Having a mental illness sucks. It sucks so badly, I'm literally forced to pay people [psychiatrist, therapist] to talk to me about it. Everyone else is four sentences away from realizing they have something less uncomfortable to do.
As a society we've broken through many gender, racial and religious barriers, so why is it that when it comes to the the stigma of mental illness, we're still a slave to the rubber stamp and it's arbitrary "crazy" or "sane" label?
I've found that it isn't necessarily mental illness itself that is so wildly unlikable, it's the way mental illness makes other people feel. Mental illnesses are....strange and different. Tell me that you have cancer and I'll understand how to appropriately react. I know not to ask if you could beat your cancer if you would just try a little harder or secretly think you have cancer just for attention.
Imagine telling someone with cancer that "Hey guy, it could be so much worse, you could be bipolar or have schizophrenia. You could struggle with depression or experience persistent anxiety.". But tell someone you're bipolar, and you not only relinquish any sympathy and/or basic empathy you'd normally garner from having an illness, it also give strangers the green light to ask you weird questions:
"So, do you have multiple personalities?"
"Aren't you like really good in bed?"
"Can you fly?"
No, yes, and sometimes.
Mental health issues still weirds people out, which frankly, pisses me off. Because thanks to the combined efforts of three different mood stabilizers, suddenly, I'm the sanest person I know. And when it comes to psychological wellness, I've discovered the average person wears a mental health mullet: normal in the front, fucking cuckoo bananas crazy lunatic in the back.
As a society we've broken through many gender, racial and religious barriers, so why is it that when it comes to the the stigma of mental illness, we're still a slave to the rubber stamp and it's arbitrary "crazy" or "sane" label?
I've found that it isn't necessarily mental illness itself that is so wildly unlikable, it's the way mental illness makes other people feel. Mental illnesses are....strange and different. Tell me that you have cancer and I'll understand how to appropriately react. I know not to ask if you could beat your cancer if you would just try a little harder or secretly think you have cancer just for attention.
Imagine telling someone with cancer that "Hey guy, it could be so much worse, you could be bipolar or have schizophrenia. You could struggle with depression or experience persistent anxiety.". But tell someone you're bipolar, and you not only relinquish any sympathy and/or basic empathy you'd normally garner from having an illness, it also give strangers the green light to ask you weird questions:
"So, do you have multiple personalities?"
"Aren't you like really good in bed?"
"Can you fly?"
No, yes, and sometimes.
Mental health issues still weirds people out, which frankly, pisses me off. Because thanks to the combined efforts of three different mood stabilizers, suddenly, I'm the sanest person I know. And when it comes to psychological wellness, I've discovered the average person wears a mental health mullet: normal in the front, fucking cuckoo bananas crazy lunatic in the back.
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| They don't know they're crazy |
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/16/project-1-in-4-illustrations-mental-health-stigma_n_7598556.html
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