What's with all these bi-polar people?

[Gandalf]

I deal with a fair amount of people and mental illness in the military. It is very real and serious but unfortunately there are people who will make some poor choices and use it as a scape goat. Really pisses me off b/c it lends to discreditng the Soldiers that have real issues and need help.

curious about this. is it ptsd that you feel is being exploited, most prominently? or just all mental illnesses.

PTSD probably makes up around 75% of the issue but its not uncommon for someone to do something stupid and then claim they have been dealing with depression/bi polar for years. I'm no psychiatrist but with some people its hard to believe and I hate the way a group of selfish asshole makes me question people that may very well have a real problem.

It is that kind of behaviour that makes me question mental illness and whether people are really struggling with something or else just making excuses. Clearly there are serious cases and terrible things happen as a consequence, but to what extent is it also about major pharmaceutical corporations trying to sell their latest product and also people trying to justify weird and irresponsible behaviour on mental health grounds? Having said that there are a lot of people out there who probably need some kind of help.

This thread appears to have run for a few pages and a variety of opinions have emerged, so a job well done IMO. If anyone seriously has some kind of disorder and I have appeared inconsiderate or mean, then I apologise. Though somewhat blase and dismissive, I have taken the devils advocate position somewhat too and that role on an issue such as this means I have to take an extreme and somewhat uncaring view. It doesn't neccessarily mean that I dismiss all mental health patients as frauds because I don't, but I do actually think some are abusing mental health for various reasons and that big business does not operate in a vacuum.