Do you think you are mental?

[mizerydearia]

disclaimer: I am not a professional, and some of my sentences are pathetically incorrect.  Feel free to correct them. ^_^

Yesterday, my ex-stepfather questioned me in person if "I thought that I was mental."  Other than my sarcastic verbally communicated response suggesting to him that I was mental, in which he responded startlingly, I believe anticipating or expecting me to declare that I was not mental, in which he anticipated communicating supportive of claim that I was mental and perhaps providing culturally opinionated reasons to back up such claims, here is my email written response to him, which I believe provides a more detailed understanding as to the effort behind the question:

Hello,

In regards to your questioning me yesterday if I thought that I was mental, I am curious to determine what your definition of 'mental' was in that context.

Which of the following seems most accurate description of 'mental' that you implied:

Mental

    * referring to aspects of, or things related to, the mind; or in anatomy, the skull, e.g. the mental foramen
    * a slang, pejorative term used to describe people who act like lunatics (e.g. Ed Grimley), which is itself an outdated term for people with mental disorders

Since the other definition doesn't seem fitting for the context the word was used in I believe that your usage of the word was in reference to the slang, pejorative term suggestively questioning whether or not I had interpretation, understanding or recognition of myself as having "a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture."

Particularly interesting are the very last words of that definition which indicate "normal development or culture."

There are thousands (tens of thousands?  hundreds of thousands?  millions?) of cultures throughout the entire Earth planet.  Many of the cultures are worldwidely distributed and also influencial of existing human and other animal species (but most notably human for sake of simplicity).  Some existences (or humans) that are generally classified as one culture, may actually be a hybrid or mix or two or more cultures and therefore be considered as a diversely established individual not encompassing or comprised within a single strictly declarative culture in which their behaviors, beliefs, thoughts, styles of fashions/appearances, interests, etc are conflicting or in contract with their assumed cultural specification, through family or parental recognition (e.g. two Iranian parents living in united states country may have a son or daughter that is also 100% Iranian but may behave, believe, think, dress, be interested in things in a way that is not culturally accepted or condoned by the Iranian parents, particularly due to exposure or recognition of other clutures behaviorisms and activities within the existing territorial united states land.

My Father is Iranian and has been persistent on having a strong Iranian cultural influence over myself (in which there are several cultures or subcultures within Iran also, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_peoples#Culture -- I do not know which classification or specific cultural identity my Father is affiliated with).

My Mom is ... I have no idea what she is ... and she has had a strong cultural influence over myself.

When I suggest that my Father and Mother have had a strong cultural influence over myself, I do NOT mean to imply that I have ACCEPTED their cultural influences.  I merely have been EXPOSED to their culturally established behaviors, beliefs, thoughts, styles of fashions/appearances, interests, etc.  I have also been EXPOSED to culturally established behaviors, beliefs, thoughts, styles of fashions/appearances, interests, etc. from hundreds or thousands of other culturally established individuals including those that I have participated with during my experiences in public schools, workplace environments, being outdoors in public (e.g. malls, parks, festivals, etc).  By being exposed to and having observed various behaviorisms, thoughts, styles of fashions/appearances, interest, etc, and living in a locality (e.g. united states) in which I have had the freedom to naturally express and develop my own choices to shape and define who I am, I have evolved and grown to exist in a state that which may not be easily recognized or classified under one specific cultural declaration.  I believe this is true in regards to my mom as well.  However, less true for my father, but more true now than 20 years ago considering his united states friends/family affiliations with have littly helped to diversify even my Father's behaviorisms and interests.

To answer your question simply (even though I have already written a lot), "Yes, Warren, I am mental.  I have a psychological or behavioral pattern that is not entirely accepted by your or my mom's one or more cultural classifications of ideals, beliefs, etc."

l3estest l2egardedsness,
Miz

[Dobrodav]

Hm... When somebody trying to drawn question in details, that are sign of really hard struggle in mind of questioned person.
I am cant say anything about nature of "mental". I am can advice you to put yourself on place of your ex-stepfather and make some guesses.
Than you can determine, and answer directly on his thoughts. 
Well, that will be harder now, when he received that strange mail, that only hardened his doubts about you.

[mizerydearia]

Hm... When somebody trying to drawn question in details, that are sign of really hard struggle in mind of questioned person.
I am cant say anything about nature of "mental". I am can advice you to put yourself on place of your ex-stepfather and make some guesses.
Than you can determine, and answer directly on his thoughts.  
Well, that will be harder now, when he received that strange mail, that only hardened his doubts about you.

I suppose that also applies to writing essays and other long written detailed piece of works or documentations...  anyone that writes in such length is strange, eh? ^_^  kiss!  140/160 chars or less, sms/twitter

Or how about the concept of people seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist whatsoever (which is waste of time, imo)...  For the 30min, hour or longer sessions in which many explanative communications occur, are those long, detailed responses strange?

[mizerydearia]

I redact my previous statement of seeing a psychologist or especially a psychiatrist (which is a medical doctor) or also a therapist as being a waste of time.

[the joint]

removed

[bb113]

Mizerydearia, yea you're weird. Is it interfering with you leading a productive and fulfilling life? If yes, then you may benefit from counseling or other available therapies.

Ask yourself: Am I currently an emotional and/or financial drain on everyone around me?

If the answer is not at all, then who cares what anyone says. If it is only some people, ask the ones you think you aren't a drain on for their honest opinion... and don't get offended by an honest answer. If it is everyone, you are probably at least partly to blame and should think about behavior modification. If you choose behavior modification and suspect you cannot succeed on your own (habits are hard to break) then it may be worth your while to seek "professional help". Keep in mind the professionals are not gods, they are only more informed and generally experienced than you, but perhaps not experienced with dealing with your particular problem.

This all hinges on the idea that you seek to lead a productive, fulfilling life and are currently finding yourself incapable of doing so. Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the best definition of insanity I have ever heard. You don't appear dumb, so if you can't seem to devise a way out of your current situation you may be "mental".

Pretty much anyone can become "mental" if stressed enough. The past is past, if you want to better your self, it is time to get honest and figure out how to improve your future. I don't think anyone else here can really give any more advice than that. If you are just looking for some kind of support from somewhere to keep yourself going then I am pretty sure the bitcoin forums have consistently shown they are there for you to that extent. Eventually you need to figure this stuff out IRL, for yourself though.

I have had multiple friends go down bad paths because they got caught up in themselves. They tried to "keep it real" (or whatever rationalization) to avoid dealing with the signals the people around them and society in general were sending their way. From my observations, "keeping it real" leads to a downward spiral. Honesty, honesty, honesty.

[istar]

Don´t know you but you seem to just be very smart, something not very smart people can misstake for mental, because you might be one in a hundred or thousand, and for "simple people" being different is just being not normal, which is mental.

But my gut reaction was that it was rude of him asking you if you are mental. But it depends in what way he asked, it could also be that he cares.

[bb113]

Don´t know you but you seem to just be very smart, something not very smart people can misstake for mental, because you might be one in a hundred or thousand, and for "simple people" being different is just being not normal, which is mental.

But my gut reaction was that it was rude of him asking you if you are mental. But it depends in what way he asked, it could also be that he cares.

This is actually one of the most concise, wisest comments I have ever read/heard on this topic. Key thing is leading productive, fulfilling life. Don't let anyone make you think you aren't if you are, but if you aren't it is time to do something. This requires honesty, and no one except yourself can really know.

[FlipPro]

Buddy,

You just need to RELAX.

I can't stress that enough. Not having enough friends IRL can make that much harder to do, because believe it or not, we need individuals in our lives to get our mind off things. If not we go nuts within our own creations.

Start going to some Bitcoin meetup groups, "get social", and I think many of your problems will be ratified.

[TheHeroMember]

mentally stressed to read the full story, LOL.

[mizerydearia]

Thanks for the recent suggestions.  Also, this post is related and something for me to think about relative to this thread.

[Jon]

If being mental is considered being in constant stress and/or pain, yes, I am mental.

Does it prevent me from living a fulfilling life? Nope.

[mizerydearia]

Daria Season 3 Episode 9, "Jake of Hearts", is related.

[organofcorti]

Do any of your symptoms fit any disease in the DSM 5?

Regardless of your answer, at least you can have the satisfaction of knowing if a larger section of the population than just your mum or ex-step dad would be weirded out by you.