Nasty messages from 'friends' after sharing a condition relating to Mental Health Day

[putheronys]

Yesterday I shared an image on FaceBook about ending the stigma towards mental health, the particular image 'poster' listed quite a few illnesses, depression, BPD, Bipolar.... and it also happened to mention fibromyalgia.

I have two fellow friends that suffer with this condition and both have messaged me this morning, one saying sharing that is beyond the pale, the other suggesting I deleted what I've shared since it makes people think the condition is all in the head.

The thing about the condition is it is somewhat in the head, as it's generally believed by specialist that it's how the brain interprets pain signals, again, a mental impairment really (sorry for my awful wording if that's how it seems).

Anxiety is a mental illness but also has physical side effects, such as breathlessness and fatigue, etc.

AIBU to have shared that post? I'm a bit baffled that they'd attack me with way. Am I really in the wrong here?

It's a functional neurological disorder. Ergo it is related to MH.

Bullshit. And functional neurological diagnosis are bullshit too, it's a dustbin diagnosis when they don't know what's wrong with you and blame you for their ignorance.

I mean what is the difference between neurological disorder and mental health disorder? Isn't a mental health disorder likely caused by underlying neurological problems or imbalances? Where is the line...

@MaxNormal

No FMS is a Bs dx. It's a diagnosis of exclusion.

People would have a far better chance of recovery if people educated themselves on somatosensory disorders, FND etc.

Anyone who's interested in reading more there is a fantastic book written by a neurologist- reaching down the rabbit hole by Ropper & Burrell.

@BlackberryNettles I’m unsure if you are referring to bi-polar or borderline personality?

Anyway, I’m no expert but the things you list appear to be physical manifestations of a (I don’t know how best to phrase it) brain disease? Degeneration? So it would seem that whatever you are talking about are the symptoms of physical changes of a part of the body. Analogous to osteo-arthritis being physical manifestations of changes to joints. Bear in mind I have zero knowledge of either BPD you could be talking about.

Do you think Parkinson’s is a mental health condition blackberry?

@BlackberryNettles the difference is with FND there are neurological symptoms with no organic cause. Pain, tremors, seizures etc. People are not 'faking it' nor 'putting it on'.

People are not 'faking it' nor 'putting it on'.

But even if you did class it as a mental illness why would that mean tu were faking the physical symptoms? Someone with anxiety having a panic attack isn't faking it so why would you be?

@XXYY376 can you explain more what you mean by this please The whole reason people aren't recovering from this dx is because they refuse to believe it has no organic cause

@putheronys can you screenshot the original post? All this debating whether the post is offensive or not in somewhat moot if we don’t know what you posted.
I’m very interested in the MH/ neurological overlap.

Do you think Parkinson’s is a mental health condition blackberry?

No, but I'm asking where the line is drawn. For example with the BPD example there are loads of studies showing neurological differences in their brains to control groups, is that mental illness or a problem with the "wiring" and development?

Bookmark

ginger

Borderline personality disorder

that's not to say a lot of it isn't mind related as it's largely to do with how the brain receives pain signals and experiences things

But that is neurological, not a mental health condition. No psychiatrist or psychologist would claim to be able to treat fibromyalgia.

@BlackberryNettles People assume that if someone is dx with an FND that they're 'pretending to be in pain' or 'faking seizures' they're not.

The pain, racing heart beat from an anxiety attack, the dissociative seizures, they are physical representations of their emotions.

Can I just point out I'm not saying Fibro is a mental health illness just thinking about what it being a neuro issue means for other problems thought to be purely mental health related,. Sorry if I'm offending anyone

Surely mental health conditions can have a physiological (and/) or a psychological cause, they're still mental health conditions. Depression can be a chemical imbalance in the brain or situational because you've been through a hard time, both are still mental health conditions, surely?

(I know nothing about fibro just responding to the people talking about BPD).

@seaweedandmarchingbands there is a big difference between swearing at a person and senior the subject of the meme they posted in my opinion. I get the impression the friends were swearing about the subject, and depending on my relationship with somebody, I and my friends can be quite sweary and it wouldn't cause offence.

I'd react differently to;

"That meme you posted was fucking disgusting and perpetuates shitty it's all in your head stereotypes of fibro. Ffs please take it down I can't believe you posted that!"

Than I would to:

"you're a grade A fucking dick for posting that meme, who the fuck do you think you are?? I can't believe you're so fucking stupid, as if it's not hard enough as it is to convince people it's not all in our heads, then somebody who has it goes and says this, you stupid piece of shit take it down you bitch"

I don't consider swearing in general to be offensive, and if I received the first I'd shit myself that I'd upset my friend so much they felt they needed to use words that strong to get the message across to me. If I received the latter I'd put my back up because it's a personal attack.

The pain, racing heart beat from an anxiety attack, the dissociative seizures, they are physical representations of their emotions.

But then emotions are chemicals in the brain and they could be "faulty" so to speak, making anxiety neuro and not mental health? Idk just thinking, not trying to argue with anyone per se.

On a related tack, if a bit tangential, can I ask what OP or any of us think we achieve by sharing something to show we support those suffering with mental health problems/cancer/baby loss/loneliness/whatever? Who is actually helped?

The poster gets a warm glow or a smug moment while dressed essentially borrowed clothing. I see that. Nice for them. My concern is that they then feel they have actually done something, meaning they may be less likely to donate or visit a sick friend or lonely neighbour because they feel they've already done their bit and ticked that box.

XXYY - are you a neurological expert (genuine a). How on earth could my client’s physical tremoring be linked to her emotions? I think that verges on the dismissive and is definitely insulting to someone who suffers those symptoms.

Depression can be a chemical imbalance in the brain or situational because you've been through a hard time, both are still mental health conditions, surely?

Borderline is thought to be life-long disorder rather than a period of mental illness though, and there is evidence to suggest trauma in childhood mix with genetic disposition and cause physical brain differences and thus problems with emotional regulation where areas of the brain didn't develop "correctly"
That is very different to say depression imo, which isn't thought to be life-long in the same way

I think when you say that an illness is mental health then it makes the person suffering feel they are responsible for the illness or that they can control it which makes them feel guilty/stressed out. I suffer from underactive thyroid and overactive bladder both of which my sister says is related to my mental health or as she says "that's in your head and the stress has caused your body to react, because you are not good at coping with stress"Every time she says it to me, I get more stressed/upset about it. Maybe this is how your friends felt when you put it up? I would delete it anyway. It is not a mental health condition, that is clear, so it shouldn't have been included.

@Beveren

If something had an organic cause it means we can medically find a cause.

EG your shoulder hurts- we do an MRI, we can see spurs/cord imposing on C6/7. That's where your shoulder pain comes from.

Your shoulder hurts, we rub lots of different diagnostic tests. We cannot find any organic cause for the pain.

The patient can't accept that there is no organic cause for their pain. It then spreads to their back, hands, etc. Again more investigations no organic cause found. These people then go one of a few ways. They either dr shop trying to find the organic cause (it's unusual that something is found but not unknown), they continue to ignore and are escalated up the pain meds- paracetamol, NSAIDS, codine based pain killers, gabapentoids, oramorph, fentanyl patches.

Or- they come to accept their pain is from a place of MH needs and with very specific HCPs learn coping mechanisms etc.

Most people say the pain clinics they're referred to are crap. And for that patient at that time it is. Because they're not ready to accept that their pain is of a non organic nature.

How on earth could my client’s physical tremoring be linked to her emotions? I have no idea about that situation but generally tremors can be related to feeling anxious. Not saying this is the case with your client but those with anxiety will certainly have physical symptoms caused by emotions (I think xxyz was talking about anxiety which I had mentioned)

My concern is that they then feel they have actually done something, meaning they may be less likely to donate or visit a sick friend or lonely neighbour because they feel they've already done their bit and ticked that box.

Yup, what I call 'slacktivism'.

"That meme you posted was fucking disgusting and perpetuates shitty it's all in your head stereotypes of fibro. Ffs please take it down I can't believe you posted that!"

Whereas I would be furious that someone would see something I had posted in support of a health condition either they had or we had and call it “fucking disgusting”. My friends don’t speak to me like that and if they did they wouldn’t be my friends. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I've taken it down, just to be clear. I certainly didn't mean to cause upset

I know how tough the condition is - I live with it. I suppose I got confused between neurological and psychological. Although I still think the two relate within the condition, and accept that many contributing factors are 'in the head', despite how awful that term is