Mental health and tarot cards

That fits with what TCO says - if someone is delusional it is quite obvious - and whether they use tarot or knockings on the wall to fuel that, they will get paranoid or megalomanic or whatever form it takes for them, whatever you do.

I wasn't suggesting you were being insulting; I just find that bi-polar is one of the MOST misunderstood psychiatric conditions going; people seem to equate it with paranoid schizophrenia or even psychopathy.

As a condition it is one of the more "harmless" ones in terms of strange manifestations and so on, I'd say. (TCO - you know more than I - would you think that fair ?)

I work for a mental health charity and have a fair bit of contact with people who are diagnosed as bi polar, and when they're well they're absolutely fine. A lot of the time if they're just a bit 'up' they're fine as well. A lot of them are working very hard for no pay to help improve mental health services and are amazing in their dedication.

I would never dream of telling them to not follow up an interest in tarot if they approached me about it just because of their diagnosis. Just like I hope nobody would tell me I should avoid tarot because I have a history of depression.

I'm just kind of puzzled about the "should they be allowed" part. I haven't heard of any "Tarot police" who would be in charge of who should be allowed and who shouldn't, so I don't think it's governable by anyone else. If you come across someone---or you know someone---who has a psychotic condition or is bipolar who seems to be getting somewhat out in left field with the cards because of their condition, then just excuse yourself from having a reading from them and don't worry about it.

Grizabella said:

I'm just kind of puzzled about the "should they be allowed" part. I haven't heard of any "Tarot police" who would be in charge of who should be allowed and who shouldn't, so I don't think it's governable by anyone else. If you come across someone---or you know someone---who has a psychotic condition or is bipolar who seems to be getting somewhat out in left field with the cards because of their condition, then just excuse yourself from having a reading from them and don't worry about it.

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*nodding vigorously*

eyeDEEclaire said:

I mentioned the delusional aspect of bipolar from experience. Some bipolar people do suffer from delusions.

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I had a girlfriend who was bipolar who didn't. And there are stacks of delusional people who can't be disgnosed as bipolar. It's not one of the symptoms - its different, and coincidental when it appears in the same person.

Just a thought....

Someone who is diagnosed with bi polar may also be suffering from another condition, which causes the delusions. I'm not saying it's impossible for someone who is bi polar to have delusions, just usually there would be more going on then than just the bi polar. It's a bit like saying someone who is diabetic also has allergies, therefore the diabetes caused the allergies.

greatdane said:

It's a bit like saying someone who is diabetic also has allergies, therefore the diabetes caused the allergies.

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The problem is that there is such a social stigma when it comes to mental health...

My mother has both, diabetes and severe allergy on home dust... she reads Oracles, but sometimes she can sneeze while shuffling, shall i take the cards away from her?

For some reason the above sounds dicscriminatory and way off, and yet we are discussing something very similar second day in a row ...

I wonder if now days psychiatrists could take a hold of old-time shamans and tribal healers - particularly when latter were in a trance or in some similar state - with what diagnose would they get away... For one, i am sure they would be banned from practice.

I think it's individual and the degree. Bi Polar symptoms and effects can vary wildly with different people and can include delusions and hearing voices in severe cases that's documented in literature. So it's not as simple as the just the mood in my experience.

A good friend of mine lived with this disorder from the time he was 15 years old until he committed suicide aged 39. Up until 14 months before his suicide he'd managed it with both medication and self help and lived with it successfully, he worked as a contractor in IT so that when he had episodes he could take a break without it affecting his career, nice house, nice car all of that, a regular guy. Then it all went horribly wrong I spent many nights just talking to him trying to convince him there was nothing sinister about his toaster or his fridge and that his house wasn't built on the site of a coal mining accident and a dozen other things he believed to be true. So no I wouldn't compare it to diabetes.

irisa

greatdane said:

Someone who is diagnosed with bi polar may also be suffering from another condition, which causes the delusions.

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There are those in the psychiatric profession who believe that the diagnostic labels are more for convenience than anything else, and it's really not as clear cut as those labels would have us believe.

There has certainly been a movement away from applying these labels to young people because some were collecting a lot of diagnoses (such as bipolar, schizophrenia AND borderline personality disorder) and this can have a long-term effect, through stigma, on their adult lives. Another issue that shows how subjective and influenced by personal prejudice and stereotypes diagnosis can be is around racism - black men are far more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and be perceived by staff as violent.

ilweran said:

There are those in the psychiatric profession who believe that the diagnostic labels are more for convenience than anything else, and it's really not as clear cut as those labels would have us believe.

There has certainly been a movement away from applying these labels to young people because some were collecting a lot of diagnoses (such as bipolar, schizophrenia AND borderline personality disorder) and this can have a long-term effect, through stigma, on their adult lives. Another issue that shows how subjective and influenced by personal prejudice and stereotypes diagnosis can be is around racism - black men are far more likely to be diagnosed with schizophrenia and be perceived by staff as violent.

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This is SO true. Most mental health professionals I know (and I know a LOT ! I was a patient and also worked in the health service for almost 20 years) won't "label" at all any more ! They tend to take the line that every single patient is unique and so is their illness.