positivevibes121 said
What are some aspects or house placements that you see over and over in charts that may give an mental illness?

 

Would the Mercury(Thinking) or Moon(Emotions) need to be badly aspected? Or a mixture of both?

This is one of my favorite topics! I've studied this particular arena of astrology for quite some time. Typically, you're going to want to look for hard aspects to one's Moon and Mercury working in tandem, although this is not only case, nor the only indications.

As far as the Moon is concerned, the real problematic houses tend to be the 4th, 6th, 8th, and 12th. Those with their Moon in the 4th may suffer from depressive tendencies, mood swings, and overall melancholia. I've noticed that the 6th house Mooners tend to be anal retentive and experience obsessive compulsive behaviors. Because the 6th house is naturally Virgo's house, a low self esteem may be present as well. The 8th house is just a hot mess, haha. Those with their Moon in the 8th tend to be too emotionally intense for their own good. This can manifest as extreme paranoia, polarizing emotional highs and lows, and even psychosis. The 12th house is virtually just as bad. A 12th house Mooner may be chemically dependent, delusional and avoidant, or emotionally irrationally. They may play the "bleeding martyr" role. Often times they are self sabotaging. 

If we're talking about a low self esteem and severe depression, their is usually a hard aspect between the Moon and Saturn present. Experiencing a Saturn conjunction, square, or opposition to your Moon via transit can be heartbreaking enough, but those born with it almost always suffer from some sort of depression. I have yet to meet someone with an aspect as such that is truly happy. 

Neptune is often the culprit for schizophrenia and grandiosity. Individuals with hard aspects between their Sun, Mercury, and Neptune may be the victims of delusional thinking and fuzzy logic. Neptune in the 3rd can be nasty as well. 

Hope this helps!

Misti said
People with higher than average IQs and prodigious talent are often imbalanced. Right now I'm thinking of Sylvia Plath. She wrote seven circles of hell around me. I'm also thinking of Hemingway.

I have the same birthday as her. 😉

Both of us had our Venus in Virgo and Mars in Leo in late degrees as well. I just thought I'd share. 

"When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained."

Mark  Twain

tarnishedglitterr said
conjunctions are considered hard aspects.

i thought conjunctions could be hard depending on the planets involved but generally they are on the easier side?

Misti said
People with higher than average IQs and prodigious talent are often imbalanced. Right now I'm thinking of Sylvia Plath. She wrote seven circles of hell around me. I'm also thinking of Hemingway.

Yes, people with above average IQs are often depressed or can have other issues that would be classified as a mental or emotional illness. My uncle and I have talked about this (he is therapist).  

It should be no accident that a lot of geniuses in history were often remembered as 'quirky' or 'eccentric'...personally, I think this is all related to Uranus and the Uranus factor.

Tweek said
@Momof5. thank you for sharing your personal observations and i am very impressed with your data. the majority of my planets are in early or late degrees using equal house system. and i call it the closed loop as the distribution is only in 3 concentrated areas, with 3 planets at 29 degrees, 3 between 0-3.

there is one such area on the border of the 12th aries and 1st taurus, which has and always will be an extreme area of conflict for me, with my ascendant posited at 1 deg and the sun at 3 deg. inertia meets solid wall, a walking contradiction. lucky for me, i have the luxury of some key trines and sextiles, and the 12th house mars can release thru through sport.

the other is a pivotal yod 29 deg uranus sextile 2 deg saturn/jupiter with the point being mars/mercury 29 deg conjunct by minutes. anytime my uranus is aspected so heavily with squares and conjunctions, which has been of late, i want to jump out of my skin, or dive off a cliff.

I have a collection of slightly over 50 charts. I study those charts exclusively for the most part. They are the charts of family members, extended family members, and a few close friends.

I think trines and sextiles are important for a planet that is under pressure from squares and oppostions. It provides a way to release the energy in beneficial ways. That has just been my observation.

I don't think that a mental illness can be predicted just by looking at aspects within a natal chart. The reason for that is because energy can be expressed in different ways. Each aspect has a yin/yang expression to it I think.

I do have one other chart of someone that was also recently diagnosed with a mental illness but (she is the youngest daughter of the diagnosed untreated bi-polar chart I discussed upthread) she doesn't have any of the aspects we talked about.

That particular branch of extended family has generational diagnosis of mental illness going back beyond the grandparents.

My maternal grandmother drank herself to death. You would think that she would have Neptune prominent or a lot of hard neptune aspects. That is not the case. However, she had a uranus that had no major aspects. She had a most unfortunate life. I feel a lot of compassion for her even though she terrorized my mother.

As for feeling like your going to jump out of your skin. I currently have Uranus transiting close to my IC. It's been going on for a while now. It won't make the first exact conjunction until November of this year. Lucky me (being sassy) it will make 3 contacts before moving into the 4th. One side effect I'm having now that it's within seconds of conjunction is I can't sleep more than a few hours at a time.