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Posts Tagged ‘mental illness’

Stigma

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , on April 20, 2017| Leave a Comment »

I met this elephant trainer not too long ago. Only spoke with him for a brief time, but he was very polite and we shared an intense series of sentences about mental health (illness, disease) and stigma. He said I should be proud of what I live with, not ashamed. I think generally I am proud of balancing my existence with a mental illness. But yes, there are times I am ashamed, afraid, to mention it because of the stigma attached to it.

So many people live with a mental illness and the weight of the stigma is overwhelming. The weight of keeping up appearances is daunting. Think of any other illness. Really, right now, think of any other illness. Now imagine a person saying, “I just can’t do stuff today because of the ____________. ” Every single person would give that person a pass and probably some sympathy, maybe offer some help. Make a meal and drop it off.

Now fill in that blank with a mental illness.

Oh, chin up, it’s just work. You can get through it. Cheer up, it can’t be that bad. Oh, I didn’t know, sorry. Well, the weekend is coming.

Or nothing at all.

Not everyone will respond this way. The folks who respond with the same compassion as the “any other illness” scenario probably know or live with someone who has a mental illness.

The ones who respond any other way don’t know what it’s like to live with it and don’t know much about it. Why would they? It’s easy and acceptable to not know about mental illness because of the stigma. Because of the outlandish Hollywood portrayals that make a mockery of the day to day life with mental illness. Those portrayals set things back every time. You want to see a good portrayal, a understated, realistic one? Watch Love and Mercy.

Back to the example above. “I just can’t do stuff today.” But instead the person living with a mental illness will pick themselves, put on the socially acceptable happy face, the persona we assume each day to hide what makes others uncomfortable. Well, we get tired. Some get really tired. I’m tired of being tired. I’m tired of being ashamed. I’m tired of keeping it out of the way because folks would either have to educate themselves a bit or simply be sympathetic on faith, even if they don’t understand it.

I’ve written it before. Everyone knows someone who is living with mental illness, you just might not know it. But if you know me, in real life or just because you miraculously stumbled onto my humble blog, you know someone who lives (and quite well, thank you very much) with schizophrenia every freakin’ day. Ask me questions if you don’t understand something. Educate yourself and spread it around. Help to get rid of the shame, the stigma, the misconceptions. Read a pamphlet. Read a website (vett your sources, please!).

Remember, you know someone.

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A Princess with a Plan

Posted in Musings and Epiphanies, tagged , , , , , on December 28, 2016| Leave a Comment »

While Carrie Fisher and I did not share the same diagnosis, we shared the same approach to mental health. While my reach is clearly not as far and wide (I don’t have access to the Millennium Falcon), I do my best to advocate and destigmatize mental illness to change the conversation to mental health. Ms. Fisher, much like Patty Duke, helped me to see my strength. I could do anything I wanted to with my life in spite of schizophrenia. It did not have to define me. Did it shape me in many ways? Of course. But it doesn’t define me.

Take a few moments to read this:

carrie fisher mental health quotes BuzzFeed
Think about how many people you know that live with some type of mental illness. Think about what would be missing in your life if treatments had not advanced, if those family members and friends were not strong enough to do life every day while managing mental illness. Be inspired and then help destigmatize mental illness. 

We need this to be a conversation about mental health, and not be fearful of illnesses that are still so misunderstood. Educate yourself. Read articles (no, just reading the title or headline doesn’t count, in this and all forms of becoming less ignorant). Talk to people about it. If you have questions, ask someone you know with mental illness to share about what a day is like for her.

Carrie Fisher’s mother, Debbie Reynolds, died today. A day after her fierce daughter. In memory of both of them, educate yourself about mental health. And watch Postcards from the Edge. Freakin’ hysterical.

Rest in peace, ladies. And Carrie, others will keep up the good fight. We’ll use the Force.

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My Lunch with Robin Williams

Posted in My lunch with..., tagged , , , , on August 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

“There is no rhyme or reason to depression, no rhyme or reason to suicide. He was tired.” Dr. Jeff on Fox this morning about Robin Williams.
I’ve read a lot online today about Robin Williams, all beautiful. He had mental illness and he was tired. There was a quote from him about only getting a little spark of madness and being careful not to lose it. I like that quote and a little madness is a good thing. A lot of madness makes one tired.

I’ve been that tired. And when the only answer seemed to be the path Mr. Williams sadly chose, I walked the streets of Philadelphia on that night 25 years ago trying to determine the best way to do it. Luckily for me I wandered near a friend’s apartment and after he opened his door and invited me in, he didn’t ask any challenging questions. He was just there with me. I don’t remember the evening very well, don’t know how long I was even there, but Mole just let me be. And it was enough.

I was tired. Tired of the voices yelling berating comments at me all day and night. Tired of trying to keep up with classes and not showing the truth to my classmates. Tired of the paranoia that everyone in my class hated me and all were out to sabotage any efforts I made. Tired of trying the rituals even though they hadn’t worked in months. Tired of not sleeping.

I know how tired Mr. Williams had to have been. 

We cannot be ashamed or hide who we are. With treatment, I’m just like you. But if I can’t talk about the mental illness because of the actions of someone with untreated mental illness, we will continue to have unnecessary tragedies in our world. When we realize that untreated mental illness causes such sadness and stop hiding it because it makes us uncomfortable we can start to make progress.

I have schizophrenia. It does not define me, is simply part of me. Didn’t ask for it, but it has helped shape who I am. And I think I rock.

You know someone with mental illness. You have for as long as you have known me. So it is a part of your life too. I’m probably not the only person with mental illness that you know.

Help the conversation grow and become loud. If we talk about it and find ways to help all people with mental illness, we can stop sadness like the loss of an actor who has been a part of my life since I was 8. We can stop tragedies like school shootings where innocents die for no reason but a lack of untreated and uncontrolled mental illness.

Oh captain, my captain…not sure when I’ll be able to watch that movie again. It was hard to watch 25 years ago. Hard again now for different reasons.

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