Be Aware of What You Say

Above is a collection of quotes from another thread that contribute to the stigma attached to people who suffer from a mental illness. I have purposely not identified the posters as I am sure that these quotes were not ment to be offensive.

We must all be careful what we say in a public forum. You never know who you might offend with what you consider a innocent comment.

People who have a mental illness are unfairly called nuts, crazy, insane, loony, etc. If someone is acting differently they are often accused of being "off their meds". People with mental illness are working beside you, sitting in the pew in front of you, selling you insurance, cashing your check at bank, having a cup of coffee with you, teaching your children, arresting criminals, raising children, getting married, reading their bible, preaching on Sunday morning, in short they are leading mostly normal lives except for the fact that they are ill.

All of the comments above show a lack of understanding about mental illness and he people who suffer from them. Would any say?

"I'm a cancer patient, not stupid" or "sometimes I feel like a diabetic, other times I know I have low blood sugar."

The comment about being schizophrenic implys that someone suffering from this illness has a split personality. Schizophrenic individuals do not have a split personality, they do suffer from hulluciations and delusions, and my not know what is real, but they don't have split personalities.

Lets please all try to help people who need it and not make their lives harder by adding to their burden thourgh our own actions.

Bill

 

Brother Blackbird is correct. My intent was not to tell anyone to stop using humor. My intent was to make peope THINK about a very serious subject before they speak. If I was truly offended I would have PM'd the posters personally.

I have used humor to deal with my own situation, and some of it would seem cruel to anyone not going through the same thing. However, I ALWAYS know my audience when I say these things out loud. Unfortunatly on the net we never know who will read what we write, so we must pick and choose our words.

What really caught my attention about the quoted posts was not any one of them individually, but the fact that they all appeared one folloing another at the very opening of the thread.

For those of you who have never suffered from a mental illness, or had a family member or friend who does then you can not begin to know the suffering and agony that a person who suffers from a sever mental illness goes through on a daily basis.


I heard a man talk last year about his experiencs suffering from Bipolar Disorder. He was trying to explain why people feel suicidal, and provided a great analogy that gave me a new understanding.

Here is his analogy.

To any "normal" if we saw a woman being physically abused on a daily basis we would think that she was "crazy" to stay in that situation. We would tell her to get out any way she could.

A suicidal person has a little man in their head abusing them on a daily basis, and as they see it the only way to get away from him is to die. In effect the "crazy" person is being "normal" by trying to get out.

My retelling of his analogy is no where near as powerful as comming from someone who has directly experienced it. However, it provided me with a new perspective.

From the responses to this thread I can see that I have made at least a few people think about this subject. They may not have come to the same conclusion as me, but awarness has been raised.

If anyone is intrested in learning more about mental illness, suffers from a mental illness, has a loved one who sufferes from mental illness, or is intrested in becomming an advocat for mental illness wellness and recovery then please click hear to visit the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illiness),

Bill