this post was submitted on 13 Nov 2024
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[–] [email protected] 47 points 1 week ago (16 children)

Oh hey, I have something for this.

From experience, 'making it somebody else's problem' by asking for help, rarely ends well or gets you the help you need. It just makes you an annoyance and look bad, and eventually people (healthcare workers included) decide you're malingering and/or attention seeking and start treating you even worse.

Isn't life fun.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 week ago (11 children)

I wish so many comments on this post didn't support what you're saying. And the guy in the comic isn't even asking for help, just showing that he's suffering.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (7 children)

The comic character is doing it "right" by not making it the other guy's problem.

Part of the problem is that there's a gray area on this discussion and easy to find yourself on either side.

On the one side, "my hand has been crushed and I need immediate medical attention" is something other people need to respect. And "I can't help you with both hands because one of them is crushed" is something other people need to respect. And "my chronic hand pain makes me grumpy", too.

On the other, if you're not talking to a doctor or asking for help getting to a doctor, starting every conversation with "My hand hurts" begs the question "what do you want me to do about it?" And if every request to socialize is met with "Can't do anything hand hurts", eventually you stop getting calls.

So what's the fair middle ground? Hard to say and varies heavily by audience. But people do love to paint on the extreme ends without addressing the mushy middle.

[–] towerful 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yeh, mental health issues are just health issues.
It took me a while to realise that. A broken brain (whether Alzheimer's, chronic depression or whatever) is just like a broken leg (or broken arm, or chronic back pain or whatever).

You don't ask someone with a broken leg or chronic back pain to help you move house.
I guess it's easier to tell when someone has a physical injury, which probably removes some of the stigma around talking about it.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

I guess it’s easier to tell when someone has a physical injury, which probably removes some of the stigma around talking about it.

Yup, pretty much the premise of the comic. When someone has a visible injury, (most) people will show empathy and acknowledge it's a problem. But an invisible ailment like depression? Meh, no big deal, get over it.

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