
What 10 nights in the psych ward is like - transparentlabs
https://medium.com/@Jeffrey_Baird/i-spent-ten-nights-in-the-hospital-ec6c1d3baa84#.os410pllv
======
aisofteng
>It probably didn’t help that I was (am) incredibly stressed about the state
of our world

I am not trying to diminish this person's personal experience nor fail to have
empathy. However, "incredibly stressed about the state of the world" is itself
a sign of poor mental state, and I think that it paradoxically is harmful to
make this sort of statement so casually in an an article ostensibly supposed
to bring awareness and understanding of states of mind.

If "stress about the state of the world" harms your quality of life, then
that, in and of itself, likely means you have a mental disorder, or at least
an inability to cope with your own emotions.

Note that I am not talking about being upset about "the state of the world", I
am talking about identifying being so upset about "the state of the world"
that it harms your daily life.

We normalize extreme emotional reactions too much. It prevents many from
understanding that they have an inability to cope with daily life, for
whatever reason that may be.

~~~
jeffreybaird
Author here.

> I am not trying to diminish this person's personal experience nor fail to
> have empathy.

You did.

> However, "incredibly stressed about the state of the world" is itself a sign
> of poor mental state, and I think that it paradoxically is harmful to make
> this sort of statement so casually in an an article ostensibly supposed to
> bring awareness and understanding of states of mind.

This entire piece is about my mental illness, so great observation.

> We normalize extreme emotional reactions too much. It prevents many from
> understanding that they have an inability to cope with daily life, for
> whatever reason that may be.

I agree that I have a mental illness, I fail to understand how that wasn't
already abundently clear in the piece. The normalization of talking about
mental health is the goal here.

Comments like this only add to the overwhelming messaging that mental illness
is something we should be ashamed of. I would encourage you to refrain from
commenting in the future.

~~~
tcj_phx
I enjoyed reading your story of the mental hospital. I've spent too much time
visiting my friend at the mental hospitals over the past year and a half. They
refused to treat her substance abuse problems, and gave her drugs that made
her more depressed than before.

Lots of mental problems stem from a suboptimal metabolism. My latest shipment
of t3 thyroid medication just arrived from Mexico... ;)

