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Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#61

Post by vacri »

adrianbye wrote: post #39
winter_blue wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you use words like "bi-polar and depression" it gives the sense that this is a medical disease . And while speaking strictly, it is indeed a medical disease -- I want people to see the raw human factor in this. Depression, for example, in my experience, and from what I've seen -- often has a cause; a rational, explainable cause (that the sufferer often isn't aware of). When you treat someone's depression as a "m…

what is ignored (thanks to psychiatry being left wing, and trying to mitigate the downside rather than build on the upside) is that bipolar brings a lot of BENEFITS. when bipolar people are very hyper, they can achieve great things. thats the reason why people with bipolar usually don't want to be medicated - the highs bring genius.. the problem are the lows which follow it. average people don't make the big breakthr…

I know three bipolar people, and all of them take meds because they don't like what happens when they're off meds.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#62

Post by vacri »

koningrobot wrote: post #19
eksith wrote: post #11

I don't even want to imagine a day Stephen Fry isn't around. What a horrible, horrible void there would be where he stood. The insidiousness of this disease is in how well it hides itself in plain sight in many cases. And how terrifyingly easy it is to fall to it. He said there is "no reason" for someone wanting to take their own life. "There is no 'why', it's not the right question. There's no reason. If there were…

Stephen Fry should speak for himself. People can have very good reasons to want to die. Reasons that are so good that, besides outweighing the value that their life has to them, still have enough oomph to carry one over the high doorstep of fear and pain that comes with taking one's own life. Life is not infinitely valuable. Its goods can be outweighed by bads. People who really just want to go should be respected an…

I suffer from mild clinical depression, and know first-hand that one of the things it does is fuck with how you mentally weigh things. Things of no importance when you're clear of mind take on momentous importance when you're affected. This 'let the ill take their own lives, it's what they want' is lazy and suggests that you're not actually familiar with the issues involved.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#63

Post by joshhart »

winter_blue wrote: post #29
citricsquid wrote: post #3

The documentary mentioned about his bi-polar is available on Amazon (and without permission on Youtube) for anyone interested, it's a very good insight into bi-polar and depression, worth the 120 minutes: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808482/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry:_The_Secret_Life_of... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stephen-Frys-Secret-Manic-Depressive...

When you use words like "bi-polar and depression" it gives the sense that this is a medical disease . And while speaking strictly, it is indeed a medical disease -- I want people to see the raw human factor in this. Depression, for example, in my experience, and from what I've seen -- often has a cause; a rational, explainable cause (that the sufferer often isn't aware of). When you treat someone's depression as a "m…

I have read that book and it is indeed very good because it gives the reader tools to succeed and the clinical research proving that what we think and the way we think greatly influences our mood.

Dr. Burns stated that the methods often work best when used in conjunction with medication. Some people may be so far down the rabbit hole that medication is necessary to restore improper brain chemistry.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#64

Post by scott_s »

gruseom wrote: post #53
DanBC wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fry has Bipolar Disorder, diagnosed in England. This is a very different illness to depression. And depression has different forms. Yes, talking therapies are powerful. But you seem to be making the mistake that a talking therapy isn't affecting brain chemistry, or that drugs are inherently bad. Comments like yours are very frustrating. Do you talk about people ignoring the real human factor when we put a broken bone…

But the biological theory of mental illnesses is very far from established. We have no reliable way of identifying them and no understanding of their mechanism. Existing studies of the medications we use to treat them have been subjected to pretty devastating critique; e.g. the most comprehensive review of the SSRI studies (by Irving Kirsch et. al.) found no clinical significance beyond placebo for the vast majority…

Steven Novella addresses the biological theory of mental illness quite well in this 10 minute segment from the podcast The Skeptics Guide to the Universe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MLdvKzLl6k

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#65

Post by scott_s »

ghswa wrote: post #38
marquis wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The many many people in our lives suffering from a chemical/medical issue can not solve their problems with therapy alone. Depression is multi-factored and definitely partly chemical - maybe for some it's solved by spending more time in the sun but for many of our friends it is a serious clinical issue not to be mistaken as having a purely talk-it-out solution. Stephen is an excellent example here: he has the sheer i…

And in these cases the situation can be exasperated by well meaning friends, relatives and practitioners searching for a root cause that, if addressed, will make it all go away.

In case you hadn't seen it, the author of Hyperbole and a Half recently posted about her depression, and she hit on similar things in a poignant way: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/

Extensive HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5684773

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#66

Post by ShawnBird »

ZoFreX wrote: post #32
MrJagil wrote: post #5

The nature of this illness truly reveals itself when you can contrast the quotes from the article with his behaviour in a show like QI. Without knowing more about him you would presume him to be a very happy man. My roommate suffers from bipolar disorder (and a lot of other stuff to boot), and honestly, it is as much a disease with as much rationale behind it as any physiological one. His comment about "arguing" with…

When I "come out" to people I get this reaction a lot - people are genuinely surprised that a happy person can be depressed.

It is a little strange to think about. Most people experience some depression in their lives so things like chronic depression are easier to understand through your own experience.

It is strange to think that someone who is 'always so happy' gets depressed. Not that they are hiding that depression under their cheer but that the cheer and depression are genuine states that manifest very powerfully. It just isn't something that most people go through.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#68

Post by ghswa »

meric wrote: post #57
daeken wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jesus christ, yes. This is why many people suffering from mental illness don't talk about their problems: they end up feeling worse because their friends either try to "fix" them, or they end up comforting the friend, or both. It's always with the best of intentions, but I recently had an experience where I truly understood how terminal cancer patients feel; a friend wanted so badly to help, and kept feeling worse an…

If I was one of your friends, would you have liked me to have just treated you as I normally do? If I had someone close who was dying, when I'm seeing them I think I'd just interact with them as I normally do (though accepting and recognising they are, in fact, dying), and not let the fact that they were dying to get in the way of our relationship. I rationalize this by thinking people don't want to feel being pitied…

For me this depends very much on who it is that's trying to help.

If they've not experienced something similar to the mental health problems I'm suffering from it's usually best if they treat me as normal. The effort required to try and explain aspects of what I'm going through, usually with little success, is often far more detrimental than any benefit they could hope to provide. Being distracted from the problems, even if only for a short while, can be blissful and hugely appreciated.

On the other hand, I'm usually happy to be treated differently by people that have had similar experiences to me. I can often communicate to them in a sentence things which would take hours of conversation with somebody who'd not been there before.

It's a difficult situation for both the supporter and the supported, particularly in the early days.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#69

Post by baby »

winter_blue wrote: post #29
citricsquid wrote: post #3

The documentary mentioned about his bi-polar is available on Amazon (and without permission on Youtube) for anyone interested, it's a very good insight into bi-polar and depression, worth the 120 minutes: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808482/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry:_The_Secret_Life_of... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stephen-Frys-Secret-Manic-Depressive...

When you use words like "bi-polar and depression" it gives the sense that this is a medical disease . And while speaking strictly, it is indeed a medical disease -- I want people to see the raw human factor in this. Depression, for example, in my experience, and from what I've seen -- often has a cause; a rational, explainable cause (that the sufferer often isn't aware of). When you treat someone's depression as a "m…

Are people really not aware nowadays that Depression is used wildly and can be a real neuro-disease?

Did you know they can surgically put a pacemaker in your brain to "treat" you?

I thought it was common knowledge.

Re: Stephen Fry reveals he attempted suicide in 2012

#70

Post by baby »

winter_blue wrote: post #29
citricsquid wrote: post #3

The documentary mentioned about his bi-polar is available on Amazon (and without permission on Youtube) for anyone interested, it's a very good insight into bi-polar and depression, worth the 120 minutes: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0808482/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Fry:_The_Secret_Life_of... http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stephen-Frys-Secret-Manic-Depressive...

When you use words like "bi-polar and depression" it gives the sense that this is a medical disease . And while speaking strictly, it is indeed a medical disease -- I want people to see the raw human factor in this. Depression, for example, in my experience, and from what I've seen -- often has a cause; a rational, explainable cause (that the sufferer often isn't aware of). When you treat someone's depression as a "m…

Are people really not aware nowadays that Depression is used wildly and can be a real neuro-disease?

Did you know they can surgically put a pacemaker in your brain to "treat" you?

I thought it was common knowledge.

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