Mental Illness in a Post Apocalyptic World

[wee drop o' bush]

I find if I can just battle enough to keep on top of my eating, spending money & housework chores then I feel a lot happier & in control. My mental health improves & I'm less irritable and irrational.
Just being well enough to be able to push myself to stay in control, is a major asset for me.
I'm eating well & exercising at the minute, so the panicked, free falling feeling is not really there.

Also exercise is a major boost for my mental health. It really, really helps me

[PackLemming]

- Nothing to see here -

[bigmattdaddywack]

123456

[Tater Raider]

I find if I can just battle enough to keep on top of my eating, spending money & housework chores then I feel a lot happier & in control. My mental health improves & I'm less irritable and irrational.
Just being well enough to be able to push myself to stay in control, is a major asset for me.
I'm eating well & exercising at the minute, so the panicked, free falling feeling is not really there.

Also exercise is a major boost for my mental health. It really, really helps me

This one varies by illness but it's not just you that is helped this way. Here's a detailed write-up of an Arizona State University study: http://www.fitness.gov/mentalhealth.htm

...especially in light of the fact that 'religious' folk who believe in the existence of unproven entities...

Let's not go there, please. Rules and all that.

[PackLemming]

This needs to be on the "other" mental illness thread.

Yep I just discovered that my posting was deposited in the wrong internetz box.

[Shadow_Man]

Mental health will be a major issue for everyone in a Post Apocalyptic World. Even "normal people" (if there is such a thing) are going to find life extremely mentally hard going. People that we think are normal now, will suffer total melt downs when their "normal" world is suddenly taken away. Unfortunately many people with certain other particular issues will probably not survive for very long. I'm not being cruel, just being factual. This also goes for people that have certain medical conditions and must have medications to survive: diabetics, heart disease, COPD, heck even infections and dental problems could end up life threatening. It's going to be very difficult for a lot of people to survive. However, there are some people that might actually thrive in such situations. I'm a combat veteran from Desert Storm and deal with a pretty severe case of PTSD. Better than others and not as good as some. Hyper vigilance and many of the symptoms of PTSD will actually keep you alive when all hell is breaking loose.

My better half is a Metal Health Counselor and believe me there are a lot more mental health issues out there than you could possibly image and each person is an individual as to what degree they have issues and how they are treated medically. No two people with the same diagnosis can be treated exactly the same. You can have two entirely different outcomes in a PAW situation even with the same mental health issues. There simply are no guarantees.

One thing for sure is that we're going to have to depend upon ourselves and our immediate support group to survive. Another thing to keep in mind is that there are alternative forms of treatment once the main system collapses.

THINK, ADAPT, IMPROVISE, OVERCOME!!

[PackLemming]

...especially in light of the fact that 'religious' folk who believe in the existence of unproven entities...

Let's not go there, please. Rules and all that.

Mom's the word.

[bigmattdaddywack]

123456

[PackLemming]

I think some mental illness, such as depression,will be somewhat relieved after a while ( after the initial shock)due to the amount of work people will have to do. Wont have time to dwell on petty problems. Also our schedule will become more natural. We will live more in tune with the Sun and Moon. I might be wrong but I have thought about it for a while.


Life got better and the Renaissance occurred after the Black Death.

Though they did not have nuclear power plants that had to be manned.

Well there you go, mental illness that is identified in your opinion can be treated in the USA,the world turns some win, some lose.

Over here they let violent criminals swing blows at people's skull with any variety of improvised medi-eval flail, then fail to arrest suspects in what is to be considered an attempted murder case and then health care professionals show no interest in monitoring signs of mental illness emerging in the patient after the patient clearly is at risk of mental illness following the attack.

As I have discovered it to be the case, the business of mental health professionals here consider mental illness to be an issue involving gender identity disorders, paranoia and or psychosis, personality disorders, drug abuse rehabilitation programs or protecting low intelligence humans from harming themselves while unsupervised.

But that is why this country at large now resembles a highly observant psychiatric facility with low intervention rates for Men when it concerns itself primarily with "at risk" individuals.

[silversnake]

I think some mental illness, such as depression,will be somewhat relieved after a while ( after the initial shock)due to the amount of work people will have to do. Wont have time to dwell on petty problems.

That's a bit of a misconception about mental illness, depression in particular, though. Though symptoms of depression vary in type and severity from individual to individual the same as symptoms of other mental illnesses, part of a defining characteristic of a serious mental illness is that you're affected by it despite the fact that you've got a bunch of stuff to do. Usually, that's expressed as "interferes with regular activities of life" or some such. Someone who's seriously depressed and isn't able to get out of bed to go to work in an office today is still going to be depressed and unable to get out of bed tomorrow even if "the office" is replaced by "collect firewood so I don't freeze to death".

Of course, that's very different from people that are shocked and traumatized into inaction or inappropriate action for a short time after a disaster. People might call that "being depressed" but that's a whole different thing from the folks I've known who were genuinely clinically depressed.

[bigmattdaddywack]

123456

[bigmattdaddywack]

123456

[ThumperX]

Many police departments as well as much of the military are now training with two books by Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Killing and On Combat. They help us to not only prepare for and survive battle, but to live through the aftermath. In a PAW, these will be crucial skills, the alternative being most of us being victims, being dead, or having major mental illness, PTSD being only one.

It pays, whenever possible to try to stock up on or find natural remedies to replace any medications you are now taking that will be unavailable if the grid goes down long term. We'll have a lot of uninfected dangerous zombies roaming around who don't know how to think or control their emotions without their anti-depressants and anti-psychotic drugs.

[bigmattdaddywack]

123456

[PackLemming]

Where are you? Scandinavia?

Its a trap!

Upon reflection offered by a multitude of minutes, I revise.

I am in England, partner in union to the United Kingdom.

[TripleThreat]

Good luck to all

[Shadow_Man]

...natural selection will come back from it's long slumber with a merciless iron fist. People aren't going to try to diagnose someone banging on their communities walls...

And that will be the sad truth of it. People will either get tough quick or they won't be around for very long. Thieves, murders, rapist and all such evils will be dealt with harshly and expeditiously. No one is going to waste time, effort and resources (food) to feed prisoners. It will be frontier law - plain and simple.

[Tater Raider]

That depends. One localtion may be very rough and tumble while another will do it's level best to hang onto "civilized behaviour."

There are plenty of examples in fiction of this but the best one I can think of for ZS is Dale in The Walking Dead. A historical example would also be The Donner Party and how the survivors were treated once rescued. It's worth pointing out in this case they brought the events that unfolded upon themselves with leaving late and the timing of crossing Truckee (now Donner) Pass.

The thought also occurs to me that civilization predates modern technology by a whole lot, so rather than saying, "This is how it will be" we should plan for that event but also prep in a manner that allows us to hang onto as much of modern civilization as we can. Lives will be spared if this can be managed.

Darwin applies to a lot of things, but I like the theory the movie "A Beautiful Mind" put forward is that for individuals to thrive a group does what's best for the entire group, which brings us full circle to if you have a mental illness you need to prep for it in addition to the rest of your preps, and that if there isn't mental illness now there is ample evidence there will be later - now is the time to plan strategies on coping with someone badly shell shocked or wracked by grief.

Just some thoughts....



EtA: even NASA planned for mental issues in the space race. The solution was to restrain someone endangering the crew with duct tape.

[LyraJean]

MM brings up a good point about sleep - it's important for a lot of things, including mental health, especially in some disorders like depression and bipolar. Bipolar is more likely to flare up if the person doesn't get regular sleep. (Also true for migraines and epilepsy.) Some folks with depression sleep too much, but there's others who can't sleep even if they're exhausted. Anxiety disorders (and acute stress/anxiety) also mess with sleep. Lack of sleep will impair anybody's mental faculties, especially vigilance and creative problem solving.

Just like Tater has prepped by knowing his illness, knowing what's likely to set it off, and knowing what strategies and tools he has to manage it, any of us with sleep issues should try to get on top of them. It's best to know what our behavioral, environmental, and possibly medical tools are for sleep, if we take meds, know how they effect us, and to anticipate how our usual strategies might get blown out of the water or cause problems in a PAW. There are some otc and herbal/alternative sleep aids (other than alcohol, which has issues with re-awakening later) but if somebody's likely to need them, it would be good to know how long it's going to knock that specific person out for, or if they're likely to have after-effects the next day.

OTC Melatonin you can buy it in the vitamin aisle.

[LyraJean]

I was talking taking depressants (alcohol, valium, sleep aids, etc.) while depressed generally being ill-advised. And no, it nearly universally (WKRP in Cincinnati comes to mind where Johnny Fever got more sober the more he drank - fun bit) depresses the system, though the "losening up" it allows can create sleep issues in the other direction.

duodecima has a very valid point on sleep patterns too. for this you can use sleep aids to assist in going down, caffiene for waking up, and so on but really you are better off if you can have a set bedtime routine. The routine itself becomes a trigger for, "Oh, it's time to lay down. I guess I'm sleepy after all." Also avoid distractions and stimulating materials during this time. Cut out the caffinated crap 2-3 hours ahead of time. Finally, if you keep your in bed activities limited to sleeping and "hand holding" it helps - no eating, drinking, watching TV in bed. Ya'll prolly heard it a bazillian times but for me this stuff helps.

The other thing I do on caffiene is I'll start the day with a 24oz. dt. soda, then go to coffee. The first pot is 1/3 decaf, the second is 2/3 decaf, and if I have 3 or more I switch to pure decaf so the chemicals can help wake me then slowly bleed out of my system during the day.

I had no real regular sleep schedule until I got married. I was working full time and going to school part time then switched and worked part time and school full time. So I just slept when I got everything done. And most of my life I've been a night person anyways it didn't help that I work retail at Walmart so my hours are different every day. So going to bed when my husband does has helped me a lot. Now when it hits 10:30-11:00 I am tired and will go to sleep. I also tend to wake up around the same time every morning too. So that is what helped me.

Worry tends to keep me awake and when I do sleep it's not very good sleep as I get horrible nightmares, like screaming and crying in my sleep. Luckily, it doesn't seem to happen to often.

[moab]

What a great thread tater! This suggestion is off the books. But I tend to over exaggerate my conditions that require medication. So that I can save on insurance and stock up on needed meds should the PAW arrive. Even one extra pill per day. Add's up quickly. This seems the only grey area one can stock up on meds in. Unfortunately no one will listen to "But I need it for my prepping!". Although they might increase your meds if you used that excuse. (chuckle)

Mental illness is no joke. And if you suffer. Hopefully you can find a way to stock up on at least 6 months or so of meds. To at least get you to a safe harbor before tapering off.

I also would have no problem giving a hysterical member of my party half a xanax or klonopin to help temporarily calm them down. That or a stiff drink.

Anyway. I applaud you tater. For having the strength to share what others might not.

[feedthedog]

I have PTSD and anxiety. It actually started upon my immediate return from AFG in 04. I didn't seek help until the wife said she wanted a divorce in spring of 06. By then I was on a really bad road. I started but gave it a half hearted effort. this went on and off for the next few years between deployments and trips and schools. I discovered that I did not need the meds while I was deployed. I functioned very well in high stress situations and the meds were actually a negative, sadly this is really common amongst the group of soldiers I worked with. But the issues just compounded. I went on my last mob in 2010 to Cambodia. By this time the wife and I had split and she was hoping I would pull my head out and get right. No such luck. When I came home, I was on the ground 24hrs and at the store shopping when the idea of killing myself came to mind. It was the most rational and logical thing I had ever thought. Really? Out of nowhere too. So needless to say that was a bit of a wake up call.

I too enjoy a bit of the old PTSD resulting from 2 tours in Iraq. I think mine is a bit less severe than yours, but I totally relate to feeling completely normal deployed or in other high stress environments. I had great luck with Army docs and found some folks who really wanted to work with me. I had/have anxiety in certain normal situations and it was impossible to fall asleep. Once I did fall asleep, I would wake up a few hours later soaked in sweat.

They gave me some fairly mild meds, helped me to learn my triggers, and worked on stuff. Now, I'm off the pills and things are going reasonably well. These days, I just work on getting good sleep, working out, abstaining from drugs/alcohol, and I work on avoiding the stuff that bothers me the most.

If my journey through this taught me anything, its that you can totally work this out and that time makes a huge difference. I may not ever be back to "normal", but as a side effect, I have super human situational awareness and that is pretty cool.

By the way, this is probably the best thread on ZS.

[ineffableone]

Something to consider about PAW mental illness is a lot of the folks now considered mentally ill will actually be more functional in the chaos of PAW and the people who are not mentally ill now will have a much higher likelihood of becoming mentally ill.

What I mean is a lot of the so called mental illnesses of our current society are adaptations for a different set of society rules. For example ADD and ADHD are not really mental illnesses as much as they are actually human adaptations to hunting. ADD and ADHD people are hard wired as hunters, which tends to cause problems in an agriculture based society. If your interested in this concept there is a lot of information on line about it. Here is one example http://borntoexplore.org/hunter.htm to get people who are interested started.

Further a lot of the people who are depressed are depressed due to feeling trapped in a pointless or otherwise meaningless life. I have often heard from depressed people how they dislike feeling like a cog in a vast machine and that is what depresses them.

In PAW a lot of the causes of these current metal illnesses will be gone. Not all, but ones like those I mentioned above that have their roots in not fitting in with current society. If the folks with these issues survive they will likely become much healthier mentally. However the folks who were considered just fine, will be suddenly out of their element. Remember how I mentioned ADD and ADHD is an adaptation to hunting, well obviously the "normal" people are the adaptation to agriculture. If suddenly they loose that way of life (and especially have no knowledge about how to rebuild agriculture based society) they will be just as disoriented as the ADD and ADHD folks were in the agriculture society. While the currently depressed people might wake up from their depressions when suddenly facing serious life and death situations and a more active role in day to day existence, the folks who were fine with their normal lives will be devastated by the sudden lack of it and likely will spiral into depressions.

Also along with the concept of mentally ill wandering around unmedicated and unchecked.

I lived in Philly. The largest mental institution in the US, Byberry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_State_Hospital_at_Byberry, was in the suburbs of Philly but got shut down in the 80's. The result, they literally kicked thousands of patients into the streets. Of course they would hand them a piece of paper saying go to this place to meet this doctor to get your meds. Guess how successful that was, LOL. So Decades later there are still crazy homeless wandering the streets of Philly. Literally screaming at lamp post and trash cans like they were alive but not even seeing the people as alive kind of crazy. After awhile you get pretty good at spotting the mentally disturbed quickly. One interesting thing that I have found that seems to get through to them. Crazy people avoid crazier people. If you end up with trouble with someone mentally disturbed bothering you, the most sure way to get rid of them, is to act crazier than they are. Start drooling and talking to invisible animals, jump around and flap your arms, make a complete idiot of yourself and 90% of the time the other guy will get scared of you and take off. Odd and weird but it really does work. What about that other 10%? Well that is the scary ones, the ones who start matching your crazy with even crazier. If that starts happening run, seriously get out of there. Those are the most unpredictable mentally disturbed people and you really never know what they might do.

[LyraJean]

I think people are confusing clinical depression with situational depression.

Clinical depression is yeah forget it unless you have some meds and lots of therapy you probably won't care when SHTF and you will die. Think of a manic/depressive (bi-polar) but they only have the depressive side. Example: Watch the movie "Melancholia" one of the main characters is at least a clinically depressed person if not bi-polar. Although they never state what she has.

Situational depression is where you are in a life sucking job. And everything seems to be going downhill. Depending on the situation a SHTF scenario will put this person into action because now their situation is changed and they feel they have some control over their lives. I've had situational depression. I moved to a different and basically started over. Everyone is different in that aspect.