Top five mental illness myths

[Jazzey]

If we are ever going to overcome the stigma, the shame and ultimately the apprehensions of individuals needing help and support, what steps can each of us do in our everyday lives when conversations about mental health come up?

I think that there are ways to do this. But at the end of the day, it has to be done with a concern for our own "stigmatization". I believe in volunteering...speaking out in support of certain causes. In that limited context, talking about your experiences. But I do not believe in converting your work colleagues / friends / family unless or until they seem genuinely interested to know about your condition. And in my experience, there's a natural curiosity, quickly replaced by judgment and criticism. So I think that you choose your audience carefully.

 

[amastie]

In my experience, it's not just lack of understanding of mental illness, it can also be people's unpreparedness to deal with it. If it's too hard to deal with and you don't feel that you have to, then it's easier not to.

This is true even among people who are in every other respect kind and respectful.

Mental illness is hard not only for the one who lives it but also for those who must live in close proximity to it. I presume it varies. Some people with mental illness seem to be more easily supported. Some people are more easily able to support those who have it.

People without mental illness have their own needs too. Their needs and foibles will often collide with ours. I may already have said this in here at some time (I forget), but I remember saying at a conference of women and mental illness many years ago (before I had a better understanding my ow) that the hardest thing about being neurotic was living with the neuroses of those who aren't.

It's still true.