people drive me crazy!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-14-2005
people drive me crazy!!!
6
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 12:07am
ahhhh my aunt recently graduated with a degree in social work and now she thinks that she is the queen of mental illness! it's driving me crazy! my mom was telling him how we were in family therapy and that therapist said he thought i might be bipolar and also how my own therapist was really worried that i was bipolar and needed to be on lithum (and wanted me to be hospitalized until then). well she's all like "bipolar people don't cycle that much!" uh, im so glad to know your education paid off! plus she says "it doesnt run in our family, whats wrong with you! your family just has problems and its stressing her out. shes not manic. its like you want her to be bipolar!" ahhhh yea thats really want we want! pshhh agggh
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-27-2006
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 1:07am

Some people when they take Social Work they only take the part where they work with Goverment and state welfare departments and only hit on mental illness a little. I am going back to school to do this work and I found that you have to take further classes for counseling people in order to be certified in that part of it. I would try to not let her bother you, obviously she didn't learn very much. You know how you feel and what your symptoms are not her. I hope your mom is on your side and not believing your aunt.


Hang in there


Tina




     ~ Tina ~

Avatar for peg_t
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-24-2003
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 3:54am

That would be rather annoying. I hope that she learns a little more about mental illness before she starts to "help" people. I would hate to see someone not get help because she believes there is nothing wrong. Maybe she should look at the DSM or search some information about BP on the net...if BPers don't cycle that fast, why are there categories of ultra rapid cycling (and ultra-ultra rapid and the other one...I forget what it is called, utradian or somthing).

I hope the rest of your family is supportive!

Peg

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 8:21am

Hey hon...that is soooooooo totally annoying...first of all, Peg is right...there are "classes" of cycling...I, unfortunately, had the ultradian cycling, where I cycled over and over in a day's time...many many times up and down...your aunt doesn't know JACK!!! Sorry you're going through that...

Now, I have been keeping up with your posts, but have been struggling and haven't been able to post much...but, you seem quite manic...when do you get in to see a pdoc?? Lithium will help you a great deal to come off that mania before it gets really bad. Please be very careful right now...when you get REALLY manic, other things can come into play, and they can be scary, when the fun ride is over. Keep posting with us. It helps, and we can help you through.

Hugs!

Keli

Avatar for chilaili
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 12:08pm

Um, I cycle several times a day, as I'm sure other people here do too. Whoever taught your aunt that we don't cycle much is giving bad and inaccurate information. And I don't think anybody really knows where bipolar comes from: there are theories it's genetic OR it's enviromental, but nobody really knows for sure yet.

'sfunny, my Dad gets very annoyed when I tell him about the genetic/inherited theory and my Mum rolls her eyes and says, "Yes, I wonder where you got it from." I haven't had the nerve to tell her that I think it comes from both of them - she'd be mortally offended.

Never mind the sex-education-in-schools argument, what about some mental-illness-education for a change?!

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-14-2005
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 2:54pm
Hi everyone, thanks for your support! Keli you're right, I'm completely manic haha. I'm having the hardest time just getting help! I called my doctor like two weeks ago and said "I'm going crazy!" You think that would get me somewhere but I guess it's just a slow process. I think (hope) I'll finally be seeing a pdoc Thursday. My tdoc is the sweetest thing! I just started with her a month ago and it takes me a long time to get comfortable with people but she knew I was having this extreme manic/extreme depression stuff going on last week and gave me her cell phone number to call this weekend while she was at the lake... well of course I didn't call it because I didn't want to disturb her. But then this morning she said "why didn't you call me this weekend? I was worried! I forgot to take your cell phone #" I thought that was so sweet. Anyway so yea hopefully help is coming soon. This is like my most normal time of day. It's almost sinking into deep depression time :( Hope you all are having a great day!
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-14-2003
Tue, 06-06-2006 - 3:14pm

I would say that unless your aunt is an LCSW, she shouldn't be doling out mental health advice. My sister has a Master's in SW, but will tell me that she knows very little about mental health. She can tell you anything about child services, sexual, physical and any other type of abuse and even about the effects of meth, but not much on mental health. Her partner is an LCSW, so I feel comfortable talking to her about it. If I ask my sister a mental health question, she just passes the phone to her partner.

My sister has been in SW for over 20 years and is smart enough to know when she doesn't know something. Sounds like your aunt wants to be more than she is, or talk about something she has little to no experience in to sound important. Chalk it up to her needing to fill her own void and smile. I know it's annoying, but just smile...hey, you have no idea what mental illness she's trying to hide herself!!!!!

edited to add: Through the years, I've met a lot of friends of my sister's who are also SW and have worked with quite a few (at a psych hospital years ago). The common thing with a lot of them is they are trying to fix something in themselves. For some, it's some sort of abuse, for others , like my sister, she is gay and was trying to "fix" it. Of course not all who go into SW are trying to solve problems in themselves, but from what I've seen a lot are. Just some food for thought and my opinion only, fwiw. Take the comments with a grain of salt.

Hugs,
Amy