What does pain and depression look like?
Options
Comments
-
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
No worries, @Victoriad! I suspect that I've been misdiagnosed as having BPD when I actually have Complex PTSD, but you have to go with the diagnoses you're given, right?
-
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
Good God, @Victoriad! That's terrifying! You managed to get to Tribunal before they started the ECT, right?! A psychiatrist I saw a few years ago suggested that I have 6 ECT sessions, but no way, Jose. I've known several people who've had it, and they all said they lost short-term memories and felt somehow...different afterwards (not just better from the depression). The scary thing is, you'd never know if you were actually different, would you? Maybe you'd be a bit stupider, or you'd have forgotten some memories which were important to you, or maybe chocolate would taste different afterwards, but you wouldn't remember it. Eek. My brain doesn't work so well, but I'd like to stay me, thank you very much. If it was the only thing left to try and I was going to be sectioned over and over and never have a chance to live a vaguely reasonable life, then I'd say yes, but I'm not at that point yet. Hmmm. Well. Actually, I very rarely leave the house, don't eat enough, barely sleep, don't talk to people except my partners... Hmmm. Maybe I need to think about that.
I've always been terrified of being sectioned. I know that hospitals are supposed to be safe, restful places where you can recover, but I've heard enough from others in my BPD program to convince me that I never want to go in there. (On the other hand, I had to get a friend sectioned a few weeks back because he had a psychotic break, and he was talking very calmly about having to kill himself so the world would continue to exist. . He said the hospital was fantastic. It's possible that, once again, people with BPD get treated poorly because even mental health practitioners have the wrong idea about what BPD is. Sigh.) I probably should have been sectioned a couple of times over the past few years, but I'd told my partners and friends how terrified I was of it, so they set up suicide watch rotas to keep me under constant surveillance until I stopped wanting to kill myself. I'm very lucky to have such amazing friends.
TRIGGERS (sexual assault ahead) A few years ago I was drugged, taken to some stranger's flat, and raped multiple times. I couldn't even turn my head, or lift a finger, and I only remember tiny bits and pieces of it. I'm still traumatized. The idea of being taken to a strange place against my will, possibly restrained, and forcibly injected with drugs... And if it was a male nurse... Yikes! I think it'd undo all the progress I've made. TRIGGERS OVER.
Some genes have been discovered for schizophrenia (my Dad was involved in the discovery of two of them), although most geneticists believe that the genes just make the person more vulnerable to developing the disease - it probably also needs to be triggered by something (a virus? trauma? environment? who knows). I keep reading about differences in the brains of people with various mental illnesses - psychopaths have a smaller something-or-other, people with BPD have less white matter (I think? Don't take my word for it - I've been awake for 47 hours). The thing is, the papers I've read about these differences almost always assume that the structural differences in the brain are the *cause* of the mental illness. What if the mental illness causes the brain structure to change? Or what if the most common class of meds for a particular disease causes the structural changes? They never address that, and as the work is so new, I suspect that they haven't been able to do long-term studies looking at differences in brain structure of people before and after they develop a mental illness. How is that even allowed? That's not science!
I agree, psychiatry freaks me out too. I think it can be useful to be put into categories sometimes - you don't want to give someone with bipolar disorder straight anti-depressants, as it can send them manic. Of course, the categories aren't great, and people still get put into the wrong one sometimes, but it cuts down on the mid-medication of some patients, etc. I do find it odd, though, that many psychiatrists: 1) Seem to have completely bought into the medical model (um, trauma? Abuse? Physical illnesses? Stress? Nope, only brain chemicals and genes!), and 2) Seem so certain of their diagnoses, when they *must* know how generally **** humans are at inventing useful categories and sticking people in the right ones. What pisses me off the most is mental health practitioners (and physical health ones) who don't bother to listen to you, treat you like a 5 year old, and assume that they, in their god-like wisdom, know what's best for you. Yeah, I'm crazy, but most of the time I have enough insight into my condition to make vaguely reasonable choices. If I say "no ECT", perhaps they could treat me with meds until I stabilized a bit, and check back with me about the ECT thing a few days later? Don't get me wrong, I've met a few physical health practitioners who act the same way, but the key difference is that if I refuse to have surgery on my knee, I can just walk out of the surgery.
-
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
@WaylayThe scary thing is, you'd never know if you were actually different, would you?
Yes. Sadly that comes under insight.Do not follow me, I don't know where I am going. -
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
Victoriad said:Hello @whistles
Lack of insight is a basis tenet of mental illness.
Personality disorder seems to be dealing with inherent traits within an individual and nothing to do with insight.
Personality disorders I would figure were there from birth. Different aspects of you coming forwards at different times. But you all the same?
Do not follow me, I don't know where I am going. -
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
Victoriad said:Hello @CockneyRebel
I think it would help under question 2 and question 13.
For Question2 If you don’t have a label eg a medical label using the DSM psychiatry manual then the condition and it’s symptoms would have to be clearly stated by the consultant signing the DVLA form.
For Question 13A and 13C in the going out sections.
CR
Be all you can be, make every day count. Namaste -
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
https://www.gov.uk/health-conditions-and-driving
If you are applying for pip and are saying that your condition/ illness/ disability is so severe that you should score enough points to qualify- the dvla should be aware of your difficulties to make a decision. That's just my opinion.
You need to be medically fit to be behind the wheel of a car.
I am thinking of the planning and following a journey. If you can't do that, how can you be driving?Do not follow me, I don't know where I am going. -
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
I had to Google blue sky thinking.Do not follow me, I don't know where I am going.
-
The user and all related content has been deleted.
-
@Victoriad I do lots of thinking cos I'm always sitting on the naughty step, there be nothing else to do.Do not follow me, I don't know where I am going.
-
Brightness
Categories
- All Categories
- 13K Start here and say hello!
- 6.6K Coffee lounge
- 69 Games lounge
- 385 Cost of living
- 4.3K Disability rights and campaigning
- 1.9K Research and opportunities
- 199 Community updates
- 9.2K Talk about your situation
- 2.1K Children, parents, and families
- 1.6K Work and employment
- 768 Education
- 1.7K Housing and independent living
- 1.4K Aids, adaptations, and equipment
- 586 Dating, sex, and relationships
- 363 Exercise and accessible facilities
- 737 Transport and travel
- 31.7K Talk about money
- 4.4K Benefits and financial support
- 5.2K Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
- 17.1K PIP, DLA, and AA
- 4.9K Universal Credit (UC)
- 6.2K Talk about your impairment
- 1.8K Cerebral palsy
- 869 Chronic pain and pain management
- 180 Physical and neurological impairments
- 1.1K Autism and neurodiversity
- 1.2K Mental health and wellbeing
- 317 Sensory impairments
- 818 Rare, invisible, and undiagnosed conditions
Do you need advice on your energy costs?
Scope’s Disability Energy Support service is open to any disabled household in England or Wales in which one or more disabled people live. You can get free advice from an expert adviser on managing energy debt, switching tariffs, contacting your supplier and more. Find out more information by visiting our
Disability Energy Support webpage.