Can You Sense When Someone Else Has a Mental Illness?

[SmilingElephant]

I just wanna know if you guys can see signs in family and friends and ppl you meet on the street...if you can sense they may be Bipolar or have some other mental illness?

I can....when i'm talking to someone sometimes i can sense that there's something off about them. And since being treated for being mentally ill for about 2 years now(i was formally diagnosed with extreme depression) i have found that there is a whole society of ppl like us!! And its so cool to me!!

And to think...back in the day i used to be a little scared when ppl said they were Bipolar or Schizophrenic....and here i am...Bipolar myself. I never looked down on them but it jus scared me a teeny bit...still thought they were the coolest ppl anyway


Being normal is boring. Being weird and whimsical is the new black!

[chasemanzmum]

I can ... I know my mother has some form of depression. Just worried that my kids might have some form of mental illness when they are older. The best you can do is expect the worst and hope for the best.

[Dreamline]

Yeah I notice stuff about people that most don't.  I know several family members who are undoubtedly bipolar.  But one day I was in line at the pharmacy @ the drop off window and this black lady came walking up to the pickup window.  She was beaming and wearing really nice clothes that looked really good on her.  Her demeanor was just as bright as can be like she just won the lottery.  First thing I thought...MANIC...then I saw she was picking up a script for an anti psychotic (can't remember which one, some Q word I think)  Anyway...she was chatting a lot with the pharmacist when she picked up her order.  I heard her say something about working all night and all day today and wanting to nip this in the bud before she spirals out of control.  LOL...if I was in a more manic mood I might have introduced myself LOL "Hi I'm manic too" 

[Phyllis]

quetiapine fumarate i.e. seroquel

[cadno]

Gods yes, I can see it very easily in other people, I have two family members in particular that I'm actually trying to get assessed by their GP but getting them to go is a nightmare.  But I think that understanding and ability to see it in others is down to how we manage our own condition.  As bipolars we are always researching, learning and understanding more about ourselves and our condition each day, this forum alone is proof of that.  Maybe that's the ticket for better treatment, get more bipolars educated in the health sector and we'd all have a far easier time with coping.

Rich

[Phyllis]

what is it they say? "Takes one to know one!" ?

[SmilingElephant]

Lol @ Phyllis! That is true!

[Dreamline]

 

I was the same way when I was a stoner...I could always tell if someone was a stoner.  I can still sense who is a head having been one myself...same for other types of druggies.  I know.

[SmilingElephant]

Isn't it weird? Okay so what do u guys think about the guy who was stalking jennifer aniston? Sympathy or no for him? I actually have sympathy for him bc he is ill...but he went off his meds.

[Phyllis]

No sympathy, but I think my opinion is biased since I was stalked. And did he go off his meds willingly or did he go off of his meds because he couldn't afford to get refills?

[Dreamline]

I never heard of that story.

[SmilingElephant]

No sympathy, but I think my opinion is biased since I was stalked. And did he go off his meds willingly or did he go off of his meds because he couldn't afford to get refills?

That's the million dolla question Phyllis

[dionomo]

golly i feel like that sometimes and it can freak me out too

[bee_bop]

I usually make a note of signs of mental illness in my mind which I feel I can see in other people. I think it's cool to be understanding of other people who are going through the same stuff we are (even if it's not exactly what we are going through). I guess that's part of the reason why we are on this forum!
All the coolest people are crazy, I reckon! So I guess that makes me cool too :-) Thanks for the boost!

[Paz]

If anyone has some sort of MI, they always seem to single me out...like they will look at me with an expression that seems to say,"hey, you're fucked up too!" I guess we are kind of like vampires, being able to identify our own kind with a glance. And I can always spot a stoner...takes one to know one!