An Open Letter To Society About Mental Illness [View all]

[HuckleB]

http://modernliberals.com/open-letter-society-mental-illness/

"According to the National Alliance on Mental Health, one in four adults experiences mental illness in a year. That’s about sixty-one million people. One in seven, or about thirteen million people, live with a serious mental illness, like schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder. And every single time some white guy decides to slaughter innocent people, society immediately jumps on the blame mental illness bandwagon.

I have borderline personality disorder, major depression, and mild PTSD. I am isolated in that I have no support system outside my immediate family. The irony is, when I was really sick, deeply immersed in BPD, I was very popular. Now that I am well-ish, I have no friends. Oh, I have people online who are whatever online friends are, but I don’t have anyone I can call and just say “I really need to get things off my chest, can you listen for awhile?” There are millions of folks who are isolated and struggling with mental illness in America, and whenever we hear society call us all violent, or dangerous, it isolates us even more.

Being mentally ill statistically means you will be a victim of violence, not a perpetrator. Does this stop society at large from labeling us all as dangerous? After Sandy Hook, a woman I knew online-a liberal-wrote she thought all mentally ill people (she used the word crazy) should be locked up, in order to keep society safe. Wayne LaPierre, official sociopath for the NRA, suggested a registry for all mentally ill people in America. Because it’s easier to say we’re all going to snap, and shoot up a school, or a mall, or an African-American church, than dealing with our societal problems.

...

There is no shame in being mentally ill. There is no shame in getting help, or taking meds, or having days, weeks, or even months, where it takes all your energy just to get dressed. The shame lies squarely on the shoulders of everyone who believes we should be locked up, or in jail, simply for being sick. Do we do that with cancer patients, or diabetics?

..."

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This needs to be spread far and wide.