Mental illness is a far more common affliction than most people realize. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), about twenty percent of the US population experiences mental illness symptoms each year. That’s one in five people. About one in twenty people experience severe symptoms each year. NAMI states that about half the people who develop lifelong mental illness show symptoms by the time they are 14 years old.
Continue readingMay Is Mental Illness Awareness Month
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Toxic Positivity
I have often railed against those who have tried to encourage me by telling me to “think happy thoughts” or who tried to pump sunshine by telling me how wonderful life is. It was as though they thought I wasn’t trying to heal, that I didn’t know about trying to pull out of a depressed mood. I’ve heard this attitude called “toxic positivity.”
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The Canary in the Coal Mine
In the old days, canaries were used in coal mines to warn of poisonous gas. If there were any gas, the birds would stop singing and drop from their perches; they’d be the warning that conditions were harmful.
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A Broken Spirit
It’s two AM, three – I don’t know. I’m in agony. I want to scream. I’m crying, sobbing over a lonely life and now a lonely death. I cannot go on.
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Think Happy Thoughts
During the years of suffering bipolar disorder, I have had endless people tell me to “think happy thoughts,” or to “snap out of it,” “cheer up, other people have it worse,” and on and on and on. It is as though they thought that I didn’t know about these wonderful suggestions.
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The Stigma of Mental Illness
Today, a British periodical published a story that serves to underscore the stigma of mental illness. A pizza was delivered to the staff at a psychiatric hospital. On the ticket, the address was characterized as the “loony bin.”
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Responsibility
Learning that I suffered from a mental illness changed how I regarded myself. I had considered that my behavior – the unpleasant stuff – was mostly because, for some reason, I was just an asshole. I didn’t like that idea; I didn’t want to be an asshole. I didn’t want to hurt or offend anyone; but I often did. And so I figured that’s just who I was – a rather unpleasant, often hostile jerk.
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That’s Me You’re Talking About
I don’t stand out in a crowd. On the bus I’m just another bored passenger trying to get somewhere. At the grocery store I get the usual food – bread and meat and potatoes – what we all buy. In nice weather I ride my bicycle; in the winter I slog through the snow like everyone else.
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Cutting
I’m doing it again – slowly, carefully cutting myself. I don’t know why I do it. I don’t like to. It hurts.
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Disaster Areas
Every so often a tornado or other disaster strikes, killing several people, injuring many more. It’s heartbreaking to see images of these people, traumatized, homeless, some having lost loved ones, some having lost everything they had. You can’t see these images without being deeply moved by their pain.
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