worthless.

And as for the nature vs. nurture part, some diseases are genetic, no question about that. But some, like depression, anxiety, the ones that give you a different mindset than the norm, are in my opinion due to your environment and society around you.
I know I wasn't born with Hypochondria, anxiety, and etc., I know I developed the hypo. from reading all my father's medical documents, leading me to believe I was gravely ill.
If you are exposed to all the messed up, unavoidable aspects of life, your bound to start developing your own opinion of the world around you, it's human nature. And those opinions can be positive and negative, it will start to manifest your understanding of the world and soon you'll either forget and move on or be really bothered by what you perceived in society.

Even if you think you suffer or not from a mental disease, don't we all get caught up about something once in our lives? I just hope we can all eventually unearth some form ease and assistance to what we suffer from. Even if it's latter in life.

@Mamsmilk and ShadowSakura
yes i do! and i dont do drugs.. but still thank you for the suggestion.. 🤣 but i really havent heard about that guy.. but i saw Beautiful Mind! 🤣

oh please do click this!
The sweeter the apple, the higher the branch. The quieter the fart, the nastier the smell.
GUESS WHO??

Quote from otakuness

@Mamsmilk and ShadowSakura
yes i do! and i dont do drugs.. but still thank you for the suggestion.. 🤣 but i really havent heard about that guy.. but i saw Beautiful Mind! 🤣

you know that movie was (looking up in the dictonary) romanticized. The reality was far more cruel.

[img]http://img3.lln.crunchyroll.com/i/spire1/d3534fdb6e3e9a20689515e4361f69ea1312335455_full.jpg[/img]
currently reading: Nyotai-ka
please support me

Do you think it's possible to completely recover from a mental illness ??
Yes. Because my mom recovered completely and since then she never had any relapse.

If you or someone close to you has suffered from mental illness, have you found certain situations/habits/activities that make things better?
Well, we did nothing except we provide support and release her stress by taking over most of her worries. And we gave her a feel of security that she will be with us forever, don't ever have to worry over being alone.

Does counseling help more than medication, in the long-run?
In my mom case, only medication. No counseling at all.

What do you think the family/friends of someone with mental illness can do to help?
As you said, just being there with her is enough for her.Support her and don't ignore her.

Do you think that society still carries some sort of stigma/prejudice against people with mental illness or towards the issue itself?
Yes!!!! When I told one of my friend about my mom's illness, she freaked and said "wow, your mom is crazy 😕 Will you become crazy too??". Since, then I never told anyone about it.

Was mental illness ever 'life-threatening' for you? Like, planning self-harm or suicide, or maybe just unintentionally causing an accident because of drowsy-making medication you were on, or maybe putting oneself in danger due to manic/psychopathic tendencies?
It depends on what type of mental illness I think.

Which do you think is more influential in terms of mental illness - genetics or the environment?
I would say both. Since my uncle also has it. And my father attitude really stressed my mom. He never gave her a sense of security and love. I think most of my mom's illness is due to my father.

What area of your life has been most adversely affected by mental illness? Work, finance, family, romance/relationships, children, social life or something else?
My mom can't raise her two younger child, I raised them when she was sick. She lost some part of their life but it only for 2 years.