Have you/family member/friend etc, ever suffered from a mental illness?

[BreakfastMan]

I have no history with mental illness, that I know of (I suspect I might suffer from boughts of depression, but nothing has been officially diagnosed). Once talked to my mom about her chronic depression. She didn't say much, just that the medication she takes helps. Also, one of my cousins has pretty severe bipolar (sever enough to attempt suicide and warrant hospitalization in a mental institution), but I have never bothered to talk to her about it.

 

[Zing]

I've been clinically diagnosed with Asperger's and I think mild anxiety disorder. I rejected these labels 12 years ago, and I still reject them today. Not only that, I don't even think I have them(maybe some anxiety as a result of my lack of social skills as a child). My mother simply kept sending me to different psychiatrists and psychologists for many years until something was slapped on me, and I was suppose to be "relieved". Sadly, all I ever wanted was to just be treated normally. So much for that.

If I had to pin any problems I had with my mental health I would say that my overbearing, religious driven upbringing and delayed puberty were far more damaging to me. And ironically, I think going to all those dr's made me more damaged, and honestly it makes me mad because during the 90s/early 2000s pharma companies were pushing doctor's to give out these kinds of diagnosis' willy-nilly just to sell drugs. And believe me...I was made to take a lot of different drugs. I climbed a tree and tried to jump onto a roof on Zoloft.

Today, I read about Asperger's and just shake my head, I suffer from very little of the symptoms and I can regularly dive into strange social situations. Things I don't think would be possible if I did in fact suffer from AS.

 

[Quazimofo]

my grandmother is suffering from Alzheimer's, and my other grandmother has dementia, though the dementia isn't too much of a problem so far, and she lives in a great retirement home with great caretakers and plenty of people to talk to. For my grandmother with Alzheimer's... she is pretty much gone. not in a hospital, but i havent seen her move in the last 3 years. albeit im only there for big family gatherings (christmas, thanksgiving, easter, graduation parties since my cousins and brothers and i are all getting right around graduation, and 2 just moved on this summer).

and as for myself, moderate chronic anxiety, and a minor inferiority complex. the latter is all but gone nowadays, except for when i present some school project, especially where i feature in a video, or was the primary editor for a video, or any of my writing is read aloud (formal writing, powerpoints im fine with for some reason).

and as for the anxiety, i was on prozac for about a year and a half, and financial reasons caused us to stop the medication, though the psychologist wanted to try cutting the medication after 18 months anyway, so it all works out, and i seem to be coping rather well.

i never was medicated through grade school, or freshman year of high school. because of this... well lets just say the anxiety came in waves, "attacks" if you will. it wasn't pretty. thank GOD i had teachers who were willing to put in the effort to try to help. perks of a private catholic school i guess. still, it was a major issue and the kids who liked pushing my buttons for shits and giggles really didn't help. Of the class of 69 kids (dont say it), i only consider 2 of them friends, and the rest i just plain dont speak to. and this is all on top of the major guilt i got for making my parents' lives a living hell trying to deal with these problems.


on the upside, im still poor as hell (still not sure how we got the money for this laptop, or continued internet), but holy hell is my life much better now that ive largely gotten over these issues, and the tendency towards seclusion that accompanied the lack of friends because those fucks kept deliberately inciting these violent anxiety attacks.
got myself a little circle of friends, and now I'M the well-adjusted one. how about that?

sophmore year was frigging awesome. (yes all of this growth effectively happened in a single 8 month period, and its only been 4 months since then. teenage years, amiright?)

 

[Quazimofo]

I was diagnosed with PTSD a few years back. I used to be a police officer and was involved... in a very voilent situation.
I feel much better now , though I always feel for people with anxiety, depression, PTSD.

rough. were you personally harmed in the situation?

i understand if you dont want to talk about it, i was just curious

 

[Quazimofo]

I haven't had much luck in finding jobs, not finishing highscool has that effect. But I just keep trying, that's all I can do and though It feels like it's taking forever sometimes, things are getting better.

thats the best attitude you can have man! im glad for you that you can just keep on trying, and see things keep getting just a bit better as time passes. i wish you luck, especially with your disadvantage (i cant imagine how hard it would be to get a job without any kind of degree/diploma).

an online course to get some kind of diploma would probably help a lot if that is at all possible.

but just because it is difficult, doesn't mean it cannot be done. just because it is unheard of, does not mean it is impossible. people may say success is out of your reach, but that has been proven false time and time again by people in worse situations. keep at it man!

 

[Lady Lucky]

I was diagnosed with PTSD a few years back. I used to be a police officer and was involved... in a very voilent situation.
I feel much better now , though I always feel for people with anxiety, depression, PTSD.

rough. were you personally harmed in the situation?

i understand if you dont want to talk about it, i was just curious

I came away with a couple of physical scars, but luckily they were never life threatening. I seriously re-thought my career after the incident.

 

[Karelwolfpup]

Depression, was occasionally suicidal during my teens and right up until a few years ago. Over it now, I understand the reasons for it and the situations and patterns that exacerbated it. Still don;t care too much for myself as a person, or that much for other people tbh. I'll care for family and friends, and I do have empathy for others, but actually giving two craps about others who don't bring their problems to my doorstep? nope... nothing.

Then again, if people do bring their issues to my door I usually slam it in their face after telling them to fuck off. Depending on the person and problem. Main problem though, is not caring for myself.

 

[shadow_Fox81]

my mum has borderline personality disorder, my girlfriend (of some years) has bipolar type two, I've just come out of a heavy bout of depression/anxiety, my sister is a sociopath, my dad briefly struggled with post traumatic stress disorder(after deployment) and thats just the things i've dealt with this year in my imediate family.

mental illnesses are too comon, and i feel most days i'm lucky that was all i have to deal with. I'm told i'm well adjusted, but i don't feel like it; mental illness is rough and i never really feel over it. I just keep keeping on.

at least i'm not trying to cut off my fingers anymore. (i laugh about it now helps me deal with it)

 

[PatrickXD]

I've a couple of friends who have Aspergers, nothing too crazy they're just pretty shy guys.
My mum suffered with post-natal depression when she had my brother and sister, not with me though (because I'm too darned great).
My sister has dyslexia, but again nothing too crazy.
I think it'd be pretty rare to find someone without a relative or friend who suffers from some mental issue. It's so common I'd struggle to really call them severe illnesses, it's more a personality 'quirk' for many. Of course I respect that there is a slippery slope, and that some people are seriously affected by mental illnesses.

 

[Vivi22]

So I want to hear from you all, what is your history with mental illness?

I've struggled with depression on and off for the last four or five years. A couple of years back I was thinking about killing myself. Definitely the low point of the whole thing. I was also a bit worried about six months ago when I caught myself trying to work out what the sharpest knife/tool I own was should I decide to slit my wrists.

How did you overcome it? Are you still dealing with it today?

I wouldn't say I did overcome it. I still struggle with it now and then. Most days are at least all right if not outright good. Some bad days here and there and the occasional episode lasting a week or more of varying severity. I found seeing a counselor did help me quite a bit, especially with the more severe stuff. Things like meditation also helped when my mind was getting particularly frantic and racing. The biggest thing I worked out in the last six months though was fully committing to a high fat diet. My brain just functions better when I'm getting most of my calories from fat and my mood tends to stay more positive. I've had fewer depressive episodes since making that change, and when I do get depressed, it's been less severe and doesn't last nearly as long as it used to.

Have you ever had a family member or friend talk to you about their troubles?

Not really. I'm a fairly guarded person when it comes to my feelings and emotions. There's been some talking with my wife of course, and a bit with my best friend. But one of the realities I had to face up to a couple of years ago was that even though I needed to talk to someone, I didn't know how to talk to the people close to me about it and wasn't sure I even wanted to. I found it much easier to be open and honest with a counselor than I would have a friend or family member. The unfortunate thing of course is that being that guarded is a two way street and people tend not to open up to you too much. I have had good conversations with my best friend when he was going through similar bouts of depression though, but we've always been a lot more open with each other than we usually are with others. Even close family like my wife, sister or parents. Bu in that case it was more a matter of me helping him by discussing what I'd been through.

Which I think may have been part of my problem actually. I didn't really have anyone with experience to draw on and didn't know how to deal with the things I was feeling appropriately. Not to go on too much of a tangent there.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Bipolar depression and potentially autism (the bipolar depression was diagnosed the autism was not but my mum works with a lot of childcare professionals who apparently did tell her I showed a lot of the signs.)

My grandmother had Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder, probably as a result of where she was sent to during the Evacuation (apparently they were very very strict with her)

My parents have never been diagnosed with anything but my mum shows a lot of the sympotms of OCPD as well and my dad has exhibited a lot of monopolar depression symptoms over the years. He also suspects he would probably have been labelled ADD had such a diagnosis really existed in the sixties.

 

[phantasmalWordsmith]

My dad has Bi-polar disorder. For years he's had it and it was a big factor that tore apart his marriage. And apparently, I have a one in four chance of having it as well, as do my two siblings.

 

[PsychedelicDiamond]

I'm an aspie. But really, nowadays everyone is and most people wouldn't suspect that there's anything wrong with me. And quite honestly, i don't feel like there's anything wrong with me, so... yeah.

 

[reithena]

I am bi-polar and when I get stuck in one of my really bad points I have been noted(while under treatment of doctors, not just random diagnosis) to develop schizophrenic tendencies. My mother had clinical depression and bi-polar while my sister is a pathological liar(mythomania), ADHD, and clinically depressed.

And people wonder why I want to avoid having any children 0_o;

 

[Playful Pony]

Muh I've been depressed and whatever. Who hasn't really? Humans are fragile things!

My mom is a complete nutjob X3. No, really! I haven't even seen her in over 10 years though. Which is just as well, she hasn't contributed much positively to our family. Well, my older sister and younger brother I am thankful for...

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

Someone who used to be a friend of mine is schizophrenic. He had issues with his parents and other people that he knew but was fine with me and a few other friends so we just blew off his strange behaviour towards them as a bit of a joke, quirky behaviour. Teenagers often don't get on with their parents and the others who had managed to wrong him were generally pretty dickish anyway and it's not as if he'd actually go and do anything he ranted on about. Then we started noticing odd requests for information about where other friends of ours that he'd met lived, which started ringing alarm bells, further inquiry revealing that he believed they had slighted him in some way or other and that he wanted to go and have it out with them. As we gently deflected his requests I think he started to get it into his head that we were on "their" side. I had moved away by this point but I still got a bunch of threatening phone calls and texts until I changed my number. A mate who'd been good friends with him for ten years had to deal with a lengthy harassment campaign and he attacked another mate with a knife in a pub full of people. Don't know what happened to him in the end, probably spends his time in and out of secure mental institutions. Not quite so much of a joke to us now.

Ex girlfriend of mine was and still is borderline schizophrenic and massively paranoid, self harmer along with IV amphetamine and heroin addiction. She probably has a lot of other undiagnosed issues but getting her to see professional doctors was a problem. I don't really want to go into any more detail on this one because it was all really quite traumatic.

I share one common problem with the aforementioned ex but other than that I don't have any mental illnesses I'm aware of and I'm not sure the problem counts as a mental illness anyway.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

If we're talking about disorders, then I have Asperger's Syndrome, probably the only one with it in my family... well, other than a cousin with PP-DNOS. At least they diagnosed him when he was young, for me, I was diagnosed back when nobody knew what it was (nowadays, everyone and their cousin will claim to be autistic for one reason or another.)

Other than that, the only other person with a mental illness I'm aware of is my paternal grandmother, who's dealing with dementia. It's a scary thing, seeing her now and remembering who she used to be...