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For anyone older than around 50, please shed a light. Mental health talk is everywhere now. Hypersensitivity over mental illness and other debilitating psychological diseases seem abnormally high. If you research subjects like BPD or Anorexia and Karen Carpenter's death, the comments will say that this was never talked about then and they suffered in silence. But I have a hard time accepting that. Alot of these illnesses are human conditions. Just because it isn't dealt with on television or weren't had by famous celebrities, doesn't mean people weren't aware of it. I don't know what the truth is.
I'm 65. I remember Karen Carpenter dying, and everyone saying she died of a heart attack, brought on by trying to recover from anorexia. It wasn't a secret.
I'm under 50, but I don't think it was uncommon in the past for there to be a lot more judgement about mental illness, even if it wasn't hidden. People were judged for being broken or not having enough willpower, and that stigma has carried into the 21st century in many ways.
People were aware of it...as in "he/she's a "retard". That label was given to a very broad number of mental illnesses.
Those afflicted in a serious way were institutionalized. There was no attempt to "main-stream" them either in schools or any other public program.
Bottom line is that mental illness was not discussed in public (whisper behind people's back: "oh, they have a retarded child/whatever" and it wasn't a public thing.
That, of course, has changed for a number of reasons. Parents sued to have their children in regular schools. Public programs to train and educate were put in place. People today are educated to be understanding ("don't stare") and accept people from all walks of life.
In a way, it parallels "fatties" and the way we accept them, whereas years ago they were told they were fat to their face and, like those with a mental disability, ostracized. There was little to no public acceptance of either group.
That's the cold hard facts. Sorry to make it sound brutal, but by today's standards, it was.
We were just told to suck it up. Anxiety over every little thing wasn't an option. We grew up doing things we didn't want to do. We didn't need adulting courses later on.
Mental illness covers a lot. Various kinds of mental illness and degrees within. It's not just black or white; a switch from normal to mentally ill. It also isn't an excuse for everything that goes wrong in a people lives.
Anorexia wasn't kept secret. Probably just less was known about how to deal with it. People also didn't share every little thing. There was no Facebook. We didn't have to take selfies or post pictures of our meals for friends and strangers to see.
People were aware of it...as in "he/she's a "retard". That label was given to a very broad number of mental illnesses.
Those afflicted in a serious way were institutionalized. There was no attempt to "main-stream" them either in schools or any other public program.
Bottom line is that mental illness was not discussed in public (whisper behind people's back: "oh, they have a retarded child/whatever" and it wasn't a public thing.
That, of course, has changed for a number of reasons. Parents sued to have their children in regular schools. Public programs to train and educate were put in place. People today are educated to be understanding ("don't stare") and accept people from all walks of life.
In a way, it parallels "fatties" and the way we accept them, whereas years ago they were told they were fat to their face and, like those with a mental disability, ostracized. There was little to no public acceptance of either group.
That's the cold hard facts. Sorry to make it sound brutal, but by today's standards, it was.
Pretty close.
It varied around the country, but in general the openness might have been the best thing to come out of the Vietnam war. War vets had problems and the backlash against the war highlighted those, breaking the "just hold it in" barriers that had been dominant even as recent as the Korean war.
1968 through 1970 was the most socially significant time the U.S. ever had for change.
I'm under 50, but I don't think it was uncommon in the past for there to be a lot more judgement about mental illness, even if it wasn't hidden. People were judged for being broken or not having enough willpower, and that stigma has carried into the 21st century in many ways.
And from the 60s-80s there was "de-institutionalization." They tried to put people back into the community instead of psychiatric hospitals. So people are more visible. Maybe with the rise in the homeless population since the 80s, its impossible to ignore.
Betty Ford with her openness about alcoholism made a number of things more acceptable to disclose.
I am 60. I think that many mental health issues were not discussed outside of families or not discussed at all the 1960's and 70's. Two quick examples from my family:
My godmother/ dad's cousin lost one of her husband's to suicide. It was all very hush hush. I was young at the time and recall the "whispers."
My aunt/dad's sister suffered some type of mental breakdown several times in her life. It was not discussed. When her 4th child was born the baby lived with us for 8 months because my aunt could not mentally handle another child. I'm still not sure what happened during that time period. She was married and had 3 other children. While we would normally see my grandparents and aunt's family often at the grandparents house we didn't go there during that time. My grandparents would come to our house. My cousin only went to live at home when my mother became pregnant.
We were just told to suck it up. Anxiety over every little thing wasn't an option. We grew up doing things we didn't want to do. We didn't need adulting courses later on.
Mental illness covers a lot. Various kinds of mental illness and degrees within. It's not just black or white; a switch from normal to mentally ill. It also isn't an excuse for everything that goes wrong in a people lives.
Anorexia wasn't kept secret. Probably just less was known about how to deal with it. People also didn't share every little thing. There was no Facebook. We didn't have to take selfies or post pictures of our meals for friends and strangers to see.
Because Mommy’s Little Helper/benzos and other things like Quaaludes were for people to “suck it up”? A lot of these medicines were widely prescribed, particularly to women.
In a way, it parallels "fatties" and the way we accept them, whereas years ago they were told they were fat to their face and, like those with a mental disability, ostracized. There was little to no public acceptance of either group.
That's the cold hard facts. Sorry to make it sound brutal, but by today's standards, it was.
gee, when was that? There have been lots and lots of successful and influential fat people over the last several millennia. I think there is less acceptance now than when I was a kid.
Last edited by steiconi; 09-12-2022 at 07:03 PM..
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