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#1
May 02, 2010, 02:17 PM
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Last week, I had a bit of an accident at work, I was basically babysitting a crew that was disassembling and moving some equipment that we no longer use to another site, in another state.
I dislike just standing around when I saw something that needed to be done, it wasn’t something that was part of this crew’s responsibility, so I thought I would just do it myself, usually no big deal, only thing was I needed to do this from the top of a ladder. Well I’m generally a klutz, ended up taking a good 15’-18’ fall, got lucky no serious injuries, but quite a few minor ones. It was the reaction of the crew that shocked me, not at the time but just now when I was thinking about it. Everyone in the area, 6 guys rushed over to help, they saw someone who was hurting, they rushed over to lend whatever assistance they could, all other thoughts had instantly left their minds. Instant concern over the well being of a total stranger an unthinking willingness to lend whatever support possible, basic human nature at its finest. I didn’t think about their reaction much at the time, I was mostly concentrating on making sure I really wasn’t seriously hurt, but I was in more than a bit of pain. But this just occurred me to, the pain from the fall was NOTHING compared to the mental anguish I have to deal with on a daily basis. But if a group of people (often times even friends and family) suddenly find out you are in “mental pain” they don’t rush to your assistance, in fact their reaction is just the opposite. They either run in the other direction, or tell you that you’re just exaggerating, or make some other dismissive statement. WHY, why such vastly and completely opposite reactions to the what is fundamentally the same situation “a fellow human being in pain” Could someone please explain this to me, PLEASE…
__________________
“If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. ... We need not wait to see what others do.” Gandhi |
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#2
May 02, 2010, 02:30 PM
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I don't have any answers to your question, but I do have some thoughts. First of all, sometimes I do a really good job of hiding that I am hurting and people don't even know. Secondly, mental illness or even just general sadness is kind of taboo in our society, supposedly everyone is supposed to be good all the time I guess. Thirdly, sometimes people think it's your own fault and that you "deserve" it. Fourth, sometimes people think it is some kind of moral failing that has put you in this situation and you have to live with the consequences, or you would feel better if only you would - fill in the blank.
Sometimes I think too people don't want to believe it, that something has happened to you, especially if it involves someone they know or care about. Or if they are part of the problem of course they want to downplay the significance of your problem as much as they can, to feel better about themselves. It doesn't make any sense to me either, but I am glad that you are okay physically. Be more careful 
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#3
May 02, 2010, 04:10 PM
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Out of sight, out of mind, out of belief.
__________________
“In depression . . . faith in deliverance, in ultimate restoration, is absent. The pain is unrelenting, and what makes the condition intolerable is the...feeling felt as truth...that no remedy will come -- not in a day, an hour, a month, or a minute. . . . It is hopelessness even more than pain that crushes the soul.”-William Styron |
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#4
May 02, 2010, 05:19 PM
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Wish I had the answer but have wondered myself. I know other people have asked this same question. Have a friend with 7 kids...one has a mental illness and one time one of her other kids broke his ankle playing baseball. She noticed he got positive attention and her daughter with the mental illness got her usual negative attention. We talked about it for a while. She came up with the idea that people can relate to physical pain, but people do not want to even acknowledge mental illness for all the stigma it has. Last time I visited was a few months ago and even went to a piano recital the daughter was in. She played beautifly and got lots of admiration and clapping. My friend said "wait, watch the stranger's reactions when we go back stage. Sure enough her daughter had a meltdown and you could see the strangers move away. I was puzzled until her daughter told me herself how she loved recitals and just gets sad the recital is over because people react strangely when she cries about it.
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#5
May 03, 2010, 07:06 AM
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No answer, but...
Quote:
__________________
My dog  mastered the "fetch" command. He would communicate he wanted something, and I would fetch it.
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#6
May 03, 2010, 07:53 AM
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Hindsight observation of a vastly undermined dis-ease in our society---yes, it is utterly sad and painful to see how we treat the human spirit..it is truly a grave illness which has always existed in our "normal" world which makes the "normal" world a sick world wherein we try hard to ignore and downplay the tortured lives of so many-sad sad sad-theo
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This is an old thread. You probably should not post your reply to it, as the original poster is unlikely to see it.|
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