Poll: Mental health discrimination

Mental health discrimination

  • I have experienced MH problems and have experienced discrimination.

    Votes: 45 27.4%

  • I have experienced MH problems and have not experienced any discrimination.

    Votes: 45 27.4%

  • I have not experienced MH problems and have witnessed discrimination.

    Votes: 26 15.9%

  • I have not experienced MH problems and have not witnessed discrimination.

    Votes: 48 29.3%
  • Total voters
    164
menatl health certainly shouldn't be taboo - it is something most people will have to deal with and basically a part of life
 
Tough question for me to answer. I've had mental health issues on and off my whole life, but I'm struggling to tell if my perceived discrimination was a reality, or just another part of my mental illnesses....

I can say that I was made to wait for a year for CBT on the NHS, and even then they nearly didn't give it to me because, and I quote "We don't normally treat people who are in employment". I guess that's discrimination after all, so I will vote accordingly.
 
No&No

Only talked to one person with problems but I suspect that many more keep it a secret because of what some people will think of them.
 
Munky1080 said:
I can say that I was made to wait for a year for CBT on the NHS, and even then they nearly didn't give it to me because, and I quote "We don't normally treat people who are in employment". I guess that's discrimination after all, so I will vote accordingly.
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I think that is more just a crude measure of how they can allocate resources... if 16 million people a year are having mental health issues then the majority are not going to be able to have CBT simply due to the sheer numbers involved ergo presumably they'll want to just deal with the more serious cases... though do they distinguish between people who just happen to be unemployed at the time and people who are unemployed directly as a result of their mental health issues?
 
For years I subscribed to the Troy McClure approach to mental health, explained in his well known program "Get confident stupid", but then depression hits you and you realise simplistic 'cheer up' messages at those inflicted with this and worse are pathetic. I've only ever experienced the milder aspects and not for prolonged periods, but I can imagine for some it is a hellish existence.
 
I'm psychotic, and although I don't run the streets screaming about it, I don't keep it secret either. I've seen discrimination but not as much as there used to be.
 
I'll admit I'm a person who discriminates against people with mental health problems. It's not that I don't sympathise with them or think they're not ill or anything, but it's difficult enough making sense of my own emotions without having to worry about anyone else's so I tend to steer clear of them. I know it's selfish but I've had people break down in tears in front of me when I've asked them a fairly innocuous question work-related question, which made me feel very uncomfortable. I put people on this forum on ignore if I suspect they're suffering from depression and it's out of control.
 
dowie said:
I think that is more just a crude measure of how they can allocate resources... if 16 million people a year are having mental health issues then the majority are not going to be able to have CBT simply due to the sheer numbers involved ergo presumably they'll want to just deal with the more serious cases... though do they distinguish between people who just happen to be unemployed at the time and people who are unemployed directly as a result of their mental health issues?
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To be fair, there probably is some sort of "triage" type of thing that happens. In my case, I was what was considered "in crisis" when I was admitted to the NHS, to the point that while I wasn't in an inpatient facility, I did have daily visits from the local mental health hospital (which did me the WORLD of good, just having someone around for 30 minutes a day).

I was out of work when this happened, but gained employment while I was on a waiting list. Once I was back in work, I really had to fight to get a place in CBT. The sad thing was, that our group started with eight people in it. By the end, we were down to four, as people had stopped going. I know what its like to not get out of bed, etc, so I completely understand why they may have stopped going, but it was still sad to see empty chairs that could have been filled by others.
 
scorza said:
I'll admit I'm a person who discriminates against people with mental health problems. It's not that I don't sympathise with them or think they're not ill or anything, but it's difficult enough making sense of my own emotions without having to worry about anyone else's so I tend to steer clear of them. I know it's selfish but I've had people break down in tears in front of me when I've asked them a fairly innocuous question work-related question, which made me feel very uncomfortable. I put people on this forum on ignore if I suspect they're suffering from depression and it's out of control.
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My ex-wife had mental health problems and it was part of what led to the break down of my marriage to her. Let me tell you, it's not unreasonable to be weary of those with mental health problems. I'm the same as you now
 
Wow out of respondents so far, 24 have experienced MH problems and 13 haven't.

I get that this thread is likely to draw disproportionately more MH sufferers than usual, but almost double the amount of non MH sufferers.

Is this a massive underlying issue?
 
dl8860 said:
I get that this thread is likely to draw disproportionately more MH sufferers than usual, but almost double the amount of non MH sufferers.
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why would that be disproportionate

if 1 in 4 people have some form of mental illness each year then it wouldn't be surprising to find the majority of people will have experienced mental illness

in fact I wouldn't be surprised if some people of the people who've answered that they haven't actually have without realsing that they have
 
dl8860 said:
Is this a massive underlying issue?
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Of course it is. People have mental problems even though they think they're absolutely fine, it's the beauty of how the mind works. I'm not going to name names, but two have already posted in this very thread (Not you Sliver). Sometimes these people even externalize their own problems and think it's other people who are mental and possess the problem.

In some cases people with certain mental health issues are actually "better" human beings than people who think they're not mental.

I for one believe people who have mental issues are are the most interesting people ever and I do as much as I possibly can to help people who are suffering. Usually always misunderstood by general population who is incapable of understanding much about anything.
 
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asim18 said:
Hahahah What the?

You think someone's depressed if they disagree with something you post?
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I don't put people who disagree with me on ignore. Let's be honest, it can sometimes get a bit intense in here and I don't want to be my usual kind and empathetic self to someone whose a bit vulnerable.
 
Oh I understand now, fair enough.

The thing about certain truly depressed people is that a lot of things which people typically assume are "depressing" would simply be too mundane for them to even care about.
 
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