38% of Europeans are suffering from a mental disorder

[sea storm]

Once a month I go to the Mental Health Clinic in my small town to see a psychiatrist. He basically checks to see how my antidepressants are doing. I also was taking sleeping medication. I got very burned out in my job and have PTSD. I used to feel embarrassed to walk in the building and I dd not want to sit in the public waiting room. Now I think.... These are MY people and I smile and chat to whoever is there. They seem a little shocked at this as they are embarrassed too.

I would much rather sit there with them than pseudo communicate with the people at work. It was such a nightmare of phoniness and competition and busy ness. I am labelled Depressed but I am getting my soul and my spirit back. I have unplugged from the system that made me so sick. I might as well have a D branded on my forehead to the people at work. Or probably an N for Nuts.
I spoke out about things no one else did. I would go to bat for kids who were abused.  I made waves tactfully but nevertheless it was out of the norm. It IS disturbing to think of what is happening to our culture. I find it very comforting to know that I am not alone in this.

Sea storm

[finding peace]

Thank you,

I am coming to believe that the DSM is based on the beaver-clever sitcom…

::joking kind of::

What determines normal?

Who are they to define me based on what I have experienced; albeit, the definition fits.

While the definition may fit, it doesn’t cure.

And that is where I have a problem.

They can put me into the “beaver cleaver” puzzle and diagnose me, but can they ever, ever, give me the perfect “beaver cleaver” after ending?  No they can’t, because, IME, it doesn’t exist … not in my world.

I don’t believe that less than half the majority of my neighborhood is “functional.”

They are all “functional,” based on what they lived through.

I don’t adhere to a definition based on perfection – IMO, the DSM should be redefined to be based on perfection as perfectly imperfect.

Peace

(Thanks so much to everyone who posts here - you have all helped me sooooo much).

Peace

[sKePTiKal]

Hi Peace!

What you said, really hit home with me:

They can put me into the “beaver cleaver” puzzle and diagnose me, but can they ever, ever, give me the perfect “beaver cleaver” after ending?  No they can’t, because, IME, it doesn’t exist … not in my world.

I think what you just said, is the source of what passes for my source of "creativity". And why I "keep trying" and don't ever just "give up". If it doesn't exist, my logic at the time went... then I'll just try to MAKE IT, so it does exist. That didn't work so well, either! LOL... so it was back to the drawing board...

There are moments though. They're all different, when I just happen to glimpse and feel that everything all around me is perfect (in it's own way) just the way it is -- dysfunction and all. Now, what I accept in that perception of "perfection" moment probably wouldn't be considered "beaver cleaver", at all!  But that's the key, I think - there is no one size fits all definition - we all make up our own. Yours will be different than mine - but we might appreciate a few things from the other's - the common thread.

What I can't decide, can't learn... is whether that perception I have - that all's right with the world in this moment - is something letting go internally in me... or if it really exists all the time as some sort of wavelength, frequency of vibration and being that I'm only tuned into sporadically. So even tho' the moments really are just that - like subliminal advertising in my normal perception of "reality" - they sure seem real to me and not just wishful thinking. And I'll take every nanosecond of that reality that comes my way! They're like wound-healing moments... and each one smooths out the scars, de-activates another line of code behind certain "buttons"... etc.

Fun helps. Play... was really hard to re-learn for me. As far back as I can remember, I was programmed to understand "play" as education or training for skills. Fun always got me in trouble. We could all use a little play-therapy! 

[Dr. Richard Grossman]

Hey Doc. G,

I have not read through every post on this thread.

IMO, if 38% were diagnosed, then these were the honest ones.

I fear/believe the count is much higher.

Maybe I am cynical given what I lived through, but I am coming to the conclusion that dysfunctional is actually functional.  And the term dysfunctional should be redefined... to functional.

And maybe,with all my limitations, fears, PTSD, ....

I am functional? 

In the "real world."

Peace

Hi Finding Peace,


Great question!

What if self-deception and an overly (and inaccurately) positive view of oneself (without the other negative attributes of narcissistic personality disorder—e.g. healthy narcissism) were considered a mental disorder?  What might the statistics look like in that case? 

In that case, should some in the 38% (leaving aside the personality disorders, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder, and other biological syndromes) feel a little “healthier”?

Food for thought

Richard 

[Meh]

The self-soothing behaviors.

New term I heard recently: denierism, sort of like consumerism but instead to indicate a mass population behavior of people avoiding looking at reality.