ok, but in america this IS how physical diseases are treated
In the four european countries I’ve lived in as a physically disabled person unable to work, this is exactly how I’ve been treated as well.
Good advice is to look at what America does, and do the opposite.
Source: American citizen
1, 4, and 6 is how my mom is about flu, cold, medicine.
When you’re sick you need to rest and let your body do its thing. You can eat food containing the resources your body needs to potentially speed up recovery. But ultimately you need rest.
Not according to mom.
You have to work your flu out. If you’re lying in bed feeling like shit you’re just being lazy. You’ll stay sick longer if you don’t work, so out of bed you go. Come on, it’s like you’re not even trying to get better!
And of course the medicine your doctor gives you is just poison, because doctors don’t know anything and just want to keep their career. Here, have these homeopathic pills instead.
I’ll be honest, going outside does help. The problem is when you don’t have a compelling enough reason to (in my personal experience. This might not be everybody’s experience)
You can go buy beer or something.
Mental illness and alcohol is not something I want to mix
Because medical science really has very little understanding of how mental illness happens, most of thier treatment boils down to “deal with it”. Medications help treat some symptoms, but often with lots of side effects.
So really the way we treat mental illness is often simply all we have. And that is the real problem.
We are still in the dark ages of medicine. People like to refer to modern medicine, but we are far from it. If we mobilized even half the amount of population that currently works on war related efforts, we would see astounding progress.
But it is modern! We already have germ theory, we know about inoculation and have a hazy idea that our endocrine system is very important. And yes, here is where all your words ring true.
I used to be way more sceptical towards any brain-chemistry-tampering compound, as I prejudged doctors to behave as they are next to an assembly line, prescribing chemicals based on archaic formulas. I’d hate to be stuck in a half-zen state married to some foreign chemistry with myriads of side effects. That is what I was seeing.
Then a friend had a pretty graceful mental breakdown. He couldn’t sleep and he institutionalized himself farely quickly. Rivotril or something along those lines let him sleep. And then he was put on antidepressants (seratonin reuptake inhibitors , if I’m not mistaken, which was a huge bogeyman for me), was gliding on them for about a month or so, then weened off. I was seriously surprised that such an episode can be handled so well and so quickly without any residual medicating.
I think they didn’t fix the underlying issues, but were able to unlock a cramp. I believe my friend has a fresh chance to figure out what brought him to that type of collapse and adjust his life accordingly.
All this said, even with the shittiest medications, it can definitely be worth being locked into some medicine than being a pool of dysfunction lying on the floor or causing major harm to your loved ones. I mean a good ayahuasca session gets a person pretty far, but not everything can be psychosomatic.
You are right to judge, but better off appreciating how far we come. Also thank you for expressing your opinion on it. I almost came in with an ‘acktchually’ after reading the comic, even though I agree and it resonates, it’s such a delicate topic. I guess you got dosed with my contrarianism instead of OP!
If you say ‘mental illness’ 3 times in the mirror, someone with a Live Laugh Love t-shirt will appear behind you and ask if you’ve tried going outside.
Haha brilliant 😄
The medication stigma is based on basically magic thinking: That medicine is alien, external, unnatural while the human body is pure and natural. Therefore any difference between medicated and unmedicated is artificial and caused by the medicine.
No, the body is fucking dropping terror chemicals in my bloodstream. It is changing my personality from easygoing and outgoing to snippy and reclusive. The body is malfunctioning and changing my personality for the worse.
The medicine is reducing the amount and effectiveness of the body’s excess of terror chemicals. It restores normality.
theres also the possibility that life today is truly a terrible situation for many, and your body refuses to lie to itself.
and its way better than it usually has been.
“Don’t you think that eating healthy food every days is changing you from who you really are?”
munches on bacon flavored doritos judgingly
hugs you
I know this doesn’t change what your body is doing to you, but I hope it at least makes you feel loved.
Thanks, friend! I’m all in all in a consistent good place and living a very active functional life, but it’s 30% medication, 30% being stubbornly careful of what I let into my head, and 40% luck.
Yeah, that would be weird. Except physical illnesses and mental illnesses are not exactly the same.
The difference is that when you’re physically sick, there usually isn’t much you can do to help yourself, but there’s a lot you can do about many mental illnesses. I’m not saying it’s easy or that mentally ill people don’t need support and care, but these are not comparable.
And now the cropping is fixed, so the comments deriding the cropping don’t make sense anymore.
The confusion it will cause…
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Welcome to the Netherlands…
Just take a paracetamol
Awful cropping
Thanks Ive changed it
Generally agree but nr 4 pushes the stigma aspect. You should not be needing to take mental health medication every day just because you need to slave for some rich dick.
If you are free of stressing components like a toxic workplace, toxic friends, social pressure and alienation and still feel like you need chemical help and/or you literally have hallucinations, then you should medicate. Currently the vast majority is medicating (anecdotal) to cope with the shithole we live in.
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Thats not what I said but okay. I even put a marker on my text that it was anecdotal. Cant help there I think.
A LOT of people suffer from society and the pile of shit we’re turning the world into. A LOT of people who do suffer dont even understand they do. And of course some people have no other choice but my point was that a lot (in my experience) dont even entertain the thought.
Thanks, I got confused on what both the comic and you were saying!
I medicate because otherwise I’d get nothing done. And that’s not just work related, I mean my own personal projects and hobbies.
I used to think I could get by without, but as I turned 30 and was still procrastinating 90% of my free time away despite me desperately wanting to do something and that in turn also affecting my personal relationships. I needed to go sell help for medication. Even though I wasn’t hallucinating.
And thats totally fine. I didnt say dont use medication. I said stop the stigma.
Fair
You could also look at it like, you were conditioned to think that procrastinating/being unproductive is a bad thing. In the end, it could be that the things you do while procrastinating are the things you actually want, and the other stuff is just stuff that you think you’re supposed to do.
Of course, you know yourself best. But for me, once I started seeing the procrastination activities as the actual activities I want to do, I really just stopped doing most of the other stuff, and now I’m entirely unproductive, not doing anything much, and I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.
Nah i have loads of things i want to do do, personal programming projects, woodworking, DIY but instead I would just watch YouTube and play games because they were easier
In the end, it could be that the things you do while procrastinating are the things you actually want, and the other stuff is just stuff that you think you’re supposed to do.
It depends very heavily on what one does while procrastinating and whether I feel like I am avoiding doing the thing that I want/should be doing and how I feel about it afterwards. If I choose to play games instead of cleaning, that doesn’t even feel like procrastination for me, it was just choosing something else.
But if I’m choosing something else just to avoid doing the other thing then it feels like procrastination. Right now I’m procrastinating by making this post instead of replying to something I don’t want to deal with. That is different than when I choose to browse and post instead of cleaning if I just feel like browsing more than cleaning. That’s just prioritizing.
Ugh, I should really stop procrastinating and deal with that other thing. Maybe I’ll procrastinate some more by cleaning instead of dealing with that thing…
True. What happens if you don’t do the other thing you’re avoiding right now?
The problem gets worse as more and more people overreact to a misunderstanding. I did take care of it shortly after posting.
If the thing I am avoiding doesn’t have negative consequences then I don’t feel like avoiding it is procrastination, just choosing something else. That is the difference for me.
For example, avoiding cleaning is only procrastination if there is a negative consequence like mold buildup or it causes issues my sinuses to have a fit from excess dust. Or if being disorganized hinders my ability to do the things I want. For me, procrastination isn’t defined by someone else.
I genereally agree, but I feel some nuance is missing: That is assuming a “harmful” environment is total toxicity and something you can just leave with no ill effects.
Sometimes the environment that hurts you is normal-ish and even “nice”, but you personally are sensitive to some aspects of it, making it exhausting. It gives you purpose and happiness and you may not want to leave it.
Sometimes you have to stick to a harsh job because you have responsibilities. I’d rather take reasonably harmless medicine like melatonin and beta blockers to reduce the effects of stress and have a fulfilling life raising and supporting my kids, than saying “Work and life makes dad sad. I need to move to Spain and be a bartender at a beach. Sorry kids, I’m sure someone will find you a foster home bye.”
Sure, nuance all day. I agree that i havent pointed out every aspect but as you said, the general point is valid.
Sounds like daddy needs a workers revolution.
That was essentially my point.
