Howdy! I figured I would start a thread about mental health/mental illness. Feel free to post here with your personal experience with mental illness, questions, advice, etc.
Some basic guidelines (please suggest more!):
We are not professionals: This is a place for friendly advice, not medical help. If you need help finding a doctor, we might be able to assist!
Avoid judgement: We want to encourage open and honest expression. Being judgy or moralistic is not conducive to that.
Be open: Try to have an open mind when listening to other peopleās experiences and advice. Weāre all just trying to help each other out. In addition, be understanding that someone elseās experiences may be vastly different than your own, but that doesnāt make them any less valid.
Stay on your meds: If anything, this is advice for myself. Just like you shouldnāt stop taking antibiotics when you āfeel betterā, you shouldnāt stop taking your meds without talking to your doctor. Pay close attention, ask questions, and double check drug interactions. Doctors are human, and make mistakes! Also, understand that meds arenāt necessarily the magic bullet! Youāll likely have the best success if you also go through some sort of talk-therapy/CBT/etc in addition to medication (in the case where medication is a good option for you. It isnāt for everyone).
Trigger Warnings: Please consider the tag for topics that might be sensitive.
IF YOU FEEL YOU ARE IN IMMEDIATE DANGER TO YOURSELF, PLEASE CALL:
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
Trans Lifeline: 877-565-8860
(suggestions for other hotlines?)
Please let me know what I can add to this OP, or what I got wrong! I can only speak from my personal experience, and thatās pretty limited.
This is a very valuable topic. While I can consider myself very happy to be mentally stable, I have in the past dealt with people, sometimes close friends, with mental illnesses such as manic depression, and I am sad to say that due to my limited experience with this, I may sometimes have treated them in a way that was probably not helpful. So I would like to learn more about mental illness, and possibly how to react and deal with people who suffer from it. I would appreciate it if people here could help me out with that.
My mother is a professional caregiver for people with mental illnesses ranging from borderline syndrome to depression and other afflictions. I have to say that I have a lot of respect for this line of work, because I am entirely uncertain if I would be able to do such a job. From what she tells me, it must be incredibly difficult sometimes.
I have a question for those of you taking medication for depression and anxiety. I just got put on Mirtazapine a couple of weeks ago for depression, anxiety, and trouble sleeping. Iāve been sleeping better, but it hasnāt been helping my mood at all. So I guess my question is whether I should ditch it for something else, or stay on it and wait to see if anything changes?
My own experience with mental illness is, I guess, in an unsolved state. Mental illness clearly runs in my family, but no one ever really talked about it. My brother is bipolar, my mother has anxiety, and my dad is what I call āhoarder-liteā, which I was lucky enough to inherit.
I had a period of about 2-4 years major depression, and several years after that where I was less severely depressed before I finally went to a professional in the summer of 2014. Iāve accomplished a lot since then I think, but I know I have a lot farther to go.
Current diagnoses are Dysthymia and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Iām on the medication merry-go-round right now; it often feels like the medication is doing nothing, but my husband says he can always tell when Iāve started something new.
It can often take medicines a full month to take effect. Itās also been my experience with taking anti-depressants and anxiety medication that they can take some time to kick in.
@bonafideboy
Iām currently on mirtazapine (in addition to other things). It hasnāt really helped with my mood either, but it did help with my sleep (and also messes with my appetite. The sugar cravings are strong!) Itās not uncommon AFAIK to be put on a combo of drugs, since sometimes theyāll have synergistic effects. I would ask your doc about either adding something, or switching entirely; but as @Tolvo points out, it still might be a few weeks until you feel something. My psych originally tried adding buspar, but that didnāt help, just made me feel super weird. Currently taking buproprion in the morning and that seemed to help with my mood.
Also Iāll introduce myself. Hi Iām Tolvo. Iāve attempted suicide many times in the past and have Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Depression, Iāve been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder but that may have been a misdiagnosis. I was also told I have Autism and Schizophrenia but they werenāt a part of my full diagnosis. I take Clomipramine and Aripiprazole. I am also transgender so there are extra forms of anxiety and dysphoria that I deal with.
Medicines can be so trial and error. I had to get Aripiprazole added after months of Clompiramine because I would just wake up crying and cry the entire day before falling asleep so I needed something extra. They can take a while to take effect and have some frustrating side effects but I suggest keeping up with your medication always and asking your doctor about changes if needed.
I have chronic Anxiety and Depression (with the anxiety part more pronounced) which Iāve known of/experienced since I was about 10. However, I never was diagnosed until college. Since then Iāve gone through a few cocktails of medication, but eventually decided to go off them entirely. There is no treatment that works for everybody and sometimes the treatments are just worse than no medication at all, but you need to be very aware of your current state and work with your doctor. Iāve always had a very high level of self knowledge and do not have a history of suicide, so I did get doctor approval. I also didnāt go cold turkey, but weened off the meds and still keep a prescription for emergency purposes. I only went back on once for a short period ahead of a big move, but otherwise Iām a lot happier without the meds and actually feel like a real person.
All that said, I definitely want to stress that you should take your meds, experiment with different cocktails and work with your doctor. However, if you have moderate to mild disorders and the treatments donāt work with you for one reason or another, you always have the option to not medicate. Not being on medication doesnāt mean you arenāt having treatment: work with your doctor, have regular psychiatric appointments, and adjust your lifestyle within the limitations of your disorder (I donāt drink or take any kind of narcotics and I leave open sick days for mental health days).
In the end, itās your life and your biggest responsibility is to live it as happily as you can. There are a lot of options and you have time to figure out what works best for you.
Oh yeah something you can always look up is drug interactions and ask your doctor about them. Itās very important to just be on the safe side. I had a doctor who accidentally prescribed me a fatal dosage which he realized last minute because of a drug interaction, so try to stay on top of those. It might also help you understand any negative side effects and let you know if maybe you need to switch medicines.
That reminds me, I just added this to the OP but to reiterate a point that I personally struggle with:
Medication isnāt really a magic bullet, in that you take the right meds and bam all your mental illness is gone. You gotta also do serious work via therapy (whether that be CBT or something else). Just like losing weight: you might get some success changing your diet OR exercising, but youāll get the better success doing BOTH. That being said, as @LordTataraus mentions, medication isnāt always an answer for everyone!
@Tolvo I will add that note to the OP! Doctors know a lot of stuff but theyāre humans and make mistakes, so itās important to be as involved as you can in the process.
Oh, hey, itās like the perfect thread for me. Iāve been diagnosed with ADHD, OCD (mostly contamination obsessions), and Major Depression, and have a whole host of other anxiety issues to go with them (namely, severe social anxiety and spontaneous panic attacks, to the point where I used to have them on a daily basis). Iām also a trans woman, so gender dysphoria has been a constant issue for me as well, and has aggravated all my other issues in the process. Comorbidities are fun~
But yeah, finding the right medications are a complicated process, and you may have to try a wide variety of meds or combination of meds before you find something that really meaningfully works for you. The important thing with medications is to be patient, let them build up in your system, and be open and honest with your prescriber about how well they work and what side-effects youāre having. Also, if you feel like something is going particularly wrong, or youāre just not comfortable with one of the side-effects, make sure to contact your prescriber first and donāt just drop the medication on the spot.
Also, remember that just because a medication works/doesnāt work for one person doesnāt mean the same will apply to you. Individual brain chemistry varies a lot and itās one of the reasons finding the right medications is such a guessing game.
Oh, and donāt expect medications to just totally cure your mental illnesses. Medications can bring about significant improvement for some people, but generally they just help make living with the illnesses easier to cope with. I would highly advise, if medications just donāt seem to be cutting it, to also seek other forms of therapy in conjunction with them. Personally, Iāve definitely had the most success when receiving psychiatric assistance together with CBT.
Iām Andrew. I have no idea what Iām diagnosed with anymore since Aspergers isnāt really a thing now (?). āAustism Spectrumā or something. I absolutely hate it because it makes me unable to operate on the same level as everyone I see around me, so thereās a lot of self loathing going on. I desperately want to be ānormalā even though I know that itās different for everyone, but Iād give anything to stop apologizing for minor offenses real or imagined and generally feeling like a pod person. Another issue: I see the best in everyone around me, but only the worst in myself, so I only have these perfect paragons of humanity to compare myself to. Iām seeing a counselor weekly and havenāt missed my medication in ages, and if Iām having a good day I might even begrudgingly admit that Iāve made progress, but then I look at how far I have to go still and just get angry at myself again.
Yo, sup, Iām Zim and Iāve also got the chronic sadbrains / depression and anxiety cocktail.
To contribute to medicine talk: Iāve been through half a dozen different things for it now. Sometimes the medication has no effect, sometimes it wears off after a few years, usually itās a different experience for each person and it sucks. Iām on Lexapro right now, and it has been working well in the preventing-me-from-having-a-mental-breakdown-whenever-any-minor-inconvenience-happens department. It also gives me really vivid nightmares, which seems to be a common side effect, but honestly, Iāll take those over constant breakdowns.
@Tenerence Hi Andrew! While I donāt know how well I can relate to the autism related frustrations, I know how it feels to be really down on yourself and only seeing the worst, and feeling frustrated/angry/sad/hopeless at how much āfartherā there is to go. Thatās a part of what I hope this thread will provide, a way to share frustrations, but also get some external validation when we canāt reflect on ourselves fairly. It sounds like youāre already doing a lot of hard work (seriously, just going to appointments and taking medication regularly is a big triumph).
thanks for the nice words! And yeah, I realize that my sense of scale in terms of accomplishments and issues is massively blown out of proportion. I donāt exactly see the issues the way they actually are, but itās a hard mindset to get out of. This thread seems super good so far, I hope everyone finds something useful here.
I gave up on depression medication last year after cycling through several over the course of the prior years that all in some manner just flatlined my emotional state.
There might be some medication that works for me out there but Iāve gotten increasingly skeptical of the efficacy of the medications on the market right now and Iām just not willing to take the risk of going back to feeling completely non-emotional again.
Iām on the Autism Spectrum and while I havenāt struggled too much with it lately, it still can be quite difficult connect and keep up with other people.
I was diagnosed with Anorexia and struggled with it quite a bit in the past few years. I wonāt say the autism is fully responsible (as most people on the autism spectrum donāt have eating disorders and vice versa), but it has undeniably contributed, especially the feelings of insecurity and obsessive behavior. Also, depression and anxiety are often bedfellows with eating disorders and that was the case for me. Iāve had a therapist help me get my weight up to a normal range and deal with the pesky eating disorder thoughts. I still see her monthly. I recovered relatively quickly but itās not the same for everybody, everyone has their own mountain to climb and at their own pace. I still have to fight those guilty thoughts and feelings, but I feel my therapist has helped (and continues to help) give me the tools to deal with them.
I also am taking Sertraline, mainly to deal with the anxiety and depression aspect (though, for me, gaining weight has helped quell those as well). I respond pretty well to it. As has been mentioned in the thread, it can be a trial and error process to find the right medication, just communicate with your prescriber.
For anyone who knows someone whoās struggling with mental health, I guess all I can say is just be patient, caring and supportive. Iām sure there were often many times when my family just wanted to say āJust eat a damn sandwich will ya!ā But, like with any physical illness, itās not just something one can just walk off; itās a process.
I donāt have a whole lot to tell you other than Iām coming from pretty much the exact same place you are and can 100% relate to what youāre going through.
I could have written this entire paragraph word for word about myself, honestly.
I also get kind of frustrated with therapy. Iāve been in and out of therapy for literally over a decade at this point, and Iām not really sure what good it does anymore. Like, I feel like Iāve hit a point where Iāve learned everything I possibly could ever learn from therapy and continuing with it is just throwing money down a hole for no further benefit because a therapist canāt just magic my brain into normalcy. If that makes any sense?
But hey, on the bright side Valentineās Day no longer hurts because Iām completely incapable of seeing myself as a loving/lovable/sexual being. So thereās that!
Iām a health and behavioural scientist from a psychology background with the grab-bag of depression, anxiety, social phoba, OCD, and other issues. Like a few people I avoided any official autism spectrum diagnosis as the diagnosing professor said āin your case it is unlikely to help you get any better treatment, and may end up causing you more griefā. Now this was a fair few years ago now, but I can (unfortunately) see his point. Iāve been on a good selection of medications over the years and am currently trying to make a go of things without them (with my doctorās support, please donāt just stop your meds!). Anxiety is currently the biggest issue for me (closely followed by OCD and paralysing perfectionism), but Iāve really improved the last few years.
If anyone has any questions for me please fire away, but as the disclaimer says at the top, Iām not (yet) a qualified psychologist, nor is it a great idea to encourage pathologising peoplesā behaviours via the internet or all the other stuff Iām sure you all already know. However if youād like advice regarding therapy, general wellbeing tips, attending university with mental health issues, etc Iām happy to give my 2cents.
tag for topics that might be sensitive.
