12 ms·

> I am saying he is, to me, evidently mentally ill in the way I feel I have been mentally ill. I wouldn't accept a doctor telling me my problems are work stress

> I am saying he is, to me, evidently mentally ill in the way I feel I have been mentally ill. I wouldn't accept a doctor telling me my problems are work stress. I'd find it far less acceptable if a doctor told me work stress was mental illness. You don't know anything about this person, and your case seems to rest on "I know because I've been through it" which assumes your experience is the same as a total stranger's.

dofm 6d ago
> I'd find it far less acceptable if a doctor told me work stress was mental illness. Goodness me. Sit and think about that for a while.
- squidbeak 6d ago
  > Goodness me. Sit and think about that for a while. You're quite right, let's think further about this. - A person racing to meet their deadlines. - Another sweating through a difficult meeting. - A third using some terrible company software for the first time and feeling his blood temperature rise. - A fourth softsoaping an angry customer over the phone when all he wants to do is tell him where to do. By your definition, each of these types are undergoing a spasm of mental illness, since work stress is mental illness. But then your definition is total bollocks.
safety1st 4d ago
I don't know why I get so much hate for saying this and people find it so hard to accept, but I'll say it again. The term for a formal disease of the mind, as used by the medical practice, is currently "mental disorder." Not too long ago, the term doctors used was "mental illness." Therefore when you say someone has a mental illness, you have to think about how the entire medical profession has used that term in the past, and how that may influence perceptions. It is a term that potentially brings in connotations that the individual has been diagnosed with a specific disorder in the DSM-V and this may be leading to doctor prescribed drugs, therapies, different outcomes in court cases, and many other things. I'm sure many people including OP don't intend to imply that when they use the term. And this is also why you would never call "work stress" a mental illness. Work stress is cause that can absolutely make you unhealthy. It may or may not be exacerbating a mental disorder which a doctor may or may not have formally diagnosed yet. We can have compassion for somebody who's suffering without jumping to the conclusion that they've been diagnosed with a DSM-V disorder. As non-doctors, we should! These distinctions matter. It's merely paying respect to the facts on the ground, as well as the person in question when we describe their situation accurately.

dofm 6d ago

> I'd find it far less acceptable if a doctor told me work stress was mental illness. Goodness me. Sit and think about that for a while.

squidbeak 6d ago
> Goodness me. Sit and think about that for a while. You're quite right, let's think further about this. - A person racing to meet their deadlines. - Another sweating through a difficult meeting. - A third using some terrible company software for the first time and feeling his blood temperature rise. - A fourth softsoaping an angry customer over the phone when all he wants to do is tell him where to do. By your definition, each of these types are undergoing a spasm of mental illness, since work stress is mental illness. But then your definition is total bollocks.

safety1st 4d ago

I don't know why I get so much hate for saying this and people find it so hard to accept, but I'll say it again. The term for a formal disease of the mind, as used by the medical practice, is currently "mental disorder." Not too long ago, the term doctors used was "mental illness." Therefore when you say someone has a mental illness, you have to think about how the entire medical profession has used that term in the past, and how that may influence perceptions. It is a term that potentially brings in connotations that the individual has been diagnosed with a specific disorder in the DSM-V and this may be leading to doctor prescribed drugs, therapies, different outcomes in court cases, and many other things. I'm sure many people including OP don't intend to imply that when they use the term. And this is also why you would never call "work stress" a mental illness. Work stress is cause that can absolutely make you unhealthy. It may or may not be exacerbating a mental disorder which a doctor may or may not have formally diagnosed yet. We can have compassion for somebody who's suffering without jumping to the conclusion that they've been diagnosed with a DSM-V disorder. As non-doctors, we should! These distinctions matter. It's merely paying respect to the facts on the ground, as well as the person in question when we describe their situation accurately.