What is it like to have a chronic mentall illness? My brother has OCD and he says it's like being half dead

Question

He is constantly depressed, and sometimes anxieous. We tried counseling and medication but it didn't help him. He used to be so different,- full of energy, very creative. Now he is just passive, I feel like he has given up. He used to draw and paint very well. He stopped doing that about 2 years ago. When I ask him why, he says,- I cant concentrate. It really feels like a part of him has died.

I really love him but there is nothing I can do to help
I am terrified of how innefficient modern medicine is.
I watched ''One flew over the cuckoo's nest'' the other day and thought that nothing has changed since those times.

Answer 1

The most important thing you can tell your brother is not to give up. Many people need to try several medications in order to find one that works for them. Encourage your brother to find a psychiatrist who is willing to be a partner with him in finding an effective treatment that works for him.

And he's right...without treatment, mental illness can make you feel like you aren't really alive.

Good luck.

Answer 2

What is it like? It's like a living in a completely different world. I feel for your brother and his family. I have MDD and ADHD. Medication helps but it also involves my fighting this demon ALL the time. I can't read like I used to or do the other things I USED to enjoy. It is scary that modern medical technology has not advanced. If it wasn't for my Jesus I would have killed myself-that is how dark and lonesome it is. God bless and keep you. Tell your brother I love him.

Answer 3

Is your brother diagnosed with this? Or does your family just think he has this?

Either way mental illness's are not fun at all. More and more people are able to live outside institutions because of the overcrowding and health care system in this country. Per your statement of "One flew over the cuckoo's nest". We have came a little ways but as you stated we need to go a lot further.

I am surprised of the people who seam to want a mental illness, like it is some kind of trophy. Maybe it just sets a person a part? In our family horrible stories are told of relatives with mental illness's. Some of these stories are not that old. Mental illness's run in families, so the best people to stick with I feel is family who understand. Of course some people will argue this fact that mental illness's run in families, but it is a proved fact. If you have it or your siblings more then likely someone somewhere in the family they had/have it too.

Today's society mental illness's are much more accepted! Still we have to deal with ignorant individuals who feel referring to those with mental illness's as loonies, or crazy people, psycho's those to be afraid of.... One of my children are in jail, not getting much help for his mental illness from what I can see....Many of the mentally ill wind up in jail, or on the streets or dead.

Try telling a young child that so and so can not play with you. I know so many ways of telling my children that people think we are different and weird. Fighting for the right for my children just to have a basic education in a public educational system who get paid for children such as mine (do you realize public schools get paid for kids who need special education?). Just to have this same public school system who gets paid for my children to give me the run around as to why there is no room or special services for my children.

Things are changing, change is slow.

Answer 4

i dated a girl with ocd and it took me a long time to accept that there is no cure for it. there are pills and therapies that can help but it will always be there.
i can't image what it would be like to always have some mental hiccup keeping you from doing simple tasks like walking across a room. it makes sense why it would be depressing, you feel like you have no control over yourself and like you'll never get anything done. if you could come up with a definitive why people exit it would be to do something.

Answer 5

He really needs to find the right counselor to help him. It is really sad that he does not have quality of life. Also, he needs to control his mind, begin to at least. He can begin to focus and each day try to do it longer and longer.

I am Christian and I believe if he had a relationship with God, this would not be a problem. If he asks God to help him and begin to read the Bible, go to Bible study and church, I think that would help him a great deal. Also, prayer makes a great difference in peoples lives, especially if they have mental or physical problems. There are studies that prove it too, it isn't just my opinion.

I will pray for him.

Answer 6

well for one i dont think that it is ocd {Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder most commonly characterized by a subject's obsessive, distressing, intrusive thoughts and related compulsions (tasks or "rituals") which attempt to neutralize the obsessions. Thus it is an anxiety disorder.} because most he has not picked up habits like counting ect. it sounds like depression:

Clinical depression (also called major depressive disorder, or sometimes unipolar when compared with bipolar disorder) is a state of intense sadness, melancholia or despair that has advanced to the point of being disruptive to an individual's social functioning and/or activities of daily living. Although a low mood or state of dejection that does not affect functioning is often colloquially referred to as depression, clinical depression is a clinical diagnosis and may be different from the everyday meaning of "being depressed." Many people identify the feeling of being depressed as "being blue," "feeling sad for no reason", or "having no motivation to do anything." One suffering from depression may feel tired, sad, irritable, lazy, unmotivated, and apathetic. Clinical depression is generally acknowledged to be more serious than normal depressed feelings. It often leads to constant negative thinking and sometimes substance abuse.

good luck i hope he gets better its great tha he has someone that cares about him so much .

Answer 7

There is a cure without medicine. Medicine can only suppress a person. OCD is acting out a pattern of thought. So it's necessary to let one's thoughts arise but not continue to think about any thought that arises.
In this way, thoughts arise but they have no power.

Answer 8

I suffer from mild depression, so I understand what he is going through. What I would recommend is that you be support and just a shoulder to lean on with him. Also, try to convince him to do things that take his mind off his OCD, it might help everyone including your brother.

Answer 9

hola

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