Is there any hope that mental illness will be more understood and not so hush-hush?
I know if people don’t understand, they tend to judge. But is there hope that someday it will more out in the open and discussed? Or should I just face the fact that no one will understand or care? I know it’s not like a broken leg or something you can see, but why do I have to feel so ashamed?
Noone cares apart from those suffering. Life is cruel – you have to be on the ball at all times. The one thing I wish my family had warned me about is be careful of depression. It can consume you in a matter of days, and the repercussions last a lifetime.
February 10th, 2010 at 9:39 pm
Noone cares apart from those suffering. Life is cruel – you have to be on the ball at all times. The one thing I wish my family had warned me about is be careful of depression. It can consume you in a matter of days, and the repercussions last a lifetime.
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February 10th, 2010 at 10:13 pm
are you kidding?
only two people know about my depression with suicide thoughts
and they already judge me sometime I feel like nobody understand me
so there is not way I will share my feeling to another people
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February 10th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
It is especially hush hush in the African American community. Well, the only way to make it unhushed is to take it 1 step at a time. Each person is a step. Discuss suicide with people you know in real life. We don’t have to feel depressed to want to discuss suicide. Education is key. Yes, you are right in that social stigma makes one feel ashamed, but trust me a lot of people were in your shoes (me for 14 yrs) and escaped.
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February 10th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
I think there’s hope, especially if people like you and me continue to care and look for answers. Lately I’m starting to think that mental "illness" isn’t so much this horrid hidden thing that people have to be drugged to get out of, but perhaps a certain way that people have about them that is frowned on by the politically correct. Take bi-polarism, or hyper-active children, as a couple examples. The spurts of energy, coralled in a constructive way, could easily lead to creative genius, so far as I’m concerned. My son, hyperactive by any standards, runs and plays all day long, and at night I school him myself, and by that point he is calm, focused, and beyond intelligent. So long as I don’t try to force him to sit in a chair and read or do math while the sun is shining, I can teach that kid anything, and I know he’ll go far. Or have you watched the movie "A Beautiful Mind"? I loved it. By normal standards, he was a looney, but the man thought of wonderful mathematic theories that were quite useful and admired. It was hard for his family and friends to understand for a long time, and it took the right focus for him to put his "mental illness" to good use. Don’t let anything make you feel ashamed. Figure out good uses for your talents, because everyone is designed differently and has different specific purposes. You take what you are good at, what you love to do, combine them, and live a purposeful life.
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February 10th, 2010 at 11:14 pm
if you care for yourself, others will too.
just chill, and if someone decides to say something negative about you, just think of how little their stupid opinion is.
it seems everyone who bags someone, has so many things far worse wrong with them…
if youre different mentally, that makes you more human than any other of those posers out there.
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February 10th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
Don’t feel ashamed! Mental illness is certainly not as shameful as the human ignorance and selfishness you run into!
But you are right about contrasting it with visible strictly physical ailments. That’s a double whammy, because those also tend to not affect behavior, which most people consider to be under voluntary control and therefore worthy of moral judgment. So mental illness presents many with an inconvenient glitch in their worldview.
The truth is, as with most concepts, only close firsthand experience truly enlightens most people to a meaningful degree. It must touch us personally.
Nonetheless, mental illness is much more discussed than in the past and many other people DO care and try to understand. Sadly, there will still always be those who don’t. Don’t give them too much say in your life.
ADDED: Remember too, that it is all dynamic. Just as you learn from others, others can be changed by knowing you!
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February 11th, 2010 at 12:35 am
First of all, people are afraid of what they don’t understand. Plain and simple. When people are afraid of, or made uncomfortable by something, they judge it and/ or make it into a joke.
People who have never had anything mentally "wrong with them" (for lack of a better term), have a very hard time and are basically incapable of understanding just how crippling and distressing it really is.
"You can’t explain color to a blind person" is how I like to refer to it.
"Normal" people will never understand what metally ill people go through, and therefore look at is as an excuse or overexaggeration.
I know how extremely frustrating that can be, but I have to tell myself to forgive them because they don’t know any better.
We can only hope that someday things like this can be looked at more "legitimately", but seeing as I have no more knowledge of the future than the next guy, I can’t really say.
Judging by the way history seems to have worked thus far, I would say there is hope. It will just take time.
We are taught by society from a young age that anything that is significantly different from the norm should be looked down upon and if we are "mentally ill" we are not worthy of the title of normal, contributing, human beings, and therefore should feel ashamed.
But I try not to let myself believe that even though it sure as hell is difficult sometimes to not feel so isolated.
You just have to be careful who you tell if you don’t want them to impose their harsh judgements on you. Only tell people you know are open minded and compassionate. The judgements we impose upon ourselves however are a completely different story.
I agree wholeheartedly that it certainly does not get the respect it deserves, and we can only hope someday that it will. But until then we fight a silent battle.
What I can’t stand is people who use mental illness as an excuse for acting stupid or just wanting sympathy and/or attention. They are certainly not helping the cause.
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just someone in agreement…