There is no doubt that having a mental illness sucks. As someone who has lived with mental illness for almost 30 years, I can tell you that first hand. For those of you who did not read my first post, I've been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder (there are links to more information on these in the previous post). Not to mention dyslexia (I know not a mental illness, but a sign of a messed up brain non the less). Also, my psychologist wants to have me tested for ADHD, but probably won't be, like I really need something else to add to the list.
However, mental illness is also something that does not have to control a persons life. I like to think that I am one of those people who have become much more than my illness. After all I am working part-time, although working 30 plus hours a week, just not enough to get benefits of course. Aint that always the way though. I have friends, food on the table, and a roof over my head. Which, unfortunately, is more than I can say for all too many people with a mental illness.
Having said all that, its time to stop rambling and get to the point of this post. That would be how stigma affects people with a mental illness. Stigma is basically the way that people perceive those with a mental illness, as well as how those with a mental illness look at themselves. The truth is that there are a lot of myths out there about mental illness and most of them place those of us with them into a less than shinning light. The problem is that for the most part they are actually not true. Now for the sake of brevity (you could write a whole book on this subject), I'll only discuss the big three.
Those with a mental illness tend to be more violent than the general public. Although we do occasionally hear of people with a mental illness committing violent acts, they are actually a rarer occurrence than violent crimes committed by the general public. As a matter of fact, due to the high level of homelessness among mental health “consumers,” we are more likely to be victims of violent crime than the perpetrators of it. Speaking for myself, when I'm psychotic, I'd rather curl up in the fetal position and forget the world even exists than go out and engage in murder and mayhem.
People with a mental illness are less intelligent than most people. For those of you who might be inclined to believe this, check out this list of some of the people who are probably much more intelligent than you who have had a mental illnesses. Although the reality is that the range of intelligence among the mentally ill, tends to be the same as among the population in general.
That mental illness is some sort of personal failing on the part of the individual. The fact is that mental illnesses are exactly that, illnesses. They tend to be chronic like asthma or diabetes, although symptoms may be better or worse over time and even fluctuate. The fact, however, is that those with a mental illness are not week or just using their illness as a reason for not doing things. In fact they tend to be some of the strongest people I know. In truth, if most healthy people had to live with the turmoil that we do, they would not make it. Although many of us do not make it, many of us go on to live reasonably normal lives.
Well, there is my first blog on the stigma of mental illness. Trust me this will not be the last time you read about this on this blog. Hope you enjoyed, and have a nice day.
