Quote:
Originally Posted by DrPhil
Well, they aren't normal. That's the whole point of seeking treatment. This is one reason why (in my off-internet interactions) I tell people that we have to understand the various outcomes of normalizing what are considered forms of "deviance." There are a number of reasons why people don't seek help. One of them is that when you discuss something to the point where it is normalized, there is always the possibility that many will say "a large percentage of adults have depression/a mental disorder/suicidal ideation...I'm pretty normal so I'm content with that and won't waste time seeking help."
So when discussing such matters and building a sense of comradere, you don't want to normalize it to the point where the "seek help outside of this message board" option loses its appeal.
That's one of the differences between discussing forms of birth control that you use on here (which I wouldn't do but others choose to) and talking about mental and emotional health.
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Dang Doc, go away for a few hours to eat dinner and talk with moms and you and Monet get into it!
No Seriously, I'd have to disagree with you on this. Many people that have mental health illness'/issues are very normal. Matter of fact, many of them are living with it on a daily basis. They may not say jack diddly squat about it and you'd see them everyday and would never know.
Some people are just more open to talking about it and would tell you, maybe in conversation, maybe in passing, or you'd hear about it in "gossip" that they have depression, schizophrenia, OCD, ect. You may see them taking medicine and just have taken a sinus pill that day and inadvertently ask them about the color of their meds and how it reminds you about taking your sinus pill that morning and they tell you, "oh no, this is for my depression, my (fill in the blank)" and they move on to the rest of their day and you think "wow, you never woulda thought that he/she/it had that" and move on as well.
I think it's when one sees the "deviant behavior" execude itself into societal norms that the illness of mental health becomes "scary" or "frightening." When one sees the "effect" of another persons mental health breakdown in public, this is when those deemed as "socially acceptable" mental health issues becomes stimagitized and those people seemed to be deemed "freaks" or "weird."
For those that know or feel that they have a mental health issue, on the general whole, they tend to seek help/advice when it's acting out or when they feel it is impeding their daily life. However, those that have suicidial ideations, generally they KNOW that they need help. For this group, the sad part is the 1 to 5% of the population that don't get the help and committ the act because they felt that they COULDN'T talk to anyone about it because they felt there was NO help for them.
But I feel that if this is something that is brought out more into the open, then people will be more willing to seek the help that they need in order to continue to help themselves and help those around them help themselves as well.
I can understand what you are saying that people would come here first before they sought the help that the needed for themselves. But on the general, I think folks know this damng sure aint' the place to get help for a rather serious mental health issue.
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