Do You Consider Yourself Mentally Ill?

[Ghostybear73]

Yes, because if I had cancer, I would consider myself physically ill. I would be more prone to having immunity problems, just as I am more prone to having anxiety problems. As such, both illnesses can go into remission and/or lead to death. I'm not afraid of the label, I'm afraid of the symptoms.

Maybe the term physical illness or mental illness sound better as opposed to physically ill/mentally ill (semantics), but to me its all the same.

 

[anthony]

Maybe the term physical illness or mental illness sound better as opposed to physically ill/mentally ill (semantics)

Agreed... and I think semantics is quite accurate in determination, to be perfectly honest. I have a mental illness versus I am mentally ill. The first says I have an issue, the second tries to define me, which is not accurate IMO.

This disorder vs. injury thing... I don't have an injury, I have an illness, a mental disorder. If I had TBI, that is an injury. Something in my brain changed due to the amount of trauma endured, all by its little self without any physical force, and doctors have no real and exact clue as to what exactly changes in a PTSD sufferers brain. They have lots of theories, but no factual evidence. The specifics have evolved over the years and they're getting closer, no doubt about it, but things are still a crap shoot because they keep finding PTSD sufferers who have something, and those who don't, which means something is wrong somewhere, either in the diagnosis itself or their theory, either way they evaluate themselves and are wrong one way or the other.

 

[StellaBlue]

Oh - all of these answers are so amazing...thought provoking...my brain is clicking, processing, digesting...I wish we were all in a room to talk together.

I have spent a good deal of my fairly long life thinking I was crazy...damaged...and yet, I always...and I mean ALWAYS was able to function. For example, leave the hospital after an enforced week long stay and go to work the next day. Because...that's what "you" do.

RFT - I love that...Thomas Szasz...yes. Maybe, just maybe, there is nothing wrong with my brain or body...it's doing what it was trained to do...only now that doesn't work.

And because you were the last to respond @Ghostybear73, I have to consider this as well. I've never considered myself a cancer "survivor", but I went through a year of treatment that almost killed me...I sometimes joke that it's the only time denial was the only thing that kept me alive. I suppose the whole cancer thing was a trauma, but, quite frankly, it was the only time in my life I was free from the constant depression - anxiety - bs ptsd crap. I actually thought the chemo had reset my brain and I would be free from the ptsd. A friend explained to me that a lot of times, the ptsd can be "pushed back" while you deal with a "here and now" crisis.

I am now approaching babbling, but I really do appreciate everyone's thoughts...

 

[Ghostybear73]

I understand even through what you call babbling. :)

My therapist said the same thing to me. I have managed to live a very successful life without the diagnosis of PTSD because I was too busy surviving in one way or another. Now that I have no struggles and am stable and not running for my life, trying to find shelter, food, etc and have found financial stability, my past was able to jump in and bite me in the ass. Honestly, I liked the aforementioned better (I was used to it).

Either way, it all boils down to illness, whether mental or physical.....neither one can be ignored.

:)

 

[The Albatross]

Relate to the "Because... that's what you do". I knew I was damaged, negated that I was crazy because I was aware of my own distress and the crazy stuff going on around me independent of my own condition... but apparently I had some healthy fear of insufficiency... and yeah. I went to work.

I went to work with broken bones, hand prints on my neck, I only missed one day when I had my adult rape/sexual assault by a stranger... I was more afraid of financial issues so I got a healthy batch of coping skills. Some maladaptive, some not... but being a fractured personally actually came in handy in some ways.

The thing about coping skills is there does come a time where they don't work. Stretch, search, grow... new perspectives, cultivate new habits... promote and encourage the ones you want to be "new behaviors"... it can happen.

I am though at a point though where functional (mostly) is about the best I can do I think. The injury is probably not going to disappear, though it has improved. At this point, I can only surmise that other more crucial life issues will eventually displace it as my priority... having a ring side seat with the elderly I've settled on this opinion from first hand experience. It will be right or it won't.

 

[Seasounds]

I do like the distinction of having a mental illness, rather than being mentally ill. Yes, I know I have a mental illness.

The term, mentally ill, seems almost an archaic term, since it isn't specific, like the term, crazy.

If we are making analogies to how chronic, physical conditions (e.g. Multiple Sclerosis, Arthritis, etc.) are referenced, these chronic physical illnesses wax and wane, as my PTDS does.

 

[joeylittle]

I have a mental illness. And during the really, really catastrophically bad times, I'd describe myself as mentally ill. During those times, my illness is way in front of me and does define me; it sets my parameters, decides what I can and cannot do, it runs my body. But the harder I work, hopefully, the less frequently I'll feel like that.

 

[Ghostybear73]

Since its been mentioned a couple of times, I have to ask. What does it mean when you say broken? I have heard that word used regularly, even my therapist uses it and I am not getting it (defense mechanism, maybe).

I think broken and fractured and I try to associate the word, as used mentally, with a broken bone. Then I picture my brain with breaks in it and I'm not getting it. I have even tried to go deeper and the word displaced, whether it be memories, thoughts, etc.....like defragmented on a computer, but broken?

Help me out here...

 

[The Albatross]

The thing to be about being broken is that bone or tissue mends stronger than it was. But I don't think that's what some mean here.

 

[Tinyflame]

Broken to me feels like not whole, fractured in pieces like a vase (not my mind specifically in pieces, though dealing with the past reminders & memories would qualify I guess).

 

[Ghostybear73]

Yeah,
I know the meaning is different, that's what I'm trying to ascertain, the meaning of it in mental terms. And believe me, I'm feeling incredibly stupid for asking, but it really is a legitimate question for me because I have struglled with the word for years.

Guess I'm just throwing myself out there and allowing myself to be a little vulnerable.

 

[The Albatross]

Living things heal when they are broken. Inanimate things don't, I guess that's my distinction... thought I don't negate the fact that people feel that way.