Off Topic Mental Health Discussion Thread
- Thread starter Steven Toast
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That is total bollocks Des. Acupuncture has been around much longer than conventional medicine. Because I have a pacemaker I couldn't have the electrodes so had the old conventional acupuncture just using needles. Hypnotherapy is something I was originally skeptical about until I talked to a Hypnotherapist (who had been practicing for almost 20 years). I had one session (50 minutes) and have never looked back. It can be used to treat anorexia, alcoholism, gambling and many other ailments. The USA have got pills that take effect immediately with NO side-effects and NO addiction. You can get them through friends if you want them but they cost an arm and a leg.
I've generally got no time for alternative medicines, but years ago I had a problem with my knee, if was very painful and I was unable to kneel without being in agony. The wife of my best mate in Hong Kong used to drive me mad every trip about going to see her acupuncturist and after a couple of years, I went, mainly to stop her banging on about it every time we went out for dinner.
It wasn't really what I was expecting, he wouldn't treat me until I'd had my knee x-rayed (which he arranged for to have done nearby within half an hour), then he came up with a course of treatment, which I had over three days during the week I was there. The difference was amazing, even after the first treatment, I could kneel no problem and though it started to wear off a bit over the years, I've been back to see him twice five years apart and it's still okay now.
I've no idea how it works and I've no idea what things it's actually effective on, but it certainly can work on pain relief.
It wasn't really what I was expecting, he wouldn't treat me until I'd had my knee x-rayed (which he arranged for to have done nearby within half an hour), then he came up with a course of treatment, which I had over three days during the week I was there. The difference was amazing, even after the first treatment, I could kneel no problem and though it started to wear off a bit over the years, I've been back to see him twice five years apart and it's still okay now.
I've no idea how it works and I've no idea what things it's actually effective on, but it certainly can work on pain relief.
Not sure I agree buddy - horse’s for courses & all that.....
Whatever works for an individual.... regardless of the scientific proof.
I have to say, I find this thread very uplifting. I’ve never had depression or bad anxiety but I find the mutual support offered to fellow fans just amazing !!!
Sorry to be blunt, but I'd be dead right now without them Jim, so let's agree to disagree.
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Yes, I know Quill, I've been there and it isn't funny. I did contemplate suicide at one stage as it was unbearable but I was encouraged to try Acupuncture and it DID lower my stress levels. That was so relieving I couldn't believe it but I was petrified that it may come back so I did the Hypnotherapy course and got rid of that fear. I have been clear for over a year and living a normal life so please don't think I am trying to trivialize your problem with a "Quack Doctor" remedy. They DO have a 97% success rate and maybe you are in the 3% that they can't help but you would have to have some very deep rooted problem to be in that 3% and would have surely done some serious damage to yourself by now. Please give this a try.
I doubt any remedy/cure had a 97% success rate.
Whatever works for a person works for that individual
Good
For the information of visitors, this thread has provided useful community support and information to people. Please have that in mind when posting. Thanks.
And it's absolutely vital on this thread that no one tries to undermine the support that others receive and rely on. We all have a way of managing our emotional health. Respect that fellas
Only people who have gone through this know what it is like. Feeling things that aren't there but which terrify you. You dare not turn the lights off at night. You cannot sleep and you fear that if you do you will not wake up. I found that whereas Doctors sympathized with me there was little they could do. Pills. More pills. I did feel relief when I spoke to a Psychiatrist and was OK for 24 hours or so but then it came back. I can only speak for myself but Acupuncture dropped my stress levels dramatically and Hypnotherapy took away the fear.
Can i ask what condition you was diagnosed with, obviously no worries if it's private?
The only reason I ask is because you said this...'You cannot sleep and you fear that if you do you will not wake up.'
I suffer with my Mental Health and have done for many years, been there done it, had the pills so to speak. But just from my personal experience and it's still the same today I actually wished I wouldn't wake up - I believe I'm already in Hell so can only go to Heaven.
Suppose between the two of us, it highlights everyones symptoms are different and not one treatment fits all x
This could well be true. Acupuncture pre-dates recorded history. We do not know where it came from nor who passed it down. I am positive that Acupuncture could help reduce your stress levels but you would have to talk to an Acupuncturist as, like you said, all cases are different and require different treatments. My original diagnosis was wrong and they told me that what I had was an 'adjustment disorder' where my brain was not accepting my pacemaker. My wife also suffered from a similar problem where she felt that if she went to sleep she would not wake up. She has been on pills for years and is quite comfortable with them as they do control her problems. Nothing like depression/anxiety/panic which needs a different kind of treatment if you want to get rid of it. She is also much more comfortable with her problem knowing that should it develop into something very serious she has Acupuncture and Hypnotherapy standing by. She suffered for years with migraines until I happened to mention it to my Doctor (who was Chinese) and he told me to send her in - she had one treatment and has not suffered a migraine since. Please make some inquiries and have a talk with them as I am sure they could help.
Depression: Leyton Orient's Martin Ling talks about his mental health problems
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49177873
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49177873
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/acupuncture/
My wife had NHS acupuncture for her migraines and it would work for a while, (apart from discovering she had needle shock and on occasions feinted!) In the end she saw a consultant and was prescribed medication which to some degree allow her to function ( though still get some symptoms) again / not have 5 days off work a month
My wife had NHS acupuncture for her migraines and it would work for a while, (apart from discovering she had needle shock and on occasions feinted!) In the end she saw a consultant and was prescribed medication which to some degree allow her to function ( though still get some symptoms) again / not have 5 days off work a month
Just been an intriguing discussion between Marriane Williamson and Anderson Cooper on CNN. The difference between unhappiness, bereavement and depression, and how Big Pharma treats them. Dunno if it's available on YouTube yet, but it's worth a look. Is being comfortably numb better than being aware, but in pain? Is that a glib analysis of clinical depression? Is chemical psychology a means to an end, or the end itself?
As Johnny said, don't ask me, 'cause I don't know.
As Johnny said, don't ask me, 'cause I don't know.
I find some people's attitudes to mental pain interesting.
If I was in so much debilitating physical pain that I was unable to get out of bed - analgesia would be offered & encouraged.
If I was in so much debilitating mental pain that I was unable to get out of bed - do you really need to take medication for that - why not stop being so lazy & pull yourself together - crosses some folks minds even when it isn't said out loud.
As I say - interesting
Let me assure you 'Minxy' the feeling of depression is just indescribable. You CANNOT get on top of it and just ignore it and get on with your life without help. I had your outlook BEFORE I got it and would say "Tell 'em a joke, make 'em laugh and then kick 'em up the arse" - oh if only it was that easy. You cannot beat this on your own you HAVE to have help and the only help the medical profession can give you is pills and more pills. I found that with a Hypnotherapist he relaxed me by simply making me comfortable and talking to me about the problem. I wasn't put into a trance and could have opened my eyes and walked away at any time but he made me feel so relaxed I just wanted to lay there forever. I believe that some patients do need more than one session and are taken into a deeper form of meditation depending on their condition but I was treated early. He told me afterwards that my depression/anxiety/panic symptoms would simply dissipate as they came to the surface and they did. This is a bastard of a problem from which many never recover and finish up taking their own lives. I encourage anyone suffering to give Acupuncture and/or Hypnotherapy a try.
That was the jist of it. Both Cooper, and later Cuomo sort of took the line you are saying, and it's not something I'd disagree with. Williamson denied that was her stance though, and maintained her target was Big Pharma and its supposed propensity to treat unhappiness as a condition needing chemical intervention, then you've got a customer for life. It's a complex issue. My niece has a lifelong friend she went to uni with who became a GP in Teeside (think she moved down south now). I remember at a family do, after a few drinks, she admitted, with a heavy heart, that in the time needed to get each patient in and out of the surgery, and the critical lack of cognitive alternatives to SSRI's, they were putting 15 year olds on Citalopram who, perhaps, were teenagers going through teenage angst that would really be better off treated by listening to Morrisey or The Cure and just going through it.
I think the big comparison is with the anti-biotic approach to everything from sore throats to tennis elbow that we seemed to go through decades ago, and that we're all paying for now. I got the impression she was well-meaning and earnest though: she wasn't a Richard Littlejohn or Peter Hitchens figure. As said, I'll see when it's available on YouTube and post it. The discussion is a good thing though, as long as the starting point is not a contention that there are no people out there for whom pharmaceutical intervention is not the only option.
Well Jim .... where to start with your reply?
I believe you have completely misinterpreted my post & suggest you read it as a slightly tongue in cheek reply to the subject that Cool Hand Donga had raised. That of differing attitudes towards MH & medication.
I am truly horrified that you believe that my attitude is or ever has been, the way you describe yours once was. I have suffered with depression myself & required anti-depressant to function in any meaningful way. I was fortunate to receive excellent CBT alongside the medication. I learned relaxation techniques which were helpful & sometimes use hypnosis tapes to help me sleep. But these just helped me survive on a day to day basis. They could not relieve my stress as the life events which caused my stress were on-going. I am glad to say that despite needing SSRIs for many years I am now off them.
I am delighted that you have found relief for your problems (whatever your diagnosis actually was) in acupuncture & hypnotherapy & would agree that they can be helpful in dealing with some symptoms that are associated with some mental health problems. However I do not believe that they are the all encompassing solution to all MH issues that you seem to be suggesting. I think you need to be careful when generalising for what worked well for you to believing that it is a cure all for everyone.