To think it’s incredibly sad that there’s still such a huge stigma against mental health issues?

I give up

Yes, which MH continuously gets less of- because of stigma.

Honestly? Because I think you’d be suprised how many people are on antidepressants and dealing with mental health issues themselves.

Are you deliberately misreading my posts. Im talking about NHS investment

I have had diagnosed major depressive disorder along with other mh problems since I was a teenager. Now in my forties. I faced a lot of prejudice and lack of understanding in the early years when I used to talk about it quite openly. Eventually I just stopped.
When I suffered from perinatal mh problems I was shocked to find that fifteen years later the stigma was even worse.
Nobody wanted to talk about pnd. They would clam up and get extremely uncomfortable at the mere mention. Even people who had been supportive during previous breakdowns did not accept or want to talk about pnd.
Unfortunately this included my family and even my partner.
I never speak about it with anyone so nobody knows and I’ve heard people say things about women they know who’ve had it like “they couldn’t cope” or “they weren’t suited to having kids”.
Even some of the medical professionals like midwives, public health nurses, doctors were so visibly uncomfortable, it was like they panicked if I started to speak about it and so I really didn’t get the help I badly needed.
I honestly never felt so alone, so separate and so ashamed of anything in my life. If someone else had told me this instead of me experiencing it I honestly would have thought that cannot be true, not in this day and age, but it was.
Finding out how people react in that situation just on its own has made me lose faith in people a bit tbh.

Is it? Surely if there is need, you treat it or get informed. No other NHS provision would get away with such a weak and wishy washy outlook.

I think it’s the same for most illnesses. Eye rolling and little sympathy. It’s rare to find people who understand what you’re dealing with.

I know that! Im saying there are so many different types of mental health problems, and so many different points of treatment its almost impossible to know where best to direct resources.

If you don’t support people with MH difficulties in a timely fashion, they will simply get worse and be harder/ more expensive to treat.

I’ve seen it happen.

You are absolutely not being unreasonable. I agree with another poster who said actually it is not that different for physical or even a disability. If something impacts on others directly their empathy often drops off over time.

I would absolutely not be sharing with people the real reason for your time off. You are not imagining that lack of empathy it absolutely exists and it is not your job to fix that. It is your job to regulate yourself and get yourself back on track.

Those generation is filled with of people who have ideas about how the modern world should be but in reality people are people and change is glacially slow. Take care and mind yourself.

You have misunderstood my point. It’s difficult to know where to put finite resources when the field is so wide. Do you put it into therapies such as counselling, urgent trauma care, drug treatment programmes, lifestyle programmes etc etc.? In an ideal world the answer would be “all of them” but decisions have to be made.

I think the terms have become overused, which is part of the issue. It REALLY annoys me when people laugh and say they have OCD because they like things to be tidy. Actual OCD is absolutely crippling. I have a parent with it and it is so misunderstood, The obsessive thoughts are so de habilitating.

You will never ever get PIP just for down days. You’re lucky if you get it when accessing specialised MH services.

It really isn’t difficult.

Leaving trauma, depression, OCD, anxiety, EDs, self harm etc untreated costs the NHS and tax payers so much more money. When left conditions get worse, people then end up needing more specialised treatment, inpatient, end up in hospital, turn to drugs or alcohol, they self medicate, laws are broken etc.

Its madness.

Personally, I think the issue is that people are worried about the amount of “support” they will be required to give or even just how much they will be expected to listen to. I’m not really talking about close family etc. But colleagues and less close friends. So many people have issues these days that a lot of people don’t have the headspace to deal with others issues on top. So many people talk about the fact they themselves mask their way through their mental health illness, but don’t really think that others might be doing the same as them. There’s a lot of assumptions sometimes that everyone else around is totally healthy (mentally and physically) and it’s only “you” that isn’t. I used to think that as well when I was younger. But have since realised that actually a large majority of adults have a lot of shit going on. Especially these days. So as horrible as it sounds, a lot of people just really don’t have the capacity or energy to listen to others problems.

It’s all illness. Try talking about cancer and see the stigma. Mild neuroses are acceptable à la woody Allen films type cute eccentricity.. anything real is too scary for most people.

How do you know they’re definitely lying?

If I suddenly came out and mentioned it tomorrow to my boss they may think I’m one of those people you mention because I’ve been ‘masking’ so well otherwise, (‘well it can’t be that bad if you’ve been turning up to work most of the time’). If I was disclosing depression to someone I would likely pass on mentioning the specific details for eg neglecting hygiene, suicidal thoughts. Hence they may easily think oh this generation are so ridiculous, why doesn’t she just pull herself together

I dont think thats because of stigma. I think the main problem is that “mental health problems” covers such a wide variety of symptoms that it’s so difficult to understand the best use of resources. And it is open to abuse Im afraid because some conditions dont have easily identifiable symptoms.

How would you prefer things to be, OP? How would no stigma about mental health look?

I don’t really know the answer tbh. I have depression (diagnosed as ‘moderate’ by psychiatrist) and terrified to tell anyone at work due to risk of being seen as less competent, don’t want to jeopardise my job.

I also fear people won’t believe me and it doesn’t help when inevitably every discussion we get on mental health someone will bring up people who apparently find it ‘trendy’ / ‘fashionable’ to have a mental health illness. How do you know they’re lying unless you’re a psychiatrist / where do you draw the line

I am very good at masking on ‘good’ days, then other days I can’t do the most basic tasks like eat something or brush my teeth. Yet I still worry that people may accuse me of lying about mental health issues

I think it’s the stiff upper lip generation who can’t understand MH issues. My father never forgave me for being such a disappointment and cut me out of his will. He was a nasty bit of work really but it still hurts.

Yep and probably know all the tricks to claim PIP as well.

I think that people were more understanding until more people suddenly couldn't do their job because of anxiety. My dgm suffered terribly with depression, her "nerves", so I'm not dismissing mh illnesses exist. I think that certain terms have become over used so people are now less tolerant than ever, which obviously affects the genuine people too.

I don't especially enjoy public speaking, I feel somewhat anxious about it, but I don't have anxiety.

My cat just died, I feel sad but I'm not depressed.

The problem is that some people are describing perfectly normal human emotions as MH conditions so genuine cases are also coming under suspicion, unfortunately. It is very sad that you feel you cant be open with your own family though