If most people who you work with are mentally ill, what does that mean?

The more that I find out that my coworkers have severe alcoholism/drug addiction, panic disorder (and other anxiety disorders), depression, and other metal illness I begin to wonder.

But one of my coworkers referred to our workplace as a halfway house.
I work at a food manufacturer.

you're either in a cluster-fuck of dysfunction or that what we call "normal," free of neuroses of varying degrees and types, maybe isn't so normal after all.

The drive to pretend everything is okay is giving way to not being able to pretend anymore, for some reason. At least the problems are being named and dealt with, instead of denied in a lovely 50's fashion. "Just think of flowers..."

about both mental health and substance abuse and people are more comfortable talking about it

at the number of people on DU who have some scrip or other for depression. This seems to be a very prevalent problem. It's got to be something wrong with our society; I'm sure this kind of unhappiness isn't right.

i've gone through a few different meds over the past few years. it is chemical and doesn't have much to do with being happy or unhappy.

sure, if things are going well and i am happy, i feel better but the underlying problem is still there.

i can't speak for others, but i know that stress exacerbates the situation for me and i have to wonder if that is an overarching problem for a lot of people.

If it were some disease of the body rather than the mind that was afflicting so many, wouldn't people wonder why so many people had it, and what was causing it?

i think it is talked about more than it was 20 years ago and there is more education on mental health and more people are seeking help. the stigma of mental illness still exists, but nowhere near what it did in the past.

like i said, these disorders are physiological/neurochemical. society does not dictate these things.

i'm sure there can be arguements for the over-medicating of america in this discussion, but i am not going to judge someone because they seek help. if taking these medications helps them lead happier and more productive lives, more power to them.

I'm sorry that you think I am.

not at all

:hug:

i understand your point and perhaps i didn't do the best explaining mine

a heightened general anxiety level in our society.

I think perhaps you and billy are a little both right.

We might indeed be over-medicating ourselves (I don't think there's an epidemic of ADHD for example).

On the other hand, we have a high degree of fear, isolation and alienation from the close family and neighborhood ties we used to have that kept us grounded. For instance, no industrialized country has the gun violence that we do. Why is that? Canada has roughly the same proportions of guns we do and not nearly the same proportions of shootings. That anxiety and fear has got to take a toll on our mental health. Perhaps in a calmer society, some people having difficulties might not experience them to the degree they do now.

Having said that, I certainly don't begrudge anybody getting whatever help they need and I'm glad we can openly discuss it instead of sweeping it under the rug.

i alluded upthread to how stress affects me and i wonder, at least with americans, what that has done to our mental wellbeing as a country.

i'm taking a longitudinal look at this. there just isn't enough information yet (at least that i have seen, i could be wrong) to judge whether the prevalence of mental health disorders is increasing.

there is still so much research that needs to be done on what causes these disorders

You just give them what they want. I've learned this in the hardest manner possible.

Either everyone is a drunk.... or they don't drink at all.. THAT usually means they're on meds so they can't drink. I fall into both... I'm a drunk and I take meds.. which is counter-productive.. but hey, I'm nuts! I can do whatever I want!

:rofl:

graywarrior

:hide:

And this is not to belittle mental health problems at all - I am glad that there are many things being diagnosed as diseases now that in past years would have resulted in shame or shunning - but I think too many people look for a "diagnosis" to legitimate/excuse their behavior, instead of actually doing something about it.

I am quite surprised (though not so much any more) when I am in groups of people and they start bragging about how much medication they're taking for their depression or anxiety or OCD or ADD or whatever the hell else they wanna brag about. I find it sad that so many people are defining themselves by their disease (or supposed disease) instead of by who they are, and then use the disease (or supposed disease) as their excuse for not succeeding.

And again, this is not say there are not legitimate psychological and mental disorders. It is only to say that, in my opinion, far too many people are being convinced (or buying into) the pharmacological menace that let's us believe that nirvana is just a pill away.

It's probably also a sign that our culture is so fucking bankrupt (TV, sports, sitting on the couch, overeating, over drinking, etc.), that people ARE indeed getting depressed.