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Sorry, but IMO the American Psychiatric Association started "going nuts" in the 70s. Even sadness is considered an anomaly today, with no interest in differentiating that (and grief) from clinical depression.
It's curious what passes for normal and what merits psychiatric evaluation in their eyes.
Now they want to call grief a "mental illness". (depression, doctor)
Personally, I would view the absence of grief as a mental illness.
Well put- The reason that they want to call grief a mental illness....is because the more illness you have the more lucrative treating illness becomes. Imagine every time someone died the family would have to all go to the doctor on mass and all take very expensive medications because now they are suddenly classed as mentally ill because of grief.....What a bunch of money grubbing weasels.
Greif and sadness are perfectly normal response to having an acquaintance, friend or loved one die. It can become a problem when too many of these are killed next to you on combat. Eventually you stop caring about anyone or anything. You become numb. That is part of the disease we call PTSD. Just because the shooting and dying have stopped does not mean the war is over.
My dad saw heavy combat during WW2. There was no such thing as PTSD...but he was damaged..it did not show- but if he drank with his friends who were also there during that time...it was clear that my dad had some very severe emotional and mental scaring- not pretty. The war was never over for him...it followed him on to his death bed and into the grave. Was his grief a mental illness? Not really...it was more of a partial amputation of the heart...a rough thick scar that hindered his emotional movement.
He was a tough guy...but as a young child I saw him quietly weep in private. It was normal...everyone and everybody that was his life when he was young were gone. Oddly children raised by those with PTSD have some of that curse to a tiny degree. I know it effected me...to witness such pain....Is war a mental illness? Supposedly not...The older you get the less grief effects you I notice. It's not so much a hardening of the heart but the realization that life will have tragic moments...and you prepare for them.
Just to add - The worse grief I saw was in my oldest brother. His oldest son was full of drama - he killed himself. When he called me I was sweeping the floor...when I hung up...I kept sweeping - it was like a numbness set over me...later I spent time with my brother - The grief was so intense it looked as if he was sweating blood....I have never seen a human being suffer so much...that was a few years ago- He has adjusted - his sorrow was normal...it was not an illness- it was about life - and it was about what comes with life - death.
If one of my kids were to perish...I would have no choice but to bare the horror and the sorrow..In the last ten years - I have never cried- I will never cry in grief...if I were to start there would be no end to the tears. We must carry the best moments- and hold the worst. There is no choice.
I agree with most of you on this issue, but think about people who are so sad that they want to die or kill themselves.. isnt this a form of mental illness caused by grief... Id imagine losing a child might cause this..or a family member or close friend who commits suicide must leave terrible guilt.. just a thought..
I'd like to put a different spin on this by relating a personal story. Before I start, let me say that I have a general distrust of the medical establishment due in part to Big Pharma's role in medicating, the money involved and a lack of qualified diagnosticians. I no longer have or can afford medical insurance and make use of as many forms of "alternative medicine" as I can.....mostly with a fair amount of success. That being said, I have nothing to gain from anything the APA does.
The line between PTSD and the lasting effects of grief can be very blurry IMO. There are some cases of grief that change a person forever. I've lost a parent, friends and assorted family over the years and never suffered any lasting effects until my wife and I lost twin sons that were born prematurely. We spent 7 weeks in the NICU watching them walk the line between life and death on an hourly basis. We lost the first one at 3 weeks and the second at 7 weeks. The only time we got to hold them without life support equipment was when all hope was lost and we had to decide to "pull the plug" and let them die in our arms.
That was 8.5 years ago and we still suffer the effects to this day. Among them are a lack of motivation, near chronic procrastination, insomnia, listlessness, exaggerated emotional reactions and a good dose of what could be loosely be called agoraphobia. Before, I was a tough construction guy, a manly man who seldom showed tears. Now, I tear up at the drop of a hat even watching TV or music and at times that can be pretty embarrassing when you're a bearded, shaved head, T-shirt and jeans wearing, "biker type". I've never come out and admitted that before except for when we went to counseling after the deaths. But what the heck, I'm nearly invisible here.
The point being that grief changed me (and my wife) in ways we still can't comprehend. So can you call grief reactions a mental illness or a cause of medical illness? I'd say yes.
In the meantime they removed MPD from the DSM. The medical profession is a huge scam to enslave the "common folk". I'm sure we've all had experiences with condescending patronizing physicians. The correct treatment for immediate grief is emotional support, period. Some of the stuff they try to shill out is appalling. I went to a Gyno who said my CERVIX was atrophying and I needed a Vag cream! In the first place how do you apply a cream to your CERVIX? I told the nurse I had no intention of enslaving myself to either her or a Vaginal cream! Most Drs are taught lies to sell more lies.
I lost a sister in 1980 and it ruined my life. They don't want to tell you the truth because suicide rates would go through the roof. They tell you all sorts of BS about healing and time and blah de blah. It ruined my life and I never "got over" what happened and for good reason, there was criminal intent surrounding her death that was covered up! I also saw how the medical profession euthanizes the elderly in critical condition if the one in legal control wants it. My brother basically had my elderly Mother put down. A whisper or two in the ear of a Eugenics practitioner and a shot of morphine just a little to generous is all it takes. If she had rallied she could have had another 10 years at least. 90% of everything they tell us is a lie to control the population. I don't trust them or the lawyers, most of them are Eugenisist and do not care about anything but the money and their own families if they even care about them.
The level of grief is usually in proportion to the level of tragic events. If Your 89 year old Parent or Grandparent dies in their sleep, that isn't likely to trigger horrific abnormal grief; thats the normal course of events we all have to face in life at some point. After a few weeks through a year or two you feel better. When your 19 year old sibling is viciously murdered that kind of horrific tragedy is what can trigger heightened levels of grief because rage is attached. None of these emotions are illnesses, that is shill they dish out to you so you buy into the system and shell out your money to Doctors looking for answers and enslave you to medications you likely don't need. In fact meds could dangerously delay emotions that might surface years later.
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