6 Reasons Why People With Mental Disorders Who Aren't Crushed By It Aren't Weak

[HereSince1628]

--posting this because much of this seems familiar--

1. You've had to struggle (with much of what follows) <snip>

2. You've had to deal with the illness and, on top of it, the stigma, misconceptions and ignorance that surrounds it. Your illness is invisible, so people are less compassionate and understanding. Their skeptical about it's validity. <snip>

3. You keep showing up. Showing up to waiting rooms and reading magazines from 1998, showing up to tell your story for the millionth time, showing up to groups, therapy, doctors, psychiatrists... It's strong to show up... especially when your care is inadequate <snip>

4. You've had to carry your intense emotions, other people's emotions, and perhaps the world on your shoulders as well. You're empathetic. You're a sponge. It's way easier not to care. You've sat with people who are struggling and really listened. <snip>

5. You've had to figure out treatment which can feel like endless trial and error. You can't just put a cast on your brain. There's not one magical therapy method or pill. You've tried acupuncture, exercise, affirmations, talking about your dog fluffy running away when you were six-year-old, CBT, DBT, and other latest-acronym-therapies. ... It takes strength to keep trying to figure out a treatment plan that works. <snip>

6. Your own mind has felt like it's turned against you. You're like, "I'm going to fight today and get through this" and you're mind's like, "No you're not! You can't do anything! You suck! Loser!" Your mind has been relentless in it's pursuit to keep you paralyzed and you've kept moving. <snip>

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rachel-griffin/6-reasons-why-people-with-mental-illnesses-are-strong-not-weak_b_9204122.html

[Tobin S.]

1. It is a noble cause for someone who is mentally ill

to try to make other people understand it. That's a part of what we do here.

As I've grown more distant from the major upheavals that I suffered, the less I try to make people understand. It's been almost 13 years. It's like it's not a part of me now. I just take these little pills in the morning and the evening. I don't even think about what they do anymore. However, I never miss taking those pills, so some part of me must still be acutely aware that my reality depends on them.

After I was diagnosed and started getting the proper treatment, I wanted to tell the whole world about what I had been through. I thought of my struggles as my lost decade or ten years in hell. Living with the symptoms of that illness for a day was traumatic, let alone ten years. I wanted to try to make people understand. The ones that bothered me most were those who didn't think mental illness was real. There was nothing so insulting as someone telling you that after you had struggled with a broken brain for a decade.

I tend to be a lot more private about my illness now days. It is very tiresome to fight stigma day in and day out. I don't want anyone at my current employer to know about it. I see a psychiatrist four times a year now for check-ups and to get my prescriptions. When I need to leave work early for that, I just tell them that I have a doctor's appointment. They've tried, and sometimes rather sneakily, to get me to tell them what I go to the doctor for, but I don't. If I want to work and have a nice life, it could depend on my silence on this issue.

Maybe someday I will write a book.

[HereSince1628]

2. The original story may promote confusion of more or less idling survival with going foward

but, I understand that it's hard to get anything on the topic published without including a hint of a cheer-leading hope promoting over-coming narrative. Struggling and fighting to survive seem heroic, by comparison isolated avoidance isn't much of a story.

Still much of that seemed familiar and I thought that may be a useful hint of reality for people at the front-end and people whose isolation leaves them wondering if it's just them.

[retrowire]

3. Ohhh yeah. This hits home. nt