Message boards and mental illness

[Essured]

I've noticed a much higher proportion of message board posters with mental illness* issues than I notice IRL.

My first thought was that much of this could be explained by the relative anonymity of message boards, and the type of open discussions that can occur on them. So the percentage of people with mental illness is constant, but people feel more open about talking about the topic on a message board.

My second thought was that may not be the whole answer. While I don't wish to put a percentage to it, my impression is that the majority of posters here have some sort of mental illness*. I just don't get the impression that the same majority of the general population have some sort of mental illness. So I started wondering if there was something about message boards, or message board interactions that was attractive to those with mental illness.

And I came up blank.

So, what do you think?
Is the proportion of people with mental illness higher on a message board like the SDMB, than in the general population? Or is it the same, just more noticeable here?
Do a majority of posters on this board have some sort of mental illness, or is this my misconception?
If it's not a misconception, what about message boards is such an attractant?

*I'm including depression and ADD in the catch-all term 'mental illness'. I'm not sure if this is medically accurate or not (but being the SD, I'm sure someone will correct me if it isn't). I have made an attempt to be as non-offensive as possible with this subject, however if I have inadvertently offended anyone, please educate me, as I know very little about mental illness.

[Wesley Clark]

There is also the fact that threads on mental illness will get replies from the mentally ill just like threads on graduate school will get replies from people in graduate school. I doubt its much higher than in real life, people just hide it better in real life. And most people who post on message boards have normal lives outside of them, this is just another venue to communicate and learn things. If you had a bunch of shut ins who were too afraid to go outside who made up the population of message boards then you might be onto something but that is not how most most message board people act in real life.

[Scissorjack]

Another loony checking in. Don't forget that this is a message board where people can mention their mental problems, either as a topic for discussion or just in passing, whereas most people IRL don't walk around wearing placards saying "I'm mad, me" or accost you on the street to talk about their problems: there are probably just as many loonies out there as in here; you just don't get the chance to read about them.

[Scissorjack]

Or we could just be faking it in a bid for sympathy...

[Ice Wolf]

There are as many shades of nuts out there in the world, Horatio, as you will find in your messageboards.

The quirks are just more obvious around here. But at least we can hide our twitches.

[Ragiel]

Psychiatrist here.

It's my opinion that psychiatric illnesses are at least as common in real life as this board indicates. I suspect even here we have people who aren't talking.

Most successfully treated patients are not identified because they feel and are healthy. Or else they're good at faking it.

I work in an outpatient clinic, a treating general adult population. Other types of practice may well give different results.

[Trunk]

It *seems* to me here that there are a higher percentage of people with mental illness, tremendous obesity, money problems, substance problems, marital problems, relationship problems and all other sorts of crap.

I always suspected that's just because that's better stuff to talk about than "tra la la, life is good."

[duffer]

Well, I'm nuts. Not dangerous to anyone, and likely in the top 5% of people in the US to make friends and be well thought of. I've had years of practice hiding it before a proper diagnosis was made.

No psychosis or anything like that, but I'd fit the DSM-IV profile of, um, troubled.

What the fuck are you looking at? Yes, YOU! Care to do something about it? :dubious:





Just kidding, the pills are taking effect. ;)

[Duckster]

While I don't wish to put a percentage to it, my impression is that the majority of posters here have some sort of mental illness*. I just don't get the impression that the same majority of the general population have some sort of mental illness. So I started wondering if there was something about message boards, or message board interactions that was attractive to those with mental illness.

If people feel comfortable in their anonomynity and feel free to post opinions without fear of real life reprisals and repercussions, would you expect to see more "other than ordinary opinions and behaviors" posted on message boards?

At the same time, "normal" people are free in their anonomynity as well. Perhaps they also lack the intellctual stimulation and output in real life to debate, discuss and share thoughts and ideas the average population is unable to appreciate, nor understand.

Care to narrow that wide brush of yours?

:D

[Merhouse]

I have no empirical evidence, but it's possible (imagine the inadvertant typo that almost got through :x) that message boards CAUSE mental illness.

Just saying. And yes, I am.

[Waenara]

I think that it's mostly a combination of factors. Presonally, I'd guess that the frequency of depression probably isn't significantly higher on the SDMB than in real life, because it's surprising how common it is in general. You (generic you) probably just aren't aware of how common a problem it is.

I found some sites on www.edmedicine.com (free registration required to view articles) that says that the incidence of depression in the US is In the US: The statistics on depression often include dysthymia. Best estimates are that the lifetime risk of significant depression exceeds 25%, with a point prevalence of about 5%. When dysthymia is separated from depression statistics, it appears to have a lifetime prevalence of about 6%. and In the US: Lifetime incidence of MDD (Major Depressive Disorder) is 20% in women and 12% in men. Prevalence is as high as 10% in patients observed in a medical setting.


The same goes for morbid obesity (mentioned up-thread as something that seems especially prevelant on this message board). Sure, everyone know that about half of the people on the US are overweight. But that's just overweight, right? How common can morbid obesity really be? Maybe one percent of the population?

This site (http://www.obesity.org/subs/fastfacts/morbidobesity.shtml) states that Morbid obesity, also referred to as clinically severe obesity or extreme obesity, is a chronic disease that afflicts approximately 9 million adult Americans. For comparison purposes, that is over twice the size of the total population with Alzheimer’s disease. If the entire morbidly obese population lived in one state, it would be the 12th state in population.and Morbid obesity is defined as having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or more. This equates to approximately 100 pounds more than ideal weight.

The prevalence of morbid obesity is 4.7 percent, according to the last published figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); up from 2.9 percent observed in a national data set obtained from 1988 to 1994.

[AHunter3]

[Obligatory throwaway lines]

• You don't have to be crazy to post here, but it helps.
• If you weren't crazy before you got addicted to SDMB, you will be.

[/OTWL]

Avenues of expression tend to attract individuals who are passionate about expressing themselves, which taps into both those populations where there are predominately emotional reasons for being passionate about expression (i.e., folks who really like to say things) and those populations where there are content-related reasons for being passonate (i.e., folks who really think they've got something important to say), and of course the overlap.


• Being passionate about communicating is the kind of thing that can cause you to receive a psychiatric label, in and of itself. The behaviors that it leads to overlap those considered symptomatic of having wiring and/or neureotransmitter-chemistry problems. Make of that what you will.

• Being passionate about communicating and getting thwarted, in a human culture where full integration of what you think and care about into the social sphere has not been a high priority, can lead to intellectual isolation (you continue to believe strongly in thoughts that others do not share) and emotional privation (it's frustrating as hell, aint it?) both of which can very easily lead to the mental and emotional states that are described by psychiatric diagnostic labels.

• The internet and its various boards are a new and delightful exception to the general rule about poor social facilitation of integrating what you think and feel into any kind of public sphere. (Feels damn good, doesn't it?) So naturally such outlets are particularly appealing to peoples described above.

[The Great Sun Jester]

As a closeted & unmedicated loony (paranoid schizophrenic) who is highly respected in his public-facing job, I'd say that there are more of us than you may realize. I cope with the symptoms in much the same way I imagine someone with a physical disability would: You just get up in the morning and get through your day by adjusting your actions to compensate for what would normally be a problem for you. Folks without legs avioid stairs, I do my best to not respond to any off-the chart weirdness that I experience through the course of the day. Sometimes that's difficult, but then again sometimes folks without legs have to negotiate a staircase.

[The Devil's Grandmother]

Crazy people are everywhere. On the SMBD with nothing to lose except a $14.95 membership, we can talk about it. At work/school/church/whatever people are less likely to talk about it because there is more to lose. Some time ago I advised a fellow doper to never discus her medicated, functional life (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=302843&highlight=mental+illness+closet) with her coworkers. I will stand by that opinion. There's way too much discrimination out there.

[Essured]

Firstly, thanks for taking my question as it was meant, and not as an insult.

AHunter3, this comment of yours piqued my curiosity:
Being passionate about communicating is the kind of thing that can cause you to receive a psychiatric label, in and of itself. The behaviors that it leads to overlap those considered symptomatic of having wiring and/or neureotransmitter-chemistry problems. Make of that what you will.
Care to elaborate? What sort of mental illness has symptoms that are similar to passionate communication? That is interesting.


At the same time, "normal" people are free in their anonomynity as well. Perhaps they also lack the intellctual stimulation and output in real life to debate, discuss and share thoughts and ideas the average population is unable to appreciate, nor understand.
Well, that is part of what I was wondering. Is an online form of communication more of an attractant to those with mental illness, than to those without? I don't understand the 'wide brush' comment, since I hadn't even started speculating on reasons why this may be, and was just exploring the possibility of what appeared to me to be a trend.

It *seems* to me here that there are a higher percentage of people with mental illness, tremendous obesity, money problems, substance problems, marital problems, relationship problems and all other sorts of crap.

I always suspected that's just because that's better stuff to talk about than "tra la la, life is good."
That's a very good idea. People do tend to talk about the bad stuff more than the good stuff, both online and offline. Funnily enough, I actually thought about marital problems in relation to my OP, and came to the conclusion that the number of people I see online with marital problems is about the same as the number I see offline. Maybe people are less likely to share marital problems on this board, or maybe people are less able to successfully hide problems IRL? Or maybe, I just run across more people IRL who hide their mental illness but don't hide their marital problems? Who knows? That's why I wanted to hear others opinions, since I am subjective and a sample size of 1, so can't 100% trust my impressions!

I think that it's mostly a combination of factors. Presonally, I'd guess that the frequency of depression probably isn't significantly higher on the SDMB than in real life, because it's surprising how common it is in general. You (generic you) probably just aren't aware of how common a problem it is.

I was with you (because I know little about depression), until you started citing figures. Say depression occurs in 25% of the population (taking your highest figure). I would've said that over 50% of the SD population have or have had depression. Possibly even 75%. So, either there is a much higher number of depressives on this board, or my impression of the number of depression-affected people is completely off. I'm prepared to accept that it is my impression that is completely off - that's why I started this thread - to see if my impressions were wrong and I needed an attitude adjustment, or to explore what may be an interesting phenomenon.

Maybe I just have come across an inordinate number of posters with mental illness, due to the threads I choose to read. Maybe the posts on mental illness just stand out (to me), because it is something I'm not confronted with often IRL, whereas marital problems, obesity, etc are common.

Either way, everyones thoughts have been interesting. Thanks for offering your opinions (and feel free to keep doing so).

[TheLoadedDog]

It's true. I've met the OP IRL. Completely feckin' nuts. :D

(kidding mate)

[Shabadu]

I don't get the impression at all that there are more people on the SDMB with mental illness, but that they are more interested in talking about it in a place where no one can judge them openly.

I, personally, know a large number of people who I guess you would say to have a "mental illness", but I don't think that the majority of the world would know about them. People tell me when they have been diagnosed with something and ask for advice because I happened to be a trained therapist. In normal life, I don't feel like people talk about it.

I think this may be like many things in life where it seems there are more of one type of people in a place, such as gays in theatre, antisocial people in accounting, or any other stereotype you can think of. In reality, this is just something that is assumed becasue that is how they are comfortable at work. I know that things may seem one way when in reality, things could be very different just because people don't share all parts of their life with everyone.

[Wesley Clark]

As a closeted & unmedicated loony (paranoid schizophrenic) who is highly respected in his public-facing job, I'd say that there are more of us than you may realize.

True. I doubt anyone who knows me realizes half the stuff I thought about and did when I was mentally ill. I have also (largely) recovered from the anxiety and depression that the schizophrenia created. Evenso, most people don't know any of this they probably just see that I am a little eccentric.

[lorene]

Crazy people are everywhere. On the SMBD with nothing to lose except a $14.95 membership, we can talk about it. At work/school/church/whatever people are less likely to talk about it because there is more to lose. Some time ago I advised a fellow doper to never discus her medicated, functional life (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=302843&highlight=mental+illness+closet) with her coworkers. I will stand by that opinion. There's way too much discrimination out there.

Wow, how'd I ever miss that thread. I definitely would have chimed in with what I think are some pretty relevant statements, both as someone who has a history of depression/anxiety/PTSD, and as a mental health professional.

Anyhow, I agree with those who say that there are far more people with similar conditions in the general population than you may realize. I can think of a whole lot of people IRL who have no idea of my history, and only a handful who do. Yet people on the 2 internet boards I participate in do know these facts about me. Relative anonymity is far less risky.

[Shagnasty]

I am Bipolar Type I (Manic Depressive). I wasn't diagnosed until a couple of years after I started posting on the SDMB. You can draw your own conclusions.

[AHunter3]

Essured: AHunter3, this comment of yours piqued my curiosity:


Being passionate about communicating is the kind of thing that can cause you to receive a psychiatric label, in and of itself. The behaviors that it leads to overlap those considered symptomatic of having wiring and/or neureotransmitter-chemistry problems. Make of that what you will.

Care to elaborate? What sort of mental illness has symptoms that are similar to passionate communication? That is interesting.

Sure! (http://members.bellatlantic.net/~adhdah/psych_inmates_libfront/vol_1/schizzywitch.html). Read the kickoff narrative.

[Essured]

Well, I've still got no idea if there are proportionately more people with mental illness on the boards than I know IRL.

After doing a fair bit of reading about the subject, I've figured out one thing. I notice the posts about mental illness more than I notice posts about obesity, money problems, marital problems, etc. I also think I know why. I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say I'm afraid of those with mental illness, but I'm definitely uneasy and uncomfortable with the idea. I apologise if I have offended anyone with my posts in this thread. If I did, it was unintentional. As soon as I have some more spare time, I will be researching the subject, in an effort to move past my unease.

Thanks.

[Scissorjack]

I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say I'm afraid of those with mental illness, but I'm definitely uneasy and uncomfortable with the idea. I apologise if I have offended anyone with my posts in this thread. If I did, it was unintentional. As soon as I have some more spare time, I will be researching the subject, in an effort to move past my unease.

Many people are: that's why a lot of us choose to stay "closeted" IRL, and why, as I said earlier, you won't see many people wearing the "I'm a loony" sign when they probably could. You probably wouldn't pick me out as being mentally ill in the street, but I am, to a defined extent: very few people, outside close friends and immediate family {and, of course, the relatively anonymous SDMB} know my problems - clinical depression, generalised anxiety disorder and prescription tranquiliser addiction {the latter isn't a mental illness, but definitely the consequences of a couple}.

I keep them closeted because there's still a huge amount of stigma attached to any degree of mental illness: you tend to be either viewed as a potentially dangerous nutcase or the possessor of a "weak" and fragile personality unable {or unwilling} to cope with the rough-and-tumble of everyday life. There's often an attitude of "Well, if it's only in in your head, you could get over it if you wanted to" which you'd almost never get with a physical disability.

Sadly, this attitude often affects people's attitude to their own mental problems - there's a feeling of guilt and denial at being "weak" which prevents people from seeking help, and in itself exacerbates the problems: I was in denial about some {in retrospect very obvious, to myself at least} problems for over twenty years - indeed, I developed the habit of pushing myself too hard in order to prove that I was "normal", until it finally blew up in my face and I ended up in hospital with a couple of bandaged wrists.

If I could "get over it" I would do it tomorrow, even if I had to lose an arm to do it: as it is, I have to accept that my problems are an illness like any other - they're not my fault, and they can be treated or contained with medication, behavioural therapy, and the right attitude {and, thank God, the love of a good woman, to whom I very literally owe my life}.

That's why I joked before about being a "loony" - I have to recognise my looniness for what it is: a problem, but not an insurmountable one, and one I'm determined to incorporate into myself, poke fun at it when I'm able to, and hang on tight when I'm not.

[beckwall]

Bipolar type 2 checking in. I go to message boards for information (although I take most things with a grain of salt) and support. It helps to know that you are not all that different. Some type of validation occurs, I guess. And as for the percentage on message boards vs. the real world - I call everyone else the GUMs
(great undiagnosed masses), because so much of the human race if "off" in some way, they just may not recognize it or want to accept it. I was diagnosed 6 years ago, spent 2 long years on disability (I was so mucked up that I received my social security benefits on the first try, without having to appeal any rulings), and now I am controlled enough on meds that I am able to work 2 jobs. I like to think that my little story may offer hope to someone else who feels like life will always suck.

[Zebra]

one Of Us! One Of Us!

[gum]

- I call everyone else the GUMs
(great undiagnosed masses)
:dubious: