Quote:
Originally Posted by MotownJohnny
None of us with MH issues are bad - I see a hell of a lot more character in those of us who struggle to have good lives than I see in a. Lot of the public. It's the few who abuse the system for disability benefits or can't control violent tendencies who make the public fear MH issues and promote continued stigma. Most of us are pretty damned commendable actually.
|
Exactly. and the larger - more general - point is that there is no monolithic MH population. Just as any other group, this one is very diverse. I think on the whole, all things considered, you are right - more people are commendable, especially given that they are defying the odds in so many ways. But in general, there is no homogeneous "MI" category. Even within the same illness, people have different presentations, different challenges, and different experiences. I have physiological anxiety and no social anxiety and I attend group therapy for anxiety, where most folks are socially anxious. I learned a whole lot about people with social anxiety from this group and have come to appreciate them A LOT!!!, but I also see how different they and I are. And the broad diagnosis is the same - anxiety. If people differ so much within one diagnosis, they must differ much more so within the whole spectrum of MI. The variation is simply enormous.