Mental Health

I looked at this blog post and it mentions a UN report which seems to be quite critical of modern psychiatry.

The doctor who made the report seems to be saying that drugging people is not a great approach, and really we should recognise that poor mental health is a result of social and psychological pressures:

Public policies continue to neglect the importance of the preconditions of poor mental health, such as violence, disempowerment, social exclusion and isolation and the breakdown of communities, systemic socioeconomic disadvantage and harmful conditions at work and in schools... Reductive biomedical approaches to treatment that do not adequately address contexts and relationships can no longer be considered compliant with the right to health.

Thoughts on this? Is the medical model of psychiatry just created by money-hungry pharma companies? Of course some people think they cannot function without their meds, and I sympathise with that view. But perhaps this belief is reinforced by strong withdrawal effects of these drugs, which are well-known. So somebody who has been on the drug for a while tries coming off, they have strong withdrawal symptoms, and they think "I can't cope without this drug, I must go back on it". Perhaps this is where tapering can help, because it helps people come off drugs (if they choose to do so) while reducing withdrawal effects.

Edit: The report was from 2017 but I still find it interesting. More info about it can be seen here: https://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc3521-report-special-rapporteur-right-everyone-enjoyment-highest

I found this article interesting.

The website is known for its critical view of psychiatry, which I think is good. Any field with as much power as psychiatry (being allowed to lock people up and drug them) should be approached from a critical perspective.

Psychiatrists would argue that their methods are well-intentioned, but are their methods helpful? The author of the article thinks some of the methods are not helpful.

I haven’t watched the other videos in the series, but I found this one pretty interesting about anxiety and trauma / adverse experiences can lead to “only seeing the bad things.”

Let me know what you all think of it.

I've gotten so fed up arguing about mental illness and violence, I wrote a blog post setting the record straight.

I have ads turned off and I am not benefitting in any way from my blog. Just want to compile and share information.

TL;DR: Only 3-5% of violent acts can be attributed to those with SMI [20], co-occurring substance use plays the most pivotal role [24], many psychosocial contextual factors influence violent acts [11], and while individuals with SMI are potentially 2.1% more likely than those without a mental illness to be violent [4], they are 10 times more likely to be victims of violence themselves. [20]

There does not exist a strong association between severe mental illness and violent behavior in general. ...the notion that mentally ill individuals are violent is a harmful myth that only serves to further stigmatize an already disadvantaged population.

This behavior is detrimental to the 26% of our (U.S.) population suffering from a diagnosed mental illness. [10] The false claims that individuals with SMI are dangerous and responsible for mass shootings and acts of extremism need to be called out for the harmful lies that they are.

It's been almost 8 months since I graduated Uni. No one wants to hire a student with no experience. Been living in my parents basement for all that time. Been working nearly every single day trying to better myself for a job to no avail. Been drowning in debt for nearly 10 years. Mom hasn't been able to work due to health problems. Dad just diagnosed with the worst possible disease you can think about so he can't work. It all falls to me to work. Family had to resort to a social assistance to pay the basics requirement for bills. Owe Sister and aunts money. All my friends have moved away or too busy to talk or do anything. Last meaningful relationship, which entails just talking and doing nothing more, was about 5 years ago. And no matter what I do, who I turn to for help, how much I kill myself trying to get a job, how much I try to better this situation, it all ends up with another rejection email, another message left on read, another email with no response, and more debt that I can never repay back.

Yeah, I get why villains want to destroy the world in movies. The world sucks, everyone sucks, there's no good people in this world. Miracles don't exist, dreams are just imaginary, everyone doesn't care about you or what you're going through.

And like everything else I've tried doing to help, this won't get any attention. It seems like the universe forgot I existed or just made me to torment me. Because it just seems that I'm just a shadow in a dark place.

Forgotten and alone.

Defined as a preoccupation with one’s perceived lack of muscularity, muscle dysmorphia is becoming increasingly prevalent, causing what experts are calling a ‘silent crisis’ in men’s mental health

I’m looking for websites or books or anything like that with mental health recourses for high school and college students thanks!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/8180477

Why this is significant: There is no currently known treatment to stop suicidal thoughts when they happen. Antidepressants take 4-6 weeks to start working, and they don't work for everyone. Therapy also takes time. Our best option for acutely suicidal people is to lock them up in a psychiatric facility until they are no longer a threat to themselves.

Intravenous ketamine offers a glimpse of hope. A single dose appears able to alleviate suicidal ideation immediately after administration and for up to a week afterwards.

When will it be over? When can we start to breathe again?

So my last post here was a tad bit on the negative side, so this post will balance that out with some positive news. As terrifying as it is right now to me, I just booked myself a week-long vacation to Puerto Rico. Solo. By myself. I'm certainly thrilled as well as terrified. But, I feel like this is the kind of move I need to make to help lament my new-found independence since I'm getting divorced; that, and it beats putzing around my apartment by myself. At least this way, I can make my mark and some memories.

By the way, if anybody has any traveling tips, I'm all eyes.

I'm fucking tired of explaining to business ghouls that I AM FUCKING DESPERATE. I'M INTERVIEWING WITH YOU BECAUSE I WANT TO SURVIVE. I DON'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT MY DREAMS OR WHETHER THIS JOB OR YOUR COMPANY LINES UP WITH MY CAREER GOALS. WE ARE HOLY-SHIT PAST THE POINT WHERE I'M ABLE TO BE CHOOSY. ALL YOU FUCKING NEED TO DO IS READ THE FUCKING RESUMÉ THAT'S RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR GOD-DAMNED EYES, ASK ABOUT MY QUALIFICATIONS, AND TELL ME WHETHER OR NOT I'M A GOOD FIT.

NO, your company isn't special to me, and it isn't special to ANYONE but you and your business-ghoul friends. Your company is merely the LABEL that will decorate my paycheck and LITERALLY NOTHING ELSE, AND I'M SICK OF PRETENDING OTHERWISE.

And WHY the FUCK are you calling me to literally REPEAT SHIT YOU'RE TOO FUCKING IGNORANT TO READ ON THE GOD-DAMNED FUCKING RESUMÉ?

I've applied for at least 200 engineering jobs (I recounted the ones on job sites; but even that's nowhere near all of them) this year and gotten zero offers. This job search is LITERALLY DRIVING ME INSANE, because I can no longer fucking afford antidepressants and I'm on the verge of blowing up in people's faces all the goddamn fucking time. I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE.

Try [insert nearby industry here]

Funny story: turns out, there are people who studied for degrees in those nearby industries. No I can't land a software developer, data scientist, IT, etc., job, because (1) I've applied for all those several times and not even gotten an interview and (2) my school produces students who actually studied those topics as a major!

So thank you genuinely to the dozens of people who have recommended that, I really do appreciate the help ... but that only works if you're an appealing candidate in general.

Why are you unhirable?

Bad GPA (~2.8; many firms have hard cutoff > 3 or 3.1), no experience/internships, no support/professional network, recent downward trajectory on transcript, autistic, mentally ill getting more unstable by the day, terrible attitude that's impossible to fully hide, no charisma to accommodate for my deficiencies, no access to a time machine. I KNOW how I got here, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

At least when I worked in food delivery I managed to make non-trivial money. AT LEAST I WAS HAPPY while being exploited. Now I'm thousands of dollars in debt, literally a hundred pounds heavier, psychologically and emotionally BROKEN, and no closer to getting a real job than I was before.

I'm someone who craves (and thrives) on intimacy and closeness. I'm never been afraid to be vulnerable (I'd actually had to learn that I shouldn't be vulnerable with everyone). I love it when someone is really passionate about something, even if that thing bores me to tears. I love hearing about peoples' hopes, fears, dreams, opinions...

But I often feel like people hold me at arm's length. Like they say, "OP, I like you, you're interesting, but stay right there."

And it doesn't seem like it's a matter of following the "relationship journey" either. It seems like eventually I hit a wall of someone not wanting me to come any closer. And it hurts.

Being neuroatypical I do realize I have an intense personality so people may not know how to interact with me. That may be part of it.

Anyone else experience this? How do you cope?

We are an upstart CPTSD support group on Signal messenger. We want to foster a warm and understanding community dedicated to helping each other navigate the challenges of CPTSD and related co-morbidities like ADHD, HSP, BPD, Depression, Anxiety, Codependency etc. I am sharing the link here. Everyone is free to join

https://signal.group/#CjQKIP8GyzRWSXqDboNWFn8D6XCkJhgT_tfuKBq6Cu9s_7xPEhBLytQ1tVZQrp066rz10bi9

cross-posted from: https://lemm.ee/post/10262667

I recently made a post in relationship advice and got a lot of great advice and tons of support which I really appreciate! I love how suportive the lemmy community has been and continutes to be. I still find myself after all of the trama and many months of therapy finding it hard to feel safe anymore as a man in the united states. I've talked to my therapist a lot about this and she feels it might be a good thing for me to chase my more asperational goals in life and maybe move to europe for a while when the opportunity presents itself at least when I can find the money to do so (as that's been a life goal of mine for a while)

I guess in the mean time, I'm trying to keep myself alive and feeling ok with myself and the place that I live. I've moved back in with my parents for financial reasons and now finding it hard to want to "get back out there". My trama has left me to not trust others which has made my job search very hard.

I guess what I'm really asking is what are some strategies I can do to cope with my trama? it's been months since the incident and my family grows increasingly worried that I don't leave the house anymore and havn't found a job yet. Have you had a similar expeirence with not trusting others and found a way to pull yourself out? Any comment would be appreciated!

recently I had a relationship that took a turn for the worst. I started working part time at a coffee shop in my town and found a girl that took a liking to me. Me also being intreseted, we started hanging out outside of work a lot. The more we hung out the more and started developinig feelings for eachother. Eventually both of us got together after a steamy night out despite my better judgement.

She had expressed being in a lot of abusive relationships, struggling with addiction to many substances in the past, and had terrilble parents and family. I empathized and thought I could be a better person in her life. at this point, I planned a camping trip for the two of us to get away from all the crazy for a bit.

fast forward, she moves out of her parents place and becomes very distant. me being concerned, I keep asking whats going on but she keeps pushing away. eventually after 3 weeks of her not responding, I ask if she ever really even wanted to be in a relationship with me and she said no. Devistated, I cancel and trip and avoid her during work. She then get's frustrated that I'm not acting the same way around her anymore and that I had cancled the trip. I express to her how I felt about the situation and why I canceled the trip and I felt like she understood.

a few weeks later, after I get back from the camping trip I had planned where I had decided to go by myself, she texts me she's feeling suicidal and needs some support right now. I drop everything and go to her place consul her as I've been there. she then expresses to me she's been struggling with bpd for a while. I tell her if she ever needs help or needs anything from me to just let me know.

A week later, she starts to flirt with me again at work and I take it as she's intrested in me again. despite my better judgement, I take the flirting too far by touching her butt briefly as she was showing me her holes in the back pockets of her pants, wiggling her fingers through. Without giving it a second thought, I do the same with my left hand thinking nothing of it as we had been intimate. After doing so, she looks disgusted and I say I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that.

I then go to her place the next day with some snacks to appologize. She wasn't home so I just left them at her door with a snapchat explain myself. She then takes a screenshot of my snapchat out of context, sends it to the police, and claims that I've raped her, sexually assulted her, and have been stalking her. claims we never had any kind of relationship and gets me thrown in jail for a couple of days.

---

TLDR: girl I've been dating for a few months makes false claims I've raped her and have been stalking her. Without question or evidence, I get thrown in jail and have been dealing with legal fallout, mental, emotional, and financial struggles since.

It's been a few month since, lots of therapy sessions, tons of meds, and I've gone through most of the legal stuff. I'm now left feeling I'm no longer safe as a man. I'm so traumatized I finding it hard to leave the house anymore and increasling hard to talk to and trust others.

I guess what I really want to know is how can I protect myself as a man in the future from these kinds of things? I've asked my therapist, many of my friends, and family members to no avail. Most of them come from a religous background or havn't dealt with anything remotly similar. Let me know your thoughts bellow.

I hope you all don't mind, but it's been a rough day for me emotionally, and I feel like I need some emotional support. I don't have anyone in my life I can turn to with this, so I thought of you all.

I'm a guy, and I have/had (not sure right now) a female friend who I know likes me more than I like her; I thought I was clear with her my intentions to be friends, but I feel like I muddied the waters by being flirty and making jokes - that's on me, and I own that. Anyway, I feel like I may have scared her last night by being too honest with who I was in my past (just details about past relationships and my lack of fidelity in them). I could tell instantly that her tone changed (we were talking over text message).

She asked me again what my intentions were, and I reiterated that I wanted to be friends. She says she's good with that, but I don't know. Maybe I'm overthinking it, maybe not. But it weighs heavily on me, especially because I don't really have many people I feel like I can talk to and be open with, like I can her. So that's the first strike of my day today.

On a less dramatic scale, I overslept this morning and was late taking my kids to school. They got there, a little later than usual, but still on time, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be when I first woke up. I work from home, so I decided to take a nap when I got back from dropping the kids off, and again I overslept (this time for a meeting at work). I was only a few minutes late to that, but it's way out of character for me and I feel like that was strike two.

I had a doctor appointment later in the day, and there is a nurse there that I talk to (shoot the shit, as it were) and have been contemplating asking out. Nothing major really, but I don't usually ask people out while they are working. But, at the same time, I know that a) I don't see her that often, and 2) never see her outside of her work, and c) I was feeling a real connection with her. So, after a lot of internal back and forth over the past two weeks, I hyped myself up yesterday to ask her out. But after the morning I had this morning, I felt the universe was trying to warn me not to push my luck. So I had even more back and forth with myself (very draining, mind you). Ultimately, I casually asked her to a local event coming up, and she kindly and politely let me know she was already seeing someone. I wasn't surprised or put off by her response, but for some reason I'm still kicking myself. Probably along the lines of an "I told you so" to myself. I'm going to call a ball on that one, because I think I was just upset from this morning, and this was just poor timing on my part given the circumstances.

So I go home and take a nap (I do this a lot) until my kids come home. I cook them dinner, which they loved (hamburgers) and we watch some TV and play a couple games of chess. Come bed time, my youngest son throws a fit because I wanted him to keep his door partly cracked open so I could make sure he wasn't laying in bed when he should be getting ready for bed (he's 8, and bad habit of not doing what he says he's going to do, especially when he doesn't want to do it). Mind you, I could not see him change, and I only had a partial line of sight to his bed. It has to do with how the hallway is lined up with his doorway. Either way, it really hits me hard when either of my kids get upset (especially at me). Steeee-rike three.

I know that none of the above is detrimental or super big deals. Even taken together, it's just a shitty day. I think it doesn't help that I suffer from long-term depression, have treatment-resistent depression, work has been super stressful, I'm in the midst of a divorce, and like I said earlier I don't have a lot of friends I can be open with. Plus, I'm sure ITA in there somewhere. I feel like I usually am.

Anyway, if you made it this far, thank you for listening. Feel free to roast me; I probably deserve it. And I apologize for being pitiful.

I'm about to explode because of a person, one of the bosses at work, which is always ironic in a bad way, to tease, to feel superior. I've been obligated to suffer for a month, and now I feel like I explode. I do gym and meditate, but every week this person ruines everything. I'm afraid I ran out violently, I'm trapped because I don't have an alternative, there's only that job now and for next year, I wonder if my life is going to end like this, for a fight, fired and arrested, while the boss continues to enjoy and insult his employees....

I post videos, content, or articles almost daily on my social media to show tech companies that, yes, I'm the guy you need on your tech team since I know my stuff.

But each time it feels so...blah...because nobody ever reads anything I write. At least, nobody with money (despite me writing FOR people with money).

I recently asked people to submit questions for an AMA on databases. I got 3 questions back. I think I'll use my local LLM app to generate a few more.

But it felt like...what's the point? Even when I record and publish the video, so far nobody's ever engaged with my last 100 posts. Why would they do it for this one?

Anyone else feel this? How do you cope or overcome?

These are the themes that emerged after patients with major depression were in remission from van Grieken et al. (2013). It’s not an all-inclusive list, but a good reference for anyone struggling to find a strategy, from people that had success better managing their depression.

• Take the signals of my depression seriously.
• Maintain long-term professional support.
• Acknowledge that depression is a disease.
• Leave the house regularly.
• Find a therapist with whom I feel a connection.
• Ensure enough rest to avoid exhaustion through over-exertion.
• Inform close family/friends about my depression.
• Set realistic short-term goals.
• Explain my depression to family/friends.
• Involve close family/friends in my treatment.

I caught covid a couple weeks ago and it's been draining physically as expected but also mentally. Starting week 3 now of not really being able to do anything except walk around the block. Bad habits creeping in. I feel like crap. Spending way too much time on youtube/social media.

I remember in the past that when I started to recover from an illness I'd get a boost of motivation, but I hadn't noticed that I was actually feeling depressed.

I think part of it was feeling weak and not being able to counter intrusive thoughts. All the stress of regular life sort of piled on in and I had no defence against it.

Hey Lemmy friends. I have been on 75mg of Zoloft (sertraline) for 2 years and I recently asked if something could be done about my lower libido. The doctor added Wellbutrin (bupropin). I started off with 100mg SR, and then my doctor switched me to 150mg XR. I have noticed a rise in anxiety over the past few weeks. He originally wanted me to reduce my sertraline (Zoloft) dose, but as my anxiety increased, I decided to go back to 75mg. (Dr. told me I should increase if I felt the need). It has been a little over 2 weeks and yesterday was the first day I felt my anxiety symptoms start to go back down.

I'm considering asking if I can increase my Zoloft (sertraline) dose to 100mg XR to see if that is the "magic" combination as I feel like the Zoloft could use a boost. (Have been thinking this for months now)

Anyway, I wanted to see if there are other Lemmy folks out there who take this combo and how things are going.

There’s a test for that: the Holmes and Rahe Stress Scale. You can look up that term online for more information. I’ve linked to one source that has a decent, short explanation, and the complete scale itself. Other sites can offer more in-depth perspective.

You may need to adjust some of the items for your specific circumstances. Note that the scale indicates that even “good” stuff in our lives (as well as, duh, “bad” stuff) can contribute to overall feelings of being off-kilter, out of it, not quite firing on all cylinders.

No, not what I've said what others say makes you awesome (though if they're supporting arguments, that's fine).

What do you say makes you awesome?

For me, I'm highly creative and imaginative. I'm unusually playful for an adult and refuse to grow up. Life's too short. I use humor to rise about any obstacle or any situation.

What about you? Let's brag about ourselves!