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Arjuna Nagendran

Doctor,

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What experiences have made you more comfortable with mental health disorders?

What things make you fearful of mental health disorders? And what experiences have made you more comfortable with it?

In the quest to dispell stigma, how can we help our society grow out of its fear?

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Topics: Education. society Psychiatry mental health society stigma
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  • nuri choi

    • 0
    Oct 13 2012: I'm 21 and university student. sophomore.
    I am worried about my future. like what job is fit to me? What things I can do better than others? what's my merit?
    and trivial things. such as Do I have to go to school today even if there's class.
    IT'S the undecidd things I fear of..

    I have these things. but don't know how to solve them. When I feel stressed, I volume up the music.. make some noise to focus on just other things for a moment.

    • Louise Nelson

      • +1
      Nov 5 2012: I'd say Nuri that if loud music helps you actually cope - not just distract you from your worries, it's a good coping mechanism. If music just distracts you so you feel better when listening, but the worries are unchanged it's not a good coping strategy. I think most people have distraction strategies that just put whatever problem aside for a while, but those who learn ways to face their concerns, to think of ways to manage them or to improve their situation will do better in the long run.
      One useful strategy I've learned is first figure out exactly why I'm worried, afraid, angry or whatever - what assumptions about myself and the situation am I working from? If I have a worrisome situation - expenses exceeding income, job loss, whatever else, after step one above I ask myself "What's the worst thing that can happen here? What will I do if that happens? As soon as I begin to see that the universe won't come to an end and that I'm unlikely to end up living in a cardboard box my anxiety begins to decrease. Then I ask myself "What's most likely to happen?" "What will I do if that happens?" At this point it's surprising how often I can think of strategies to handle the situation, and my fears are down to a managable level.

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