The intellect and wisdom displayed in this thread give me hope. I have always recognized that 'ordinary' folk fear us-as if mental illness were catching. And I believe that every person has a place inside themselves that could erupt with rage and make them 'crazy' and it scares them silly.

For that reason, I do not believe we will ever be accepted. I do not believe most people understand the kind of money (read power) the pharmacuitical companies hold in this country. It's not about our military presence or fuel-it's about people who make medications that cost pennies and charge hundreds of dollars for them.

Shakespeare said 'kill all the lawyers'. When I was unfairly incarcerated, I asked the shrink if he knew the first four words of the Hypocratic oath.
He didn't and when I told him he shrugged it off as if it were meaningless.

FIRST, DO NO HARM. And perhaps that is the heart of it. We have all had those who care and treat us with compassion-and those who believe we are the lowest form of life on the planet. Crazy and lasy-living off the government so we don't have to support ourselves. Content with a life of poverty that must be lived to be undestood. (As one poster noted.)

The solution that made the most sense to me was to begin a program for those who specialized in taking care of the mentally ill-who did not have to endure the punishing years of medical school, perhaps only going for two years. Perhaps lessening the burnout and leave the core of caring that brought these individuals to this field in the first place.

We live in a world of such self doubt and such pain, abandoned by God and left to carry a burden that is often just to heavy to bare. So it all comes back to kindness. You can leave your caretaker's office with a little bit of hope, feeling a bit better about yourself-or you can leave filled with doubt, convinced the judgemental and snide remarks that leave you feeling worse about yourself just might be true.

In the beginning I said that this thread leaves me with hope-hope that we can continue to find the courage, not only to deal with whatever issues we face, but also the courage to continue to fight a system that doesn't play fair.