Nobody sees life the way a crazy person sees life.

[ovenbakedskittles]

We are all familiar with the notion that crazy people might actually be the sane ones and the general functioning public of the outside world are the ones who are really insane but how deep does this concept go in your mind and how seriously do you really take it??

I think it’s a tragedy that people who are deemed crazy get sent to mental hospitals that actually end up making them feel worse instead of better and get treated like animals and not even seen as a whole person. It’s a major failure in society and speaks to the arrogance and the lack of compassion and connection to your fellow human being. and interestingly enough the people who are considered “normal” don’t really have a problem with this or even think about it and might even think that they deserve that treatment.

People are not willing to look at themselves and realize that they might be perpetuating this dilemma with their own daily thoughts and actions and behaviors and criticisms and opinions. And to be fair we are all human so we will all have some degree of arrogance and feelings of superiority and denial of our deep thoughts and emotions. However I feel that the side of the crazy person happens to be a very oppressed and misunderstood point of view that has been demonized for centuries up until today. And it’s hard for normal people to accept the fact that their neglect and their arrogance and lack of understanding and compassion is actually what fuels the crazy persons manic and sometimes violent behaviors and it’s also hard for them to accept the fact that they themselves might be a little crazy.

 

[birdup.snaildown]

I'm not sure we are all familiar with the idea that "crazy" people are sane and vice-versa? Where I live, people with mental illnesses aren't "sent to mental hospitals" and "treated like animals". Not sure if you just finished watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , or if things are really bad where you live?

I don't categorize people into "crazy" and "normal". Some people have issues at particular stages of life because of stress or trauma or chronic drug/alcohol abuse. Others have lifelong issues.

it’s hard for normal people to accept the fact that their neglect and their arrogance and lack of understanding and compassion is actually what fuels the crazy persons manic and sometimes violent behaviors and it’s also hard for them to accept the fact that they themselves might be a little crazy.

Lack of understanding is probably because it's difficult to understand in both directions. Depressed people might fail to understand how others are not depressed and vice-versa. I don't think there is a lack of compassion for people with mental illnesses these days. Everything is relative. Historically there was definitely a lack of compassion for people with all disabilities, but it's definitely getting better all the time.

My cousin is schizophrenic and it is hard sometimes to know how to react or to understand why he says certain things. My aunty (his mother) has struggled at times because of this. She isn't arrogant. She doesn't lack compassion, but - sure - she has trouble understanding why her son behaves the way he does.

Few people are totally "sane". Most people have a lot of repressed shit going on. But I think there's a pretty big difference between everyday crazy and having a lifelong mental illness.

Where I live (New Zealand) people get the care they need. They don't have to work and they are only sectioned if they are a threat to themselves or others.

I agree that psych wards aren't the most ideal place in the world to get healthy because you're surrounded by other people that have issues and you don't receive the attention you need to get better. But, there are only a certain amount of resources allocated to this issue. Perhaps there should be more, but I'm not sure most countries can afford to help everyone that needs help. NZ is one of the most progressive countries in the world and our psych wards are far from perfect. I know, I've been a patient and I have many loved ones who've been sectioned also. I was surprised about the poor quality of care we received, but (at the same time) I don't donate time or money to the cause. So, it's hard for me to judge.

 

[ovenbakedskittles]

I'm not sure we are all familiar with the idea that "crazy" people are sane and vice-versa? Where I live, people with mental illnesses aren't "sent to mental hospitals" and "treated like animals". Not sure if you just finished watching One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , or if things are really bad where you live?

I don't categorize people into "crazy" and "normal". Some people have issues at particular stages of life because of stress or trauma or chronic drug/alcohol abuse. Others have lifelong issues.



Lack of understanding is probably because it's difficult to understand in both directions. Depressed people might fail to understand how others are not depressed and vice-versa. I don't think there is a lack of compassion for people with mental illnesses these days. Everything is relative. Historically there was definitely a lack of compassion for people with all disabilities, but it's definitely getting better all the time.

My cousin is schizophrenic and it is hard sometimes to know how to react or to understand why he says certain things. My aunty (his mother) has struggled at times because of this. She isn't arrogant. She doesn't lack compassion, but - sure - she has trouble understanding why her son behaves the way he does.

Few people are totally "sane". Most people have a lot of repressed shit going on. But I think there's a pretty big difference between everyday crazy and having a lifelong mental illness.

Where I live (New Zealand) people get the care they need. They don't have to work and they are only sectioned if they are a threat to themselves or others.

I agree that psych wards aren't the most ideal place in the world to get healthy because you're surrounded by other people that have issues and you don't receive the attention you need to get better. But, there are only a certain amount of resources allocated to this issue. Perhaps there should be more, but I'm not sure most countries can afford to help everyone that needs help. NZ is one of the most progressive countries in the world and our psych wards are far from perfect. I know, I've been a patient and I have many loved ones who've been sectioned also. I was surprised about the poor quality of care we received, but (at the same time) I don't donate time or money to the cause. So, it's hard for me to judge.

It seems that there very well might be a difference between the treatment here in America compared to over there but I’m not sure.

I have been admitted as well and that’s why I speak of it as I do. Not because I watched some fictional movie or read a fantastical novel. People were told to sit down and shut up constantly and the employees had no consideration for their perspectives and would put drugs in our food to sedate us so that we don’t act out even though I myself was not a threat their fear and insecurity prompts them to treat every patient the same and to me at least from my perspective and me being quite a sensitive person that is somewhat dehumanizing and shows a major absence of compassion and understanding and seeing other people as yourself. That is one of the reasons we are so disconnected in the first place and so subjected to lifelong mental illnesses put on by horrible traumas from childhood that makes us vulnerable and scared of the world and defensive and violent.

And yes we live in a generation where people are becoming more aware and understanding and accepting of the particular symptoms and behaviors that are exhibited by people in these conditions and that is good but they themselves are subjected to their own traumas and we are increasingly finding out that EVERYONE has some sort of major mental issue that causes lots of problems in their lives and their relationships and they think that just because they have jobs and can function that they are not “crazy” or “depressed” as well. So it’s not a matter of not understanding eachother both ways. It’s the “functional” people who are unaware of their vulnerable aspects that they have suppressed due to trauma and they don’t realize that the mentally ill people that are in their lives are just a reflection of their own subconscious. Whether they be schizophrenic or bipolar or whatever.

 

[birdup.snaildown]

we are increasingly finding out that EVERYONE has some sort of major mental issue that causes lots of problems in their lives and their relationships and they think that just because they have jobs and can function that they are not “crazy” or “depressed” as well.

I'm not sure I agree with this. People are over-diagnosed and prescribed medications at the drop of a hat. So statistics might indicate that a large percentage of people have issues at some point in their life, but the majority of people don't have "major" lifelong issues. Everything is relative. Major is relative to minor. So everyone can't have major issues. That doesn't add up.

I don't know what you mean that schizophrenic and bipolar people are reflections of a healthy (for lack of a better word) subconscious?

Also many people with mental illnesses are highly functional.

People were told to sit down and shut up constantly and the employees had no consideration for their perspectives and would put drugs in our food

They put drugs in your food?

I assume that different psych wards vary in the US as much as they do here in NZ. They tend to combine drug rehab with psych wards sometimes, so I've been in a couple. The private system is very different to the public system. My guess is that an expensive private psych ward in Beverly Hills is gonna be substantially different to a public ward in Compton?

They don't hide sedatives in food here. You need to consent to taking any drug unless you're hysterical and/or likely to hurt yourself. Even then they're not going to crush up pills and mix them into mashed potatoes. I'm honestly very surprised that they do that anywhere in the US unless it's an extreme circumstance?

 

[Foreigner]

A huge portion of the population are neurodivergent from the standard model. Not just physiologically but even in terms of developmental psychology. We have the standard models for development and functionality which are used as baseline markers for normal, and then everything else is considered (statistically, diagnostically) deviant.

Deviance doesn't mean flawed or wrong, obviously. It's just a comparative structure.

This idea that we all share the same common reality and are seeing things the same way is a fundamentally flawed concept that can't be demonstrated except when using deviance models of dysfunctionality. In other words, if you compare fucked up, broken people who can't operate in the world with normal or high functioning people, you may conclude that the high functioning people are sharing common reality; but all you've really done is pit one extreme against another while ignoring all the shades of grey in between.

Modern psychology can't even agree on accurate assessment models for things like IQ, personality traits, etc. because they can't separate sociocultural factors from innate human factors. The best they've got is "the big 5" which fails when applied across cultures.

I'm not saying psychopathology isn't real. I'm saying that assumptions about how "most humans perceive things" are incredibly specious, and this bears itself out in the error rates of evaluative models.

Now... human behaviour, that's another story. How people react to things behaviorally is pretty predictable, almost to a ridiculous degree. We might not know what's going on inside of someone or what drives their consciousness, but we can almost always predict what actions they'll take under certain conditions.