Holding everything together in your head
- Thread starter Tentative Andy
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Benny Bunter
Well-known member
I've wondered about this before. Is it a bit like 'if you know you're mad, then you're not really mad'?
mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
I don't think they exist anymore, I think they got outlawed along with Purgatory and Marathon bars.
Basically it's now a nervous breakdown if the doctor tells you that what you are having is the "Crisis' formerly known as a Nervous Breakdown. It's called 'Crisis' now, they have 'Crisis Intervention teams'.
Basically it's now a nervous breakdown if the doctor tells you that what you are having is the "Crisis' formerly known as a Nervous Breakdown. It's called 'Crisis' now, they have 'Crisis Intervention teams'.
mixed_biscuits
_________________________
laymanly thoughts, after some personal experimenting with sleeping times/day activities:
- (in many cases) depression may be the result of mental hyper-stimulation, a malaise, a sign of the brain ailing after being over-worked and under-rested
- insomnia may be the major contributory factor to depression, rather than being a symptom of it
- people may suffer from mood deficits as activities taken to be restful ('vegging out' in front of the tv, reading, even chatting) are actually not; they involve too much cerebration to allow the brain to rest
- properly restful activity is 'awake mental inaction' and no more, ie. lying in a darkened room and letting one's mind wander
- mental stimulation is becoming increasingly hard to avoid; proper rest increasingly hard to justify (in part because rest itself has been commercialised - we are being told 'how to rest')
- modern-day teenager blues may be, in part, due to increased opportunities for over-stimulation and less rest
- breakdown or burnout are 'emergency exit' reactions to long periods of over-stimulation with no countervailing rest
- depression may be caused by worry only to the extent in which worrying consumes mental resources (stimulates) and prevents proper rest (in other words, over-stimulation through joy may cause as strong a depression symptom as caused by worry, other things being equal)
- (in many cases) depression may be the result of mental hyper-stimulation, a malaise, a sign of the brain ailing after being over-worked and under-rested
- insomnia may be the major contributory factor to depression, rather than being a symptom of it
- people may suffer from mood deficits as activities taken to be restful ('vegging out' in front of the tv, reading, even chatting) are actually not; they involve too much cerebration to allow the brain to rest
- properly restful activity is 'awake mental inaction' and no more, ie. lying in a darkened room and letting one's mind wander
- mental stimulation is becoming increasingly hard to avoid; proper rest increasingly hard to justify (in part because rest itself has been commercialised - we are being told 'how to rest')
- modern-day teenager blues may be, in part, due to increased opportunities for over-stimulation and less rest
- breakdown or burnout are 'emergency exit' reactions to long periods of over-stimulation with no countervailing rest
- depression may be caused by worry only to the extent in which worrying consumes mental resources (stimulates) and prevents proper rest (in other words, over-stimulation through joy may cause as strong a depression symptom as caused by worry, other things being equal)
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sufi
lala
if you pretend to be mad well enough, you soon will be
(esp with regard to those benefits claims as above)
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Good stuff there m_b - reminds me of something you hear a lot from child behaviour people about how kids' bedrooms out to be places to rest and sleep, maybe at a pinch to read or play with Lego/dolls/whatever, but have increasingly become filled with bright, noisy, stimulating playthings like stereos, TVs, consoles, computers and all kinds of interactive electronic toys. And then linking this to issues with behaviour and concentration, even full-blown ADHD. Seems (to this layman, as you say) like there could well be something in it.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
C.f. "Hamlet's 'antic dispossition': real or feigned?" - every Eng Lit GCSE teacher's favourite Shakespeare question.
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swears
preppy-kei
The worst thing about a nervous breakdown or manic episode is that it's the psychological equivalent of going bankrupt. Your social stock is affected forever, no matter how "sane" or conventional your behaviour is after that point. There's always a hint of condescension in people's voices, always slightly less trust and respect afforded to you. You are not to be taken seriously. Even those who "understand" mental illness and rationally know about the facts still emotionally have problems dealing with you exactly the same way as before.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Not to try and justify that kind of lasting prejudice, swears, but do you ever really go 'back to normal' after an episode like that?
That's not a rhetorical question, I genuinely don't know. Guess it probably depends on how severe it was, how much support you get, your inherent resiliance...
That's not a rhetorical question, I genuinely don't know. Guess it probably depends on how severe it was, how much support you get, your inherent resiliance...
Martin Dust
Techno Zen Master
mistersloane said:
That's me done then, I don't think I've answered the phone in the house for over 12 years
cobretti
[-] :: [-] ~ [-] :: [-]
Not even restricted to a nervous breakdown or manic episode in a 'public' sense. Even after going through a relatively private period of depression however intense or mild, it affects you in a similar way to what you've mentioned, but instead the doubts and problems you mention come from within instead. I know after a few tough years in my late teens, I've found myself much more reluctant to express myself intellectually because I've started to (as mentioned at the start of the thread) almost doubt my own thoughts, like they've lost their validity for me, or that what I'm thinking doesn't matter. This was a persistent issue during my late teens, coming to terms with the fact that no, I didn't/don't really matter and my value as a person in the world seemed to be extremely low, even if it was just on a hanging out with friends sort of level. Since then I've felt pretty distanced from a lot of people I've known for years and years and disillusioned with the concept of being 'mates' with someone and what it entails. Not sure if I think people treat me differently as a result of a period of mental illness/poor mental health, but I definitely approach my social life in a different manner which maybe makes it harder to connect with people on any meaningful level.
nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
I don't know...
If you substitute the word "psychotic break" in there for "nervous breakdown" or "manic episode", I would say you have a point. If someone has a psychotic break in public or around friends, that person will likely never be seen the same way again, and possibly with good reason. But there's a difference between psychosis, mania, and depression.
Like Sloane said, "nervous breakdowns" don't exist anymore. That's an archaic term that was generically slapped on to a whole group of behaviors and disorders that no one understood and that hadn't been researched on molecular level yet. Today if you're having mood or behavioral problems that seem generalized, you're likely to get a very specific diagnosis/prognosis after long hard medical scrutiny w/ family history in mind. If you're a rich and bored housewife, you might get tossed a low therapeutic dose of valium or a placebo or something to shut you up. But in general, "nervous breakdown" is now a code word for a some kind of fugue state experienced on the heels of severe depression or dementia.
These days, having a depressive episode or admitting to depression is not such a big deal, and there are treatments that work very well. Most people understand and sympathize with non-major unipolar depression, since almost everyone's experienced it at some point--periodic imbalances in serotonin and norepinephrine production/reuptake seem to be a universal side effect of human neurochemistry. By the same token, I would argue that our society actually rewards mania and ADHD. I was never in better shape in my life than when I had my most epic manic episodes. During my longest one I got a raise while working full time and going to grad school full time, and writing freelance, and "partying" literally 24/7. Nobody had any clue that I would go days without sleeping, or that I had been on a 10-year drug binge, or anything. I even had my own parents fooled.
There are some "risk-taking", "creative" and other professions/sectors where you'd be hard pressed to find people who don't fall somewhere on the BD, MDD, or ADD spectrum. Hollywood, ffs. Wall Street. ADD is common among doctors. The VP at one of my jobs had Tourette's, but she was damned good at her job and well-known for running a tight ship.
Point being, mental illness isn't always a disability as such, socially or otherwise. American Psycho dealt with this topic pretty well, albeit on the more extreme end of violent psychopathy.
nomadthethird
more issues than Time mag
Wrong on most counts...
There's some evidence that insomnia in childhood is an early marker of mental illness and a good predictor of mental illness later in life. It's abundantly clear that anxiety disorders and depressive disorders have a high rate of co-morbidity. But the sampling error here is obvious. You're a) one person, and b) ostensibly not a depressed or mentally ill person. Lack of sleep or overstimulation may be the things that make you--or any otherwise normal and healthy person-- feel out of sorts and ultimately a little blue. But one can't "trick" one's brain into having a genetic mood disorder, and so ultimately what your experiments suggest is the obvious, i.e., that depriving a healthy person of rest makes them grumpy and anxious.
I know you're not trying to be offensive, but I run into this a lot, and it bothers me. Mood disorders are multifactorial genetic disorders with strong heritable components. As someone with a couple of them that I spend all sorts of time and energy and resources tending to, it's just ridiculous how often I hear people tossing their completely unscientific and unsolicited advice--almost always based on diet and exercise and lifestyle-- towards the mentally ill, as if that's going to solve all of our problems. It's extremely condescending, for one, and it's just plain wrongheaded. Not only can you not "cure" a mood disorder, but all of the yoga, granola, and warm fuzzies in the world won't prevent the onset of one.
These same people would never tell someone with pancreatic cancer that a few visits to spinning class would do the trick...well, maybe some of them would...
mixed_biscuits
_________________________
Yep, I do agree - my sample size is somewhat small.
The thing is I suspect that there are many in my position (not genetically predisposed to depression) who might misread the nature of their 'depressive' episodes (overestimating their comparative severity, for one), ignoring lifestyle factors to attribute the cause of their moods to genetic factors, or assuming that bad mood necessarily tells them something important about their emotional life (cf. Slothrop's post on hangovers bringing about 'existential angst'). After all, it's taken me a long, long time to realise that, usually, there are 'no good reasons' for when I'm in a funk.
The thing is I suspect that there are many in my position (not genetically predisposed to depression) who might misread the nature of their 'depressive' episodes (overestimating their comparative severity, for one), ignoring lifestyle factors to attribute the cause of their moods to genetic factors, or assuming that bad mood necessarily tells them something important about their emotional life (cf. Slothrop's post on hangovers bringing about 'existential angst'). After all, it's taken me a long, long time to realise that, usually, there are 'no good reasons' for when I'm in a funk.