I think part of it comes down to how much we worry about what people think about us. It's too bad, because if we had something like cancer no one would judge us the way they do with mental illness. I try to keep in mind that those who don't suffer from it, don't understand it, and no matter how much I want them to, they probably never will. The people that are worth keeping in our lives won't throw us away because of our problems...the ones that do throw us away aren't worth having in our lives anyway, even though sometimes it's hard to accept. My supervisors don't know about my alcohlism. I chose to keep it from them because I don't want to loose my job. Arizona is a right to work state, so the laws on equal opportunity are much more lax. Getting fired because of a mental illness is a possibility and you don't have much of a fight in it.....pretty sad.