RPGs and mental health issues

[Tequila Sunrise]

Mental health is, even in the 21st century, a rather taboo topic. You may not think you know many mentally ill people. However, the statistical likelihood is that you know many.

I find this easy to believe. Since first replying to this thread, I've thought back on my gaming history. Here's what I've seen:

Grade-school friend who taught me D&D: Crazy smart. Played the game with me for about a month, then got bored and moved on to a new hobby. (This was common for him.) Despite having a ton of friends, he suffered acute social anxiety and a hyper-active mind. (He got A's without trying.) As an eventual result, he got heavy into drugs in high school and is currently off the map. (His parents don't know where he is, and are bracing for some police station to call and tell them that he's dead.)

College gamers: One was bipolar. Another made me realize that I needed a "Don't show up drunk and/or stoned" rule. Another miscarried at one point, and was pretty depressed after that.

NYC gamers: I briefly gamed with a couple who were uncomfortably happy. It was weird, almost Stepford Wives weird. There was some kind of craziness going on there. Aside from that couple, most of the NYC gamers I played with were mentally sound...aside from the pervasive New Yorker craziness. (I swear there is something in the water...and I'm going back in September!)

Rural gamers: There was the autistic kid I had to kick out after he started threatening me. His sister was a good friend of mine, but pretty depressed. And one of the gamers I've known longest 'round these parts is a furry, but I'm not sure that counts as mentally ill. (Life's tough for him, but if he's not hurting anyone or anything...?)

And then there's me; for a good three or four years, I was pretty depressed myself. Not "I put a shotgun in my mouth every morning and think about pulling the trigger" depressed, but enough that looking back now, I don't know how I didn't see it then. I've only recently gotten over my depression, after my doctor re-prescribed me a liver med. (Yes, a liver med. Everything in our bodies really are connected!)

So anecdotally, mental health doesn't seem to be as reliable as I once thought. I'm not convinced that it's limited to gamers though, except possibly as pertains to social maladjustment. There sure seems to be a lot of that amonst gamers, and I include myself here.

 

[nedjer]

About 1/4 of US and UK citizens have a mental health problem in any given year. That's about 60 million in the US every year and almost half have more than one at a time. Fortunately, a lot of what is medicalised as 'mental health' falls within boundaries where defining it as a problem isn't necessarily the most suitable approach.

The 6% with what are categorised as serious mental health issues are unlikely to be able to game much at all.

 

[jbear]

[MENTION=9037]Elf Witch[/MENTION] My apologies if the way I expressed myself was offensive.

My sister has an ongoing battle with depression. I have fought it myself on several occasions, but never gone so far as to seek a doctor etc.

That said I personally gravitate towards people who a) do not abuse drugs
b) do not show overt signs of having mental issues

So when I asked those I knew to play, perhaps that is why I don't notice these issues with my players.

I hope it doesn't offend you that each of us has the right to choose who we game with/spend time with.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I'm not crazy... you're all crazy. ;D

 

[Quickleaf]

Probably most of us posting in this thread are already aware of this, but I just wanted to point out that mental illness is and has been prevalent in very high functioning individuals.* The assumption that mental illness would be automatically disruptive (or even noticeable) at a social gathering or function is out of touch with the broad spectrum that mental illness comes in.

*Q: What do Abraham Lincoln, Richard Dreyfus, Glen Close, and Florence Nightingale have in common?

A: They all experience(d) cyclical depression or bipolar disorder, and, despite that, have/had families and successful meaningful careers.

 

[Olive]

I game with friends - some of my friends have issues, some don't. When I've played with non-friends (or people who are not yet friends) I've followed some rules that another (gamer) friend once gave me:

People you spend time with socially (incl. gaming) should have 2 of the following 3 things:
1) A job
2) A social life outside of the activity you're meeting them for
3) A significant other.

Less is a red flag although people can be between jobs, partners etc. None of those? Avoid.

 

[nedjer]

I find mapping access to a game of D&D against social norms such as having a job, a 'social life' and a partner a bit scary. Current levels of youth unemployment in the UK and US, the demands on some peoples' time - such as carers or small businesses - and the sharp rise in people living alone makes for excluding a lot of people.

Ironically, these kind of category judgements seem to be largely based on fear. Being young, being overworked and/ or being single do not map to mental health concerns. However, medicalisation - and the concepts of disease and contagion that carries - promote irrational fear. (This is despite the evidence that being young, overworked or single is the social norm in many societies).

If we were serious about mental health we wouldn't medicalise an anxiety attack, we'd ask politicians to take a quick brain scan to check they're not psychotic before putting them in charge of decisions on mental health and much more.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Some statistics about mental health problems.

Double post, see below for mental health prevalence statistics.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Some statistics about mental health problems.

Some statistics about mental health problems.


People do not know how wide-spread mental health problems are. They carry a stigma, and people generally don't share their depression/substance abuse history/personality disorder diagnosis with strangers.

Mental Health Statistics

1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of the year.

and from Bulletin of the World Health Organization - Cross-national comparisons of the prevalences and correlates of mental disorders

Prevalence estimates varied widely — from >40% lifetime prevalence of any mental disorder in Netherlands and the USA to levels of 12% in Turkey and 20% in Mexico. Comparisons of lifetime versus recent prevalence estimates show that mental disorders were often chronic, although chronicity was consistently higher for anxiety disorders than for mood or substance-use disorders.

So if 1 in 4 of your group has a current issue and nearly half had some issue in their lifetime...they're about dead on average for the total population.

 

[Umbran]

Probably most of us posting in this thread are already aware of this, but I just wanted to point out that mental illness is and has been prevalent in very high functioning individuals.

It helps us to note what the scale of "mental illness" is.

Look at physical illness - it isn't all "I'm in the ICU on a breathing tube and need a liver transplant," right? Most physical illness or injury is more like a sprained ankle that makes you limp a bit, or the head cold that makes life more difficult, and less fun, but doesn't actually stop you.

Same goes for mental illness - it isn't like everyone with "mental illness" needs to be institutionalized or on heavy meds, or something. Most of it is smaller, manageable with help and support. But, we understand it less, so we are more afraid of it, and make a bigger deal of it than we need to.