Mental health day. What does it mean for you?!

[courtg9000]

It's a difficult topic to discuss but I agree. Where is the line between just being down in the dumps because of something that will go away very soon and a mental health episode that needs attention. Bit of money problems, lack of sleep, just a bit down in the dumps. Totally agree that could be classed as mental health technically but it's so far down the spectrum. I know quite a few people around me go on about mental health when a good sleep and pull your socks up is all that is needed but it worries people around them and they have it in their heads its OK to be like that and wallow because it's a mental health problem. It's a bit like saying you've got flu when you've got a cold.

In some cases I don't think jumping on the mental health bandwagon is useful as it needs a whole different approach to remedy. Don't get me wrong, I don't treat them any differently and ask what's up and all that but then you see them beaming from ear to ear a few days later it's difficult to take the third, fouth time seriosuly if you get me.

That said when people say I'm having a bad week, I'll be fine you do have to make sure, particularly in men, they aren't covering up something more serious.

It's just a difficult discussion when you bring the term normal human emotion in to it. What's normal? It was normal not to worry about peoples mental health 10 plus years ago for example. Shyness is another one, people are just shy, they change in time but it's now it's linked to Social Anxiety Disorder. So someone that would have just be shy back in the day is now suferring for SAD. Is being shy still normal?

I see what you are saying and others on this thread too.
I have already posted a very, very wide view on the actual day itself.
I don't agree with some of it. A lot of mental health is very serious. Trust me I know. There are very serious professionals involved in my mental health at the moment not to mention the bus loads of people doing my physical health.
(If you want more details have a look at my website and posts for the past 3 months for an indication of just how bad it got - september is a good place to start)
There are different bands.
There are people absolutely milking it.
I know of a contractor who claimed a mental issue after a manager told him to "get his brain in gear". Agreed not the most tactful thing to do perhaps, but he threw a wobler and got HR involved the full 9 yards.
But, serious mental health is very serious and not just a con, it manifests itself in different ways. I think there are not enough pro's who can weed out those trying it on. Too many tryer's are stretching the services.
The other thing is if you look at some of the examples below, some of you IMHO only are discarding some possibly real cases as "tryers".
I don;t think anything can be described as normal.

[NowPermOutsideUK]

And what happened to the contractor who got hr involved? Was he booted out of the team which is what I expect ?!

[BR14]

And what happened to the contractor who got hr involved? Was he booted out of the team which is what I expect ?!

Thinking of yet another little 'money for nothing' scam. are you, LondonPM???

[courtg9000]

That's what I heard.

[Scoobos]

As someone recently diagnosed as suffering from C-PTSD for 35 years or so - the subject actually triggers me a tiny bit.

This whole notion that "if people talk" or that people need to come forward to help , annoys me.

The reality for me, was realising I was high performing because I was driven by extreme anxiety , which later in life is unhealthy , but boy does it get results. Like a nicotine addiction, its only when you realise you can't turn it off, that you realise you've a problem.

I was working at Microsoft , a contract I won at the same time that my wife had had an emergency hysterectomy and a near miss with death , just after marrying as we planned to have kids (we were together for 10 years before we got married).

The extra anxiety made me realise that I was suffering - I think that was my tipping point and when I reached out for help.

It took 10+ years from "asking for help" , to get beyond the "are you going to kill yourself, or harm others?" question, answer "no, I'm functional" and get seen. It makes you honestly feel that harming yourself is your only gateway to help.

The funding has been non existent, the services are NOT there to help if you ask and you are not so badly damaged that you are considering suicide.

That's my opinion of mental health support in the UK and I am triggered by the notion that its the victims or their friends that "need to know they can get help" , when the reality of realising it isn't there - or you aren't "sick enough" to be seen , does more harm than anyone without a mental illness can understand.

I want campaigns that highlight just how little the spend of the UK is on mental health. Look at how much your average american spends on "therapy" (often argued to be a good preventative treatment for mental illness) - compared to what the NHS provides. It's a crisis service only and its not there in the capacity it is needed to serve even 10% of SEVERE cases.

I have never in my life posted anything like this on this forum or alluded to it , I'll probably regret it tomorrow

[NowPermOutsideUK]

The honest answer is that people who do claim depression bullying anxiety are buried and kicked out. Even more so as a contractor

so most people suffer from it and just ignore it until it breaks them

I don’t even know whether talking about stuff actually makes a difference. If you are in a role where blood is expected and the environment is hostile there’s not much that can be done other than grin and bear it (which is the contractor view) or move which requires courage

[BR14]

The honest answer is that people who do claim depression bullying anxiety are buried and kicked out. Even more so as a contractor

so most people suffer from it and just ignore it until it breaks them

I don’t even know whether talking about stuff actually makes a difference. If you are in a role where blood is expected and the environment is hostile there’s not much that can be done other than grin and bear it (which is the contractor view) or move which requires courage

WALOOB

[NotAllThere]

The honest answer is that people who do claim depression bullying anxiety are buried and kicked out.

That sentence makes no sense.

I had depression as a student. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy; it's crap. Thankfully, it only lasted about six months and didn't affect my degree. I've not suffered from it ever again.

[northernladuk]

That sentence makes no sense.

Along with the 319 other posts to be fair.

[d000hg]

That MH is far more openly discussed and taboos are diminished is great. It's slowly permeating the collective psyche to the extent I hear it discussed by those who formerly might have brushed it aside as "just buck up".

The day itself I wasn't aware of and I think longer campaigns are far more useful to 'normalise' the topic.