Where does personality end and mental illness begin?
Can somebody have a 'depressed' personality or is depression always consistent with mental ill health?
Can somebody have a naturally exceptionally energetic and exuberant personality or are mild signs of mania signs always signs of mental illness?
Can someone fluctuate between these two emotional states due to personality traits and changes in circumstance/environment alone?
There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: 'This glass is half full'. And then there are those who say: 'This glass is half empty'.
The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: 'What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!
It depends. Mental illness is when it impairs functioning in some way or is causing serious distress. So if the person is naturally melancholic or energetic and it's not causing them problems, certain doctors may diagnose it, but to me it's not really an illness. The labels aren't that important anyway. It matters most how the person deals with it and whether they feel it is impacting their life.
I think it's a continuum - at some point it becomes an 'illness' - like lots of physical conditions, no-one has the 'perfectly heathy' body, but only when the lack of functioning reaches a certain point does it become 'illness'
and what's illness and health is defined differently in different societies
Like kids, most people are naturally motivated and ebullient when they are themselves. It's when they get turned in on themselves that they desend into their own machinery and get stuck there. Most depression is rage turned against the self - and a false conditioned self rises on the decay of the natural self. "Mental illness" per se is just a symptom of that and not a cause in itself imo.
I agree that mental health is a continuum, but how does one draw the boundaries? Grief, for example, causes immense distress but is not seen as a form of mental illness, so the fact that an emotion causes distress doesn't make it a mental illness.
I suppose what I was really asking you all to answer is whether my diagnosis of manic depression (made a few years ago) is correct or not. I'm doubting it. Stupid of me to ask really. Sorry.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isoverity
a false conditioned self rises on the decay of the natural self.
I'm sorry but I'm not really sure what you mean by this.
There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who, when presented with a glass that is exactly half full, say: 'This glass is half full'. And then there are those who say: 'This glass is half empty'.
The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: 'What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!
Well I think mental illness is basically when symptoms are not caused by something a majority of people experience and are severe enough to cause disruption in functioning. Grief for instance, is a normal reaction to death. But if the grief becomes so severe that one cannot get through it after years or if the person is so much in grief that they are becoming dangerous to themselves/others, it might be diagnosed as PTSD.
As for your diagnosis, I can't tell you whether it was correct. But do you know what caused you to go to the doctor in the first place? Maybe that'll help you tell whether it was impairing your functioning or not. I have similar questions myself about my own diagnoses.
I agree that mental health is a continuum, but how does one draw the boundaries? Grief, for example, causes immense distress but is not seen as a form of mental illness, so the fact that an emotion causes distress doesn't make it a mental illness.
I suppose what I was really asking you all to answer is whether my diagnosis of manic depression (made a few years ago) is correct or not. I'm doubting it. Stupid of me to ask really. Sorry.
I'm sorry but I'm not really sure what you mean by this.
Well this is where I use the "smacked hand" analogy. If a person smacked your hand it would sting and then the pain would go away leaving no damage. However if you got really upset with my smacking your hand then even after the hand felt ok the "mental sting' would probably still exist (depending on how upset you got).
There is natural pain and natural grief - both can take the our focus. But it's often how we relate to the hardships that will determine if we get pulled down into our own machinery. The "resentment" means "to feel twice" and it's a dangerous (hypnotic) emotion because it fixates attention and creates morbidity.
Take a traumatic event like a bank robbery with guns. Some people will feel traumatized and some won't - the difference is often how people reacted - the upset was more dangerous than the actual event.
Now some kids get a lot of help falling into their own machinery because they often get stressed more than they are ready for. Then when a kid encounters problems a lot of people including parents will blame the kid and add more stress - thus making the kid more upset. If a kid is manic depressive/bipolar etc. and I could guess the root cause had more to do with things wrong outside them than inside.
I'm not sure as I have been wondering about this too, but about other conditions to apply to me as I have never seen anyone about my mental health [well, lack thereof] as i am not sure what i am going through is just a personality thing...
People do have their personalities and yes some are less happy but there is a line between depression and personality.
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