# Question about posts and apparent mental illness **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 23, 2025, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243 "2025-07-23T22:44:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/21 "2025-07-30T11:55:13Z")
Following that, if the person says that seeing a doctor isn’t going to happen because feeling excruciating pain is just a normal part of healing, is it harassment to continue the argument that a professional’s advice should still be sought out? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/22 "2025-07-30T11:56:09Z")
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**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/23 "2025-07-30T12:17:19Z")
Witnessing is allowed, but nothing protects it. Posts that argue or show facts countering the content of the post are allowed. Posts that veer into attacking or insulting the poster are of course not allowed. (except for in the Pit). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/24 "2025-07-30T12:17:23Z")
---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/25 "2025-07-30T12:28:56Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So, it is o.k. to say that someone is mentally ill in The BBQ Pit? I think so. I believe it is within Pit rules. But then again I never read the Pit. Ask a moderator for clarification. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/26 "2025-07-30T12:32:42Z")
A moderator already answered that one. Outside the BBQ Pit, what about telling people they should seek professional help if they report something that sounds as if their mental health seems endangered? Are they to be treated differently than if their problem involves physical health, or the same? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/27 "2025-07-30T12:39:22Z")
I don’t know. Would you object if I were to say it to you? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/28 "2025-07-30T12:40:09Z")
> [@nelliebly](#): > > Also, I realize that these posts may be inspired by certain drugs and that I’m not an authority on either drugs or mental illness. Yes, and also remember that, when someone is under emotional stress and impulsively starts a new thread or posts to an established thread, it is a snapshot in time, and it is a time that may very well not be a true reflection of their overall, day-to-day emotional state. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/29 "2025-07-30T12:42:31Z")
This board isn’t about me. Would you mind answering the question? BTW, damn right you should tell me that you think I need to see a medical professional if you are actually worried about my mental health. My nephew Christopher might still be alive today if there was a lot less tiptoeing around that supposedly delicate subject. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/30 "2025-07-30T12:44:38Z")
A physical ailment can also be a “snapshot in time” and not representative of the overall health. Do we treat mental health differently than physical health on this message board, or not? ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/31 "2025-07-30T12:48:28Z")
I don’t think we should treat it differently but, unfortunately, that is not often the case. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/32 "2025-07-30T12:53:48Z")
I am asking what board policy is (or should be), not what people tend to do. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/33 "2025-07-30T13:11:45Z")
Ah, sorry. Well, when it comes to a message board, physical and mental illness doesn’t come across in the same way. As far as physical illness is concerned, and unless the poster wants to share, we don’t know if he is a candidate for Mr. Universe or terminally ill. All the sharing and any questions asking for opinions/advice are definitely in the poster’s court. Unless a poster shares his mental/emotional illness, we might suspect something to be remiss, but it is only a feeling that is not based on any facts. In a case like that, I would refrain from making any assumptions/posts hinting at such based on what I can only term as a factually unfounded feeling. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/34 "2025-07-30T13:14:27Z")
I am not asking about making a diagnosis. I am asking about suggesting that a _medical_ professional be consulted. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/35 "2025-07-30T13:21:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I am asking about suggesting that a _medical_ professional be consulted. If “consulting a medical professional” means, “Damn, you need to see a shrink!”, then the answer is unequivocally, NO. That’s insulting and hurting the poster and is the total opposite of helpful. One sensing severe depression, for example, might ask the poster if he has shared his feelings with anyone IRL and, if not, has he considered that it might be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/36 "2025-07-30T13:26:50Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > If “consulting a medical professional” means, “Damn, you need to see a shrink!”, then the answer is unequivocally, NO. That’s insulting and hurting the poster and is the total opposite of helpful. No, that is assuming an insult where none is actually made. Far too often a call to seek professional help is mistranslated as a diagnosis of “You called them crazy!! You insulted them!!”. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/37 "2025-07-30T13:38:00Z")
At this point, I think you have to view the specific post in question based on the thread context in which it was made. My view is to definitely to err on the side of caution as I illustrated in my example. How Moderators view the situation is up to them, and I feel we have to respect their judgment if we want to keep this Board the great place it has been. ---
**Author:** ![DemonTree](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/demontree/32/8646_2.png) [@DemonTree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DemonTree)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/38 "2025-07-30T13:42:12Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Conflating an illness with being a moron is the sort of ignorance I hope we are marginally reducing here. Stupidity is no more a moral fault than mental illness is. Neither are the fault of the person concerned, but because both are ‘bad’, they are commonly used as insults. The only difference is that mental illness is often treatable, so there is a justification for bringing it up which isn’t there for mere lack of intelligence. Still, several of the responses here seem to me more along the lines of “this person is crazy and we should be free to say so” than “this poster appears unwell and needs help”. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/39 "2025-07-30T13:43:36Z")
Please point out those responses, because I would also like to condemn them. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2025, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243/40 "2025-07-30T14:00:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > if the person says that seeing a doctor isn’t going to happen because feeling excruciating pain is just a normal part of healing, is it harassment to continue the argument that a professional’s advice should still be sought out? Minimally bordering on and if persistent _definitely._ Also of no point. Saying it once is fine; arguing about it with them - no. If I say I don’t need to see a doctor for my ankle pain then leave me the fuck alone Psychosis even more so as it is the very experienced reality which is at dispute. Convincing them that what they experience is fictive is improbable. Maybe help for the discomfort and dysfunction. Maybe. Depression? Anxiety? A few tries but yeah, they say no they don’t need help then let them be. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-about-posts-and-apparent-mental-illness/1021243.md?page=3)