Should a person feel guilty?
If a person does something wrong, due to mental illness, that inadvertently hurts a loved one should he/she feel guilty? Is it understandable for them to say they did it because they were mentally ill? Or is that not taking responsibility for his or her actions?
I would especially like to her from any psychologist on this matter.
Answers:
Speaking from experience, I suffer from post tramatic disorder. This entails mood swings, anxiety, etc. Not very mentally healthy at all times. I have said things and done things that have unfortunately hurt the people I care deeply for. It is not my intention to hurt them, because I know deep down I need them more than anything. I apologize, I take responsibility, but it is because of my mental illness that is responsible for some of my actions. Yes, I'm on medication, and yes the medication can definately have something to do with my action as well.
I ask you to be patient. I know it's easier said than done. Please try to understand anything said and/or done to you more than likely wasn't done to you personally. Sometimes our chemical imbalance takes over and we can't control it.
Definately though, he/she should be cognitive enough to take responsibility or acknowledge what they've done.
Good luck to you. Wish you well.
What's the best cure for dysthymia (chronic low status depression) ?
If their mental illness IS legit,and so deeply rooted,
I know ppl get even sentenced less for things less...
I'm not a psychologist,but in school,I DID take psych 101, and
ppl with this are OFTEN let off the hook,as they say,because
of what "they have"... Sad,but so...
Ppl,TO A POINT,CAN control,what they say/do,but some of
these ppl,w/mental illness,they need pills AND supervision.
THEY ALSO NEED TO BE ACCOUNTABLE.
Don't know what too do.Advice please?
I think it depends on how aware the person is. It sounds like they know what they did and know that they hurt you. In this case, they should be apologetic. Even if I hurt someone and didn't know until they told me, I would be sorry, because you just don't go around hurting people that you care about, mental illness or not. They should take responsibility.
I understand you. Someone very close to me has been hurting me for years with their illness as an excuse, but you are correct in believing that they need to be held accountable. I know they are ill, but I also know that there is one person that they have never attempted to hurt the way they have everyone else. so... they DO know better! I got tired of it so I have just put it in God's hands...I'm done.
Not a psychologist, but I think there needs to be a give and take when it comes to having a mental illness, to a degree. I think it's half and half. If you were at work and not doing your work suddenly because you were too depressed, that might give you some leeway but would not stop them from firing you if they felt you were endangering the company.
You need to understand what part of what you did is the mental illness and forgive yourself, but you also need to understand that regardless of whether it was your fault or not, the other person has mixed or full-on feelings about it. I would talk to them about it and explain that you do want to take responsibility for it and want them to feel like they can get out their feelings. That is taking responsibility for what you did without dwelling on it excessively and making matters worse. And of course, if you can work with a professional to try and hault whatever behavior you have that is hurting loved ones, even if sometimes and not all the times, then that also shows you are taking responsibility.
The thing with mental illness, at least IMHO, is it's not irresponsible to have or do things as a result of mental illness, but it is to then do absolutely nothing about it. It would be irresponsible to know you have a problem and then not try to address it through treatment in some form.
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