TSR; Do you think that mental health issues are just as bad as physical issues?
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Original post by zippity.doodah
you seem to know seeing as you're telling me these apparent features of depression!
There are some vids on youtube you can watch where a lecturer goes through the science behind some of the stuff that happens. Can't remember the names though.
I think it has to be pointed out that a lot of people with severe physical illnesses such as cancer, renal failure etc. also suffer from mental illnesses in particular depression as a result of their physical conditions.
Personally I think it depends on the illnesses you are comparing mild depression is likely to have less effect on someone's life than lets say cystic fibrosis but then again I would rather have well controlled diabetes than resistant schizophrenia. Both can hugely affect someone's life and I don't think you can blanket say one is worse than the other, it depends on the situation.
Personally I think it depends on the illnesses you are comparing mild depression is likely to have less effect on someone's life than lets say cystic fibrosis but then again I would rather have well controlled diabetes than resistant schizophrenia. Both can hugely affect someone's life and I don't think you can blanket say one is worse than the other, it depends on the situation.
Original post by sweetnsugax
No physical illness is much worse in my opinion. Thats not diminishing the effect that mental illness can have on your life but I think its pretty obvious that you'd rather be diagnosed with anxiety than cancer. This is being said by someone who actually suffers with anxiety. People say that mental illness is not spoken enough about but I actually think people put a much larger emphasis on that than physical illness from my experiences.
I won't comment on cancer because I haven't had it but I had a debilatating neurological condition that had twice the mortality rate of my mental illness and yes, I would rather be diagnosed with that than my mental illness.
In response to your second point, I find that there is a lot of talk in the media at the moment about mild to moderate anxiety and depression but little talk about more severe depression/schizophrenia/bipolar/severe personality disorders/psychotic illnesses.
In a paradoxical way, I sometimes feel this marginalises the severely mentally ill even more. One is led to sympathise with those with moderate symptoms but encouraged to seperate them from those with more extreme illness who are dehumanised as total nutters or away with the fairies etc. I even read an article about a professional who had suffered from an episode of moderate depression and spent a day on a psych ward and the article complained that the woman was put on a ward with schizophrenics and manic depressives. As if she shouldn't have had to mix with the nutters.
I am constantly surprised by people's attitude in this regard. At work a couple of weeks ago - I was walking down the road with a colleague and a homeless man who (I strongly suspect) is schizophrenic who I had seen several times before was attracting our attention and saying things that weren't making 100% sense and I just smiler answered him normally and my colleague was taken aback and asking if I knew him and what he wanted and why I spoke to him etc. To me he was just a harmless guy who I often saw in the locality but to my colleague, who is otherwise a pretty nice person - this guy was treated as if he was an animal.
Everyone is easily free to talk about physical health. I even have ppl posting a selfie pre-op.
Mental health does have a stinky stigma that no one really talks about. This is a shame and I wish things were done about it.
I don't think you can compare physical and mental illness.
Mental health does have a stinky stigma that no one really talks about. This is a shame and I wish things were done about it.
I don't think you can compare physical and mental illness.
Original post by miguapa
some mental illnesses are as bad as the worst cancers..... you're a dope, leave this thread you don't know what the hell you're talking about...
Oh right so just because I have a different view to yours I dont know what I'm talking about. That makes sense. I know that their are severe mental illnesses I don't really need that explanation from you. Yes some mental illnesses can be worse than physical illness but for most of the time, I think physical ailments are worse.
I would say they can be, but it depends on the situation and the severity of the mental illness.
Depends on the person, the illness itself and how they deal with their illness. Some people would probably choose mental illness over their physical illness any day, whereas ones with mental illnesses may do the opposite and would rather a physical illness.
OP demonstrates their ignorance ...
Original post by Kyou
Personally I think that some types of mental health issues e.g. depression just cannot be compared with physical issues such as losing a limb. However I do think specific types of mental health (severe autism being one of these) can be compared with physical health issues.
What do you guys think?
What do you guys think?
In short yes.
It depends alot on where on the scale of an condition you are but despite being very different mental health conditions can still have a very severe effect on ones life just as a physical condition would. In fact in many cases conditions like depression will also lead to physical symptoms like fatigue or pain.
I personally have physical symptoms of stress such as severe cramps or headaches and suffer fatigue which is essentially the same as chronic fatigue syndrome. My depression led to hormone imbalances which have in turn effected many other aspects of my life.
Mental health can be very difficult to get your head around especially if you have not experienced it, but it actually involves an imbalance of hormones or brain chemicals in most cases. So it is easily comparable to severe vitamin deficiencies or hormone imbalances.
No, its not like loosing a limb in that you are physically still intact, but it can often be like loosing part of yourself.
I'm not sure if I would say it is exactly comparable, but I can definitely be just as devastating as physical conditions.
Original post by Gott
You can recover from mental illness
There are also many physical conditions you can recover from.
It's not easy to compare, but just as when you recover from an injury you will be left with a scar you have a mental scar from depression and other conditions. There are also chronic cases or conditions like autism or ADHD which you can not recover from.
Original post by barnetlad
How many people with physical illness harm others compared with those with mental illness?
I'm not sure what you're trying to get at here.
A lot of the time people are seen as having a mental health problem after causing severe harm to somebody because "no sane person would do something like that".
And alot of people with nothing diagnostically wrong with them (physically or mentally) will still harm others.
Specific mental health conditions have been created to explain why people harm others so of course there is a higher statistic of those with MH causing harm to others.
You need to be careful when you group mental health conditions especially when it concerns damning statistics. Otherwise its like saying people with no arms have difficulty walking by grouping them with all amputees.
At the same time, mh conditions can take over the mind like a cancer would the body and cause harmful behaviour. Somebody with no legs doesn't choose not to be able to walk just as people with mh conditions don't choose to harm themselves or others. Both are as a result of the condition.
But yes, it is a difference that can probably be noticed between them. In a way its something that makes mh so much more horrible because it drags others into it in a way that physical conditions often don't.
Original post by BubbleMonkey
There are also many physical conditions you can recover from.
Indeed. I recovered (or rather, they think I've grown out of) from my epilepsy.
A lot of people with mental health issues don't harm others - they are more likely to harm themselves than they are others.
Original post by sweetnsugax
No physical illness is much worse in my opinion. Thats not diminishing the effect that mental illness can have on your life but I think its pretty obvious that you'd rather be diagnosed with anxiety than cancer. This is being said by someone who actually suffers with anxiety. People say that mental illness is not spoken enough about but I actually think people put a much larger emphasis on that than physical illness from my experiences.
It depends very much on which conditions you here to compare. There are many physical conditions I would take over mental ones any day.
That's not to say all physical condition are better than mental or the other way. There's a scale of severity for both.
I personally have both mental and physical conditions and the physical ones have been far easier to manage and for others to understand. It has taken my whole life (now 20) to be diagnosed with ADHD and the entire time it has made me feel like an outcast. Because of it I have developed both depression and OCD.
I also suffer hormonal imbalances and have had ribs out of place.
It is far easier to explain that I cant do something because of physical pain than because my depression is making me fatigued and I simply cant bring myself to get out of bed.
Frankly, I'm not sure I I would rather be diagnosed with anxiety or cancer. Yes cancer causes severe pain and can reduce life expectancy drastically. But anxiety and depression have left me feeling not properly alive and even contemplating taking my own life.
The effects of each in the end could be the same and id probably rather it not me I'm trying to battle the whole time.
Original post by BubbleMonkey
It depends very much on which conditions you here to compare. There are many physical conditions I would take over mental ones any day.
That's not to say all physical condition are better than mental or the other way. There's a scale of severity for both.
I personally have both mental and physical conditions and the physical ones have been far easier to manage and for others to understand. It has taken my whole life (now 20) to be diagnosed with ADHD and the entire time it has made me feel like an outcast. Because of it I have developed both depression and OCD.
I also suffer hormonal imbalances and have had ribs out of place.
It is far easier to explain that I cant do something because of physical pain than because my depression is making me fatigued and I simply cant bring myself to get out of bed.
Frankly, I'm not sure I I would rather be diagnosed with anxiety or cancer. Yes cancer causes severe pain and can reduce life expectancy drastically. But anxiety and depression have left me feeling not properly alive and even contemplating taking my own life.
The effects of each in the end could be the same and id probably rather it not me I'm trying to battle the whole time.
That's not to say all physical condition are better than mental or the other way. There's a scale of severity for both.
I personally have both mental and physical conditions and the physical ones have been far easier to manage and for others to understand. It has taken my whole life (now 20) to be diagnosed with ADHD and the entire time it has made me feel like an outcast. Because of it I have developed both depression and OCD.
I also suffer hormonal imbalances and have had ribs out of place.
It is far easier to explain that I cant do something because of physical pain than because my depression is making me fatigued and I simply cant bring myself to get out of bed.
Frankly, I'm not sure I I would rather be diagnosed with anxiety or cancer. Yes cancer causes severe pain and can reduce life expectancy drastically. But anxiety and depression have left me feeling not properly alive and even contemplating taking my own life.
The effects of each in the end could be the same and id probably rather it not me I'm trying to battle the whole time.
That was really enlightening to read and yes I think you're right actually, mental illness can reduce your quality of life. Thanks for the reply.
I feel as though this thread has basically turned into posters trying to outdo each other. It's not a competition, and nor should it have to be - alas, society makes it that way sometimes.
If somebody is ill/unwell, mentally or physically, it doesn't matter. They should get the best kind of treatment available or possible for them under their circumstances. It shouldn't be for other people to compare themselves to you or anyone else regardless of whether they suffer from the same disease, illness or ailment as you.
Why is everybody in competition with each other? Let everybody get on with their life, get help if they need it (physically or mentally) and try and get on with their lives.
No wonder there's still so much stigma around.
Posted from TSR Mobile
If somebody is ill/unwell, mentally or physically, it doesn't matter. They should get the best kind of treatment available or possible for them under their circumstances. It shouldn't be for other people to compare themselves to you or anyone else regardless of whether they suffer from the same disease, illness or ailment as you.
Why is everybody in competition with each other? Let everybody get on with their life, get help if they need it (physically or mentally) and try and get on with their lives.
No wonder there's still so much stigma around.
Posted from TSR Mobile
Original post by zippity.doodah
I would know.
but still, the vast majority of depression cases do not result in coercive harm.
but still, the vast majority of depression cases do not result in coercive harm.
161,823 people in the UK died of cancer in 2012 compared to 5700 of suicide in 2010.
Sounds like cancer is a lot worse right? But that doesn't matter for the individual. Both can cause just as much harm to the individual, so both can be just as bad as each other.
You also have to bare in mind that suicide is most likely largely under represented in statistics because people don't want to know their family/ friend caused it all themselves. That in itself is an example of how the nature of mental health can cause so much pain to people close to the sufferer. It also causes such divide in society.
Basically, it's not all about the number of deaths. It's about the suffering and the damage caused, and both physical and mental health problems cause a damn lot of it.
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