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seesaw · May 13, 2019 at 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverTrees

Thank you for elaborating Seesaw. I have had both experiences in my life: people who wanted to help or understand and people who wanted to judge. What works for me is to remember that my thoughts and feelings about myself do not have to depend on the attitudes of others around me. I was actually really surprised once when an offline friend shared her true thoughts about depression. She did not know about my diagnosis and shared her belief that it is a form of attention-seeking. She does not recognize depression as an illness. I was stunned for a few moments. I did not share with her. Later as I reflected on her words I thought: I am glad for her that she has never experienced depression and therefore does not understand it. I wouldn't wish depression on anyone. So basically her words were a cue to me that she would not be someone I'd share my struggles with and that worked out okay. She's actually a very kind person; just has no idea about depression. I don't know if this helps you Seesaw? Just sharing a few of my thoughts.

Silvertrees, it's completely different to talk about your friend out in the world. I am not looking for help. I'm giving feedback to this community. What I am referring to is something I am seeing members here, who I would hope have a better understanding of the stigma of mental health, do to stigmatize other people who also have mental illness. I'm specifically talking about a behavior on a mental health forum. I have no problem discerning in my own life who to go to for support and who to not go to for support.

What I was hoping to do was bring some attention to the membership here that when we do this, when we use mental illness as a derogatory insult against each other HERE, that we contributing to a lack of safety and damaging our supportive environment.

I personally do not respond to threads where I see this occur, but I have seen it happen enough that I felt it was important to raise as an issue. I have depression. When I see a thread where a person is referred to as a "whiny depressive," I feel judged myself. Again, it's not a reflection on me, and I can take care of myself, but it contributes to creating a negative environment. I was hoping that others would take a moment to think about this and think about their words when posting. That's all. People can agree or disagree and do whatever they want.