I think there are 'safe' people who you can share all this stuff with and then there are 'the rest'. And yes, I do think it is helpful to talk about this stuff in the open, but I also try to make a judgement call on who can handle it, when and to what level of detail. When it comes to 'the rest', I think that how one states the problem makes a huge difference, for example, saying "I'm battling PTSD from a number of crises that all hit at once" is far more acceptable to people than "I'm usually depressed and anxious, sometimes suicidal, often paranoid, distrustful, withdrawn and have abandonment issues and chronic fatigue and I've been in this state for most of my life. Both are true. I guess what I'm getting at is...if you feel you must disclose your issues, then try to normalize it a bit, unless you're looking for a shoulder to cry on and you are dealing with a 'safe' person. Because I think most people will have a tendency to run away from people with mental illness. They just don't want to deal with it.

So yes, I think it would be better if people could just accept us as we are even after we air all our issues but I don't believe that most people are capable of this. But if you find somebody who is...treat them like a gift from heaven.