[Shazerac]

I just got done reading a very long thread started by a wonderful person who seemed to be having a serious psychotic break. I’m not going to name them, but they ended deleting their account. The thread was 27 pages long. This person was begging for help and their suffering was heart breaking. They mentioned that their loved ones thought that being on psych central was doing more harm than good. Many kind people tried to talk to this person, but it didn’t seem to help.

That got me thinking and I started to wonder if this might be true. Does posting about problems lead us to obsess about them instead of moving on with our lives? I’m so torn and confused. It’s traumatic to witness someone have a melt down and then disappear. Are we really helping each other? I’d like to think so, but I just don’t know. I have never witnessed a situation where someone was so distraught that they seemed beyond help. It really scared me. Any feedback or perspective on this would be a great comfort to me.

[still_crazy]

hi. i don't know, honestly. its not just psych central. its mental health as a whole, really.

is "bipolar I," even "schizophrenia" really a lifelong "illness" that requires heavy meds and professional supervision, always and forever? I don't know, honestly. The labels are often lifelong, that's for sure. What's that about?

i had my 1st major psychotic break (from hell) at a state college. nobody did anything, even after I was bashed on the head with a pipe during a vicious assault. the shrinks responded w/ involuntary electroshock. so...I have doubts that psychiatry and psychology are all that interested in helping any of us, obviously.

at least you care and you're reflecting on it. im not just saying that to be nice, i mean, seriously...people are so mean spirited and self-involved, rudeness is rampant, i just don't know what's going on. "mental patients" don't matter to people, but psychiatry keeps turning people with problems into mental patients, and then the shrinks don't care, either.

i wish i had some sort of answer for you, but i don't, sorry.

I’ve seen the psychotic break type posts. We can’t do anything when it gets to a certain point. We don’t know how to contact their family and can only hope the spouse or someone is doing it. Don’t assume the worst—that person will probably show back up here later.

We helped and supported when they were more lucid and they didn’t feel so alone. That’s what this site is about.

And most important of all, we warn people about not going off meds or not playing with doses or outside drugs/alcohol. I’ve been kicked around for that, but it has to be said.

I’m not saying that’s what happened in that case.

[Wild Coyote]

Our beloved friend was having a very difficult time.
It has been heart-breaking to have her suffering so.
I am saddened she is gone. Yet, if it is in her best interest, then I can live with that. I care very much about her.

I think we each must evaluate and re-evaluate whether or not being here is helpful to us at any given time.

I have had very good luck with very loving mental health practitioners, all of whom have cared very deeply and have consistently demonstrated their sincerity.

I probably have more to say about this, Shazerac, but I'd wanted to respond quickly and need to think more about whether or not I have more to say. I might PM you, if you are open to a PM?

That is a heart-wrenching thread! I love my friend and I wish her the very best!


WC

[wildflowerchild25]

I can say for myself that I have come here while psychotic and the people here have encouraged me to seek help and I have done so at their behest. So I personally have been greatly positively impacted by this site. There are times when I need to take a break because I start getting irritated with the types of threads and responses but I always come back.

I think it really depends on the person whether this type of support is helpful or not.

I hope Elsa comes back. It sounded like she was struggling a lot.

I wouldn't say it's an obsession vs moving on with your life thing. I think she was just reaching out for help because she felt that she had no one to turn to. It sounded like her family was being torn apart (?) or something like that. That's got to be really tough. I mean, when your family gets torn apart, you pretty much have to pick a side. It sounded like it was her vs everyone else, by the way she was writing things.

I just hope that she is getting help in real life. I can't say for sure if PC was leading her to obsess over her problems (since I'm not her), but my inclination is to say no based on what she was writing and how she was writing. She sounded fearful, like fearful of what the future holds, and wanted anybody's help. She wanted to be heard. So she kept posting, but not to obsess over her problems.

[~Christina]

PC can and is a great place for support.... flip side is can be triggering, just came back from a much needed self care break from here myself.

As a whole people here can only do so much , we have no way to step in and truly make sure a person is getting help and has supportive family and friends.

I hope whoever this was is getting much needed help.

[Wild Coyote]

Originally Posted by still_crazy

hi. i don't know, honestly. its not just psych central. its mental health as a whole, really.

is "bipolar I," even "schizophrenia" really a lifelong "illness" that requires heavy meds and professional supervision, always and forever? I don't know, honestly. The labels are often lifelong, that's for sure. What's that about?

i had my 1st major psychotic break (from hell) at a state college. nobody did anything, even after I was bashed on the head with a pipe during a vicious assault. the shrinks responded w/ involuntary electroshock. so...I have doubts that psychiatry and psychology are all that interested in helping any of us, obviously.

at least you care and you're reflecting on it. im not just saying that to be nice, i mean, seriously...people are so mean spirited and self-involved, rudeness is rampant, i just don't know what's going on. "mental patients" don't matter to people, but psychiatry keeps turning people with problems into mental patients, and then the shrinks don't care, either.

i wish i had some sort of answer for you, but i don't, sorry.

I am so very sorry for the experiences you have had.

I have been very fortunate over the past 30+ years to have had very loving, committed, sincere mental health practitioners. Each of them have "gone the distance" with/for me and for their clients, in general.

That said, my current pdoc readily admits there are pdocs and therapists whom do not belong working in mental health. I have also witnessed this when I had worked in mental health, many, many moons ago.

My heart goes out to you.

WC

[downandlonely]

I think ignoring your problems is more harmful than talking about them. And I think it is good that we encourage people to seek help and not to play around with medication and drugs.

[salsharia]

Originally Posted by Shazerac

I just got done reading a very long thread started by a wonderful person who seemed to be having a serious psychotic break. I’m not going to name them, but they ended deleting their account. The thread was 27 pages long. This person was begging for help and their suffering was heart breaking. They mentioned that their loved ones thought that being on psych central was doing more harm than good. Many kind people tried to talk to this person, but it didn’t seem to help.

That got me thinking and I started to wonder if this might be true. Does posting about problems lead us to obsess about them instead of moving on with our lives? I’m so torn and confused. It’s traumatic to witness someone have a melt down and then disappear. Are we really helping each other? I’d like to think so, but I just don’t know. I have never witnessed a situation where someone was so distraught that they seemed beyond help. It really scared me. Any feedback or perspective on this would be a great comfort to me.

You have a big heart and that person was certainly held by your support weather they knew it or not but all we can hope when interacting online is that the person has a strong support system in their lives as beyond this interface/ barrier we can’t really do much more than our best, which is what you did.

Posting on here has always helped me but I’m sure given the severity of the symptoms that person’s support system probably made a decision that was best for their recovery or as a form of intervention by removing them. I hope....

[*Laurie*]

I am extremely concerned about her. She lives less than 50 miles from me; we were in contact via PC pm's quite a bit. I'm upset with myself because it never occurred to me to ask her for another way to contact her.

I believe that discussing our mental health issues is more beneficial than not, for the most part. The only time I've found PC harmful for me was when I was very depressed. I'm cautious about being here if I'm really down.