The Television show, Heroes, is about ready to air for the second season. NBC will air the first show of Season Two on Monday, September 24th.
What is both surprising and very interesting about Heroes on NBC is that all the characters seem to exhibit Mental Illness symptoms, yet they are definitely HEROES!
Their quirks are seen as EXTRAORDINARY abilities.
Could this show help change our perception, in North America, about Mental Illness?
Heroes Characters Have Odd Psychological Profiles
This Television series is very popular in North America. The common age group watching, who are closely following every episode, are YOUTH and young adults.
Are you going to watch Season Two?
Showing posts with label symptoms. Show all posts
Showing posts with label symptoms. Show all posts
Friday, August 31, 2007
Friday, July 13, 2007
PTSD - More Common Than You Think
You may think that PTSD only happens to victims of war, rape, deliberate psychological abuse and things like that. You might think that PTSD only happens in soldiers, abused people, and people who have experienced severe accidents like plane crashes, automobile accidents and things like this.
You couldn't be more wrong!
Though the types of events mentioned above do contribute to causing PTSD and the types of people above often develop PTSD, there are a lot more details to the condition of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that need to be considered.
A person considered more 'emotionally sensitive' than those around him/her may experience certain events as 'traumatic,' whereas peers do not. In a sense, a main 'requirement' for developing PTSD is pretty simple:
If a person's response to an event or situation involves intense fear, feelings of helplessness, or horror...
This can lead to PTSD symptoms where the affected person might:
* Have recurrent recollections of the experience (thoughts, feelings, 'impressions' and perceptions)
* Have nightmares
* Feel, at times, as though the event is happening again (reliving the experience)
* Be triggered by visual, audio or any kind of 'cues' associated with even a small part of the event - and react severely to these triggers while experiencing intense psychological distress (panic, fear, despair, hopelessness, anger, etc)
There are more symptoms, but these are some basic ones.
Children often experience these symptoms if they have been exposed to violent videos at too young an age, before their 'life experience,' emotional and mental capabilities are able to sort out 'reality' from 'fantasy.' In certain cases, it would be correct to determine a child as suffering from PTSD - if they are having recurring nightmares, are having trouble determining that the experience is 'over' and instead, are 'reliving' the memory over and over again - if they feel intense fear, hopelessness, are feeling 'horrified' by whatever they have seen.
On a different note, it is possible that PTSD can also circulate on a mass level and reach people who do not actually experience DIRECT contact with a traumatic event. And example of this is how people reacted, internationally, to 9/11 with horror, fear, and hopelessness.
Do you think that there are still residual PTSD sufferers from 9/11 who weren't even in New York during the disaster?
You couldn't be more wrong!
Though the types of events mentioned above do contribute to causing PTSD and the types of people above often develop PTSD, there are a lot more details to the condition of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that need to be considered.
A person considered more 'emotionally sensitive' than those around him/her may experience certain events as 'traumatic,' whereas peers do not. In a sense, a main 'requirement' for developing PTSD is pretty simple:
If a person's response to an event or situation involves intense fear, feelings of helplessness, or horror...
This can lead to PTSD symptoms where the affected person might:
* Have recurrent recollections of the experience (thoughts, feelings, 'impressions' and perceptions)
* Have nightmares
* Feel, at times, as though the event is happening again (reliving the experience)
* Be triggered by visual, audio or any kind of 'cues' associated with even a small part of the event - and react severely to these triggers while experiencing intense psychological distress (panic, fear, despair, hopelessness, anger, etc)
There are more symptoms, but these are some basic ones.
Children often experience these symptoms if they have been exposed to violent videos at too young an age, before their 'life experience,' emotional and mental capabilities are able to sort out 'reality' from 'fantasy.' In certain cases, it would be correct to determine a child as suffering from PTSD - if they are having recurring nightmares, are having trouble determining that the experience is 'over' and instead, are 'reliving' the memory over and over again - if they feel intense fear, hopelessness, are feeling 'horrified' by whatever they have seen.
On a different note, it is possible that PTSD can also circulate on a mass level and reach people who do not actually experience DIRECT contact with a traumatic event. And example of this is how people reacted, internationally, to 9/11 with horror, fear, and hopelessness.
Do you think that there are still residual PTSD sufferers from 9/11 who weren't even in New York during the disaster?
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Inconsistencies
Mental Health issues, for both those who suffer with 'illnesses' and those who 'observe' - are very confusing, to say the least.
Perhaps it is the 'inconsistencies' of when, how, and the manner in which mental health symptoms appear that gives a general public the idea that they can call people 'mentally ill' instead of saying, 'that person has an illness and the symptoms of the illness are showing right now.'
Once someone has received some TREATMENT for mental illness symptoms, many people erroneously classify the individual as either 'well' or 'mentally ill.'
The truth of the matter is...the person is a person...who may or may not have one, several, many or all of the symptoms of his/her mental illness show up again in his/her life. Most likely, the person will be subject again with variations of combination 'symptoms' that will present the need for that person to seek professional help throughout their lifetime.
When an average person, NOT classified as having a mental illness has a sickness, we don't say,
"That person is cold" or
"That person is broken legged" or
"That person is flu" or
"That person is cancer" or
"That person is fever" or
"That person is sprained ankle."
We say
"That person has a cold" and infer, "for now, but will likely be back to better health soon" or
"That person has a broken leg" and say, "for now, but once the break is healed the person will be back to normal" or
"That person has the flu" and include, "but will feel great in a week or so once the symptoms pass" or
"That person has cancer" and say, "but as treament is going well, he/she will be on the mend soon, and cancer-free!" or
"That person has a fever," and add, "of the type that usually only lasts 24 hours, so he/she will be his/her bright own self in about a day" or
"That person has a sprained ankle" - "and will be 'good as new' once that ankle is rested and healed."
Even if someone gets sick with the flu over and over, several times in one year - if the symptoms of influenza appear in a person repeatedly, we don't start calling that person someone who "is constantly the flu!"
Even if someone is particularly clumsy and breaks their leg or other body extension often, we don't say "Wow, so-and-so, is really showing his/her broken leggedness - perhaps he/she needs more treatment. He/she is really broken legged!"
So - what we THINK about concerning Mental Illness (if we are understanding Mental Illness at all) is often very different and inconsistent with the way we TALK ABOUT Mental Illness.
Often, the way we ACT around people who have a mental condition is inconsistent with our rational thoughts as well. We may, on a rational surface level, have no difficulties understanding that people who suffer illnesses of the mental variety are often helpless to control the symptoms of mental illness...
However, we may still shun these people, avoid them, or brush them aside, simply because - although we acknowledge that the people themselves aren't at fault for their symptoms - we'll ACT AS IF they are intruding upon our 'normal space.' This may happen due to previously erroneous stereotyping (that says "stay away from those who have mental illnesses) and surely it happens due to ignorance about mental illnesses in general.
Perhaps it is the 'inconsistencies' of when, how, and the manner in which mental health symptoms appear that gives a general public the idea that they can call people 'mentally ill' instead of saying, 'that person has an illness and the symptoms of the illness are showing right now.'
Once someone has received some TREATMENT for mental illness symptoms, many people erroneously classify the individual as either 'well' or 'mentally ill.'
The truth of the matter is...the person is a person...who may or may not have one, several, many or all of the symptoms of his/her mental illness show up again in his/her life. Most likely, the person will be subject again with variations of combination 'symptoms' that will present the need for that person to seek professional help throughout their lifetime.
When an average person, NOT classified as having a mental illness has a sickness, we don't say,
"That person is cold" or
"That person is broken legged" or
"That person is flu" or
"That person is cancer" or
"That person is fever" or
"That person is sprained ankle."
We say
"That person has a cold" and infer, "for now, but will likely be back to better health soon" or
"That person has a broken leg" and say, "for now, but once the break is healed the person will be back to normal" or
"That person has the flu" and include, "but will feel great in a week or so once the symptoms pass" or
"That person has cancer" and say, "but as treament is going well, he/she will be on the mend soon, and cancer-free!" or
"That person has a fever," and add, "of the type that usually only lasts 24 hours, so he/she will be his/her bright own self in about a day" or
"That person has a sprained ankle" - "and will be 'good as new' once that ankle is rested and healed."
Even if someone gets sick with the flu over and over, several times in one year - if the symptoms of influenza appear in a person repeatedly, we don't start calling that person someone who "is constantly the flu!"
Even if someone is particularly clumsy and breaks their leg or other body extension often, we don't say "Wow, so-and-so, is really showing his/her broken leggedness - perhaps he/she needs more treatment. He/she is really broken legged!"
So - what we THINK about concerning Mental Illness (if we are understanding Mental Illness at all) is often very different and inconsistent with the way we TALK ABOUT Mental Illness.
Often, the way we ACT around people who have a mental condition is inconsistent with our rational thoughts as well. We may, on a rational surface level, have no difficulties understanding that people who suffer illnesses of the mental variety are often helpless to control the symptoms of mental illness...
However, we may still shun these people, avoid them, or brush them aside, simply because - although we acknowledge that the people themselves aren't at fault for their symptoms - we'll ACT AS IF they are intruding upon our 'normal space.' This may happen due to previously erroneous stereotyping (that says "stay away from those who have mental illnesses) and surely it happens due to ignorance about mental illnesses in general.
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