Nihilism, suicide and B&W prints

[fishbulb]

That said I wanted to look up the stats, it seems if you're white, male, and in your 50's you're basically screwed... which backs up my statement that self imposed pressures are stronger with older people. Supposedly no one has it better than a white male in his 50's, the epitome of the privileged class...

That's mostly an age effect I'm sure. Decades of sociology research has shown that (in the U.S. and Europe anyway) being a white male is like playing the game of life on the easiest difficulty setting. Doesn't make you an automatic winner, but it sure makes things easier.

[StoneNYC]

Uhhhh...I hate to ask, but who's Woodman ?

Never mind, I was wrong, I thought the post was actually in this thread but I can't seem to find it... She's a photographer who shot a lot of nude self-portraits and apparently committed suicide...

[John Kasaian]

...by jumping out of a window. She was 22 years old.

[StoneNYC]

...by jumping out of a window. She was 22 years old.

That's rare, statistically women tend not to commit suicide in ways that would disfigure their face/ body, so I've read, really quite sad, I would be interested to know more about her and I guess I should look her up some time and read some more in-depth information.

[Toyon]

As someone who worked alongside psychologists and psychiatrists for 27 years while evaluating mental disorders, and having been in a PsyD program myself, please let me weigh in on this. I'm sure the comment that NO psychologists are sane was made with tongue firmly in cheek, as I know a plethora of "sane" psychologists, who are very professional and passionate about their work. As others have pointed out, trying to pick someone's future behavior is problematic, at best, best exemplified by the mass shooters who slip through the cracks. As to another comment on here that someone can be psychotic with having a mental disorder; well, that is just mind-boggling. Mental illness is almost at epidemic proportions in this country, as 60% of people on Social Security Disability have either a primary or secondary diagnosis of a mental disorder.

Since psychosis can be caused by physiological condition (e.g. severe dehydration, sensory deprivation, etc.). It is correct to say that there need be no underlying disorder.

[Jac@stafford.net]

[...] Mental illness is almost at epidemic proportions in this country, as 60% of people on Social Security Disability have either a primary or secondary diagnosis of a mental disorder.

As of January 2014 it was 35.5 percent. See summary here, and from that page you can find links to the authoritative SS reports.

What is 'secondary diagnosis', and is it meaningful?

...or is this getting into politics? I will stop here and defer to the moderators.

[Jody_S]

Since psychosis can be caused by physiological condition (e.g. severe dehydration, sensory deprivation, etc.). It is correct to say that there need be no underlying disorder.

I'm starting to regret saying anything in this thread; I only jumped in because of personal experience with major depression, using photography as therapy.

My point about psychosis is that it isn't an on/off, you-have-it-or-you-don't, phenomenon. There's a spectrum, and at some arbitrary and (AFAIK) undefined point, someone like a psychiatrist says "You are psychotic". At that point, yes we are usually dealing with a mentally ill person. But that is just the 'tip of the iceberg', so to speak, the extreme cases that rise to the level of clinical psychosis. What about the person who can lie on their back and see animals in the clouds? What about the person who hears their dead grandmother speak to them when they're stressed? What about the people who fast on religious holidays and feel God? These are not just figures of speech; ie, just because I can't do any of these things doesn't mean other people don't experience these (perfectly normal) phenomena. For many, this might be a daily, or at will, fact of life, and these people live healthy, happy, not mentally-ill, lives.

[John Kasaian]

There shouldn't be any need for political discussion nor the merits of different schools of Psychological theory. The issue is the possibility of being able to identify colleagues who indicate, in visual language they could be at risk, and reaching out to them in a timely and appropriate way?
Or at least that's the question I hoped to ask

[Jac@stafford.net]

There shouldn't be any need for political discussion nor the merits of different schools of Psychological theory. The issue is the possibility of being able to identify colleagues who indicate, in visual language they could be at risk, and reaching out to them in a timely and appropriate way?
Or at least that's the question I hoped to ask

Noted, and properly redirected back to the subject.

[bloodhoundbob]

Since psychosis can be caused by physiological condition (e.g. severe dehydration, sensory deprivation, etc.). It is correct to say that there need be no underlying disorder.

Toyon: You are right, of course, as I was discounting transient psychotic states, e.g., LSD-induced hallucinations, etc. I was relating personal experiences of chronic psychotics, such as those associated with schizophrenia, Major Depression, and the such.