9 things NOT to say to someone with MI - Teaching others what to say

I had someone say to me just the other day,

"You'll be right Champ, you know it's all in your head right?"

Ahh succint and brilliant observation. Einsteinian perception.

I just howled with laughter and the poor bugger just looked confused.

Rick

Rick, sounds like a real bright spark the trype who lights amatch to see how full the fuel tank is on his motore mower, one name for those kind of people, "Wankers".

loopy

justanother47yr, that is at Campbell town, the guy uses a chain saw, it is magnificent, there are some in just about every country town. The man is a genius.

loopy

Hi I really like this thread some have made me laugh some cry.

The reason for the laugh is so many have touched home like ITS ALL IN YOUR HEAD I've got that one a few times. That's why I don't talk about it with a lot of people, they just don't get the damage they're doing. I used to be very outgoing my moto was do I like who I am if so regret nothing. Problem now I often just don't like who I am as at times I am not sure who I am in a way . I don't mix so well any more as I am reserved and quiet opposed to who I used to be so everyone wants to know why and then all have opinions on your situation.

Just get over it.

have a holiday

immerse your self in a hobby

you will sanp out of it soon

dont think about it

etc etc etc the more I try to explain ptsd the nightmare the flashbacks the worst I feel so my circle of friends has diminished quite a bit.

I love reading this thread as I see I'm not alone in this and sometimes even think that some of the people that say these things are more damaged than we may be. We know we have problems which we do our best to deal with. They are not aware they have a problem.

Anyway one step and one day at a time.

Scorpion

SCORPION, you are in the right place to help your problem I assure you. But be careful, I started out as loopy now I have a hand full of names given by a few on this site and I even more confused about my real identity. All jokes aside you will get help the people on this forum are amazing listeners and teachers, some more than others along with a rough lot of clowns.

loopy, I think

SAndy, beautifully said, with meaning and love. Brilliant.

loopy

Sometimes I think we have *soooooooo* far to go in creating a society that can respond to and incorporate MI in a healthy manner.

Am I the only one who was utterly appalled during the ABC's recent frenzy of self-back-patting over mentlal illness? During that week I listened to o many "experts" give their opinions on what people with depression "need" and "want", and all I could think was, "I don't know who you're talking about, but it sure isn't me".

I watched a certain documentary yesterday -- I won't mention its title or subject, because I don't think our friends the Mods would want me to -- and it contained a sequence where a couple were talking about a man -- they described themselves as his best friends -- who had been living in relentless depression. Their main points were a) they had told him to "stop whining", because "that's what those people need to hear", and b) they felt that was an acceptable thing to say, because "there's only so much a normal person could take of that". And all the time, I was thinking, "he was just looking for a stable and sure sense of connection. He repeated the complaint, because he was never sure you heard him and accepted it; he needed to know that you could include his sense of self, and of the world, and still love him." It's not a big ask.

My disappointment with the documentary was that it never put their comments, and others like them, in context. Did the film-makers not see anything wrong with their statements, or were they assuming that by throwing a spotlight on them, viewers would inherently undersatnd how they were linked with the man's lack of self-esteem and eventually taking his own life?

That was my problem with the ABC week, and the ongoing social discourse around such subjects. By constantly talking about how people with MI "need" to somehow be fundamentally different than we are, it implicitly endorses complaint about people with MI and how we're esentially a burden on society, rather than an aspect of society and a part of it.

Aonaran, I agree to a point but usually the journalists report what they are told and who by. In my case when I was interviewed it was word for word with a few exclusion that may have been the subject of litigation. I cannot judge the article you speak of as I have not read it.

loopy

Rick, touche

loopy