You don’t get over serious mental health (bipolar, schizophrenia) you learn to live with it.

[WallowingInMud]

Listening to the pundits on KanYaY West and many are condemning his actions but expressing sympathy for his illness and hoping he can overcome it.

You don’t ’get over’ serious mental illness. You learn to live with it. It’s a lifelong process requiring personal insight and support. It is not the same
as a broken leg or even a bit of anxiety.

The discussion about him is so much more complex than the negative impact of a (series of) manic episodes and suggesting he can overcome his illness is farcical and does those of us with a serious mental condition a huge disservice.

Yes you can get over it. I’m not sure I believe he has though.

Why don't you consider anxiety disorder as a serious mental illness? It also can't be just 'got over'.

But wouldn't "learning to live with it" mean overcoming it?
Nobody is suggesting he will be cured. If you look at the recovery model it very much defines recovery as being able to live a full life despite an illness.

I guess because it is unlikely to result in your death or the death of others.

Some mental illnesses have more acute phases though.

eg someone who has anorexia may well struggle with eating most of their life but if they are on the verge of death due to lack of food they are in crisis.

similar with psychotic episodes.

Gosh, that's a really interesting thought and I'm very conflicted.

I would say that I've (largely) learned to live with bipolar and psychosis. I have periods of being well and functioning very effectively.

But I certainly haven't recovered.

I get sectioned every 1-2 years, I have to be very careful around resting, eating and managing work.

I have amazing employers at the moment, but that wasn't always the case and it would be very very easy not to hold down a job without substantial support.

Great question.

Oh yes, and Kanye West can stay out of the UK.

If you have a psychotic episode you can do huge damage to yourself and potentially to those around you.

I agree that some have acute phases. I just struggle when people refer to a ‘cure’. It’s a lifetimes work to stay on the straight and narrow and not easily remedied when you slip off.

Well put.

My grandmother and father both learned to live very reasonable lives with significant mental health conditions (schizophrenia and bpd respectively). I agree with you op. Those conditions defined the lives they lived. My dad's life was quiet and small, very well regulated. He was happy but his need to avoid stress meant lots of things he would have loved to do were off the table. My grandmother had episodes up until the last few years of her life where she felt fine, stopped her medication and returned to her delusions. My dad had POA and regularly checked her bank account for this reason.

Kanye West might be in an OK phase at the moment but he now needs a life that protects him and other people from harm. Alcoholics can't ever just have one drink and he, having done what he did, cannot have a public platform.

I also doubt he's fully better. I remember my dad's "I'm fine now, you can't hold me responsible for what I did, let's move on" phases. They were part of him being ill. He wasn't better till he faced it, felt the horror and changed his life to keep himself safe.

I used to be a mental health nurse severe and enduring mental illness, such as schizophrenia and Bipolar csn be very difficult to manage, some people can be very stable for long periods of time and others can lead very chaotic lives with frequent relapses
Anybody can have a Psychoitc episode which csn turn out to be a one off episode.

That’s certainly true. And it can take a long time
to receive a correct diagnosis. In which I mean one that is helpful in explaining past actions and helping manage symptoms.

I don’t know if Mr YaY is self diagnosed or not but if you look at his behaviour over years then bipolar might fit the bill. It’s more this idea that severe mental illness can ever be cured. It can’t and keeping it at bay is hard work.

Severe anxiety can make people suicidal.

Anxiety is at the root of anorexia too, and that definitely kills people.

More importantly Having a serious mental health illness doesn’t excuse/decade worth of anti semitism- the two things are separate thank god KW has been refused entry to the UK. We need to crack down on this and every incidence of anti semitism. It’s been allowed to rise unchecked.

But totally agree most of the time it’s learning to live with the symptoms and managing them

Yes but the incidence of suicide is far lower than for someone with bipolar disorder. It’s absolutely not a race to the bottom and every death is terrible but in terms of relative suicide risk bipolar is much more serious.