My mental health rant.
I'm in a ranting mood, which is rare...I just have to get this off my chest.
I am sick of people on the Internet giving computer chair diagnoses to others who have done harm. I am tired of people equating violence with mental illness. What some people don't realize is that the stigma against people who have a mental illness is so big that everyone shuts up about it and stays in the closet with it, or they simply decide, "I'm not crazy." And they do not get help. It's a very serious issue, but people get away with their ableism, sometimes not realizing what they're actually doing to people who have these diseases. Television (including the media) skews their audiences view of different groups of people in stereotypical ways, and that includes mental illness. Big time. Although there are real life examples of people with severe mental illnesses, it simply isn't always the case.
The truely sane ones are the people who decide to get help. The people I've met over the years who have a mental illness are broken people. Mix in trauma and stress and it can trigger you into a mental illness. This goes for anyone. A lot of them were victims of rape, abuse, or they had a death in the family. Or all three. The list can grow very, very long. The people that I met who had Schizophrenia were calm and at ease from getting help. One person with it was even hitting on me. (Flattering at the time.) Otherwise he was a normal person with an illness. NAMI brought in successful people who live with a mental illness, to try and calm down the stigma that has been pushed into so many people's faces. Trying to get people to realize that they can achieve and eventually have a better life. New people get horrifically scared because they don't want to be deemed crazy or a failure. They don't want to be associated with other people's definition of what mental illness is, which is commonly misinformed as rapists, abusers, gun nuts or even just repulsive republicans. When really sometimes these are the people that's fucked with them one too many times in the first place.
Low self-esteem was common in that hospital (which is why the mentally ill rarely has a strong voice), but we enjoyed wii bowling and played card games and there was a harmony between us after we got off our chest of what has screwed up our lives. What has been digging at us until all you can do is cry. One of my roommates had been raped by her boyfriend repeatedly, not really thinking it was rape, it was just sex that she didn't want... It's always devastating to hear people's stories because you know they have to go back to that life, and they probably haven't sorted their lives out before they're released from the hospital. Like the woman who was born intersex, then her family called her an abomination, someone who shouldn't have been born, someone who will automatically go to hell. Among things you have to clear out your ears for from how surprising verbal cruelty can be. They made her the wrong gender on top of it all.
When I think of the people with a mental illness, (besides thinking about myself as a person with a mental illness) I think of all the people I've met. That person who could barely speak from shyness and felt out of control with her life because of it, or the person who had cancer that triggered me into a sobbing fit. I think frankly, of victims when I think about the mentally ill. Either by the disease itself or the things that has triggered or made them into a nervous wreck in the first place. But they overcome it if they're lucky, and they DO have normal productive lives, while simultaneously being equated with murderers when the normal misinformed people come about.
"Oh no, I meant these types of crazy people." Too late. This isn't a thread trying to enforce political correction on everyone. Because quite frankly it's not my business if anyone decides to be an asshole about it for not thinking of the consequences it upholds. This is a thread trying to get people to realize that people with mental health problems are human beings. They are not in la-la land. They're here. And for the life of me I cannot understand why people aren't listening to the things we are saying. Of course, sometimes I say I have bipolar and people back away from me or assume things that aren't there. Nice huh? This discrimination is shameful, pure and simple.
I believe when it comes to mental illness, it is on a case by case basis, and people aren't doing that. Maybe it's a radical idea, but I don't judge people by their health status. I also don't assume what I don't know about a person... It's disturbing to see shit like this:
On a video about kidnappers. Assumed to be mentally ill and wishing death on the "mentally ill" person. This type of judgement and assumption scares shit out of me quite frankly. For all the troubled people out there, I do not like the thought of say, rapists around rape victims in a hospital. Because that's exactly what will happen if society decides that all the evil in this world is mentally ill.
There's a new group to discuss this kind of thing at called Mental Health Information.
= new reply since forum marked as read
*curtsy*
It only happens when I'm tired. I get a huge adrenaline rush out of no where. And I'm the type of person that reads non-fiction and documentaries that are good and depressing... And I am a dreamer I guess. Full of grandiosity...
I counted, I've had over 20 real live traumas in my life. Which one triggered my bipolar II? Probably all of them put together... You get hit hard... You don't recover and you get hit again. It becomes surreal. You expect a trauma to happen. Sometimes it's a slow burn, like abuse and neglect, sometimes it hits you like a truck like my mom's cancer. If I go along merrily, I'll get hit again. This time it was literately... By a mini van. Two hairline fractures in my hip. I'm still recovering at the moment.
I've been fine for a long while otherwise. After they figured out the right diagnosis. Mania didn't lessen my intelligence, it just didn't let my intelligence dictate anything... So, I was a very agitated and talking about suicide too much, and hiding in closets since I like small spaces. But that was when I was on Lexapro, when I was tired. Bad thing to give SSRI's to people with bipolar. Boy did that do a number on me...that's why I was in and out of the hospital. They figured out that I have bipolar after I took too much IBprofin... while giggling. That happened after they upped the lexapro.
I have a good life now. I have too many stories for as 24 year old though. I can only relate to older people. Married a lovely man that's 20 years older than me even. 
That's a great place to look if you want to find the dark side of humanity, I swear. Kicked and rec'd.
Thank you for writing and posting this. I always feel like screaming whenever I read the, "Oh, just fix mental illness! THEN, all the killing will stop! Because obviously no mentally sound person could just happen to be evil." Such ignorance, I could puke. So, keep spreading the word. Even if it doesn't reach more than a few dozens of people, every little bit counts.
I wish you all the best.
I don't remember you offending me. 
But yes, identifying with why the illnesses are there in the first place is a good place to start. I learned the things others havent really thought of. Like don't belittle emotional pain with other people by comparing injuries. And angry outbursts are defense mechanisms...and don't ask for your shirt back or you might have someone show their boobs. 
(That totally happened.)
I could easily forget my mental illness if pills weren't involved. I just can't sit back and see people who don't understand go on about how evil people must be mentally ill. There's language that even I'm susceptible to. But really looking at what people are saying when you're mentally ill yourself is very eye opening. I'm just as guilty for that type of language as you are. But I'm learning.
To DU and your intelligence far out weighs any emotional or mood problems that you may have had. You express yourself very well. Hope your hip is healing, well.
illnesses taught the rest of us the language you would like us to speak when speaking about the mentally ill, and when speaking about those who commit violent crimes.
If your group could come up with a number of examples of words and terms for the rest of us to use, I'm sure the majority of DUers would gladly use them out of courtesy and respect.
We've done this fairly effectively in the race, women's, and LGBT realms, and there is no reason why it can't be done in the realm of the mentall illness.
Please. lead us and teach us, and the majority of us will learn how to respect and satisfy your concerns.
I don't even know what more to add. I have seen what you speak of a lot. Sometimes I think people are so immersed in thier own lives, that it is easier to judge (which can be benign or malignant-- sometimes in between) and move on without considering things.
I know personally. I have had that experience when I was in a bad depressive stage. People did assume that I was out of touch, selfish and even arrogant when I was in a bad spell of depression. This was while I beginning treatment! The pressure I felt to get back to *normal* was exacerbated by outside influences. People I love (family) assumed that the medication was just a nice thing that would make me normal to THEM. Looking back it was a very strange situation; I was sick and instead of people realizing I was sick, they wanted me to just be better and judged me becuase I wasn't being the person they wanted me to be. When I told them 'I wasn't the person I wanted to be' it was met with the attitude (and in some cases actual words) that I needed to 'stop making excuses' and start being the strong person they always knew me to be.
I am in a fortunate place now in my life. I have a good productive life. It's a life that is one my terms, and includes a partner that doesn't judge me when I say something as simple as "I just can't do this right now" -- I have triggers, and I recognize them. Doing so with support helps me keep the balance I need.
I agree with you, mental illness is a case-by-case basis.
Once again: Thank you.
Unfortunately it's because my family has experienced mental illness take over before, so it wasn't entirely a new concept. I'm fortunate in a lot of ways... But it takes strength to get your head out of your memory and to only think of how good the future is. (My head is already saying "as if..."
Sometimes it's hard just to wake up to get dressed. And then the accomplishment of the day is sadly, getting dressed at 4pm in the afternoon. But there's good days to always look forward to. Like the death of our planet and the future extinction of human beings...
See! I'm already thinking positively.
