How Representative Are We?

How representative do you think we are of people with mental illness as a whole? Earlier this afternoon, I replied to a Thread posted by a new member who joined to support a friend who has received a mental health diagnosis. In the post, this member asked several questions regarding the likely course & outcome of the friend's illness.

As I wrote my reply, one thing I thought about suggesting (but didn't) was for this new member to read lots of the Threads here on PC to get a sense of how other members are doing. But then I thought... maybe this isn't such a good idea. Maybe doing this would give a person a skewed perspective... perhaps a less than favorable one. After all, most of us are here because we are, or have in the past, struggled with aspects of our mental illnesses. Perhaps most people who have successfully overcome the challenges of their mental illnesses have either moved on from PC, or may never have been here to begin with.

So what do you think? Would someone who was new to mental health, & who came here to PC, get a balanced perspective regarding the likelihood for success in dealing with a mental health diagnosis? Or might they come away feeling like the road ahead would likely be a rough one?

Thanks for reading my post!

Skewed. It's mainly us chronics who hide out here. I like that there are places like these where one is encouraged to move on with life, even when life is harsh and when things will never be all better.

I do think it might just scared a newly diagnosed person a tad, since most who get all better don't stick around (I know some do but most do not). Depending on the diagnosis it might paint a too grim picture.

I do think being understood is the most important thing though, and a person is quite likely to get at least one person who understands over here.

On the other hand, if people are thinking the absolute worst, it could paint the picture as being less grim, that others with the same struggle are still fighting to improve their outcomes and outlook.

Speaking for myself, what I've gotten out of the experience is improved compassion both for myself, and for a greater variety of persons with differing mental health challenges through the expanded understanding I've come to have through this site, and it benefits me greatly as it fits in well with my own aspirations for the kind of person I strive to be. I sleep better at night knowing I can be a better representative for humanity, doing better unto more others as I would hope others would do unto me.

As far as how truly representative we are, as cross-sections of our respective populations working with mental health questions, I personally just take us at face value in that regard. To imagine that we are missing segments of more "cured" individuals who don't stop by seems like a disservice to the populations we actually know are represented here. And in that the people here are the ones bothering to communicate in this way, bothering to try to help others with whatever they feel they can best bring to the table, maybe it is actually we who are better suited to the task, and not some phantom others we imagine just don't bother. I personally can think of many people here, from many walks of mental health life, who are outstanding examples of humanity even in their struggles. It gives me faith.

There seems to be a wide range of functionality represented here so I think it would be fine in that respect. The posts by members in crisis do stand out.
There is a very wide range of diagnoses represented here. Some issues are situational and will be resolved and never return. Some are chronic. Maybe most are chronic as jimi said.
I think I can understand your concern there. A new member may think that people here make mental illness a way of life. In all fairness, some do.
We see many people here with a common observation about dealing with any mental illness or condition: most people in their lives don't understand. I think it is useful to be able to talk with people who know what it feels like to have a mental illness and understand what they are dealing with.
And finally... the road ahead probably is a rough one
You asked some good questions.

I'm not so sure skewed is how I would describe it. Certainly if the individual just read the original posts they would get rather alarmed. But a lot of great advice, sharing, and empathy is contained in the threads themselves.

You're right, there needs to be more sharing of positive stories and experiences. We are all guilty of that I think.

It is skewed a bit. But then it is also very diverse. First of all not everyone on here has mental illness. That's that. I think it's important. to acknowledge that. Many people on here, who do have MI, perceive the world in a very unique way but argue that their perception is main stream and is correct and everyone else is off. Many think in absolutes but many are deep thinkers. Many do recognize their own limitations. Many try to improve and many do not try. It is diverse and you'll see all kind of people. It is certainly educational.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I love you Signature quote, vonmoxie...

Hmm, well, I've been to many support groups over the years and it seems to me that PC is a fair representation of people who live with mental illness, or mental health challenges.

Good question. There are people on here that are so knowledgable about psychology. I am learning and getting help.

I think this is a really good website. It's really helpful to read other people's posts. It took me a long time to get the nerve up to post. Now I'm even helping other people by commenting on their posts. Even doing that helps a lot with my depression, feeling useful.