Quote:
Originally Posted by Rapunzel
You don't have to tell anyone what your diagnosis is or that you have any diagnosis at all. Diagnosis is a tool for therapists to be able to categorize or summarize the type of problems that you are having in a short-hand way.
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It is important to remember that you are you. Whatever diagnosis you have is just some information about some of the challenges in your life. You are still you. The people you interact with need to know that you are you, not a diagnosis. Sometimes being open about having mental illness can help to fight stigma because it helps people to realize that mental illness is something that affects real people that they interact with all the time, not just some unknown crazy people someplace else that they don't know and don't care about. If you choose to share your diagnosis, it is important that you make it clear that even though you have some struggles, you are still the same person that they knew before knowing your diagnosis.
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There are people who do change how they interact with me when they know my diagnoses. Most people seem to accept it and either not change how they treat me or be understanding. But there are exceptions. A few may be uncomfortable with the idea of mental illness, and not know what to say or do.
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Don't let your concerns about what people will think stop you from getting treatment or assessment (the purpose of assessment is to identify how treatment can help you). Just know that what you do with the information that you get is your choice. Getting a diagnosis is just finding out about your condition. It doesn't change anything. You are still the same person you were before. Once you get a diagnosis, you know more about what to do to be healthier. That is what it is about.
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I wish I could say I agree with you, but a lot of what you wrote has not been my experience. No, I wasn't compelled to tell anyone, not at gunpoint or anything. But family members pushed and cajoled or snooped and spied and profoundly invaded my privacy in a quest to "find out what is wrong with him." And yes, I had to tell my employer something, I couldn't exactly disappear from work for three weeks, close my office door and hope they would just think I was working really hard and skipping lunches and breaks. So no, on a practical level, good luck keeping it secret, people are nosy and pushy and petty.
No, I am not me, not who I was. I can't be, life has changed forever. A lot of the time, I feel I do not recognize where I live, it is like I am on some alien planet. The old me at least felt like I was a citizen of the Republic, a member of society in good standing. My experience with the MH system tore me down, was profoundly degrading and dehumanizing, it broke me. I needed kind support, I got treated like a criminal. And made to feel like the scum of the earth by a system that ostensibly was helping me.
Some people may be understanding, but most people make snide comments, jokes, or carry on about how "they need to do something about those people" every time some tragedy with a mental health angle hits the front page. If they think you are one of "those people" you will be treated differently if they find out.
Think long and hard about it before you open Pandora's box. You can't stuff the horrors back inside if they come out. If you are lucky, you will have good experiences and a good outcome. But that is a big gamble. If I could go back, I would NEVER have made that first appointment, I would have toughed it out and gotten by. Instead, I am scarred and labeled and marked for live. Not to mention perhaps a tad bitter?
Since when was it my choice? I was ordered by a quack to do the day hospital program. It was unethical and cruel. It changed everything. It threatened my career, disrupted my family life and created serious problems in already shaky family relationships. I also lost legal rights and am subject to the same restrictions that felons and pedophiles have vis a vis my 2nd amendment rights on the state level. Yet I never committed a crime of any kind, nor was I given due process, it is just automatic because I have a "diagnosed mental illness".
Bitter much? You betcha.