this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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Mental Health
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Reality is the dominant factor in mental illness. Exposure to abuse, lack of care, and poverty: Thats what gets people down and sends others into desperation. Those who are struggling most cant afford diagnoses and they cant afford pills. Assigning blame for the conditions we live under is another can of worms.
As for Eeyore, he just needs to get nailed more 😈 #
This is only true in the USA. Importantly, treatment is not a cure.
A lot of people put too much faith in curing some things that aren't really "fixable".
I know someone who started having suicidal thoughts as a kid. They admitted themselves to a mental hospital in their teens, got diagnosed, tried some medicine and treatement. And almost three decades later they still have those thoughts regularly.
30mg of Prozac every morning and my opinion on life still hasn’t changed - it’s like watching a shit movie in a crowded theater and you really just want to leave, but you also don’t want to disturb those around you on your way out.
The meds definitely help, though. Instead of being in the deep end of the depression pool and sinking, now it’s more like standing waist deep in the shallow end. Firm footing, but there’s only so much you can do about fucked up brain chemistry.
Yeah, I've sadly heard similar stories most of my life. For many people it makes things better, but it can also make things "boring". They don't get the severe down periods, but it can also make it difficult to experience the highs of enjoyment.
I think there are several countries where people can't afford diagnoses or pills that are not the USA.
Oh thank whatever god you enjoy that's only true in the USA.
I am going to guess you are from New Zealand?
Australia, but the same is true for basically every developed country apart from the US to varying degrees.
To give you a glimpse into your "name buddy" Austria:
Waiting time for a therapist which is completely covered by insurance is counted in years, and if you choose one of the therapists which are not completely covered, you pay somewhere between 100-150€/h and get refunded 30€/h after getting it approved.
This leaves me personally with a hole in my pocket of 300-375€ depending on the month, which is my second largest expense after rent.
Uhhh mental health care is bloody expensive.
10 rebated sessions a year ain’t shit, and an actual diagnosis can cost thousands and thousands.
Australia is barely any better than America when it comes to teeth and brains.
If you're on NDIS, you may be able to get psychology covered by that. But that's a long shot, as 1) it's hard to get on NDIS and 2) you have to be eligible to get psychotherapy funding. source: Getting psychology through NDIS
Maybe true for teeth, but to say it's not better for brains just shows you've never had to spend time in a ward in either country. Keeping in mind that you can get sectioned in the US and come out of it with tens of thousands of medical debt when you had no choice in the matter.
I have universal care. I was not diagnosed until my 50's. It's not just poverty, it's not realizing there is an underlying something to your misery/behavior.
Look into radical psychology, if you haven't.
TIL
this sounds radical until you realize that "reality" being a factor in mental health is like saying "air is a factor in breathing."
although I guess the opposite would be fantasy, that fantasy is a problem in mental health, which... well, it is! but fantasies are also just another part of our reality (and a significant one at that)
maybe this is challenging the folk wisdom of "my brain is broken, chemical imbalance" and while I'm sure that would spark lovely debates over nature-nurture / mind-body, the boring truth is always this: it's a combination of factors
as far as those struggling most: i work with that population, and thank IRS for Medicaid, they actually can afford Dx and Rx. the real trouble is their medically recognized mental health disorder (SUD) is literally a fucking crime, and the local govt pays its bill through recidivism fees.