[turquoisesea]

Ok... I know that there have been many positive steps, than mental illnesses are much MUCH better understood and accepted than they used to be... but it just seems so unfair.

Physical illness is treated so much better. People instantly accept it. They don't give you the "weird look", they don't think twice. They don't change their opinion of you. Some physical illnesses do break this rule to some degree - if you're told you'll die in xxx amount of days that's an exception. But generally, no trouble.

now, MENTAL illnesses, there's the catch. They can take away all your rights. People look at you different, sorry but they just do. So much of the time. Some people are GREAT about it some people are AWEFUL so you have to be careful who you tell and who you don't.

People say to trust... that it helps to get better, but I've found trust has just blown up in my face BECAUSE it's a mental illness I'm facing.

Friends... who just look at you different , that HURTS... how people can take away your basic rights... just ANYTHING.

Fed up with how society treats mental illness so much of the time
it makes it so much harder to live with...

Ok. Done with the rant, hope that didn't trigger or upset.

[Junerain]

Yes, I feel it is a BASIC HUMAN RIGHT to not only be treated for our mental illnesses to be SHOWN COMPASSION for it, not shown humiliation, not shown shame, not shown fear of us just because we happen to have an illness.....SHOWN COMPASSION!!!!

It hurts when we TRY to trust and it blows up in our faces..and we were simply trying to trust, that's all for heaven's sake!

Physical and mental illnesses they should be regarded the SAME both are illnesses.

I am tired of putting on a healthy face to the world i.e. I ran into my childhood next door neighbor...part of wanted to cry in her arms for all I've been through..

Instead I put on a strong face and told her of my successes, not how I fought tooth and nail to get there and it feels as though I am barely there!

[madisgram]

((ts)) glad u ranted cause you made some valid points about mental illness. i don't think society in general will ever "get it".
i think it's apathy on the part of many people. with a physical illness often times they can see the ravages of the body...with mental illness many times it's not so noticeable or understood about the agony a person endures with MI.
all the reason that we need to set the example and show kindness to a fellow sufferer. when i lived in manhatten i witnessed so many MI people living on the street. one very handsome young man i almost bumped into due to the congestion. it was clear he was mentally ill...i felt so much sadness for him cause i knew he needed help but from where? he was someone's son, brother, etc. i will never forget his face. i wish i could have helped him but knew i was not able to.
so i am glad you brought this topic up. as for trust, it has to be earned. i do not discuss my MI with a lot of people because i know they will immedicately throw up the barriers. i am not ashamed of my MI, mind you, but recognize the terrible reactions from most people who don't understand MI and don't care. i have learned there are people i can trust but many do not deserve my trust. so it's a fine balance.
thank you for trusting us enough to voice your feelings on the misunderstandings of MI.

[pachyderm]

(((Junerain)))

[splitimage]

I agree that there is still a ton of stigma and discrimination associated with mental illness and that that is a tragedy both because it's unfair to the people who suffer and because it prevents people from getting help.

But, and I may be in a minority here, I believe that the only way to challenge societies perceptions is to be open about our own mental illnesses and challenge negative stereotypes when we see them in the media.

I'm completely open with people about the fact that I'm an alcoholic - they know at work. They also know at work that I suffer from mental illness, although not the exact diagnosis - but I do have work accomodation to come in late once a month so I can see my pdoc. At my last job, they new way more, but I'd been there longer and they'd seen me when I was really messed up.

In addition to being the companies sole accountant, I'm the benefits administrator for the company and when our health benefits provider launched a new mental health wellness site, I made sure I sent an announcement with the link to everybody in the company.

When I see articles in the paper that portray people with mental illness in a stereotypical light, I write letters to the editor.

Whenever I speak at AA, I'm open about my MH history, because that's a huge part of my recovery story, and I've been able to help a lot of people in AA who are struggling with or have family members who struggle with self harm issues, because I'm open about the fact that I used to do it, and because I can direct them to resources.

Sure sometimes I get looked at a little weird, but mostly my experiences have been positive. Now at the risk of sounding awful some of this may have to do with the fact that I am high functioning. I have a good job, I do volunteer work, in other words I live a totally normal middle class life - I just need drugs to do so.

I know it's hugely risky - but I think things will only change if we speak up about them.

--splitimage

[Sannah]

SplitImage, I like your attitude! It is one of empowerment!!!!!!

[Mister Rodgers]

depends on the country

google "geel belgium mental illness"

[Mister Rodgers]

Originally Posted by madisgram

((ts)) glad u ranted cause you made some valid points about mental illness. i don't think society in general will ever "get it".
i think it's apathy on the part of many people. with a physical illness often times they can see the ravages of the body...with mental illness many times it's not so noticeable or understood about the agony a person endures with MI.
all the reason that we need to set the example and show kindness to a fellow sufferer. when i lived in manhatten i witnessed so many MI people living on the street. one very handsome young man i almost bumped into due to the congestion. it was clear he was mentally ill...i felt so much sadness for him cause i knew he needed help but from where? he was someone's son, brother, etc. i will never forget his face. i wish i could have helped him but knew i was not able to.
so i am glad you brought this topic up. as for trust, it has to be earned. i do not discuss my MI with a lot of people because i know they will immedicately throw up the barriers. i am not ashamed of my MI, mind you, but recognize the terrible reactions from most people who don't understand MI and don't care. i have learned there are people i can trust but many do not deserve my trust. so it's a fine balance.
thank you for trusting us enough to voice your feelings on the misunderstandings of MI.

print out copies of that and hand it out to them

after ten posts it says i can pot the link

[madisgram]

welcome to pc, mr. rogers! i like your screenname.

((((turquoisesea and everyone)))))))))))))))))) I wish everyone would treat each other in the world as if they were talking to themselfs.
Thsi kind of thing happens with ppl with LD or autisum or anything ppl do not know about. Yes (((turquoisesea))) it is in correct of them to do that to you.
Sometimes I thinks its cause they themselfs are afraid. And sometimes that maybe how they treat all ppl.
I have to say ((sorry to refer to my sister again))) she has gotten really good treatment from everyone around her. She has that pice of paper saying unable to work due to depression and other issues. They have helped her go to school. She has not complained about one person.
I have faced it thou with autisum and my son. Now that hes come so far. And to ppl he looks ((normal do not like that word)) he is treated different, then when he was younger.

Hes still the same person.

maybe us as a group can show the world how kind we all are and what good ppl everyone is. Cause all of you are wonderful in my eyes.
weather it be depression. PTSD. stress, bipolar. No one should be treated different. imo I kinda rambled again lol
(((you all matter)))))))))))) may things get better for you
may everyone see the beauty inside of you
muffy

[Mister Rodgers]

Originally Posted by madisgram

welcome to pc, mr. rogers! i like your screenname.

and i like you just the way you are!

[GrayNess]

Well, this was part of what was on our test today for 2nd year university abnormal psychology. Anyways, there is still a lot of stigma both to mental illnesses in general, as well as to certain ones more than others. Also, gender has a huge effect on mental health stigma. For example, we had to read a paper for the test by Wirth and Bodenhausen (2009) regarding gender's effect on mental health stigma. To give the short version, gender atypical symptoms got more help. For example, they use the stigma that males are more of alcoholic abusers and females are more of depression. If a male was an alcoholic, fewer wanted to help (same with females for depression). But, if a male is depressed or female is alcoholic, people are more willing to help because it's perceived to be out of the person's control. Sounds silly but that is what the outcome was. Same thing with people wanting to help but not deal with substance abusers, schizophrenia or mood disorders, although if given a choice, they pick females because they're thought to be less dangerous.

It's not taken as well as physical illnesses, and I find it rather silly. Many of the mental disorders do indeed have a biological explanation, hence, physical yet it's still not taken very well. That much I don't understand...

One problem definately is the media. Movies and documenting certain disorders give people a wrong idea, yet they're too uneducated on it to think otherwise. Solution: change the media's broadcasts (doubtful) or educate people (which is happening).

The treatments and stigma has indeed changed, although, from I think 1950/1960 to 1996, there was a 2.5x increase in stigma. Whether it's going better or not is hard to say. The more people know the truth and are educated, the better and hopefully less stigmatization occurs. I know one statement people have made to me was "you're not normal". To that, I laugh, call them a hypocrite. Put everyone on a bell-curve for everything, and everyone, for at least 1 thing, will be abnormal.

There was another study, have to get the exact name and date, but regardless it showed abnormal is almost the norm: 49.1% have some disorder. Why is it still stigmatized? Media, uneducation, etc... .

It makes no sense to me, as everyone is abnormal. Here's an example: take your hand and look at it. 5 fingers per hand? Bravo, it's a mutation. Human ancestors initially had multiple fingers so polydactyly (more than 5 fingers/toes) is almost like reverse evolution.

People who go about and give this stigma I just laugh. There are tons of things wrong with even the healthiest human. It's how we are built, nobody is completely normal, everyone is abnormal for something. Just many I think don't ever think of that, they just judge.

One other one, which I recently faced, is about a paper I'm doing for abnormal psychology on Dr. Hare's book on psychopaths: Without Conscience. Someone said to me, "but all psychopaths are killers". WRONG. Many are not, the few in the news that do killings indeed are but the majority aren't. They're capable but they don't. Another one was something along the lines of "we should make a large building for psychos, keep them all locked up, only need a few dozen beds for all of North America". WRONG. Over 2 million psychopaths in North America.

I think it's just due to uneducation, stubborness to learn that they're wrong, and the media is no help either.

[pachyderm]

The effectiveness of stigma is only if it gets into one's own mind. If it does not affect your perception of yourself, you can see that other people believe all kinds of things and you do not have to agree with them at all. You can be separate from them and observe and learn all kinds of interesting things about those strange creatures that are still related to you!

[turquoisesea]

Thank you for all your replies everyone, it does make me feel a bit better, even though the stigmas are still frustrating to deal with

It hurts when we TRY to trust and it blows up in our faces..and we were simply trying to trust, that's all for heaven's sake!

Physical and mental illnesses they should be regarded the SAME both are illnesses.

WELL SAID

splitimage
But, and I may be in a minority here, I believe that the only way to challenge societies perceptions is to be open about our own mental illnesses and challenge negative stereotypes when we see them in the media.

I'm so glad you can do that. I guess I'm so afraid of being put down and trusting the wrong people that I bottle everything up like a clam, but there DOES need to be a change and the only way to do that is through openness.

GrayNess - its good to know that, and to know that it is being studied and watched.

those were just some short things that stuck out but don't mean to single out one and not another, I really valued everyone's replies

hugs to all

thanks again for letting me rant

[nothemama8]

we have found the only ppl we can trust are those with mental illness and then there are some of them who stigmatis (sp) us just to hurt us, here at pc we have felt the safest

[AAAAA]

I think a big part of the problem is that people really don't understand, it's beyond their comprehension. Heck, there are some aspects of my own mental illnesses that I don't understand, so how can I expect someone else to?

If you suffer from depression and they see you live a decent life, what have you got to be depressed about? Snap out of it! Look at all of your blessings (which is good advice) BUT we'd LOVE to snap out of it! They cannot comprehend that taking an alternate route to work will screw up your whole day. Things that are huge in our life do not even make a blip on their radar. I don't think they can understand it until they've lived it.

I've go through stages of high functioning and what I call hybernation. My last hybernation was the longest and lasted 5 years. So I can see how someone that does not know me can look at my hybernation period as being "lazy". They cannot comprehend how I could literally go months without seeing my own downstairs. My comfort zone is my bedroom, I can go months moving only the 15 feet to the bathroom.

I started a job this week, something I'm VERY proud of. I was able to get it because my children have worked there for years and the store manager hired me without an interview, I will not have to deal with customers. I deal with mental and physical issues every single day. I can't answer how or why I can go to work this week and last week I had to prepare myself mentally for hours just to do the simple task of driving my son to school.

It doesn't help that there is the myth of the magical medication out there. "Oh, my brother was depressed and started taking X and is just as good as new!" Yeah, I've tried A-Z and none of them seem to work for very long. Shall I get addicted to Xanax or deal with overwhelming terror every minute of my life?

But you see this type of discrimination with different physcial injuries too, particularly back injuries. My husband has had three ruptured disks due to an accident at work and has surgery for them. He's a foolish, stubborn man, so he was off work a grand total of 10 days for the surgery. STILL when he over does it and his injury acts up, they give him a look over his shoulder as if he's not there like "right". I want to scream "he is injured, you can see it on his MRI!!!!"

[TheHistorian]

I've had someone use it against my mum in a job interview(I mean that I'm mentally ill and will be a burden), and have had old 'friends' spread things I told them in confidence, which came back to me in the form of being called a retarded ****** through email.
However, as hurtful as this is, I think I'd rather be on the receiving end than to actually be one of these deluded and narrow minded people.
They are mindless robots who cannot be trusted.

Sorry if this seems harsh, but it's proved true to me.