Does anybody here know anyone (or indeed be that person) who sincerely refuses to accept that common/recognised illnesses are anything much other than a state of mind?


If this just sinks to the bottom of the page then so be it, but i'd be interested to hear if anyone has had real experience of people in partial or complete denial of illness, whether physical or mental.

 

You mean like the opposite of a hypochondriac?

 

I've not met anyone that believes this.

 

What do you mean? Refuses to see that they are ill? Or are refusing to admit they are suffering from a mental health condition? Or do you mean they just believe the illness is a state of mind and has no actual effect on them as its all in their heads and as a result they believe it has no effect on the things they can do in life and their physical wellbeing? I'm a little confused by the question myself

I work in mental health, learning disabilities, sensory loss etc so have seen and worked with quite a variety of people

 

Refusing to believe that somebody suffering with a cold, just to take an example, is not capable of overcoming it if they can harness enough willpower to make themselves believe that they are not unwell.

Or in the case of mental illness, singularly failing that to recognise signs of abnormal behaviour in themselves, believing everyone else has a problem.


John, i'm surprised. I could put people like this in front of you right now, you must be a non-specific general practitioner? Obviously there's plenty in the medical press of this phenomenon but i'd just like to hear other people's experiences to guage the prevalance, or otherwise, of what i perceive to be quite a common condition.

 

Yes - My wife!

Always moaning about something - 'I'm tired, my back aches, I have a head ache, I have a stomach ache, my hands feel funny.....' etc etc.

She always has to have something to moan about. Whether it is just for sympathy or deeper than that, I don't know.

 

Slightly off topic perhaps.

Person (man, late 20's) works for me and regularly had a single day off sick every 5-6 weeks. Company line is we pay up to 10 days sick leave on a rolling 12 months. This ****er saw it as a bloody target.

Hauled him up in front of HR 2 months ago, he hasn't been "sick" since.

 

I do think somebody's state of mind goes a long way to helping one's illness/disability. Too much information is available for society's wasters to allocate themselves with a label that suggests shaking it off is nigh on impossible rather than just changing a lifestyle.

If I hear one more person say they have diabetes because they are fat, suggesting diabetes is the cause of their weight and not their keenness to fill their face with pies, I'll shìt on the spot. I know someone with genuine type 1 diabetes and it only serves to belittle his genuine struggle.

As for a cold, if you haven't had a stinker at all I can possibly see why some people might say it isn't that bad. However, even the normally fittest of mind and body can be floored by genuine flu and no amount of happy chanting will help.

I don't fùck, pìss agree Tourettes exists shìt ****.

 

Wha.... How many double negatives?

To translate..

"Beleiving that someone suffering with a cold is able to overcome it if they can harness enough will power to make themselves beleive they are fit and well."

Is that right?

In which case its a case of incentive and profesionalism. When I was younger and paid a pittance, I would have taken the day off. Now I am older, better paid, more responsibility I havent had a day off sick for about 5 years, and when I am sick I take it as holiday or work from home.

Course it depends on the severity of the illness; somnetimes forcing yourself over it when your body is telling you to rest is not the best thing to do.

With regards to illnesses of the mind, I guess the key is recognising you have a problem, and I suspect the key trait of many mental illnesses is not realising that.

 

Public or private employment?

Common practice in public sector from what I can see.

 

Yes, my bro in law, mad as a hat full of fish, and thinks the rest of the world is at fault/ one big conspiracy.

His latest thing is that chem trails are to stop us from seeing the aliens.

And regularly sees space ships that when you look at them cloak too many episodes of star trek as a child me thinks, i could go on all day about some of his wild fantasy's, but i think you get the picture.

Total paranoid skitso, don't think the large quantity of dope he smokes every week helps much either, but he says it calms him down and helps him sleep.

 

Common enough in the private sector too.

 

Huh?

 

Man Flu is very real and very debilitating.....no matter what the other half says!

 

I began writing it from a negative point of view as if somebody "must" be able to convince themselves they're well, "why can't you" etc so it continued in that theme. I'm getting ideas down, not entering a literary competition. But to simplify for those who need it;

Believing that somebody suffering with a cold, just to take an example, is capable of overcoming it if (actually more like "when") they can harness enough willpower to make themselves believe that they are well.

 

Illness, colds in particular appear to be less debilitating in the self employed I know.

 

Hmm its a not uninteresting topic. It is not un-well documented that those not well paid find themselves not uninspired to not refrain from ringing in and claim they are not feeling well.

 

True. But i'm focusing more on people who think you aren't "allowed" to be ill. Hard to explain succinctly because i guess it could take many forms, just interested in most contributions to the thread


Pete, get over yourself, "mate"

 

I suspect everyone who's had their dodgy grammar highlighted by you, recognises the irony in this sentence

 

Ha indeed, feel free to pick me up on proper spelling errors

 

I get that, Tel. I think surely everybody has been ill once and no matter how much it might be annoying for someone relying on another person who is ill, and can't turn up, has to recognise it as bad luck.

If someone genuinely believes you can't be ill, they must be ill. Let your boss know you'll be in on Friday if you can manage it.

 

I was ill once.

 

Hopefully you'll get better soon then, it has been a while now.

 

This is very similar to a childhood friend of mine.
In his view, all of his problems (many) are caused by a Greenpeace conspiracy.
The guy is completely in denial.
It would be more of a laugh if there were not children involved.
He is certainly no poster boy for cannabis.

 

You're not wrong!

 

The first thing is admitting you've a problem, good job Tel

 

Interesting that schizophrenia has been mentioned already.

 

They were just voices, Tel.

 

Ah i'm way past that point But denying that illness is "real" isn't one of my many shortcomings.

 

Of the bloke following me