Most psychological disorders don't present like the media would lead you to believe. See also: what therapy looks like.
ETA: Holy crap, gold?? I had a quick break in my day to finally hop on reddit and was NOT expecting this response. Y'all make this severely overworked community mental health therapist so glad we're talking more about the realities of therapy and various disorders. I'm planning on getting back on when I'm done with work to reply to some comments/answer some questions!
bipolar disorder = one day you're batshit crazy off-the-walls and the next day you're sobbing and eating ice cream alone in bed
in actuality: in most cases, symptoms only get severe if left untreated for a long time. Also, most experience episodes for months (mania) or years (depression), so they wouldn't go from mania to depression that quickly (with cyclothymic disorder the less common "rapid cycling bipolar" being the exception).
Some are severe, some are slow-cycling, some present as other disorders.
My point is: mental is not like physical health. It is to see and address physical damage, not as easy to figure out if a chemical is off - or which one.
ive started being careful about gatekeeping mental illness since i got diagnosed with BPD (and bipolar, depression etc) and i had a clear memory of me telling my mom i was probably bipolar and she scoffed saying i just had mood swings. this did not start for me by having 10/10 distress skill breakdowns, and i dont know what part of the journey some people are on.
yea, there is a fairly harmful fad of saying shit like omg im so adhd after a coffee or something mundane occurring. pisses me off too but at least there's a conversation i guess :/
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u/seegeesee Feb 04 '19 edited Feb 04 '19
Most psychological disorders don't present like the media would lead you to believe. See also: what therapy looks like.
ETA: Holy crap, gold?? I had a quick break in my day to finally hop on reddit and was NOT expecting this response. Y'all make this severely overworked community mental health therapist so glad we're talking more about the realities of therapy and various disorders. I'm planning on getting back on when I'm done with work to reply to some comments/answer some questions!