Why is it, and it doesn't matter where you are, that mental illness,which is fully documented by medicine, acknowledged by many actors and celebrities, and pointed to in various geniuses over the ages, is still shunned so badly, so poorly recognized by the average citizen, and denied by them if it appears in their family or if they have it? What causes the victims of these diseases to slink around in silence and shame? As these illnesses are the fastest growing epidemic in the western world isn't it about time that we shed the mystery and acknowledged that people do have emotional problems and other mental diseases and bring our 'mental' thinking into the 21st century, which is supposed to be an enlightened century?

I absolutely agree with the public "take" on mental illness.

I think that people are frightened.. mental illness has no perceptible CAUSE and they are afraid of "looking in the mirror" and perhaps seeing themselves in a tiny way.

I have many battles during my home nursing visits to get people to realize it isn't shaming to need help dealing with their emotional issues.

And, in my opinion, there have ALWAYS been many people (the same as today) with difficulty managing... they just suicided, turned into hermits, were locked in their rooms/attics by family members and put into insane assylums... and any other of numerous things.

Stress and life-situations have always been part of life, why should it only now be escalating?

I tell my patients that I, myself, use depression medication because of my family situation. I tell them that, to me, use of medication is a tool... like a car or stove, only a tool to make life a bit easier to manage.

After all, most of us can still function without a stove or car or medications, but what is our quality of life like? That is the arguments I use with my patients and families to help them realize there is no shame in having more on your plate than you can handle well.

I agree. Mental illness is not always handled well by the general public. Even at the hospital I worked at their were still some nurses that would say well look at their diagnosis...makes me very furious at that. Doctors are getting better at treating their patients now.

Tho, now with new treatments and new meds for alot of these now I think the public view is slowly changing to the better and hopfully it will continue to do so.

I think it's something that will gradually change, but it's a long way until things are right as far as how mental illness is treated by the General Public.

The worst thing that I have dealt with is 2 people who were close to me committing suicide. They were very ill and may just as well have died of cancer. When I tell people this their first question is "Why did they do it?" There is no reasonable answer to that other than "Because they were very sick." Neither had any real reason to be unhappy anymore than you or I. They were both very sick.

Both my friends could have been saved if insurance and the general public dealt with mental illness better. They shouldn't have been ashamed. They shouldn't have been hopeless. It's just horrible that the insurance company can get away with not paying in these situations... like any well person would take their life.

People just don't understand until they see it with their own eyes... and they don't want to understand because they'd realize that any one of us could get sick the same way.

I fully understand "being shunned" Once I was diagnosed with having mental disorders, my siblings all turned their backs to me. Only 1 of the 4 has anything to do with me, due to the fact that he has been diagnosed recently with one of the same ones I have. Thank god for my mom and grandma, who have stuck by me thru it all. I try to help ppl understand a little better, I'm not afraid to talk about it, I'm tired of being "different" so I try to be as normal as can be. Then I ask myself "what's normal?" Does anybody know?

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Originally posted by davemystic:
Why is it, and it doesn't matter where you are, that mental illness,which is fully documented by medicine, acknowledged by many actors and celebrities, and pointed to in various geniuses over the ages, is still shunned so badly, so poorly recognized by the average citizen, and denied by them if it appears in their family or if they have it? What causes the victims of these diseases to slink around in silence and shame? As these illnesses are the fastest growing epidemic in the western world isn't it about time that we shed the mystery and acknowledged that people do have emotional problems and other mental diseases and bring our 'mental' thinking into the 21st century, which is supposed to be an enlightened century?

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Someone else's power can destroy YOU.

Would you want a lawyer to display his/her crafty tricks in a court and thereby ruin your reputation and life when you were the innocent victim seeking truth and justice instead of lies and injustice?

Would you want a psychiatrist to display his/her prejudice against religious persons in a forum and thereby get most participants to believe that you are paranoid schizophrenic for claiming to hear the voice of God?

Such evil goes on daily by those who simply pull rank and thereby attract and influence groups of people against poor unknown slobs (of good character and sound mind) who have no such comparable influence. What happens to such innocent victims may be worse than what happens to the truly emotionally disturbed, who have someone somewhere who can tend to their needs. It does seem to me that there exist evil people in positions of power who, by their evil deeds to stay on top, create more emotionally disturbed persons than there need be even in the most civilized American society. It is a dog-eat-dog world, and I, for one, am not inclined in every case to just go ahead and believe headshrinkers without myself interacting with the one declared "crazy." I also want to know what is in it financially and otherwise for the ones passing judgment.

P.S. You speak of documentation. There is much documentation about me, but too much of it is false--and there is usually nothing at all which I can do about it. Do not be so naive. Make some waves, and you will attract your own list of enemies. Declare that the world is round or revolves around the sun . . . and find yourself destroyed for thinking outside of the box. The old saying may be true: there are more crazies walking around than are locked up. I know that there are a lot of evil ones walking around who should be locked up. Beware of those who can so readily forever mislabel you.

[This message was edited by tsaeb on 12-31-03 at 04:04 AM.]

I think because a lot of people never have suffered they find it hard to understand, they figure why can't you just stop thinking that way, also mental ilness isn't usually somethin you can see when looking at someone, they look like everyone else. Physical illness we all experience and can understand. I know my family doesn't get depression, I get what do you have to be depressed about, they think I need a big reason to feel sad and that if I am sad I should just get over it.

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Originally posted by kittypal:
I think because a lot of people never have suffered they find it hard to understand

Physical illness we all experience and can understand..

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bingo. i bet my money on this insightful answer.

ladykc1997 - normal is a measure... from up and down, they take a reading - and if you are in between, then you are normal!

Yes, I agree - it's an old fashioned ruler that they use. Things have changed since then!