Mental health in the electrical industry

[Buzz1980]

Hi all
Just wanted to put this out there to see if there is any other sparks that struggle with this. I have suffered from OCD/anxiety for many years now since I was really young. Over the years it has got worse and worse it can jump from anything that I worry about . I don’t have OCD where I go around cleaning everything. But I have OCD where I can’t leave things without checking all the time that I have done it correctly, but the more times I check the less blurry and less sure I am that I have done it correctly. I can come away from a job and worry that I have left switches off, cables exposed and worry that someone is going to get hurt from my work. I then go over and over in my head yeah you did screw everything back and you did check before you left. But can’t convince myself that I have. Now through out my time as a spark, I studied more done more courses etc etc and this has made me become more knowledgeable but with the more knowledge and experience I get the worse my Anxiety gets as I think back to jobs I down years ago and think oh I’ve done that wrong, oh I should have done that, oh how did I do that instead of that. Now this is when I was in my final years of apprenticeship and when I just came out of my time. This is sometimes down to bad advice from other sparks and not really looking into things myself but when I do find out the advice is wrong and should be doing things the other way. Or just not knowing any better but over the years I have gained more knowledge which is making my anxiety worse as I go over every job I’ve done scrutinise it and start worrying that someone is going to get hurt or fire break out due to the works I have done. This worry will keep with me for a while until my anxiety starts to ease off. Until the next flare up. I just wish I could start my time over again and do things the way I want to do them but this is a OCD trait wanting everything to be perfect. Just wanted to see if there are any other sparks that suffer this way. Thanks in advance ?

 

[swaRRR]

I suspect in most cases it really is a cry for help as of the folks I known who have killed themselves, or tried and thankfully failed, none of their problems were that big to anyone outside of their own internal dialogue.

Assisted suicide for the terminally ill is a very different case, of course.

There was that guy who just got a suspended 2 year sentence for helping his wife die. We don't treat dogs like we treat some humans.

 

[littlespark]

There was that guy who just got a suspended 2 year sentence for helping his wife die. We don't treat dogs like we treat some humans.

I saw this. So called “suicide pact”

He slit her throat. That’s murder…. Whatever the reasoning.
Then botched doing it to himself.

Why didn’t they go to that Swiss place?

 

[DPG]

I saw this. So called “suicide pact”

He slit her throat. That’s murder…. Whatever the reasoning.
Then botched doing it to himself.

Why didn’t they go to that Swiss place?

Must admit the throat slitting thing seems an odd method for a suicide pact. And although notes had been left, it seems that the wife hadn't signed them. Got to be careful with this sort of thing. I'm sure it was all innocent, but it might not have been.

 

[Aaron b]

Took no nonsense that generation though. Born late 19th century. Expect 2 world wars will often do that to you. I sometimes wonder if he was as tough on the inside as on the outside. I’m sure his life was many times harder than mine?

I think this is the issue. Problems and struggles are relative to what we're used to. I personally felt much more relaxed about COVID when compared with nuclear war. Things improve but we feel the same hardship over smaller things instead and it doesn't make the struggles any less real.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Nuclear was is not something I can do anything about, but the Covid epidemic to a certain extent I can, I still don't go out anywhere there are crowds and have everything I need delivered, including food, I suppose I am extra vigilant as I have a condition that makes me vulnerable to infections of any kind.

 

[mattg4321]

My mum started smoking at 15 and died of lung cancer at 51.

Sorry to hear that you lost your mum at such a young age.

To clarify, I wasn’t suggesting that smoking was in any way a good idea/healthy. I refuse to even try it after seeing what a state it got some of my other family members into.

 

[LukeD]

Nuclear was is not something I can do anything about, but the Covid epidemic to a certain extent I can, I still don't go out anywhere there are crowds and have everything I need delivered, including food, I suppose I am extra vigilant as I have a condition that makes me vulnerable to infections of any kind.

Mike ..where you living the same way before Covid ?

 

[Mike Johnson]

No, even when at our holiday home we avoided contact with other people, traveled by car to our holiday home and had food delivered.

 

[telectrix]

My mum started smoking at 15 and died of lung cancer at 51.

i stated at 13, mainly due to buying 5 Park Drive with Fridayy's school dinner shilling ( it was fish or nothing). now 75, had some issues with emphysema but lungs improved since i cut down on the smokes: from 20/dayto 6-8/day. lucky or just nature? as for the mental health side of things, smokes and beer sort my demons out. once told by a work colleague that if I was any more laid back, I'd be horizontal.

 

[Mike Johnson]

Nuclear was is not something I can do anything about, but the Covid epidemic to a certain extent I can, I still don't go out anywhere there are crowds and have everything I need delivered, including food, I suppose I am extra vigilant as I have a condition that makes me vulnerable to infections of any kind.

@UNG why the optimistic tag?

 

[timhoward]

I have to admit I didn't see this one coming. He's very local to me and the OAP's all tell me what Stuart used to charge, I think at one point 50 years ago he had a monopoly in the area

Retired Oswestry electrician died after giving himself electric shock

A 93-year-old retired electrician took his own life after struggling with physical and mental health issues, an inquest heard.

www.shropshirestar.com

It goes to show that outward appearances can't be relied upon to measure mental health.

 

[LukeD]

I have to admit I didn't see this one coming. He's very local to me and the OAP's all tell me what Stuart used to charge, I think at one point 50 years ago he had a monopoly in the area

Retired Oswestry electrician died after giving himself electric shock

A 93-year-old retired electrician took his own life after struggling with physical and mental health issues, an inquest heard.

www.shropshirestar.com

It goes to show that outward appearances can't be relied upon to measure mental health.

100% right : My friend called me roughly 4-5 hours before he hung himself and we chatted about cars and Hifi , design etc for 2 hours , laughing etc etc .I did have concerns and knew he was in a bad place .But what the hell happened after the call ? I dont get that bit .Unless he just wanted us "to part on a nice memory and happiness " ?

 

[swaRRR]

I think if someone wants to die and genuinely wants to kill themselves there's not much you can do about it. It's like severe alcoholism, it never goes away and it's something you have to fight inside yourself, nobody can say anything that will ease it for you it has to come from you.

 

[OnlQQker]

I can't speak for anybody else but suicide is a very personal experience.

I struggled with it big time just over 6 years ago now, I planned my despise with great calculation and by the time everything was in place I have never felt such inner peace.

The thing is NOBODY knew a thing, I had 24 hours to myself to go through with what I had planned.
Nothing in this time ever flashed through my mind, not my kids/family or anything else, I thought they would just vanish when I was gone so it wouldn't bother me. (it's really selfish ground I suppose, but I guess dying naturally or of illness is ok to some extent to other people, just not suicide)

I didn't feel any sadness, in these 24 hours, in a strange kind of way I actually felt excited to leave this planet and all my sh*t behind. I had youtube Ibizia club classics playing on my laptop, I drank coffee and smoked tobacco, never touched any alcohol or anything else. It was as if I was about to step into somewhere which would just be nothing. Nothing but emptiness, no stress, no problems, just nothing.

And I did go to sleep when the time came, only to be completely horrified when I woke up hours later with everything around me totally different to how it was before hand. I can't go into detail but it was an exit plan which was to leave nothing of me and the 'out in the middle of nowhere cabin I was staying in alone'.

After I came outside and the oxygen hit me I immediately passed out, and I felt like I had drank 20 litres of strong vodka when I came too, I don't know how long I was out for.
I had researched my method for 3 years prior to all of this.

But it just wasn't to be, and everybody in the family found out, my sister was the first one to turn up the next day to see me and the site deeply upset her. Then the kids and everybody else found out, she told everybody in complete panic.
And it's then and only then that you suddenly think how it would of affected them, so much so that you start imagining them doing the same thing because Dad did it when things got totally overwhelming, so I will as well.

This is not easy stuff to talk about, but all i wanted to say was nothing at all comes into a suicidal mind but the thought of complete peace.

Today I don't think about it, I just wander around trying to help out where I can and try to get out in nature as much as possible, when things ever feel as if they are tipping, I just say death/peace will come naturally sooner or later, and that's more acceptable to everybody when it does come.

So to anybody else who feels they are falling into these waters, just blag your time, get out into nature as much as possible, help out where you can cuz this does help to give you some inner peace.

 

[littlespark]

That couldn't have been an easy thing to write.... but thank you for your insight.