A Mental Illness Awareness Week Special - A Brief History of Mental Illness

Those dumb little commercials on tv don't make people pay attention, heck, I ignore them too, and people who aren't affected by by mental illness aren't going to go to support groups (which don't help, b/c, personally I don't like to listen to people b*tch and moan & I have bipolar disorder myself) This isn't going to TEACH or MAKE anyone more aware of anything, IMHO...people don't want to learn about what they're afraid of (mentally ill)...interesting facts though... Have a nice day, folks :)

Very interesting info. We've come a long way baby!!

So ...

It took someone with bipolar disorder to discover the use of fire,
a known fact, apparantly.
Christopher Colombus had bipolar disorder and discovered the Americas,
Michelangelo had bipolar disorder and so painted the Sistine Chapel, and
Isaac Newton had bipolar disorder and gave us modern mechanics and physical principles.

This blog and definitely titled toward the silly side lately.

I found this very interesting, shocking and entertaining all in the same article, but concerned by the implication of the future looking bleak,as yiu mentioned John, at a time when research is peaking in terms of treatments, yet resources to deliver them are dwindling, yet and mental illness is on the increase apparently or is it just being picked up more or diagnosed more rathern actually increasing. Is this why it is increasing ? because good quality services have been cut and people are left struggling for longer or left to "community care" which is idealistic but ineffective inpractice What Community care is left ? I requested help agreed to see a councillor back in July.It is now October, I am feeling mch better throigh my onw efforts and time , yet I am still on the referral list. Help is not there when it is most needed when people feel at their worst in my experience twice. It was the same 7 years ago. I canacelled the counsellor many months after a bad breakdown once I had picked up. help is always too late unless you need sectioning. Peopel should not reach this level of crisis. Where are the Crisis Action Teams ! or early intervention teams. Where and When do they act or intervene ? I should like to know. What do they prevent by any early intervention. I ca see no evidence of this. They sit in some call centre and bat off calls until peopel are at their worst and at breaking ppoint or at risk to self or others. They are a waste of money in my opinion. I rememer when Mental Illness Support Teams would come to the house when called for a relative or partner with serious mental illness. This service was wiped out, Now you can not even get a GP to take concerns seriously out of hours, if someone is already known to be attached to the Community Mental Health Teams. They would rather they dealt with a enqury the nexty day, so what use is the out of hours service either. No one wants to be troubled out of hours yet they are paid extra for this and this is their job !!!

I found this very interesting, shocking and entertaining all in the same article, but concerned by the implication of the future looking bleak,as yiu mentioned John, at a time when research is peaking in terms of treatments, yet resources to deliver them are dwindling, yet and mental illness is on the increase apparently or is it just being picked up more or diagnosed more rathern actually increasing. Is this why it is increasing ? because good quality services have been cut and people are left struggling for longer or left to "community care" which is idealistic but ineffective inpractice What Community care is left ? I requested help agreed to see a councillor back in July.It is now October, I am feeling mch better throigh my onw efforts and time , yet I am still on the referral list. Help is not there when it is most needed when people feel at their worst in my experience twice. It was the same 7 years ago. I canacelled the counsellor many months after a bad breakdown once I had picked up. help is always too late unless you need sectioning. Peopel should not reach this level of crisis. Where are the Crisis Action Teams ! or early intervention teams. Where and When do they act or intervene ? I should like to know. What do they prevent by any early intervention. I ca see no evidence of this. They sit in some call centre and bat off calls until peopel are at their worst and at breaking ppoint or at risk to self or others. They are a waste of money in my opinion. I rememer when Mental Illness Support Teams would come to the house when called for a relative or partner with serious mental illness. This service was wiped out, Now you can not even get a GP to take concerns seriously out of hours, if someone is already known to be attached to the Community Mental Health Teams. They would rather they dealt with a enqury the nexty day, so what use is the out of hours service either. No one wants to be troubled out of hours yet they are paid extra for this and this is their job !!!

Everyone is talking about mindful this and mindful that but I subscribe to the thankful this and thankful that.  I am thankful I never had to have ECT.  I am thankful that my numerous suicide attempts were unsuccessful.  I am thankful that four meds treat two disorders and I can function in the real world most of the time.  I am thankful that I've only be in psych ward twice.  I am thankful that my ex-husband recognized something was wrong and encouraged me to get the help I needed.  I am thankful that I never harmed someone else while in a cycle.  Wait, I can't say that.  I am thankful that I never physically harmed someone esle while in a cycle - I've hurt a lot of people.  I am thankful I wasn't locked up and had a hole drilled in my head.  I'm thankful that drug and alcohol addiction didn't destroy me.  I am thankful for my pscy service dog who get's me up in the morning and keeps me calm throughout the day.  I am thankful that I have had two fantastic therapists in my life even though I can't find a decent one now (LOL).  I am thankful that NYS recognizes the importance of mental health and my insurance covers treatment and therapy at the same co-pay as medical treatment.  I am thankful for people who sit on hotlines 24-hours a day (like my sister) and help people and listen when all you need to do is talk and send out a crises team when necessary.  I am thankful there are two mental health wards in local hospitals within 20 miles of me.  I could go on and on.  Yes, there are things in society that frustrate me and there are things about me that are frustrating and sometimes I want to change a behavior that is detremintal but I don't know how or I can't get the motivation to do so.  BUT - I am thankful to be alive and watch the sun rise and hear the birds and know that it may not be a perfect world but it's not too bad.  I recently did a talk in my department of a large research univsersity and I self-disclosed and introduced my dog and people I work with and barely know started talking to me about their own problems with mental health and problems they have had with family members.  Education and empathy are important and sum up and finish here - thank you John for continuing to educate us and I too love being silly even when it annoys my brother:)

A tour de force, combining both bipolar brilliance and bipolar managed well enough for brevity.  So what am I doing complaining about something left out?  Nevertheless, NAMI, National Alliance on Mental Illness deserves a mention, at least in the comments, where the mentally interesting and their families have come together to do what the Pharma/Medica/Therapeutic Industrial Complex could not: turn the focus from cure to recovery.  The P/M/T Complex has no stake in admitting that they cannot cure.  (And the tour de force suggests that the evolutionary wisdom of the species has a stake in preserving the existence of the mentally interesting, against the best efforts of the industry to eliminate us.) 

 

I attended my first NAMI-sponsored P2P (Peer To Peer) class this week, and heard for the first time what I have been saying to my caregivers for the last year, that the experience of treatment itself includes trauma.  Well, doh!  It took me a year and a half to figure it out.  The therapist who hung up on me when I called to ask whether I needed to be hospitalized was not the therapist who could help me deal with the flashbacks I keep having of that phone call.  NAMI.org is thefirst stop  for people with mental illness and their families for support from others who have been there.