First of all, we are so sorry nobody's been posting. I should be able to post periodically now.
On to what I wanted to post about: mental illness. "Oh like crazy people?" you may ask. Actually most people with mental illnesses aren't what you'd define as "crazy". This stigma is a big problem for people who actually do have one. So I just thought I'd clear up some things that are common things people say/think about it that bug me.
1) "We need to get these people off the streets! They're dangerous!"
-Actually around 30% of the population will suffer from some form of mental illness within their lifetime. Additionally, most mental illnesses (such as Anxiety or Depression) don't make people dangerous to others at all, and among the ones that can make somebody violent or dangerous, a very small percentage are actually any danger to anyone.
2) "Just get over it!" or "You're overreacting!" or "Just think positively!" etc.
-This is one of my biggest pet peeves ever. Mental illness is caused by a chemical imbalance in the brain. Just like your stomach can get sick or you can get cancer, your brain can get sick too, and it's not your fault. Most the time, it's just that your genetics make you more prone to it. So telling somebody with Anxiety to just "calm down" is like telling somebody with the flu to just "stop throwing up".
3) "You shouldn't be taking those drugs to make you happy. You can just use these essential oils/natural remedies/sleep more/exercise/think positively."
-Like the above, may I point out that if you had appendicitis you wouldn't say "I'll just sleep more and it'll go away." or "I'll just go for a run and then my appendix won't explode." Sure those things can help, but sometimes only an antidepressant or anti-anxiety pill etc will really make you able to cope and get through the day.
4) "That's not real. It's just a doctor's excuse to get money for visits and medicine." or "You're just an attention seeker."
-Um.... no. Just no. It's very real. Being emotionally unable to get out of bed and get dressed is not something you fake. Especially because there's such a big stigma against it that nobody would really want to fake it just for attention because they'd be seen as a freak.
5)"But you could totally [insert activity that they could do yesterday but not today] yesterday!"
-What somebody with a mental disorder can do often varies from day to day. Don't judge that. Sometimes they just have a really bad day and aren't up to doing said thing.
6)"Why are you afraid of that? Nothing bad will happen/it's really unlikely that anything bad will happen."
-Don't question it. Sometimes they just can't explain it or it would be too hard to even talk about it.
7)"There are so many people who have it worse than you!"
-Haha yeah I know. But how would you like to wake up with your hands shaking and not being able to breathe, then less than 2 hrs later have an excruciating stress headache? Forget feeling good if you forget your morning Prozac, your day is about to be crappy no matter how many awesome things happen that day.
Sorry if that last one (or any of them) were at all cynical or mean sounding. Have a great day and go hug your favourite depressed or anxious person (with permission of course). :)
-Bunny
