How can people with mental health problems explain to others that their illness is not a choice?

Question

Serious answers only please.

Answer 1

Poeple who are mental need not explain themselves to anyone.

Answer 2

Hi there,
I think you have to choose who you decide to tell in most cases. People who have never experienced any mental difficulties can often be very negitively judgemental because they don't understand how you can't "wise up" and get out of the situation...so basically it's ignorance on their part. I think for people who are not well educated about mental illness to understand...they need to see your suffering up close and personal...and then see how you would never chose to be that way. Also if you're finding it hard to get people to understand it, its possibily a good idea to give them some leaflets or print out information on the illness and ask them to read it and tell them how so many others suffer.
If you are dealing with professionals, they should already know and have been trained in mental illness, therefore they know it's not a choice. It's called "illness" for a reason.

I think it's so hard for anyone with mental illnesses because there is no physcical evidence and sometimes we feel like we have to struggle so hard to get others belief, It's tough but I don't think unless someone has experienced it first hand, that they ever really know and so we just have to often accept that its merely ignorance on the behalf of others.

I hope this helps answer your question. Best of luck
x

Answer 3

Hello Mermaid, If it is not necessary why would someone want to tell other people that they suffer with this problem.

Unless it is necessary such as a job application etc, the only people who need to know are close friends and family members.

Though people these days have a greater understanding of mental health issues there is still that stigma attached and many folk still do not appreciate the fact that 1 in 4 of the population will be effected by it sometime or anotherin their own life time.

If someone feels the need to tell someone that they suffer with a mental health problem that person should always be assured that what is said is treated in the strictest confidence.

A phychologist would tell you anyhow 'It's no ones damn buisness but your own'.

If you want to talk further just email me okay. Bye! bye.

Answer 4

I think part of the problem is the fact that things like depression, OCD etc are so often falsely self-diagnosed.

There is a huge difference between actual depression, which is a physical disorder with brain chemistry, and being upset about your life. And the line gets blurred because doctors are so keen to prescribe drugs to anyone who cries a lot- whether it be because they have an actual chemical imbalance or because something has happened that makes them sad- which isn't mental illness at all, but the treatment is exactly the same so sometimes people don't understand that nothing has to happen to make you upset. And often, spoiled, self-absorbed types feign depression just to get attention and that's incredibly annoying, which is why some people just have no patience for the "depressed without quantifiable reason" category.

Also things like OCD are trivialised by people who are a bit neurotic, or obsessively clean and claim to have OCD. OCD is defined by completely irrational compulsions to deal with obsessive fears- not the fears themselves. People don't tend to realise that and as such, they don't understand the disease and think it's just about being uptight and needing to chill out.

It's not just these either- people are always going on about how they have "multiple personality syndrome" (um, no you don't) or they're feeling "bipolar" (probably just mood swings).

We are also too quick to say someone has an eating disorder, I am sure plenty size 0 models who eat very little aren't actually terrified of food to the point they'd let themselves die, but we call them anorexic anyway (I'm not saying they don't have a problem, but they're just being stupid or overly ambitious- real anorexia is about more than obsessively wanting to be thin and we are trivialising it by giving the title to anyone who looks the part)

So bear this in mind when dealing with people who don't appear to understand, use lots of scientific terms (ie, if you suffer depression, explain that your brain's seratonin wires malfunction etc) so they get a better appreciation of the fact that it is an actual medical issue.

Answer 5

The world is not one way or another only perception makes it so. Hence ask other people imagine a situation where everyone they care about is murdered, then they get wrongly convicted for this murder and are given a manditory life sentence with no chance of parole. They arrive at prison to find out that it is a stinking dark hole, they have to defacate where they sleep, they get fed rancid slop and raped by the guards and there is no escape. The range of emotions they would feel in this horiffic situation would be no more extreme than those with mental illness would feel. And even the bad feelings associated with this situation are about perception because another prisoner could be glad of this treatment
after having undergone 24 hour a day torture with a blow torch in another part of the prison.
The happiness in a persons life is about perception and within the human brain perceptions can go wrong.
If the person the asks "why don't you change your perception" then ask them to change their perception when:
1) They feel nervous
2) The feel defeated
3) The feel devastated following the death of a friend or family member
4) They feel unconfident
5) They feel fearful or phobic

The truth is that most people don't recognise that mental illness is often an extreme version of what they do in their brains everyday of their lives. They are often hypocrites that have no concept of how anybody can think and feel differently to them. The one funny thing though is that there are thousands of people who have said "I don't understand why you don't pull yourself together" who then experience mental illness and spend the rest of their lives apologising for being so stupid.

Advice for helping mental health problems (following years of research and personal testing):
Take responsibility for getting better as nobody is going to do it for you - this is often the hardest step.
Avoid anti-depressants at all costs
How to lift depression ...Fast (The Human Givens Approach) (Paperback) - 978-1899398416
Mind Over Mood - 978-0898621280
Alpha Stim CES machine - it really works well
Cardiovascular exercise 20-30 minutes 2-3 times a week
www.mind1st.co.uk

Answer 6

Unless you're suffering from it, it's hard for other people to understand things like depression, manic depression, OCD, etc. I would suggest telling someone who's a non-believer to read up on the latest books detailing mental illness. If you see a psychiatrist or therapist/psychologist, take that person with you if you can. A doctor can explain it more thoroughly. For some people, if they can't see it (i.e. an x-ray, blood test, etc.), then they don't believe it. People think b/c it's in your head you should be able to control it or wish it away. It doesn't work that way. There are people who don't understand simply b/c they're ignorant on the subject, & there are those who don't want to understand it. You can't help the latter.

Answer 7

I wish my severe depression was a choice. It just happenes feom a series of life events, which get too much to cope with. People who think it is a choice lack understanding, or may be ill themselves and find it hard to admit. It depends on the mental illness a well as they can be inherited. There is strong evidence that schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are passed through generations. The only way is to send them on courses for mental illnesses, that is what I am doing with my staff I manage so that they can have more insight.

Answer 8

I think the real issue with this is the use of the term mental illness. First, it is often more of a condition than and illness which require managing, and second generally the actual cause is physiological it just that the symptoms manifest themselves in mental issues rather than physical ones. If a suffer understands that themselves then it makes it easier to explain to others. Unfortunately often suffers don't even appreciate that they have a problem at all which makes things even harder.

Answer 9

Its very difficult. For those who have not experienced Mental health problems they can say the silliest things like "Pull yourself together", or "you just need a good kick up the ****".
I'm afraid there is no convincing these people and although you would not want to wish harm on anybody these people would have to experience the problems themselves before they change their attitude.

Thankfully there are a large number of people who understand the problems and can be caring and sympathetic. We should thank God for these people.

Thirdly there are a large number of people who have experienced problems themselves or have experience because a loved one went through difficulties and are therefore sympathetic..
Mental health problems are becoming more widely recognised and understood. A majority of people will experience some problems at some time in their life.

So, sorry for going on.
What ever your problem is, I wish you luck with it.
Difficult it might be to understand at the time sometimes problems are a blessing in disguise.
You will find that we all have our cross to bear, you are not alone.
Also remember that nothing is forever. Things change in time.

Good Luck.

Answer 10

This is how I explain it. Generally it works, if not, that person is not worth wasting your time over.
Diabetes is a disorder where the body fail to regulate and prduce an important chemical correctly, insulin. Insulin is required in very specific doseages, or the consequences can be dire (ie coma). No person has physical or mental control of their insulin levels. Medication is often required.
Mental illnesses are very similar in many respects. The brain requires a range of various chemicals is precise doses in order to operate normally. If there is a chemical imbalance mood swings, paranoia, depression and delusions can occur. The suffer has NO CONTROL OVER THESE IMBALANCES OR THEIR EFFECT ON HI OR HER BRAIN.
No medication is a perfect subtitute for these chemicals, so symptoms may persist even if the patient is medicated.
I hope this helps.

Answer 11

I don't think its possible because it involves changing the way they think and feel about a number of different things, and a quick sound bite can't do that. People think that way for different reasons as well, so until you know the underlying reason, you can't hit on the right approach.
It can be caused by a lack of empathy, by ignorance, or by a need to self protect by believing myths!
Its like the rape myth. If you don't go out late at night to bars wearing revealing clothing, or take lifts from strangers, it may make you feel safer. But it may also cause you to judge other people. Instead of judging the attacker, you can end up judging the victim!
Theres an unfortunate tendancy for people to think that 'it works both ways'. For example, if smoking causes lung cancer, or if eating healthily improves your life expectancy, it doesn't work the other way. Not smoking doesn't prevent lung cancer. Healthy eating can't guarantee you'll live longer. But people seem to believe it gives some kind of immunity.
Some people like to imagine that if something bad happens to you, you must have done something to bring it on yourself. If you blame the victim it makes you feel safer, rather than living with the truth - we can all get ill, at some point we will all die, bad things happen to good people.
And another point to remember is that people feel more comfortable with people whos opinions and behaviour is the same, its familiar. Anything different gets picked on; colour, race, culture. Habituation - getting used to whats different - changes peoples attitudes. They become more comfortable.
I say just be yourself, get on with it and don't worry what others think. Thats the best thing you can do, be your own advocate.
And don't worry about changing people whos opinion isn't worth your time and trouble, you have enough on your plate if your ill without spending energy on people who don't get it.