To wonder why everyone suddenly has a mental health issue?

[VogueVVague]

Dont get me wrong, im not talking about people who have struggled with long term clinical depression, schizophrenia etc.

But it seems like everyone now has some form of mental issue.

Hey, as a teenager and young adult i was a freaking mess, a teenage runaway, drugs, alcohol, confusing feelings, rage, destruction, depression, fear, shyness sometimes, anxiety. Just thought it was a normal part of transitioning.

Now as a fully formed adult some things still make me feel anxious, mny times i do feel unmotivated, depressed on a kind of existential level, sometimes nervous, sometimes not wanting to do something because it involves big gatherings or lots of strangers, which lets face it, can be awkard and uncomfortable for most people.

Isnt that just life and being human?
It feels like i meet so many people who "have" anxiety or borderline or bipolar. Especially teens. Arent they just experiencing adolescence?

Is social media making us believe the normal default is "happy and relaxed", when thats just one setting and humans are actually also designed to be down or nervous sometimes too?

@gilead
Maybe I wasn't clear in the way I worded my post, if so I apologise as I support your opinion. As a society many people use terms like PTSD without comprehending the reality of having such a condition. This trivialises the severe impact of it and makes life so much harder for those, like your daughter, who genuinely struggle.
It seems that everyone who is minimally upset by something claims PTSD which reduces the position of anyone who actually has it.
In the same way as PP have mentioned that anyone who likes things neat claiming they are a "little OCD" undermines the understanding of those who really do have OCD.

@flourella
Hey flourella I'm glad you feel you can share here. Your experience sounds terrifying, and while i dont have MH issues, like i said above i can completely relate to the panic attacks - mine were exactly like you describe and it was just the most terrifying thing ever. During one i thought i was dying and had to call my mum in the hope that she could make me feel tied to the ground through her voice. Often i had this weird feeling like i was about to float away from my body, i cant describe it.

The doctor i saw at a&e explained it to me - that for whatever reason, your mind is pushing your body to respond in fight mode: but theres nothing to fight.

Maybe for the purposes of this thread you cpuld answer 2 questions i have based on your post, maybe you dont want to answer or maybe it would be interesting for you, but here goes!

1. what is an ocd ritual for you?
2. you said this happened 15 years ago - so did something trigger it (sorry if thats too intrusive!)
3. in what way is dialogue from people "lower down on the sliding scale" so to speak making things more difficult for those with more severe MH issues?

ProzacAndWine I have never interacted with anyone online before joining Mumsnet last week and your post is the first time anyone has replied to me on this issue. I don't want to come across as a total weirdo, but I just got a rush of real joy! Thank you so much for answering me!

I have to say that I have never hallucinated (I don't think), nor had an episode of acute psychosis that has led to hospitalisation. It's more a rumbling, chronic paranoia. Years ago, my psychiatrist wanted to refer me for inpatient treatment for my OCD and I said no because I was certain that they would poison me while I was in there to punish me for all the ways I was keeping myself safe that they hadn't thought of (I'm obsessed with food safety).

Ironic that my paranoid psychosis kept me out of hospital, and a little disappointing that my doctor allowed me to take that option. I have changed my view and am currently on the waiting list for a specialist ward in London. I hope that they can do something for me but you're right, it's going to have to be more than yoga!

walking maybe you missed my point. It was aimed at the OP who asked why ‘everyone’ now has MH issues. I was pointing out that the fact that lots of people suffer from something doesn’t make it any less serious for those who have it. What did you think I meant?

I dont think the trend is people having a feigned illness, but rather talking about their actual illness.

Ive never felt free to talk about mine until the last 2 years or so and even then I am selective. Im also in a good place the last 2 years, when I was lost in it, it was incredibly hard to express to anyone as I was scared I sounded crazy and my kids would be taken away.

Also, ProzacAndWine I understand why people don't want to speak up as well. It is difficult

I do know people who use their MH issue or ASD, ADHD or other condition, whether self-diagnosed or not, as a way to not have to make an effort or consider anyone else's needs. I'm talking about adults not children, who have been diagnosed or self-diagnosed as adults. One family member will say she can't be expected to arrive on time or use public transport for example, because of her often self-diagnosed special needs, of which she has an increasing number every year.
I think the key part here though is 'self-diagnosed'. People with official diagnoses, I think, are less likely to use their conditions as an excuse. I'm not saying they won't, but I'd suggest that a higher proportion of excuse-makers are likely to be self-diagnosed because they've chosen a diagnosis that excuses their poor habits rather than changing those habits. Having to make the effort to turn up on time or whatever requires effort but if they pretend to have a condition they can carry on being lazy / thoughtless / self-centred. They don't actually have the condition, just the ability to pretend.
(That's not to say some people don't correctly self-diagnose, particularly women with autism, but I bet you'd find that those ones are people who try hard to overcome those difficulties to try and fit in)

However the word 'depressed' is overused, and often not clinically correct. You are unlikely to be clinically depressed if you are still fully functioning. Being off work for 'stress' or having a 'breakdown' these things can be life changing in their severity. A nervous breakdown is very serious.
Not always the case. I was diagnosed as having this at a very young age, and i was still functioning ( not completely, but still had things on).

You will always get people who havnt a clue what true real anxiety/depression is!
I’m talking about the type that floors you, where you unable to work
Because sleep is deprived, you literally can’t bring yourself to eat because of high running anxiety, feel nauseous most of the time, churned up stomach, loose bowels. And much more.

Some people have low level anxiety that’s there most of the time
BUT can function
Go to work, shopping,cooking etc

Two completely different types of anxiety/depression!!

flourella It's good to talk about it, even if it's anonymously online. Just in case it would be something you might find useful, the mental health charity Mind runs a site www.elefriends.org.uk/ which I guess is a bit of a social media type site, but anonymous and specifically for people who have MH problems. I think it can be a bit hit and miss, but there are certainly people there who'd understand where you're coming from, if you ever felt like looking into it.

Most hospital wards seem to be there most for the sake of keeping people physically safe (from hurting themselves or anyone else), so apart from a bad crisis, they're probably not always the best place to be in. A specialist ward specifically to treat OCD sounds different, and it's great you're on a waiting list. I hope you won't have to wait long, and it'll prove helpful for you.

My own hallucinations are thankfully pretty rare, and it's very very rare for me not to know that they're not just my own head playing tricks on me, and to confuse what's real and what's not.

I could do with a bit of yoga, though, mental health or not! At least my back and joints might benefit, even if it wouldn't miraculously cure me of everything...

Nike you're right that those of us as adults that have self diagnosed as ASD try very hard to fit in. I'm 50 but when you look back at my childhood it becomes very clear that I really struggled.

My son is diagnosed ASD and he really struggles, he's high functioning therefore adults/teachers minimise his anxiety as just being difficult (until I lambasted the school recently and they're now seeing the light).

I take medication for anxiety and have done for the last two and a half years.

I started having panic attacks as a teenager when I was bullied in school, was ill for a number of years with CFS/ME or some variation thereof (never got a clear diagnosis), then was bullied in work.

I just lived with the anxiety, developed my own coping mechanisms. It wasn't until I was pregnant that I realised the impact that anxiety was having on my life, because for the first time in as long as I could remember I wasn't anxious at all - it was a revelation. A couple of years later I had some health problems that really caused my anxiety levels to go through the roof again, and this time I knew things could be different, so I went and asked for help.

(And I do say I can be 'bit OCD', because I can have intrusive thoughts and have used rituals as a way of controlling them - mainly counting things - windows, lights, number of people in the room, over and over again, using different 'patterns', ie left to right, top to bottom etc. If it's people it has to be an even number, so if there's an odd number I have to stop counting myself. This can cause anxiety in itself if I have to leave and haven't counted enough times to feel comfortable or if people keep walking in and out - lights or windows or something similar are better, but it's not a choice, it has to be what is 'right' at the time. Thankfully this has faded somewhat since I had DS, although instead I just worry more about random unlikely potential occurrences. And I don't usually talk about any of this, although I'm quite open about the anxiety.)

@Nikephorus
@SluttyButty

Yes, i do think i could have aspergers but over time ive learnt a few techniques to make things easier and i just dont think a diagnosis would be useful to me now. But in my teens it might have been!

I dont think the trend is people having a feigned illness, but rather talking about their actual illness

I think there is. Many times on Mm I’ve read posts by people claiming to be having a panic attack at the very same time they are posting, often they say they can’t breathe/are hyperventilating etc but yet are able to write and respond on Mm very well. I’ve never known a hyperventilating panic attack allow anyone to do that in real life.

@FissionChips
I agree. In my panic attacks i was generally on all fours

When PP refer to 'official diagnoses' I'm just curious what the criteria is for diagnosis though?

Because I'm taking a short course of antidepressants, does that mean the GP has diagnosed me as having depression?

As situational depression (prolonged period of grief) seems vastly different to clinical depression

I wouldn't describe myself as 'suffering from depression' but within the official stats, would my having a sertraline prescription put me in that box?

[[www.nhs.uk/news/mental-health/the-overdiagnosis-of-depression/ ]]

Interesting article here

Hi Vogue

Firstly, I know what you mean about wanting to feeling "tied to the ground". I often feel that the ground beneath me has gone and I can't be certain that I am even a physical, tangible being any more or just a wisp of imagination. I don't know how to say it any better than you have.

My symptoms of OCD actually began when I was in infant school. I had to check things and couldn't leave them alone until they felt "right", and I started pulling out my hair. I was finally diagnosed at 18, but my problems have evolved constantly and I finally had to give up work almost 15 years ago, at the age of 24. I am 38 now, or as good as. It's my birthday tomorrow. And yes, that is a shameless hint that I'd like someone to wish me Happy Birthday!

I think that people at the less-severe-and-enduring end of the spectrum being so vociferous is a problem because it does little to increase understanding of those whose illnesses engulf and maybe even destroy their lives. When I hear a radio phone-in about mental illness, I have started to switch off without listening because it makes me feel isolated, and like a failure. My problems have not passed naturally, nor with help of a short-term prescription of ADs or sympathetic input from the HR department. People with mild or moderate depression etc, should talk about their experiences, of course, and if they were unwell for a while and got better that is great for them, but it may lead people to think all mental illness is like that, and the people who can't function and are in supported accommodation or in and out of hospital are easily ignored because there are fewer of them. But they are the ones who people are more likely to be afraid of, and they are the ones that might need support and compassion the most. Not speaking for everyone, of course. It just seems to me that some illnesses and some levels of illnesses have become acceptable and others are still ignored and stigmatised.

I would like to answer your question about some my OCD rituals, but this post is already dead long and I'd have to think how to articulate it properly anyway, so I might get back to you on that.

I think it's a combination of things. I have pnd and I'm sure part of the problem is lack of support. Years ago people had family living close by, neighbours who all helped each other and the older children in the family would be expected to help out at home a lot more than they are now. Also there is more pressure from social media, tv and other parents to be perfect, breastfeed, go to baby massage, baby sensory, do baby led weaning, swimming lessons, piano lessons, take them to fancy restaurants. 50 years ago you just sent them out to play.

With social media and the internet we are all in contact with people all over the world. We talk about things we wouldn't have done before like mental health issues. People are surviving suicide attempts when they wouldn't have done before. Premature babies are surviving. My 4 year old nearly died at birth. Years ago, probably even relatively recently he wouldn't have survived. But he did and he has joined the growing number of people who have autism. So many disabilities "didn't exist" 30 or 50 years ago. But they did exist, they were just called different (not very polite a lot of the time) things. You may not have known people with anxiety, bi polar, anorexia or autism but you would have known people who were "delicate", "odd", "sickly", "a bit slow" or "not right in the head".

I thought some disorders have been diagnosed more in recent years simply because there is more information about them and the stigma has supposedly gone away.

That being said I tell almost no one IRL that I have bipolar because I think people are inherently bad and too stupid to understand it.

6) the diagnostic tools used by doctors to assess for anxiety and depression were developed by drug companies and are designed to make it very difficult to not meet the threshold for a diagnosis (which would therefore mean prescribing drugs, which makes the drug company/author of the tool money). If you don’t believe me, try filling out a PHQ9 or GAD7 tool online for depression and anxiety, while having a slightly shit week or even just a regular one. The threshold is so low and the tool asks nothing about positive experiences in the past fortnight, so someone with sleep problems for the past two weeks who has felt a bit down (for whatever reason) will meet the criteria for a diagnosis of depression and be offered anti depressants.
@WalkingOnAFlashlightBeam wow I got "moderately depressed" and I am not even slightly depressed!

@Furano my GP has never used either of those assessment tools with me, however I don't think they're meant to be done by just anyone, presumably a doctor would normally do them if they felt it possible that their patient had depression and/or anxiety because of the symptoms they were presenting with/their account of the issues they were having.

summerinrome (or anyone else) a bit off-topic, what do you actually consider to be a "nervous breakdown"? I get the impression that people use it to describe anything from a bout of intense crying to a psychotic break requiring hospitalisation under section.

It's another example to me of how the well-meaning quest to be supportive and inclusive of all mental distress has reduced the ability to discuss serious problems.

I do agree that PHQ-9 and GAD7 are not very realistic. For one thing, it specifically asks you to only talk about your experiences in the past fortnight, so there's obviously no differentiation between someone having a shit few weeks and someone having constantly shit time for months or years.

I did it a few days ago, because my new ADs have actually really lifted my mood quite a bit, and got "moderately severe depression". I mentioned it to my GP, who instantly wanted to increase my medication. But I'm feeling much better right now, and don't want increased side effects. Blunt, simplistic tool. I guess if you had them done regularly for a long period it might build a better picture of your overall mood, but as a random two-week thing, I don't think too much of them.

ProzacAndWine I just joined an OCD forum today, but haven't posted there yet. I will look at elefriends, thanks for the tip.

I consider myself lucky that I do not have hallucinations; even if you are 100% sure that what is happening is not real, I imagine they can still be disturbing.