I made a post about mental illness at another site. Using a pseudonym, I wrote:
I have a disease
It is not an disease that you might see just by looking at me.
The emotional and physical toll of my disease can be incredible. In 1999, the Surgeon General compared the personal emotional repercussions of my illness to being blind or paraplegic -- or in more pronounced cases, to being quadraplegic.
People tend to think that if we were stronger, more religious or just generally better, we would not have this disease.
Hitler considered people with my disease to be "life unworthy of life". Though it is not so boldly stated now, we are still treated as sub-human.
If you see me in stained clothes on the bus
If I don't leave my house for months because I am afraid
If I have bad breath because getting out of bed took all my strength and I couldn't brush my teeth
If I don't make eye contact because I am trying to be invisible
If I have scars on my wrists
If I move and speak slowly
Please don't think I'm stupid. Please don't think I'm bad. Please don't think I'm lazy. Please don't hate me.
If you would be kind to a blind person or a puppy, please be kind to me.
----
Here was a response:
good grief said:
get over yourself and quickly. Everyone is depressed. The difference between you and the average joe is that the average joe has the balls to pull themselves out of it. They don't wallow in their own self pity. They sense something is wrong with themselves and they fix it. They don't sit around doing the "woe is me" bit. I don't have to be kind to you. That's part of the problem. Everyone is too damn kind to weak ass people who thrive on their own unhappiness. Oh poor you! Poor you my ass. You don't have it any worse than anyone else. So get over it. Get off the damn pity pot and try life without it for a change. Asshole!
----
It made me laugh. I couldn't have provided a better example of the attitude a mentally ill person faces.
---
Adding: Here's an excerpt of a response I liked very much.
you, poster, are Ok in my book. Ive sat with you on the bus, dropped a few bucks in your hat, delivered lunch to your house, and listened while you rambled on about the myriad of connections between John Lennon and Plato. I don't get all of it, but you do and so it works for you.
I have a disease
It is not an disease that you might see just by looking at me.
The emotional and physical toll of my disease can be incredible. In 1999, the Surgeon General compared the personal emotional repercussions of my illness to being blind or paraplegic -- or in more pronounced cases, to being quadraplegic.
People tend to think that if we were stronger, more religious or just generally better, we would not have this disease.
Hitler considered people with my disease to be "life unworthy of life". Though it is not so boldly stated now, we are still treated as sub-human.
If you see me in stained clothes on the bus
If I don't leave my house for months because I am afraid
If I have bad breath because getting out of bed took all my strength and I couldn't brush my teeth
If I don't make eye contact because I am trying to be invisible
If I have scars on my wrists
If I move and speak slowly
Please don't think I'm stupid. Please don't think I'm bad. Please don't think I'm lazy. Please don't hate me.
If you would be kind to a blind person or a puppy, please be kind to me.
----
Here was a response:
good grief said:
get over yourself and quickly. Everyone is depressed. The difference between you and the average joe is that the average joe has the balls to pull themselves out of it. They don't wallow in their own self pity. They sense something is wrong with themselves and they fix it. They don't sit around doing the "woe is me" bit. I don't have to be kind to you. That's part of the problem. Everyone is too damn kind to weak ass people who thrive on their own unhappiness. Oh poor you! Poor you my ass. You don't have it any worse than anyone else. So get over it. Get off the damn pity pot and try life without it for a change. Asshole!
----
It made me laugh. I couldn't have provided a better example of the attitude a mentally ill person faces.
---
Adding: Here's an excerpt of a response I liked very much.
you, poster, are Ok in my book. Ive sat with you on the bus, dropped a few bucks in your hat, delivered lunch to your house, and listened while you rambled on about the myriad of connections between John Lennon and Plato. I don't get all of it, but you do and so it works for you.
posted by d~ at
4:09 PM
4 Comments:
I am studying Depression in my psychology class. When we look at the physiology behind Depression, it's fascinating to see that neurotransmitters actually behave differently within the brains of people who suffer with Depression than those who don't. The dendrites literally distribute neurotransmitters differently, and the "reuptake" and/or sensitivity is totally different as well.
Outside factors, of course, will make Depression worse (or better), but the Depression itself, is as you describe it, a mental illness. It's a brain malfunction, just the same as a kidney malfunction or a heart problem. Not your fault, just a glitch in your physiology.
It's strange that the person who responded to you made that comment about how "everyone is depressed" as well as how "your life is no worse than anyone else's"; neither of those comments have any relevance to what you posted whatsoever. I'm disappointed in people when I see things like that in people's capacity for kindness and capacity for learning.
I know you aren't lazy or stupid or slow. Nobody who types as fast as you can could possibly be slow or lazy and your sense of humour is sharp and quick.
Sometimes the expression "mentally ill" seems wrong to me because when i hear that, I think of schizophrenia or Alzheimer's , things like that, but I'm starting to understand what you mean better now, that Depression isn't just an emotional state, that it's mental and physical and chemical and physiological as well. And that it's not a choice, and it's not just about feeling sad.
I admire people who live with illness and cope. Especially when they still manage to shine.
*is delighted with the second response*
*thinks I've sat with THAT guy on the bus*
I can't cure your depression, but I will happily give you a big big hug. I think a lot of our problems are caused because we don't touch each other enough (and I mean in a non-sexual way, although in these paranoid times, it's not easy to give non-sexual hugs and cuddles). They say people with strokable pets are healthier and live longer. What a shame we can't stroke each other as well.
Love
Jake
*thinks she might want to stroke the top of Old Scrote's head*
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