> People more readily mentally visualize somebody without a leg, somebody with open fractures. Not so much for mind stuff,
> it's not concrete enough to most until it turns physical (i.e. you're a bloodstain on the floor). That's why
> some comments go along the lines of "I can understand suicide for physical pain but not for mental one". I
> would suggest that a broken self hurts more than an open fracture, and lacking certain central abilities to
> stabilize the self leaves you much more legless than if you lost your physical legs.
100% agreed. People have felt physical pain of very wide ranges before so they have some "scale" on which they can measure it. e.g. stubbing toe to a fracture to a chronic pain. But people thankfully don't have similar breadth in the level of mental pain they have experienced. So they cannot imagine a "mental pain" ever being equivalent to getting your leg amputated without anesthesia.
I like how Mike Shinoda talks about it - if you woke up with a bad back tomorrow you might take some rest; if it was worse the next day then you take some painkillers and the next day you might visit a doctor. But we don't think similarly for mental health.
If you are not feeling good you may try to go through the day anyway; next day it's worse so you should think "I should take it easy today"; the next day you might visit the doctor.
Another issue which people cannot seem to understand is that someone not taking mental health seriously and saying things like "you are overthinking", "it's not as bad", "knock it off", "you're a downer" etc end up invalidating the other person's existence (since that's what life is like for them at the moment and people are essentially saying your life isn't real), make them feel like a burden, make them feel that the other person's life is worth more than their own, that they aren't useful and that nobody cares if they didn't exist anymore.
Imagine:
Your leg got crushed and I tell you "it's not that bad", "stop being a baby", "get over it", "you are making a big deal out of this". There is no solution for your leg so it hurts the same every day and I keep saying things like that every day. At some point you'll break. Combine the invalidation with the pain you are already feeling and you'll be like "no one understands me", "there's no one to support me", "i'm a burden" etc and maybe one day you'll be gone.
100% agreed. People have felt physical pain of very wide ranges before so they have some "scale" on which they can measure it. e.g. stubbing toe to a fracture to a chronic pain. But people thankfully don't have similar breadth in the level of mental pain they have experienced. So they cannot imagine a "mental pain" ever being equivalent to getting your leg amputated without anesthesia.
I like how Mike Shinoda talks about it - if you woke up with a bad back tomorrow you might take some rest; if it was worse the next day then you take some painkillers and the next day you might visit a doctor. But we don't think similarly for mental health.
If you are not feeling good you may try to go through the day anyway; next day it's worse so you should think "I should take it easy today"; the next day you might visit the doctor.
Another issue which people cannot seem to understand is that someone not taking mental health seriously and saying things like "you are overthinking", "it's not as bad", "knock it off", "you're a downer" etc end up invalidating the other person's existence (since that's what life is like for them at the moment and people are essentially saying your life isn't real), make them feel like a burden, make them feel that the other person's life is worth more than their own, that they aren't useful and that nobody cares if they didn't exist anymore.
Imagine:
Your leg got crushed and I tell you "it's not that bad", "stop being a baby", "get over it", "you are making a big deal out of this". There is no solution for your leg so it hurts the same every day and I keep saying things like that every day. At some point you'll break. Combine the invalidation with the pain you are already feeling and you'll be like "no one understands me", "there's no one to support me", "i'm a burden" etc and maybe one day you'll be gone.