Drug users and mental illness

[burn out]

i have really bad anxiety, especially social anxiety and hypochondia type anxiety. this has lead to depression because i am not able to obtain enjoyment from interactions with other human beings and thus i use drugs to obtain enjoyment, relieve boredom, loneliness and anxiety. i almost always use drugs alone too, even the most social ones like alcohol and benzos.

 

[Boiling in Acid]

^^i feel you bro! if you see yourself stopping drugs (& benzos) for an extended period of time, do so & this mindstate will get better. at first it would get much much worse, but afterwards your mind will refresh itself more and more... iv'e been exactly there.

once i aint been able to go anywhere & talk to anyone barely even with benzos (been ok only on the comeup of 8mg xanax), today (9 months after) i'm preety deal with it sober & am actually ok if takig nothing but GABA supplement!

 

[Ptah]

I'm an idiot.

 

[B9]

^ I would back that up in writing for you if would assist you in obtaining a diagnosis & suitable treatment

 

[ChristBait]

The question should be - what made you this way? very rarely is mental illness heriditary and is usually the result of some kind of trauma in your childhood. Alot of people I know with bipolar or borderline really just have the underlying illness of PTSD. and from that can manifest other disorders like anxiety, panic, or depression.
I've heard 85% of people in rehab were sexually abused in their childhood

 

[drew345]

The question should be - what made you this way? very rarely is mental illness heriditary and is usually the result of some kind of trauma in your childhood. Alot of people I know with bipolar or borderline really just have the underlying illness of PTSD. and from that can manifest other disorders like anxiety, panic, or depression.
I've heard 85% of people in rehab were sexually abused in their childhood

I can certainly be considered one of those people. Fucked up shit can really fuck you up bad in the long run. make you question things that are better left unquestioned know what I mean? I often wonder how different my life would be if it wasnt for my fucked up childhood

 

[sushii]

The role of childhood trauma is sometimes overstated IMO (perhaps with the exception of borderline personality disorder, and obviously there are individual exceptions). Unless you're talking about something like long-term physical or sexual abuse, the focus on childhood seems to be a throwback to freudian theories that don't really have a lot of evidence supporting them. Same with 'repressed' or 'subconscious' memories or conflicts causing anxiety or depression. It's a concept that is intuitively appealing but the evidence just isn't there.

Not that I'm doubting anyone's individual experiences - there are plenty of people who had traumatic childhoods and developed later problems as a result. But there are many, many mentally ill people who haven't experienced past trauma.

 

[blase deviant]

Anxiety and schizophrenia.

 

[madmick19]

If you look hard enough pretty much anyone can be diagnosed with a mental disorder at some point in their life, correlation does not equal causation.

thats a really good point to make if no the best one about mental illnesses, the diagnostic and statistical manual (DSM IV TR) is a collection of behavioral patterns that are also time lined and pretty much cover alot of whats classed as "normal" behavior.

thats is not to deny the lived experience of each of these illnesses, but the dsm unless you get really holisitc Dr's / counsellors/ psych you get thrown into a position where the medical model is the only option.

i guess the real issue around drugs is that you have artificially induced CNS stimulation and CNS depression outside of the bodies normal operating limits and trained it to stay that way

on top of that there is a experiential association of meaning and life events which normally make the body operate outside of its boundaries (almost like biopsychosocial classic conditioning)

like everything its a journey back thats the pain in the butt

 

[SKL]

I have no diagnosis but I from time to time suffer from serious depression, which is medicated with Wellbutrin to good effect. My issues w/depression date to a period of heavy amphetamine & alcohol abuse, and I reckon I burned out a neurotransmitter or two in doing so 8). Alcohol helped numb the depression and opiates helped make everything feel okay, but all in all, both of those substances made my life situation considerably worse, leading to a viscious cycle. Psychedelics have lifted me out of depression before, and helped me confront my issues w/addiction, but have also spun me out into serious depression when I did them under rather unfortunate circumstances, or didn't pay close enough attention to the lesson being learned.

 

[BlessedAnomaly]

BCG g= PTSD.

 

[Ptah]

^ I would back that up in writing for you if would assist you in obtaining a diagnosis & suitable treatment

The day idiocy could be cured or prevented would be the day the universe would cease to exist.
Just to rephrase Shulgin. A bit.

 

[PriestTheyCalledHim]

Moderate/Severe depression, Generalized Anxiety, Social Anxiety, OCD, and I used to get panic attacks really bad.

 

[B9]

The day idiocy could be cured or prevented would be the day the universe would cease to exist.
Just to rephrase Shulgin. A bit.

My profound apologies, so idiocy makes the world go round eh, between us we must be contributing a fair bit to the spin I reckon.:D

 

[Ptah]

My profound apologies, so idiocy makes the world go round eh, between us we must be contributing a fair bit to the spin I reckon.:D

You bet I'm working real hard at that.

In fact you might as well give it up, as I do plenty work for the both of us.

 

[B9]

^ No I couldn't possibly do so....I tried..... it's a natural state apparently, I don't mind...so long as I don't embarrass you with my idiotic presence

 

[Hannah Capps]

Eating disorders...Self Injury...oh yea Depression, Angisity, OCD...weee8)

 

[B9]

^ Nice to see you posting Hannah, hope things are calmer.

 

[Pillthrill]

Other: Borderline Personality Disorder....the death sentance of psych disorders. Its bad when you're a psychology major and you know that...

oh and the self-injury always comes with that...
being SO FREAKING bored with life you will do anything to make it better...
Suicdal thoughts and actions...
Emotions change every 10 min, often completely uncontollable...
Self-loathing beyond compare...I seriously HATE EVERYTHING about me...
Impulsivity...
Instabilty in relationships...
Sensation seeking....oh yeah that would be the drug again...lol

Welcome to just a small part of my personal hell,
all this combined with
Major Depression
Panic Disorder
and Anxiety that is generalized, I worry about EVERYTHING ALL the time
touches of eating disorders and OCD if I'm not careful but usually I'm ok

 

[Aeon Psyche]

Anxiety and schizophrenia

I haven't been diagnosed but those two are as clear as water to me. I'm going to get proffesionally diagnosed someday and maybe I'll know more than. I don't give half a shit about all their technical terms for "mental deseases" and BS therapy programs they may suggest. I'm just going to do it for the interesting meds I might get prescribed and the extra money on my unemployment check %)

I might need some anti-psychotics though.