On behalf of mental health patients to the world:
Hello there. Hope you are having a lovely day.
So here’s the deal: where do you draw the line? And who chooses to draw that line?
I’m talking about the fact that people, you people, are never satisfied with us. Either you are way too functional, and you don’t fit in the stereotype of what someone with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, bipolars, schizophrenia or whatever, should look like; or you are way too symptomatic, which makes people treat you like they would treat an stereotyped mental health patient, with all the stigma included.
And it’s got me thinking. What do you people want from us?
Because yes, we are far beyond our diagnosis. We aren’t just a label, neither a disease. But yes, it’s also true that we can’t deny a condition that we have. And we shouldn’t, because mostly we tend to do so to avoid being rejected or made fun of. And because let’s be honest, it’s no ones dream to grow up to have a mental health condition, or any health condition if we are being honest. But reality bites, and you get certain symptoms, an inevitable diagnosis and the appropriate treatment. Which makes that sometimes we can have stable moments, in which we feel that it’s all over, that the nightmare had ended, that we defeated the mental illness monster. And you run to people and they say that finally you are normal, up and about, that they are so glad.
But most of the times, when this things are conditions (so they last for more than an episode and are recurrent), the eventual moment when you get symptoms will come. And then you feel the guilt, not only because for you and the fact of being a “shameful” being again who is a misfit and outcast, but because you are letting everyone down and will encounter with comments such as “But I thought you were braver” and “I don’t think you are trying hard enough”. Is at the moment that you show your symptoms that you suddenly loose all your other characteristics and become again, a mental health patient.
And so it goes. People don’t believe you can be functional, live a life, do stuff, and still have a mental health condition. People don’t believe you can pop a psychiatric medication on the morning and still go to college and have an amazing grade. People don’t believe you can have a crisis for a couple of days and still be out and about, not in a psychiatric ward (the spooky ones from old horror movies) in the full psychiatric patient suit (from the same movie). Is either one way or the other, either you are normal and living life or either you have a mental health condition. But the truth is, you can be living life in what's believed to be a normal way, while battling a mental health condition, with its ups and downs, medications, appointments, and baggage.
So, meet us halfway.
Sincerely,
All the “functional and normal” mental health patients you cross in your path every day.
Hello there. Hope you are having a lovely day.
So here’s the deal: where do you draw the line? And who chooses to draw that line?
I’m talking about the fact that people, you people, are never satisfied with us. Either you are way too functional, and you don’t fit in the stereotype of what someone with depression, anxiety, eating disorders, bipolars, schizophrenia or whatever, should look like; or you are way too symptomatic, which makes people treat you like they would treat an stereotyped mental health patient, with all the stigma included.
And it’s got me thinking. What do you people want from us?
Because yes, we are far beyond our diagnosis. We aren’t just a label, neither a disease. But yes, it’s also true that we can’t deny a condition that we have. And we shouldn’t, because mostly we tend to do so to avoid being rejected or made fun of. And because let’s be honest, it’s no ones dream to grow up to have a mental health condition, or any health condition if we are being honest. But reality bites, and you get certain symptoms, an inevitable diagnosis and the appropriate treatment. Which makes that sometimes we can have stable moments, in which we feel that it’s all over, that the nightmare had ended, that we defeated the mental illness monster. And you run to people and they say that finally you are normal, up and about, that they are so glad.
But most of the times, when this things are conditions (so they last for more than an episode and are recurrent), the eventual moment when you get symptoms will come. And then you feel the guilt, not only because for you and the fact of being a “shameful” being again who is a misfit and outcast, but because you are letting everyone down and will encounter with comments such as “But I thought you were braver” and “I don’t think you are trying hard enough”. Is at the moment that you show your symptoms that you suddenly loose all your other characteristics and become again, a mental health patient.
And so it goes. People don’t believe you can be functional, live a life, do stuff, and still have a mental health condition. People don’t believe you can pop a psychiatric medication on the morning and still go to college and have an amazing grade. People don’t believe you can have a crisis for a couple of days and still be out and about, not in a psychiatric ward (the spooky ones from old horror movies) in the full psychiatric patient suit (from the same movie). Is either one way or the other, either you are normal and living life or either you have a mental health condition. But the truth is, you can be living life in what's believed to be a normal way, while battling a mental health condition, with its ups and downs, medications, appointments, and baggage.
So, meet us halfway.
Sincerely,
All the “functional and normal” mental health patients you cross in your path every day.
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