How Rampant Do You Think Mental Disease Is On These Forums?

[BL2KTN]

How rampant do you think mental disease is on these forums? And do you find it ethical that we often engage online individuals who demonstrate mental disease as if they are normal people who can think logically?

 

[Rubiks]

Are you implying religious belief is a mental disorder?

 

[Skaloop]

Are you implying religious belief is a mental disorder?

I don't see how that was implied at all. You're inferring it, which says more about you than him.

 

[Shimshon]

How rampant do you think mental disease is on these forums? And do you find it ethical that we often engage online individuals who demonstrate mental disease as if they are normal people who can think logically?

I've discussed this with more than one poster. It's definitly something to consider and note. Many have even openly stated their mental disorders.

But, is it ethical to engage them? Why not? They are people too, and I believe in need of more love and patience than most.

 

[Belk]

How rampant do you think mental disease is on these forums? And do you find it ethical that we often engage online individuals who demonstrate mental disease as if they are normal people who can think logically?

I would not say rampant but there have certainly been several I have seen. I can see your ethical question especially since they have a tendency to receive a greater amount of ribbing.

 

[Hetta]

As I'm not a mental health professional and can only base my opinions on what I read, I can't say. However, some members do profess to have certain illnesses, and I see no reason to disbelieve them.

Oops, I missed the part about whether to engage with them. I think that if you believe someone has a serious issue, you might want to give them a wide berth. I have a TON of people on my ignore list and it has made my posting experience much more peaceful.

 

[DaisyDay]

There are very few I would consider to be seriously disordered - monomaniacal or paranoid, and a couple I suspect of OCD or of deep depression. Many, many more I consider to be wrong-headed, but that is not a mental disorder (maybe a social disorder, maybe not).

Is it ethical to engage the seriously disordered ones? I don't know; I tend to be leery. On one hand, it is rude to ignore someone or ostracize them - everyone needs some social interaction, as limited as this may be; but on the other, you don't want to affirm their nutty worldview and some are very unlikeable so it is hard to be civil.

Yes, I think it is ethical to engage with "them" as long as you do it respectfully.

But, is it ethical to engage them? Why not? They are people too, and I believe in need of more love and patience than most.

This.

 

[bhsmte]

How rampant do you think mental disease is on these forums? And do you find it ethical that we often engage online individuals who demonstrate mental disease as if they are normal people who can think logically?

As I have mentioned before, I am a psychology buff, although my advanced degree is in physiology.

With that said, I have two friends who are psychologists and they do look in on these boards every once in a while, because they both actually are intrigued by the activity. Once in a while, we get together and discuss our observations and it is interesting to hear their take on the content on these boards.

One may say, how can one assess psychological disorders from posts, but people give you clues as to how their mind works with every post. Their observations are; psychological issues are clearly present with a good deal of posters. Some, more severe than others, ranging from run of the mill personality disorders, depression, OCD, bi-polar and the possibility of other disorders.

 

[ThatRobGuy]

As I have mentioned before, I am a psychology buff, although my advanced degree is in physiology.

With that said, I have two friends who are psychologists and they do look in on these boards every once in a while, because they both actually are intrigued by the activity. Once in a while, we get together and discuss our observations and it is interesting to hear their take on the content on these boards.

One may say, how can one assess psychological disorders from posts, but people give you clues as to how their mind works with every post. Their observations are; psychological issues are clearly present with a good deal of posters. Some, more severe than others, ranging from run of the mill personality disorders, depression, OCD, bi-polar and the possibility of other disorders.

I think that'd be a tough thing to assess simply by reading words over the internet, without actually meeting a person, you don't know if you're reading a true representation of a real person, or if it's simply a 14 year old high school kid who was bored and decided to impersonate a 30 year old with wacky views just for kicks.

In regards to the question posed via the OP, I see nothing wrong with engaging anyone. If a person doesn't want to be engaged, why would they sign up to participate in a "discussion & debate" forum?

 

[bhsmte]

I think that'd be a tough thing to assess simply by reading words over the internet, without actually meeting a person, you don't know if you're reading a true representation of a real person, or if it's simply a 14 year old high school kid who was bored and decided to impersonate a 30 year old with wacky views just for kicks.

In regards to the question posed via the OP, I see nothing wrong with engaging anyone. If a person doesn't want to be engaged, why would they sign up to participate in a "discussion & debate" forum?

It is not the best means, but with enough posts and patterns of behavior, they claim you can make a pretty good call on people.

True, there are people who are phony on these boards, but those are not all that difficult to detect, because they typically are new sign ups and can't maintain the phony act for very long.

 

[ForJesusChrist]

And do you find it ethical that we often engage online individuals who demonstrate mental disease as if they are normal people who can think logically?

What else would we do? Ignore them? Harass them?

 

[Inkachu]

Of course, there are plenty of people on CF who are open about having depression, schizophrenia, OCD, and other issues. I think you should bear that in mind if you decide to "engage" that person. I know a few CFers whose posts regularly don't make any sense to me, or who sort of ramble around and can't stay on a coherent train of thought, and I just leave them be. I don't see that engaging them or trying to correct them would do anything constructive. If they enjoy coming here and posting and feeling like they're contributing to a discussion, more power to em.

 

[chaoticfirefly]

What else would we do? Ignore them? Harass them?

I was harassed because it got out that I have major depressive disorder. It even escalated to violence and encouragement to off myself! From parents and classmates alike.

I don't recommend it. If it makes people uncomfortable, just ignore them. If they're your friend and confide in you, please, please be a friend. And educate yourself.

 

[bhsmte]

I was harassed because it got out that I have major depressive disorder. It even escalated to violence and encouragement to off myself! From parents and classmates alike.

I don't recommend it. If it makes people uncomfortable, just ignore them. If they're your friend and confide in you, please, please be a friend. And educate yourself.

When it becomes apparent, that a poster is not very stable, by posting things that are not coherent, I may make a comment that they are not making any sense and then I don't bother engaging anymore if they continue down that same path.

With that said, there are a host of posters, who show significant levels of outright denial of reality, contradict themselves constantly in trying to justify their position. These folks are easy to spot and there is little use in having any type of meaningful discussion with, no matter how hard you try.

 

[Inkachu]

There's a big difference between someone you don't like, and someone who's mentally ill. A person can be stubborn, mean, rude, irrational, belligerent, and a host of other not-so-fun things, without being mentally ill. I think certain people here are trying to throw the "mentally ill" label around a little too lightly, simply because they don't like particular posters or can't get along with them. There are certainly some intolerable meanies on CF. I don't think they're mentally ill, they're just punks that I keep on ignore. There are other CFers who are genuinely ill, or in various stages of recovery, and some of them are nice as can be.

 

[Sophrosyne]

The problem is essentially is comparing the forums to what as far as percentage of mental illness in participants. There is also an issue that in public people who have mental issues and are intelligent can hide them and appear normal for the most part while online you are anonymous for the most part and nobody including the non mentally ill people need to "Hide".
People who are mentally ok can act out and do and say things that are not necessarily normal for them in public while some who are mentally ill that shun public interaction can find themselves able to manage an online presence.

Personally I think there is more mentally ill people online, and that the anonymous aspect encourages those who may be borderline to act out as if they are crossing that border too.

Without a baseline to compare with my extremely rough guess would be twice as many mentally ill folks online than running around in public and perhaps 3-5 times as many folks who appear to have mental issues because they come online to vent and get entertained and it encourages many to go beyond normalcy.

 

[bhsmte]

There's a big difference between someone you don't like, and someone who's mentally ill. A person can be stubborn, mean, rude, irrational, belligerent, and a host of other not-so-fun things, without being mentally ill. I think certain people here are trying to throw the "mentally ill" label around a little too lightly, simply because they don't like particular posters or can't get along with them. There are certainly some intolerable meanies on CF. I don't think they're mentally ill, they're just punks that I keep on ignore. There are other CFers who are genuinely ill, or in various stages of recovery, and some of them are nice as can be.

Sure, I agree with most of what you are saying.

With that said, there are a lot of people walking around, that live relatively normal lives that suffer from personality disorders; paranoid, narcissist, borderline, etc. etc.. In talking with my psychology friends, various degrees of personality disorders are more common than most people think, because they come in; high functioning and low functioning variations. These disorders though, when in the right environment, can produce behaviors that are telltale, but in another environment, they appear to be quite different and function fine. This is one of the reasons I find these boards fascinating, for the psychological element of it.

 

[Inkachu]

No disrespect to your psychology friends, but I'd take their opinions with more than a grain of salt. Our society is rapidly getting to the point where anything except absolute and total appeasement and compliance and conformity is being labeled as "personality disorders". If we can label something, we can remove the person's responsibility for displaying the traits. They're not "a jerk", they're just "sick". Nah. They're a jerk.

Sophro also makes a valid point. People feel much freer to let it all out when they're online and the anonymity of the computer keeps them safe from any real repercussions or consequences of being a total prick. Chances are, they aren't anything like that in real life, when someone might punch them in the face.

 

[chaoticfirefly]

When it becomes apparent, that a poster is not very stable, by posting things that are not coherent, I may make a comment that they are not making any sense and then I don't bother engaging anymore if they continue down that same path.

With that said, there are a host of posters, who show significant levels of outright denial of reality, contradict themselves constantly in trying to justify their position. These folks are easy to spot and there is little use in having any type of meaningful discussion with, no matter how hard you try.

I think doing that is actually a good thing. It helps make them aware, heck, I appreciate it when someone points that type of thing out because it's something to work on changing. But there are people, as you said, who'd rather deny reality. While they shouldn't be ignored for obvious reasons (imo), it's best to do it anyways because they gotta reach rock bottom themselves.

I agree and trust me, I've met my fair share on other websites. And irl. We are easy to spot if we're at a bad point. I've done it too. A lot.

 

[bhsmte]

No disrespect to your psychology friends, but I'd take their opinions with more than a grain of salt. Our society is rapidly getting to the point where anything except absolute and total appeasement and compliance and conformity is being labeled as "personality disorders". If we can label something, we can remove the person's responsibility for displaying the traits. They're not "a jerk", they're just "sick". Nah. They're a jerk.

Sophro also makes a valid point. People feel much freer to let it all out when they're online and the anonymity of the computer keeps them safe from any real repercussions or consequences of being a total prick. Chances are, they aren't anything like that in real life, when someone might punch them in the face.

I disagree with your first paragraph. Personality disorders are not well understood by many psychologists, because many are not trained well enough to understand the basis of how they operate and end up in telltale behaviors in some people. One of my friends, is an expert in personality disorders (behavioral psychologist) and the other, is a forensic psychologist who also testifies in court regarding various personality disorders.

What Sophro stated does have some validity, as people do feel free to open up in online discussion. With that said, when you see long term trends of communication of anyone, trained eyes can glean quite a bit from the same.