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MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

kennethreitz.org

101–110 of 195 posts

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#102
Interestingly the author states his symptoms started through a combination of lack of sleep and dating a disturbed individual [1].

Such a diagnosis is possibly offensive, ableist and unscientific, however there are many such anecdotal reports of people with (developing or fully developed) mental illness pairing up.

While there is little evidence of such pairing up being a cause (i.e. some sort of "contagiousness", as explored in [2]), there is some evidence that people suffering from mental illness (including personality disorders) can be attracted to one another [3].

[1] http://www.kennethreitz.org/essays/purging-the-unexpected-ne...

[2] http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/is-mental-illness-contagious...

[3] http://www.medicaldaily.com/law-attraction-mental-illness-ma...

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#103
I wonder if a "sudden" interest in eastern religions/philosophy is a precursor to bi-polar diagnoses often. My aunt went through something very similar where she was just my normal aunt, then started going deep into buddhism, then had a bad mental break, wound up in the hospital, and was then diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#104
Threee years ago I experienced a very similar manic episode with delusional thinking, but in my case, it was absolutely the best thing that ever happened to me. The creative energy and imaginative thought patterns I experienced then transformed my life in a positive way. I know this is an atypical experience and I was lucky to dodge many possible negative consequences of actions based on delusional belief systems. For me, the key was maintaining my social connections and using the perceptions and reactions of other people to keep myself connected to shared reality.

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#105
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Psychosis is pretty hard to hide I think. Basically any doctor should find out that "there's something going on" simply by having a conversation with you. The same is probably true with family (they may notice you're "acting weird/different" or something like that). If your friends are very spiritual they might think this is normal of course, so maybe stick with professionals/family. I'm not sure about bipolar disord…

I had psychosis several years ago and I was pretty good at hiding it until the point where I became hospitalized. The trick is you have to be acutely aware of whether you are sounding crazy to others, and how you're being perceived. You can think as many crazy thoughts as you want, as long as you don't express them.

I don't know much about psychosis other than what I've told you. I saw a therapist some time ago about anxiety/stress and that kind of thing and I mentioned that I've googled the hell out of it already (bad idea!) and a long list of really scary stuff came up (including psychosis). So I've mentioned that stuff starting the list with psychosis and he laughed and said he would have figured that out by now (and explained that I'd talk differently, etc.) I know that he also works with homeless people/drug addicts, so I assume he met 1 or 2 people who actually suffer from psychosis.

Having said that; if people manage to hide schizophrenia, hiding psychosis is probably also possible. But still, I think psychosis is not the kind of disease you should worry about having without realizing it (unlike e.g., depression or bipolar disorder).

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BTW: You mention you were aware that your thoughts would seem crazy to others. Were you also aware that they are crazy (or did they seem perfectly reasonable to you at the time)?

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#106
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ancient hindus saw being a yogi as a path for one that was of a certain age and already had a family and proved itself capable of functioning in society This was the case with the Western mystery traditions since the Greeks, but I wasn't aware of it in the East. Buddhist monks are often accepted at a very early age. In Tibet in particular they learn advanced yogic practices, although the more rigorous training does…

I think the source of my infos for that particular affirmation is Alan Watts and a post from a Japanese buddhist monk. I really don't know about Tibetan monks, and A.W. is entertaining but far from trustworthy. So you should check this yourself if you want the truth. Maybe it really does apply only to western mystery traditions and some Japanese buddhists, and some pople over-generalized this, I don't know for sure.

TIL - I'd just never come across it before, and I've listened to a fair amount of Watts lectures over the years. Been a while since I read any books of his, I'll keep it in mind, he was very knowledgable about these kinds of things. The Japanese did make Buddhist practice much more a part of daily life.

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#107

This story struck a nerve because (in hindsight) I saw the same thing happening to my brother when he was about 19. He was suddenly interested in astrology, reiki, "tachyon energy disks", epiphanies, angels and demons, the vibrations of the universe. At the time I thought it was a phase. My mother was always talking (tongue-in-cheek?) about her "parking angel" and burning incense, so I thought he had just picked up t…

This article describes my brother (minus the programming experience). The hard thing is you can never make someone get help if they aren't a threat to themselves or others. Being an all around a-hole isn't sufficient to make someone admit themselves to a facility (no matter the run ins with police or the diagnosis). He's lucky he went to a facility and followed through. My brother ended up in one and I felt like I ta…

I wouldn't hold up California as an exemplar of a mental health safety net, or expect too much from the services in place in this state. A significant population walking the streets loudly rambling nonsense is largely treated as a curiosity rather than in need of help. If anything, the culture embraces mental health issues.

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#108

I personally found out that coding before sleep is a horrible thing for you - your mind keeps working on problems long after you close your IDE.

I agree your mind doesn't stop, but sometimes I solve my problems in that moment before sleep, I think because I can direct all my energy to it (even eyes are closed, so no visual processing needed). Though the tired mind is often very keen to simply recurse over thoughts you've already had opposed to think of new ones. If you find you can't stop yourself going over the day though, then 10-15 mins of meditation, wher…

I've found that reading sci-fi/fantasy before going to sleep helps me transition to sleep mode. I think it's because sci-fi problems are really somebody else's problem, so my brain can let them drop when I put the book down.

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#109
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bipolar disorder and schizophrenia (the main causes of psychosis) are genetic, not caused by "spiritual crisis". The spiritual stuff is a symptom of psychosis, not a cause. "Heritability for schizophrenia was 64% and for bipolar disorder 59%." http://europepmc.org/articles/pmc3879718

You don't know that.

Given that link, you now both know it. You, however, choose not to believe it.

Re: MentalHealthError: an exception occurred

#110

Eerily similar to this recent story from This American Life, which unfortunately has a less happy ending: http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/579/m... TL;DL: Man goes into a manic state, checks himself into a hospital, and gets shot by police.

I was tased :(
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