*Note to self... Include a special prayer... for ALL of New Jersey...
* Ha ha ha, just kidding!!
Another reason I had been thinking about mental illness within an online presence is because several years ago, there was a young woman whose posts I used to enjoy (she's not here anymore or else I wouldn't talk about it, for privacy's sake.)
I don't know what happened but she sort of "snapped", and all of a sudden, all her posts became angry, repeated rants about some people in her life who had hurt her deeply. A few even had to be edited or removed because of language. I can't remember what happened, but either she stopped posting or was banned.
The especially strange part is that another poster claimed to be posting an explanation on the young woman's behalf. This second poster said she was a registered nurse and that she had talked to this young woman herself and concluded that she had bipolor disorder. I have no idea if this was the "nurse's" "own diagnosis" or if the young woman had stated to her that she indeed did have bipolar disorder. Although it made sense in the aftermath, I was also a bit puzzled in that, what professional would publicly out someone like that? I don't know what the real story was.
But I do know that ever since, whenever I see runaway posters who keep going and going and going... I always have to wonder what's going on behind the scenes.
A few days ago I tried to do some research about what symptoms one might exude online, particularly with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, but could only find articles regarding normal everyday contact.
If anyone is aware of any research or information out there, please post it--I'd be extremely interested in seeing what the articles have to say.
At one point in my life I was studying to be a psychologist, but the school I attended was from an almost purely behavioral background that almost exclusively studied the pattern of antecedent (what happens before), behavior, and consequence.
However, reading some of the threads and posts here... My own (granted, questionably reasonable
) mind is often thinking, "I could be wrong... but this entire post just seems to scream schizophrenia..."
The only reason I mention any of this is that I thought it might help some of our wonderful, compassionate friends here to rest a little easier and save themselves time and energy from arguing with people who literally might not have the capacity to take in what they're saying. Rather, we can step back and pray for them instead. (Right before taking a nap to restore our energy.
)