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I am 69, and when I was younger than 20, the only talk about mental health I personally encountered was that someone might say that they or someone they knew was a little depressed. However, i personally knew three people who committed suicide before I was 20, two teens and one of my aunts.
Words like "schizo" were used often, but usually in a joking manner.
I can also tell you that there were no school psychologists or school mental health counselors in any of the schools I attended (in Ohio and ScoCal, all public and all with at least 500 students, my high school had 2,000 kids).
Peacekeeper here with a nit-picky reminder that poor decisions for the mentally ill know no particular political home. The Community Mental Health Act designed to empty the institutions of all but the very ill was signed by President Kennedy in 1962. You may remember that his sister, Rosemary, was institutionalized with a lobotomy requested by their father.
Eventually Republicans began the work on the Bill with less than satisfactory results. But that work remains unfinished. Part of the problem, in my opinion is that neither party has ever funded enough for a workable plan. It would take an incredible amount of money to implement.
And from my experience, even when a state government has the money to spend on mental health they tend to focus on the tangibles such as facilities and amenities rather than on hiring support people with genuine expertise. Or maintaining that staff in the best possible of safe and healthy conditions.
I can go on for several hours here about whether planting corn in the country for a pittance is mentally healthier than sitting on a street corner bench waiting for your hand-out lunch but I'll spare you.
Just a reminder that, while attitudes may have superficially changed about mental illness, no one political party has decided to break their piggy bank over it.
It's one of those social problems that has no solution. Just a lot of little solutions.
Right Wing? No, hon....just Right. [well as objectively "right" as it can be - psychiatry is not so much a math science, but it is (no, was) a logic-based science. "Feelings" are the first thing you shelve when you discuss this stuff.
"One Flew Over..." was produced FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY
Schizo is not shorthand. There are at least a half dozen types. Only a Board certified psychiatrist knows that - social workers not. "Homeless" is shorthand. "autism" is shorthand.
What in heavens name does psychiatry have to do with Hollywood, Supreme Court justices, Jimmy Carter's wife, and Quakers?
And only history has been rewritten? Pffft. Enjoy your trip back to the Dark Ages.
Peacekeeper here with a nit-picky reminder that poor decisions for the mentally ill know no particular political home. The Community Mental Health Act designed to empty the institutions of all but the very ill was signed by President Kennedy in 1962. You may remember that his sister, Rosemary, was institutionalized with a lobotomy requested by their father.
Eventually Republicans began the work on the Bill with less than satisfactory results. But that work remains unfinished. Part of the problem, in my opinion is that neither party has ever funded enough for a workable plan. It would take an incredible amount of money to implement.
And from my experience, even when a state government has the money to spend on mental health they tend to focus on the tangibles such as facilities and amenities rather than on hiring support people with genuine expertise. Or maintaining that staff in the best possible of safe and healthy conditions.
I can go on for several hours here about whether planting corn in the country for a pittance is mentally healthier than sitting on a street corner bench waiting for your hand-out lunch but I'll spare you.
Just a reminder that while attitudes may have superficially changed about mental illness. No one political party has decided to break their piggy bank over it.
It's one of those social problems that has no solution. Just a lot of little solutions.
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.
It wasn't discussed. However I lived in N CA in the 90's and having a therapist was normalized there. But, that was as far as it went in terms of communications surrounding mental health. Then, I moved to the PNW and I was shocked how many people openly admitted to being on antidepressants (which made total sense up here back when it actually was darker and colder than it is now due to climate change).
Peacekeeper here with a nit-picky reminder that poor decisions for the mentally ill know no particular political home. The Community Mental Health Act designed to empty the institutions of all but the very ill was signed by President Kennedy in 1962. You may remember that his sister, Rosemary, was institutionalized with a lobotomy requested by their father.
Eventually Republicans began the work on the Bill with less than satisfactory results. But that work remains unfinished. Part of the problem, in my opinion is that neither party has ever funded enough for a workable plan. It would take an incredible amount of money to implement.
And from my experience, even when a state government has the money to spend on mental health they tend to focus on the tangibles such as facilities and amenities rather than on hiring support people with genuine expertise. Or maintaining that staff in the best possible of safe and healthy conditions.
I can go on for several hours here about whether planting corn in the country for a pittance is mentally healthier than sitting on a street corner bench waiting for your hand-out lunch but I'll spare you.
Just a reminder that, while attitudes may have superficially changed about mental illness, no one political party has decided to break their piggy bank over it.
It's one of those social problems that has no solution. Just a lot of little solutions.
Its one of those needs that nobody talks about.
Houston did do a good job with homeless vets. They had a program they started 7 or 8 years ago. But it required a lot of people. They had to hold the people's hands to get them into the programs they were eligible for.
It was very hush-hush. Not to be talked of, getting help was the very last resort, and there was not a whole lot of distinction between institutionalized people and those who just needed a bit of help with minor adjustments to brain chemistry or whatnot to feel like un-broken humans.
Quote:
Originally Posted by otterhere
Believe it or not... There didn't used to be the expectation that "normal" life was happy and worry-free; therefore, feeling depressed or anxious wasn't "abnormal." The idea that there's something wrong with you if you're not all smiles is a fairly recent one in history.
"Not being all smiles" really isn't what clinical depression is about. It's more like "not being able to function as a human being".
Quote:
I think a swing back in that direction wouldn't be a bad thing.
I beg to differ. If you break an arm, you go to the ER and no one thinks less of you. If something is broken in your mind, you should be able to seek out a professional without stigma attached.
Are certain conditions overdiagnosed and overmedicated? Sure. Still better than having fellow human beings grind though a painful existence because they're ashamed to get what help is available.
My mother graduated from high school in the early 1950s and by 1970, four of her male classmates had shot themselves with their own guns.
My parents were good friends with a couple when we lived in Florida. The friends kids were older than me and my siblings. Their oldest served in Viet Nam.
I remember one time we were visiting (this would've been mid to late 60's) and the grown ups were sitting around the pool, talking quietly. I guess they didn't think I could hear them, but they were talking about the son, Mike, coming back from Viet Nam addicted to heroin.
Right Wing? No, hon....just Right. [well as objectively "right" as it can be - psychiatry is not so much a math science, but it is (no, was) a logic-based science. "Feelings" are the first thing you shelve when you discuss this stuff.
"One Flew Over..." was produced FOR ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY
Schizo is not shorthand. There are at least a half dozen types. Only a Board certified psychiatrist knows that - social workers not. "Homeless" is shorthand. "autism" is shorthand.
What in heavens name does psychiatry have to do with Hollywood, Supreme Court justices, Jimmy Carter's wife, and Quakers?
And only history has been rewritten? Pffft. Enjoy your trip back to the Dark Ages.
I make it a point not to debate those whose concept of reality is highly biased and questionable, whose understanding of history is lacking, and who can't remember what they wrote in a previous post.
Can't imagine where I picked up that first caveat...
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