Mental Meanderings

Everyone's a Pop Psychologist.

It's true isn't it. Perhaps it's one of those great universal truths. Everyone has their idea of the way our minds should work and everyone has their opinion about how to fix others. There is a great, cosmic opinion of what is normal and for some reason this obliterates any sense of what actually is and implicates only what 'should' be.

It reminds me of the MacDonalds information panels. On the panels they have a Daily Intake percentage. Yes that's what I said, a Daily Intake, based on the average daily intake of an adult human male. It made me want to shout, "OMG COME ON!!!" These days the average adult human male (and female for that matter) is obese or overweight. They aren't eating what is healthy for them. If you go on his average intake you're perpetuating his condition in anyone who follows the example.

Normality is based on the average community and the average community is insane. Seriously! I talk to many people around the world every day and very few of them don't have some mental issue or other. Depressed, BiPolar, Obsessive Compulsive, Attention Deficit, Insomnia, Whateverphobic... The list could go on. Pretty much everyone could claim one mental illness or the other. This to me means insanity is the norm.

I'm a Dyslexic BiPolar Sociaphobe. Apparently according to pop psychologists this makes me a freak who needs to be on medication to live a 'normal' life. *blinks* WHAT??? Personally I'd RATHER live a normal life by not having to depend on medication. Being aware of my condition and the natural, every day things that reduce it's severity seems like a better alternative then becoming dependant on drugs.

So many people today turn to their doctors to fix everything. Listen to me, doctors don't FIX problems, they don't cure illness. They TREAT SYMPTOMS, and that is all.
You have an infected tooth? They give you antibiotics to treat the infection, to treat the red inflamed, swollen sore gum. But WHY do you have an infected tooth?
You can't sleep? They give you sleeping pills. But WHY can't you sleep?
You're can't maintain an erection? They give you Viagra. But WHY can't you maintain an erection?
See the pattern? They don't treat your condition they treat your symptom. It works of course, because it's the symptoms we're concerned with. So swallow the pills and smile because it deals with the situation now. But don't forget you'll have to KEEP TAKING PILLS for it to keep working.

With mental illness taking pills is NOT a cure. Psychiatrists recommend medication to treat symptoms. These medications are used to balance hormone imbalances in the body that trigger effects. Mood swings, insomnia, violence, etc. are things that can be controlled by medicating. However, they balance the hormones only so long as you continue taking them and you MUST take them in the doses recommended by your doctor or psychiatrist.

You CANNOT come off them cold turkey because your body isn't used to being kept 'normal' it's natural tendancy is to swing, so you've been stable for months and you come hard off the stabalisers it forces your body into a major swing. This is VERY dangerous, it can lead to manic highs and manic lows both of which can lead to recklessness (that can endanger others) or suicide.

Of course, we've covered why medication is used. The truth is it doesn't cure mental illness. It is designed to be used to control the symptoms while you deal with the underlying issues in long term therapy. Sometimes you can't cure the underlying cause. Sometimes you'll have to just learn to live with the condition because it's normal for you.

From what I've come to understand about people, pretty much everyone would benefit from therapy. We all have issues through life that have altered our sense of being. Some believe that we have issues from other lives that affect who we are in this one as well. Therapy allows us to delve into these, examine them, understand them, and put aside the negative tendancies they've caused to develop.

I think the most important thing is to come to understand yourself. Just be who you deserve to be, focus on being the best you that you could be. For me? I know what I need to do to keep my life in what is a normal balance for me. I'm aware of what I do when I throw it out of balance and I take steps to correct my mistakes. I'm by no means perfect but I try very hard to be the person I would like to be instead.

I've learnt to live with my disabilities/conditions. There are things I have to work around. My sociaphobia hinders some aspects of my life but I'm developing courage to face those fears. My dyslexia affects my ability to read certain things but I've learnt techniques to counter this and do not use it as an excuse to fail to learn, or read, or write. My bipolar creates mood swings but I work hard to keep them from reaching extremes and I appologise when I realise something I've said or done may have hurt someone. I explain my condition so that people can understand but I don't use it as an excuse not to be a good person.

Ultimately, while I know I have issues, I'm fairly sure I'm pretty normal. Normal people have issues, and difficulties in life, they get happy and sad, they say the wrong thing, they have fears and they have faith. I live a fairly average life. I face my issues and I make efforts to strive toward being the person I want to be.