Mental Health Do you think knowing about your mental problem has made it worse or better?

[Jabberwocky]

Do you think knowing about your mental problem has made it worse or better?

For me I have begun pondering how my life would be if I hadn't opened up the pandora's box of taking ssri's, seeing psychs and over learning about mental health. In some way being so involved it has become even more depressing in it's own right as time could be better allocated else where.

What's your opinion?

 

[Pretty_Diamonds]

I think it would depend on your therapist, medication, therapy, and your own drive to succeed. It's a battle within the mind. We can only provide help, it's your choice to take it.

 

[Black Rabbit of Inle]

I've found it's made it better. I prefer knowing why I feel the way I do rather than being clueless.

I don't take medications anymore (by choice) and feel that my life is better than it was before I was diagnosed with anything.

 

[Jabberwocky]

Do you guys feel you abuse your knowledge. I.e it becomes easier to say this is the problem therefore I won't do anything today although in hindsight you could be? I've been doing this too much and although I know I'm robbing myself I've gotten used to it. I keep trying to get out of it and always find myself back at the start.

 

[Arlop]

No, I was much much more depressed when i didn't know. It was a rough journey, but now im on parnate which is a fucking miracle drug, and im happier than ever.
One thing i really wonder is how i would be if i had never touched any drugs

 

[manboychef]

I was diagnosed with OCD at the age of eighteen during my first stay in rehab (actually had my eighteenth birthday in there, talk about coming of age right?) Before that I thought that everyone was as anxious and freaked out inside as I was. I thought everyone's lives were driven by rituals to ward of horrible thoughts of imminent destruction and despair. I went for quite a while medicating it myself...but now with the help of a therapist its manageable.

I guess knowing the demon I'm fighting makes it easier to bring the right ammo. Quiet reflection and meditation has done more for me than any drug or medication.

 

[exists]

Knowing that I am bipolar has helped tremendously; I have been avoiding a lot of unpleasantness and trouble because I can recognize my cycles.

Knowing the cause of my illness is another matter, but I am sure that that has helped as well. I was for the longest time ignorant of why the currents flow as they do. Now that I know why I am the way that I am, I can work on the issues troubling me. The process hasn't been easy, but it has been worth it!

 

[ad lib]

Sometimes people use their diagnosis as an excuse for their actions, so for some people knowing is not the best.

For myself, it has helped me to better understand myself and what I need to work on.

 

[spork]

After I was first diagnosed with BPD I felt worse. The stigma is so negative, I really didn't feel like there was any hope left for me. I got into DBT and started to explore mindfulness. I eventually started to accept myself and now I feel more comfortable in my own skin than I ever have before. I can and am leading a "normal" life. I don't think I ever would have felt this way if it wasn't for being diagnosed. So yeah, for me I felt worse for a bit then a whole lot better.

 

[sonicwhite]

Yes I believe even tho I had whispers and came out of a massive meth psychosis from two years before. I had been doing good. Working and being social with people and getting along just fine but when I started to take med's is when I got lazy. I started to gain alot of weight......I just started to lose my joy in life and I had alot of it when I was not on psych med's. So ya I wished alot that I never took them because of how my life was and then how my life is now...

 

[Lady Codone]

Better! Before learning what Asperger's was, all I had to go by were the labels given to me by others, which weren't always nice. A clinical diagnosis beats the hell out of "eccentric", "lazy" or "weirdo". (Even though those may still apply at times).

None of the medications or self-help treatments did any good for me despite years of inpatient/outpatient therapy, counseling and psychiatrist visits. But knowing that my problems have a name and that other people have them too is worth so much.

 

[herbavore]

I think being given a diagnosis can be freeing and limiting--sometimes one or the other, sometimes both at once. A diagnosis can explain things that were cloaked in confusion and stigma as Lady Codone said and can itself also cause more stigma as Spork said. Like everything else it seems to be a balancing act between self-awareness, motivation to shape one's own life and self-acceptance. It's all about managing symptoms whether those "symptoms" are medicalized by a diagnosis or not, right? Whether I see myself as having GAD and ADD or an ultra-sensitive space case doesn't really matter--to me it has been a journey of recognizing both the benefits as well as the difficulties that my mind and nature give me to work with. I have what could almost be a phobia about taking medication so for me that hasn't been an issue but I recognize that it is a very complex struggle for those whose symptoms are way more intense than mine.

I think this is a very important subject for anyone with a diagnosis to explore. A diagnosis should be something that is a piece of the puzzle of "self"--not an explanation of self or a definition of self--just a very good piece of information to have. People that struggle with any kind of what we call mental illness are always my favorite people. For one thing, most are attuned to a bigger reality, or a more fluid reality than people who more easily fit the norm of confident extrovert and I like the depth that comes with that. I also admire people that can live with uncertainty and vulnerability.

I imagine that the experience, both with the language used to describe mental problems as well as experiences with SSRIs, anti-anxiety drugs, and other psychiatric medications will vary as much as people do. I think it's a fascinating topic so thanks for bringing it up, OP!

 

[sonicwhite]

I just hate with the AP's Ad's and all this well we will put you on this because the risperdal is giving you anxiety that produced pure o OCD.....Now I'm on so many frakin med's that I can't even get off them even if I tried......I've gained so much weight...like 60 pounds and I'm tired of it. I did get a break in 2010 when I had surgery and I lost almost all the weight I gained but I had to see a new doc because my GP wasn't going to keep prescribing me medication that he wasn't supposed to in the first place....Yes when my pure o hit it was a relief short lived that I found out that I have OCD but it didn't make me feel any better and I think when they put me on risperdal. a side effect is anxiety and it aroused a whole bunch of symptoms.....Then the weight start. I know if I stop these med's I will loose atleast half of the weight I have gained.....I'm very dazed all the time....Very lethargic alot because of the med's I'm on......So for me it's just putting up with it a little longer then I'm going to have to call it quits.

 

[Jerry Atrick]

Knowing that I am bipolar has helped tremendously; I have been avoiding a lot of unpleasantness and trouble because I can recognize my cycles.

Knowing the cause of my illness is another matter, but I am sure that that has helped as well. I was for the longest time ignorant of why the currents flow as they do. Now that I know why I am the way that I am, I can work on the issues troubling me. The process hasn't been easy, but it has been worth it!

Although I'm not bipolar, this ^ post fits my sentiment best.

Plus on account of an eventual downward spiral into psychosis, had I not been diagnosed I could have well ended up in prison. Not for being a criminal per se, but my decision-making abilities were becoming exponentially worse as I did not know WTF was going on myself.