Do you see mental health problems (OCD, bipolar etc) as "real" conditions?

Do you suffer from OCD ?

I just don't believe that they're medical conditions. I accept that those behaviours exist of course (unlike the OP, who thinks they're faked), but I see them simply as being behaviours.
I just don't see why everything needs to be diagnosed and given a medical name, when it's simply a trait or behaviour - and I certainly don't think diagnoses (and thus following self-fulfilling prophecies and drug prescription) are the right way to go about changing behaviours.

Where do those behaviours come from? Do you think they're nature or nurture? How do you suppose they change those behaviours, and if they are behaviours, why doesn't everyone behave the same way?

I just don't believe that they're medical conditions. I accept that those behaviours exist of course (unlike the OP, who thinks they're faked), but I see them simply as being behaviours.
I just don't see why everything needs to be diagnosed and given a medical name, when it's simply a trait or behaviour - and I certainly don't think diagnoses (and thus following self-fulfilling prophecies and drug prescription) are the right way to go about changing behaviours.

I believe that all behaviour is moulded by nurture. I don't believe that behaviours need changing, but if someones behaviour is impacting on their ability to live their life happily then deeper root causes must be considered - through counselling, perhaps. I'm all for people visiting GPs if they're struggling to deal with a behaviour, but I'm against classification and diagnosis because every person is different and behaviours don't need medical names.
Personally, I had a number of what could have been labelled 'mental illnesses' when I was younger; but they were natural reactions to what was going on in my life.
My brother has diagnosed dyslexia, and I think the key here is to foster good spelling - pointing out when he makes mistakes and teaching him how to spell properly, rather than resigning him to the fact that it's a mental illness and he'll never learn to spell properly, which really isn't the case (the reason I also disagree strongly with extra time in exams).
I may have gone off on a tangent here, but as I said earlier, I just really don't believe in the existence of 'mental health PROBLEMS', more conditions and behaviours that can be changed with a new mindset.

Since when did you get a Dr in front of your name?

I hate the way everyone thinks they have OCD when they clearly don't have a clue about it. "Oh I'm so OCD about it, I'm like TOTALLY obsessed". Urgh.

One of the big problems of mental illness is the terrible stigma that comes with it. Things like that make recovery so much more of an uphill struggle and it just feeds into the vicious cycle. I have as much sympathy for someone with Schizophrenia as I do with MS. They are both things that can leave you trapped in your body and completely take your life from you.

I didn't, hence the 'I believe'.

I believe that all behaviour is moulded by nurture. I don't believe that behaviours need changing, but if someones behaviour is impacting on their ability to live their life happily then deeper root causes must be considered - through counselling, perhaps. I'm all for people visiting GPs if they're struggling to deal with a behaviour, but I'm against classification and diagnosis because every person is different and behaviours don't need medical names.
Personally, I had a number of what could have been labelled 'mental illnesses' when I was younger; but they were natural reactions to what was going on in my life.
My brother has diagnosed dyslexia, and I think the key here is to foster good spelling - pointing out when he makes mistakes and teaching him how to spell properly, rather than resigning him to the fact that it's a mental illness and he'll never learn to spell properly, which really isn't the case (the reason I also disagree strongly with extra time in exams).
I may have gone off on a tangent here, but as I said earlier, I just really don't believe in the existence of 'mental health PROBLEMS', more conditions and behaviours that can be changed with a new mindset.

So you believe that a Schizophrenic is just "misbehaved"? So how do you explain the physiological differences such as abnormal neural activity in the frontal lobes, obviously increased ventricle sizes of the brain as well as various other differences.


http://www.schizophrenia.com/disease.htm

Damn those naughty Schizophrenics for being so misbehaved.



So seeing as you seem to want to dispute neurological evidence, do you assume that diseases such as Parkinsons, Alzheimers and Dementia are just "behaviours" as opposed to medical conditions? I believe someone needs to spend some time on an acute psych ward and meet some of these people yourself.

This does my head in so much. People are so ignorant!!!!!!

REGARDLESS of whether or not it's nature or nurture, i agree with CPJ that we are all just individuals on a spectrum of mentality/behaviour. There is no "normal" person and so no one intrinsically needs to be treated.

"Mental illness" however is a usefull term to describe a state of mind that makes someone feel personally unable to live their life as they see fit.
There are no two people the same on this planet and so everyone is different. It's only when that difference becomes too severe for the individual to function in the society they live in that we may call it a "problem".

Although society may try to cater for every type of person, you still need to fulfill certain requirements if it means you're not going to encounter problems. This goes for physical difference as well as mental.

A person with bi-polar may be more comfortable living with it than being spaced out on medcine. They may, however decide that it is a problem and want help for it.

So mental illness is really something the individual should decide they have.