Quote:
Originally Posted by BirdDancer
One observation I have made in recent years is that some people with mental illness are willing to stigmatize other people with mental illness. The rationale is sometimes "Well, I'm not THAT mentally ill." Or "I would never do THAT, so my mental illness doesn't deserve to be stigmatized, but THEIRS does."
It is true that most people with mental illness are peaceful and law abiding citizens. Way too often, people with mental illness are the victims of crime and abuse. However, some people with mental illness do commit crimes sometimes. Sometimes crimes that the "morally superior" deem "evil".
Religions and/or cultures, themselves, shape people's views. That's an undebatable fact. But sometimes they also narrow views and obfuscate. Some may take offense to the sentence just before this, however, many of those same people would not find it offensive to say about other people's religions or cultures. This also applies to some people's attitudes towards the more scientific-minded.
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I experienced this while I was in IP. It is a very interesting dynamic. I was first put in a wing with mostly people suffering from Schizophrenia. I learned a lot while I was there. I was no longer hallucinating, but I connected with the people there. They were wonderful and very tormented at the same time. They were my friends and supporters for the few days I was there.
My doctor later moved me out to a women's trauma unit because abuse memories were involved in the triggering of my episode. I connected with many of the women there as well. However, I noticed a lot of judgment there of the patients in other wings. There was a belief of 'us' vs. 'them'. I had found a home in both places. I felt it was important to remain as humble as possible and strive for empathy for all. To me, everyone was the same. Human.