I agree with you that using your desease as an excuse or a crutch is bad. You won't ever learn to actually handle it if you do those things. If I've been horrible because I've had one of my rage mania episodes, I will apologize afterwards and take measures so that it doesn't happen again.
And now the arguementative bit.
Not everyone who got labled with the same DSM word is the same. Not every bipolar person will react to exactly the same stimulus as I do. Those words are very large and sometimes really vague umbrellas. For example, mania. For some, mania is being happy. For others, it's being angry. Same word, different way of expressing it. So I'd be very careful about saying "others with your label were able to do this, so you should be, too". Everyone experiences their disease differently.
The world won't stop for our pain, but I want it to be recognized, which is why I'm pretty active in the mental illness visibility/de-stigmatization cause. If you don't expect someone with cancer to work a full-time job, then you shouldn't expect it from someone with an active mental illness, either. And if you're blessed with something that falls under the neuroatypical umbrella - autism, ADHS, bipolar, schizophrenia - this stuff is not going to go away. Not ever. It can go into remission, it can be handled, but it's still there, and it can come back. And just like someone who survived lung cancer should stay away from cigarettes, a person with a chronic MI should stay away from certain stressors. For me, doing what a neurotypical person does is like trying to keep up with them in a race, only that I'm wearing chain mail. I'm perfectly able to keep up for some time, but after a while, I will break, and that's not a pretty thing. Which is why I don't do that race any more. And I don't want to get called "weak" or "lazy" or "unwilling" for it.
I always welcome disagreement, there can be no growth without conflict.
I agree that the world has a long way to go with the treatment of mental diseases. Like I am a paranoid schizotypal with depressive episodes that I have had since I was 12, but I can never get treatment because then I may not get jobs or people will discriminate against me. The world does need to understand that this shit is serious, but especially that it is not a personal failing on the person who has the disease.
Actually that's the reason I always call them mental diseases, because it is just as damaging as a disease and to call it an "illness" always felt like it underplayed the seriousness of what goes on your head. A cold is an illness, this thing is a long term disease that can destroy lives if left untended to. It's also a reason I have always been pretty open with my diseases on a personal level though not professional level, because I hate the stigma that "crazy" people are these untouchable things that society needs to steer clear from or that the "crazy" people are weak for letting their disease get the better of them.
I know that not everybody reacts the same way, what I meant to say was that no matter what the symptom society will still expect the same things of you as everybody else. Society just can't function if it starts letting people give into their personal demons, the world needs to keep having jobs done after all. The world will keep spinning and everybody has some demons, which is why I don't accept people using it as a crutch. I can get if someone is active that there might be some days that they need to take off from the real world, but even people undergoing chemotherapy still have to go to work and shuffle about life unless it gets really bad. I give people struggling with diseases lots of credit for keeping up the strength to keep on spinning in the world, I do feel the pain involved with that running and am well aware that not everybody can handle things the same way. I am not against more compassion, just saying that it can't be the fallback excuse for everything for people.
I hope I didn't make myself out to be a complete jackass, it's a rather complicated issue to take on a societal level because mental disease is such a personal issue for so many people. It is hard to take the concerns of so many individuals and weigh them against a greater societal good.
Thank you for the clarification. Put that way, I see nothing wrong with your stance, and no, you didn't come across like a complete jackass.
I like the idea of calling it a disease instead of an illness. I might try adopting that, though I still mostly go with "neuroatypical" to get across the point that it has to do with the way my brain is built.
I'm the same as you with being vocal about my disease on a personal level, but keeping it quiet on a professional one. Tell (possible) employers that you have a mental disease and watch all your credibility and all the respect they might have held for you fly out of the window. Which is just so asinine, because there are lots of people with lots of different mental diseases who accomplish so much every day.
I agree with you that using your desease as an excuse or a crutch is bad. You won't ever learn to actually handle it if you do those things. If I've been horrible because I've had one of my rage mania episodes, I will apologize afterwards and take measures so that it doesn't happen again.
And now the arguementative bit.
Not everyone who got labled with the same DSM word is the same. Not every bipolar person will react to exactly the same stimulus as I do. Those words are very large and sometimes really vague umbrellas. For example, mania. For some, mania is being happy. For others, it's being angry. Same word, different way of expressing it. So I'd be very careful about saying "others with your label were able to do this, so you should be, too". Everyone experiences their disease differently.
The world won't stop for our pain, but I want it to be recognized, which is why I'm pretty active in the mental illness visibility/de-stigmatization cause. If you don't expect someone with cancer to work a full-time job, then you shouldn't expect it from someone with an active mental illness, either. And if you're blessed with something that falls under the neuroatypical umbrella - autism, ADHS, bipolar, schizophrenia - this stuff is not going to go away. Not ever. It can go into remission, it can be handled, but it's still there, and it can come back. And just like someone who survived lung cancer should stay away from cigarettes, a person with a chronic MI should stay away from certain stressors. For me, doing what a neurotypical person does is like trying to keep up with them in a race, only that I'm wearing chain mail. I'm perfectly able to keep up for some time, but after a while, I will break, and that's not a pretty thing. Which is why I don't do that race any more. And I don't want to get called "weak" or "lazy" or "unwilling" for it.
*/rant*
Reply
I agree that the world has a long way to go with the treatment of mental diseases. Like I am a paranoid schizotypal with depressive episodes that I have had since I was 12, but I can never get treatment because then I may not get jobs or people will discriminate against me. The world does need to understand that this shit is serious, but especially that it is not a personal failing on the person who has the disease.
Actually that's the reason I always call them mental diseases, because it is just as damaging as a disease and to call it an "illness" always felt like it underplayed the seriousness of what goes on your head. A cold is an illness, this thing is a long term disease that can destroy lives if left untended to. It's also a reason I have always been pretty open with my diseases on a personal level though not professional level, because I hate the stigma that "crazy" people are these untouchable things that society needs to steer clear from or that the "crazy" people are weak for letting their disease get the better of them.
I know that not everybody reacts the same way, what I meant to say was that no matter what the symptom society will still expect the same things of you as everybody else. Society just can't function if it starts letting people give into their personal demons, the world needs to keep having jobs done after all. The world will keep spinning and everybody has some demons, which is why I don't accept people using it as a crutch. I can get if someone is active that there might be some days that they need to take off from the real world, but even people undergoing chemotherapy still have to go to work and shuffle about life unless it gets really bad. I give people struggling with diseases lots of credit for keeping up the strength to keep on spinning in the world, I do feel the pain involved with that running and am well aware that not everybody can handle things the same way. I am not against more compassion, just saying that it can't be the fallback excuse for everything for people.
I hope I didn't make myself out to be a complete jackass, it's a rather complicated issue to take on a societal level because mental disease is such a personal issue for so many people. It is hard to take the concerns of so many individuals and weigh them against a greater societal good.
Reply
I like the idea of calling it a disease instead of an illness. I might try adopting that, though I still mostly go with "neuroatypical" to get across the point that it has to do with the way my brain is built.
I'm the same as you with being vocal about my disease on a personal level, but keeping it quiet on a professional one. Tell (possible) employers that you have a mental disease and watch all your credibility and all the respect they might have held for you fly out of the window. Which is just so asinine, because there are lots of people with lots of different mental diseases who accomplish so much every day.
Reply
Leave a comment